AGING -- MORTALITY TO 130 YEARS -- HUMOR

Wracking my brain for some humorous topic to write about, I came up with diddly squat,  zero, naught, nada, zilch.   Unless you think it's funny that sometime during the past year I concluded, for some unknown curious reason, that I was a year older than I actually am!  

I credit my daughter for adding this unexpected year to my life when she phoned on my birthday, asked what year I was born and did the math.  I just lose track of the years which seem to have decreasing significance to me as I get older.  So, go ahead and laugh at my expense.  What do I care?  I'm a year younger than I've been thinking!

Old Folks -- FOUR FRESHMEN.    Vocal by Don Barbour

This seems a good time to consider the reports of a new study should we all continue to live through the coming decades -- Human Mortality at Extreme Age, recently released by The Royal Society Publishing you can read HERE.

"The first human could live to 130 within this century" as Victor Tangermann at Futurism's Neoscope reports in his summary of the study's conclusion HERE.

"The researchers also found that past a certain point, the risk of dying as a supercentenarian plateaus, and remains constant at a 50/50 chance of dying within a given year.  The implication, seemingly, is that sufficiently advanced medicine could provide many people with Methuselah-esque lifespans."

"Beyond age 110 one can think of living another year as being almost like flipping a coin," Anthony Davison, lead researcher and professor of statistics at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), told Agence France-Presse."

This blog has no centenarians, those 100 years of age, or even in their 90's reading, writing here, including me, to the best of my knowledge currently.  (Some do have living parents in their 90's and Millie, a 96 year old long time blogger is on my blogroll),  Some of us are getting closer with the present years having a way of rapidly flying by, so I find some of these statistics and projections to be of greater interest to me now than when I was much younger.

Pew research reported in 2016:

"In 1990 there were 2.9 centenarians for every 10.000 adults ages 65 and older around the world.  That share grew to 7.4 by 2015 and is projected to rise to 23.6 by 2050.  That's only 28+ years from now!  Some of us may still be around then.  

The research continues, "Since 1990, the population of those ages 80 and older -- the oldest segments of the 65-plus population -- has grown more rapidly than that of the younger segments, those ages 65-79.   This faster growth is driven by improved life expectancies among those 65 and older."  

Reuters reports U.S. life expectancy in men has dropped 2 years in 2020 since the pandemic which isn't over yet.   The rest of the world effects are discussed, also.  The figures above may still reflect an expected generally accurate upward trend but further analysis is warranted.  

Pew research continues:  "...the U.S. leads the world in terms of the sheer number of centenarians, followed by Japan, China, India and Italy."

Perhaps the Global Conference 2021 on the future of aging as described by the Milken Institute provides some insights on what we can anticipate which you can check HERE.

BBC Future of Ageing focuses on some technologies that could transform ageing HERE.

I'm really curious about what the years ahead of us will be like?

I do wonder how this pandemic may further impact some of these figures and projections?

I ponder about possible adverse effects on our aged population if, in the U.S., we lose our constitutional democratic republic to the establishment of an autocracy masquerading as a democracy in our nation?

I consider sometimes, just how long I really want to live?  The bottom line for me is that keeping my mind is critical to my having the quality of life I desire.  My physical condition matters, too, as I wonder just how satisfied I would be continuing to live, should I experience a serious lessening of functioning abilities?

Have you given any thought to aging issues, formulated any views on these matters, or even changed your perspective as you may have experienced health changes and are becoming older?

P.S. Rain is on the way,  maybe up to an inch, which won't eliminate our drought, but moisture is coming to SoCal!    Hooray!

Preparation for Next 50 Years -- Again

Almost twenty-five years have passed since I sought a fifty-year medical check up to prepare for my next fifty years. I recall telling my doctor, in part seriously and partly in jest, I was planning to live to 100 years of age, so needed to ready myself. Of course, I explained, my intent was to optimize my physical health. I also emphasized quality of life was an important issue, so my mental and spiritual health were also vital components to aid in reaching my goal.

My then general practitioner medical doctor and I had established an ideal patient-doctor relationship by my standards. His approach epitomized to me the mutually interactive collaboration most effective for a doctor to provide optimal patient care, at least with me. When there were serious matters we could be serious, but we laughed a lot other times. His examination’s result confirmed that considering the wear and tear of the first fifty years of life to which my person had been subjected, I was in pretty good condition. My body was probably carrying about twenty pounds more weight than needed but I was confident I could drop that when I made the effort to do so. After all, at forty years I had started bike riding, successfully ridding myself of extra pounds I had kept those years following my childrens birth.

Earlier years when in graduate school I unintentionally caused myself a potentially serious spinal disc problem that with effort I had effectively overcome. During that time there were family stresses with the vagaries of young children becoming teenagers, a dedicated husband coping with professional issues along with the beginnings of his own medical problems, and my additional struggles intertwined with my dear mother’s care, especially after her stroke. In those ensuing years for myself I had regrettably been less attentive to or successful in avoiding the body effects from constant long term distresses that cause unhealthy chemical releases into the system.

Still, I had a naturally positive attitude. I knew relaxation and imaging techniques, but may not have utilized them as much as I needed. I neglected to maintain some sort of exercise regimen, was careless with my eating habits and may have reaped the consequences of too many years of minimal erratic sleep patterns that were continuing even then. Eventually parent caregiving following my mother’s death evolved into increasingly complex spousal coping complicated by my husband’s declining health.

I did take care of myself as much as possible but probably not in as beneficial a way as I might have. When some pressures released I tended to think I deserved to reward myself with periods of unstructured time for having survived years of what seemed like 24/7/365 scheduled routines. So exercise, eating, sleep habits remained unaltered. My doctor of many years died and though my new younger doctor was simultaneously admonishing and supportive as he could be, the relationship was not the same. There was too much history in dealing with me, the whole person, that the new physician would never know, nor given what health care had become would there be time to delve into such factors had I been so inclined, which I was not.

My husband’s unexpected sudden death seemed premature despite his increasing health problems. A few years spent adjusting to that major life change had to pass before I finally began to focus on core life planning for my future. The past year or two I gradually reached the conclusion I needed to get myself into the best condition possible. Coincidentally, at that time various medical issues periodically developed as deterrents. I persisted in viewing these problems as only temporary as I became determined I would eventually initiate my plan.

Just as I concluded I could safely start I experienced what at first seemed another medical delay, but one I was able to turn into a motivating factor. That impetus came from some of my body parts sending me strong, sometimes painful messages. Not only have I been neglectful but the question arose in my mind as to whether I might have waited too long to begin re-invigorating my system physically and just what would be my limits.

Well, I’m convinced now that it’s never too late to begin some sort of physical exercise program. Intellectually, I knew this and had someone asked me I would have told them so. Now I know it in quite a different way from the first hand experience of what I’m learning through a regimen of physical therapy I’m receiving. I have been able to integrate my own plan with those exercises that I’ve been able to implement over the past three months.

Meanwhile, I’ve been hearing media references to increasing belief that future life expectancy may well be extended beyond the current 70+ and 80+ years, especially since more people now are living into the 100’s. Speculation is that future generations may well experience 120 year plus life spans. Such news has given me cause to re-examine my whole life plan. I’ll be sharing here more on what I’m doing on this topic in the future.

So it is that I have concluded I may well have another fifty years ahead of me. I’m not going to fool around when it comes to rectifying some of my shortcomings caring for my mind, body and spirit this next fifty years. I’ve already started with major emphasis on the body, so maybe I’ll make it to 121 years because I’m getting a years head start.