80 Can Be Weighty

On the health front, it can be hard to know what to do sometimes. Confusing and often contradictory studies that can influence lifestyle choices seem to abound.

For example, I’ve always understood that, as you get older, a big part of maintaining good health is working to keep your weight down, because excessive weight is associated with many problematic health conditions that can affect mortality–not to mention causing trouble for aging joints. Now I’ve seen a study that suggests that for people over 80–a group the study, incidentally, refers to as the “oldest-old,” which seems a bit harsh–maintaining more weight and a higher body mass index number is associated with decreased mortality risk.

So, what’s a person who’d like to make it to that “oldest-old” category to do?

Apparently successful, long-term aging is an exercise in threading the needle. In your 60s and 70s, stay focused on the scale and the beltline, and keep that weight off. But, at the same time, don’t get too weak and scrawny, either, because if you make it to 80 you might need to bulk up a bit more. But if you do make it to 80, let the party begin!

It also means you should keep both the “fat clothes” and the “skinny clothes” in your closet, because you’re probably going to need them all at some time or another.

Taking Away The Keys

When should older people stop driving? It’s a question the elderly and their kids can struggle with, because there is often disagreement between the older person and the younger members of the family about whether continued driving poses a risk for the driver, their passengers, and others who might happen to be out on the roads at the time. The last thing anyone should want in their golden years is a driving accident where they, or others, are seriously injured, or worse, because they really shouldn’t have been behind the wheel.

The AARP says the average age for people to give up driving is 75. I’m skeptical of that statistic, because I’ve seen members of my own family drive for years after their 75th birthday. In fact, my grandfather drove well into his 90s, and even got his driver’s license renewed after his 90th birthday. He had a big grin on his face in that driver’s license photo because, like many seniors, he associated continued driving with independence.

So, what do you do when you’ve noticed a decline in the driving skills of an elderly relative? It can be a source of controversy and discord in families, as the senior insists that their driving capabilities are just fine, whereas their kids have noticed dings on the car, declining eyesight, close calls, and other indications that the driving days should end. Part of the problem in my view is not only that the older driver might not want to admit that they are declining, but that due to hearing and eyesight issues they may not have actually noticed that they just ran a stop sign or heard the horn honking when they did so.

This article suggests ways to address the decision to take the keys away from the elderly family member. One of them is an “advance directive for driving,” where the senior agrees that a younger family member can make the call on their driving capability. That sounds good in concept, but I’ve heard of instances where the senior has given that directive–and then resisted giving up the car when the younger person says its time to do so. Other options listed in the article include calling a family meeting, asking the senior’s doctor to give her or his opinion, or even ratting grandma out to the DMV. None of those options seem particularly good to me.

I enjoy driving, and I’m looking forward to retirement road trips in the future–but I sure hope that if my skills decline to the point where I’m a danger on the road, I’ll be willing to hand over the keys and acknowledge that my driving days are over.

The Age Issue

Yesterday Utah Senator Mitt Romney announced that he would not be seeking reelection in 2024. Romney, who is 76, explained that his age was a motivating factor in his decision: “I have spent my last 25 years in public service of one kind or another. At the end of another term, I’d be in my mid-80s. Frankly, it’s time for a new generation of leaders. They’re the ones that need to make the decisions that will shape the world they will be living in.”

I give Senator Romney a lot of credit for his decision. When you’re at the political pinnacle and serving in the rarefied air of the U.S. Senate, it’s obviously hard to step away, but I wish more of our leaders would do so. Romney’s decision really brings into sharp focus just how old our political leaders and decisionmakers are–and Romney hasn’t even had the kind of apparent age-related health issues that we’ve seen evidenced recently in other politicians, such as Senators Dianne Feinstein and Mitch McConnell.

From the President on down, America is being governed by a lot of septuagenarians and octogenarians. President Biden is 80–and he’s running for reelection. Two members of the Senate are 90, another three are in their 80s, and another 29 (including Romney) are in their 70s. Some of these older politicians seem to be vigorous and capable–but others, not so much. And we are regularly seeing examples of older politicians who experience “freezes,” confusion, rambling, and bewilderment–the kind of thing you’d put up with from your beloved grandma, but that isn’t exactly encouraging to see in people who are entrusted with making crucial decisions about a host of important issues.

And, separate and apart from the physical and mental ability issue, it’s also true that older people simply have different perspective than younger people. People are shaped by the world they grew up in, and the world has changed a lot since, for example, Dianne Feinstein was born in 1933, in the midst of the Great Depression. Younger people are bound to have different views about technology, about social issues, and about long-term concerns like federal deficit spending. It would be good for everyone to have more of that youthful perspective represented in the U.S. Congress.

I wish more politicians would voluntarily follow Senator Romney’s lead–but somehow I doubt that that will happen. It’s something for us voters to think about.

Eye Expectations

I was first diagnosed as near-sighted when I was in kindergarten, and I promptly started wearing glasses. For the next 60 or so years, my eyes were a reliable partner in perceiving the world. I put on my glasses, and the words on the page, and the world at large, were immediately sharp and clear. If things started getting a bit blurry, a trip to the optometrist and a new glasses prescription solved the problem.

Recently, though, the peepers have started to become a bit more unpredictable. Focusing with my glasses on seemed to become more difficult, and I got into the habit of impatiently pushing my glasses up onto my forehead and just leaning in closer to see the text on the computer screen or the pages of a book more clearly. Based on decades of experience, I thought this simply meant it was time to visit the optometrist and get another new glasses prescription.

When I went to the optometrist, however, he had a different reaction. He explained that my eyesight really hasn’t changed, and therefore no new prescription was needed. Instead, my eyes (like everything else) have gotten older, and the decades of wear and tear have had an impact. In short, I just needed to recognize that expecting my eyes to product instantaneous clarity at this point is unrealistic: my hardworking eyes will need a bit more time to adjust than has been the case in the past.

Since that visit, I’m trying to give my eyes a break, keep the glasses on, and let them take their sweet time in focusing on whatever I’m looking at. Why not? These days I give myself a bit more time to let the joints and muscles in my legs creak and crack and adjust when I stand up after sitting for a while, rather than bounding out of my charge and going charging forward. As my optometrist aptly noted, my eyes are entitled to the same courtesy.

Brain Function And Bowel Movements

Medical studies often find curious correlations between different activities or practices and health conditions. A recent study identified an apparent linkage between brain function and bowel movements: chronic constipation is associated with cognitive decline, and for that matter too-frequent toilet trips are, too.

A study that was presented at the 2023 Alzheimer’s Association International Conference looked at data collected from thousands of American adults who recorded information about their health habits and took cognition tests. The study found that people who go three or more days between bowel movements (yikes!) are 73 percent more likely to score lower on cognitive tests than people who are on a once-a-day routine. The constipated group had declines in brain function equivalent to three additional years of aging in comparison to their regular peers. The opposite problem isn’t much better–people who typically head to the head two or more times a day are 37 percent more likely to score lower on cognitive tests than those blessed with daily regularity.

Correlation is not causation, of course, and it is possible that other factors–like the amount of exercise a person gets, which can affect both cognition and bowel activity–could be the actual reason for the findings in the study. It’s also possible, however, that there is an unknown connection between the number and activity of gut microbes that toil in the human digestive system and healthy brain activity.

There is a lot we really don’t know about the interconnectedness of the different, complex systems that make up human physiology. But just to make sure you aren’t running any unnecessary risks, you might want to drink more water, add a bit of fiber to your diet, and make sure you get your steps in every day.

Dated Dating

TV’s ability to come up with new twists on tired programming concepts is ever impressive. The latest example of the endless recycling is The Golden Bachelor, a different spin on The Bachelor “reality” show–but in this case an old codger will court a group of geriatric gals.

The ABC announcement of the show, which will air this fall, includes this tantalizing description: a “hopeless romantic is given a second chance at love in the search for a partner with whom to share the sunset years of life. The women arriving at the mansion have a lifetime of experience, living through love, loss and laughter, hoping for a spark that ignites a future full of endless possibilities. In the end, will our Golden man turn the page to start a new chapter with the woman of his dreams?”

The key part of the above deathless passage is “dream,” because I’m guessing that the show will feature at least one scene where the “Golden Bachelor” or the lucky woman who is going out with him nods off during a date. Other scenes that can be expected are romantic dinners during the “early bird” discount period at nearby cafeteria-style restaurants, spirited discussions about the merits of competing Medicare plans, and companionable time spent searching for reading glasses and hearing aids.

I recognize that the American population is aging–which beats the alternative, by the way–but a senior citizen dating show seems like it has crossed the line into parody. I have never seen The Bachelor or any of its spinoffs, and I won’t watch The Golden Bachelor, either, but you really wonder how much of the show will be played straight, and how much will be for the amusement of the much younger viewing audience.

Killer Falls

There’s some troubling news on the health front for older Americans. More and more seniors are being seriously injured, and even killed, by falling. In fact, you could say that falling has almost reached epidemic proportions among America’s elderly.

The statistics tell a very sad story. In 1999, about 10,100 Americans aged 65 or more were killed by falling. In 2020, among the same demographic, that number had increased significantly, to 36,500 deaths. In part, that increase is due to the fact that there are more elderly Americans, as the Baby Boom generation ages, but the fall rate is increasing, too: from 29 fall-related deaths per 100,000 seniors in 1990 to 69 fall-related deaths per 100,000 in 2020. Fall-related death rates rose across every gender and ethnic group, with the highest death rate–78 per 100,000–among older white Americans.

Although statistics are hard to determine, because seniors don’t always ‘fess up to their kids or their doctors when they take a tumble, experts believe that the rate of non-fatal falls is increasing, too. The CDC estimates that about 25 percent of all seniors take a fall each year, with 3 million visiting the emergency room and more than 800,000 having to be hospitalized for head injuries, broken hips, or other debilitating injuries.

Why are more older Americans falling, and suffering the consequences? Experts think it is due to a combination of factors, including the fact that more Americans are surviving serious health conditions, like strokes, that leave them less steady on their feet. Another cause is that more of our elderly are taking multiple medications that, in combination, can affect balance or cause dizziness. I suspect that part of the problem, too, is that some seniors just aren’t moving around as much as they should and, as a result, their balance, reflexes, and nerve impulses aren’t providing the movement support and signals they once did.

In short, there’s a reason why my doctor introduced a “gait test” for me once I hit 65. If you’re a senior, making sure that you continue to be physically active, and that you (and your doctor) pay attention to the combined effects of your medication, can help you to avoid one of those killer falls. And it doesn’t make sense to be too proud to talk about any dizziness or balance issues. If you feel you might need grab bars, you should get them.

Graying Out

Scientists believe they have now identified a key cause of gray hair. And, contrary to what your mother told you long ago, the key cause isn’t the misbehavior of children, or worrying about who they might be out with late at night. Instead, it’s primarily caused by cells that have gotten stuck in what used to be their natural cycle.

The scientific study, described in a paper in Nature, focused on melanocytes, a kind of stem cell that produces melanin, which controls hair color as well as eye and skin color. These cells are found in your hair follicles, where they await a protein signal telling them to become mature cells and produce the pigment that is your natural hair color. The melanocytes move around in there, and in different locations they get different protein signals. The study found that over time, however, more and more of the stems cells get stuck in an area called the “hair follicle bulge,” where they aren’t getting the signal to fully mature and produce color. As a result of this and other causes, you get gray hair–that is, hair without color. (Incidentally, other causes of gray hair can include stress, so maybe your mother was right after all.)

The study gives some insight into how science works, because it required the researchers to repeatedly pluck hairs from mice to artificially speed up the “stuck in the hair follicle bulge” status. Presumably, some hapless lab assistant was at work with a magnifying glass and tweezers every day for two years, to perform the minute mouse hair plucking. But their sacrifice in miniature barbering was worth it, because this discovery may allow scientists to figure out how to get the melanocytes out of the bulge and back into their normal rotation, allowing people to recover their natural hair color without resort to Grecian Formula 16.

Based on the condition of my head, I’ve got lots of melanocytes stuck in hair follicle bulges throughout the scalp territory. I hope they are enjoying themselves in there.

Aged Adjectives

The other day I ran across a story about a senior citizen. In one of the first few paragraphs, I ran across the inevitable, dreaded “aged adjective.” In this case, it was a double dose: “spry and sprightly.”

In case you’re not familiar with them, “aged adjectives” are words that are frequently used in human interest stories about old people. The idea is to describe the particular golden ager in a way that is contrary to what people would expect to see in a senior citizen. And, frankly, the general preconceptions about the lifestyles of the elderly are pretty grim. Most people seem to think that retirees are boring, completely sedentary, and hoping for nothing more than a nap and an “early bird” meal at the nearest Golden Corral. The roster of aged adjectives play against that sad stereotype.

Think about it: when have you ever seen the words “spry” or “sprightly” that weren’t immediately followed by “octogenarian” or “90-year-old”? These are words that are never used to describe a teenager or a thirty-something. But after the years have added up, a reporter assigned to write a feature story about a gray hair who is capable of walking unaided from point A to point B might think that surprising fact was worth communicating to the reader, and “spry” and “sprightly” predictably get hauled out again.

Of course, “spry” and “sprightly” aren’t the only aged adjectives out there. Here are some others that come to mind:

Active

Energetic

Lively

Vigorous

Limber

Flexible

Sharp

Steady on his feet

If they are used to describe you you can be assured that you are viewed as a member of the Geriatric Brigade–which, incidentally, meets at the Golden Corral for dinner every Tuesday at 4:30, sharp.

Our Optimistic IRS

America’s Internal Revenue Service turns out to be a pretty optimistic place. This may surprise people who associate the IRS with dense, bureaucratic prose, obscure tax calculations, and no-nonsense audits. But the irrefutable evidence of innate IRS optimism is right there for all to see, in Table III of IRS publication 590-B.

(That description of the document just screams “IRS,” doesn’t it?)

Publication 590-B tells you when and how you need to determine the mandatory “required minimum distributions” from your 401(k) plan and other individual retirement arrangements, because you eventually have to start taking those retirement funds that have been sitting in your retirement account in pre-tax form and start paying tax on them. As Publication 590-B explains at page 8, you figure your RMD “by dividing the IRA account balance (defined next) as of the close of business on December 31 of the preceding year by the applicable distribution period or life expectancy” set by one of the Tables.

Table III, found at page 65 of Publication 590-B, is the uniform lifetime table that many taxpayers will use. It gives a number for each year of expected longevity that you then use to complete that equation. And that’s where the optimism seeps in, because Table III includes numbers all the way up to age “120 and over.” That’s right: the IRS thinks there’s a sufficient chance that you might make it to 120 that it has formalized and published the appropriate retirement plan tax calculation if that actually occurs.

Pay no attention to the fact that records indicate that precisely one person in modern world history–Jeanne Calment of France, who lived to age 122 before dying in 1997–has made it to their 120th birthday! Some scientists think you have a shot of hitting that milestone, and now you can be confident that the IRS does, too.

By the way, if my understanding of Publication 590-B is correct, if you make it to 120 you’ll have to take half of whatever remains in your retirement account as income at that point, and pay tax on it. Think of the birthday party you could have!

Aging America

In case you hadn’t noticed, Americans, as a group, are getting older. According to a report by the Administration on Aging, a part of the Department of Health and Human Services, as of 2020 more than 1 in 6 Americans was 65 or older. Seniors make up fully 17 percent of the nation’s population. That percentage is growing as successive years of Baby Boomers hit 65; in 2022, for example, the people born in 1957, the biggest birth year of the U.S. baby boom, celebrated their 65th natal days and added substantially to the geezer group.

This demographic make-up of modern America is significantly different from that of days of yore. As the article linked above notes, in 1900 only 3.1 million Americans, just 4 percent of the nation’s population, was over 65. Those numbers gradually crept up with the passage of ensuing decades, but during our lifetimes the growth has been explosive. In 1960, there were 16.2 million Americans over 65; by 2020, that number had more than tripled, to 55.7 million. In the decade between 2010 and 2020 alone, the number of such seniors increased by 15.2 million–almost as many people as the entire population of over-65s in 1960. These increases obviously put additional strain on senior-related programs, like Social Security and Medicare, and that strain will increase if current trends continue.

The report itself, which you can read here, has other fun facts about the over-65 Americans. The four states with the most seniors in 2020 were Maine, Florida, West Virginia, and Vermont. The average annual income for men over 65 was $35,808; for women over 65 it was $21,254. 10.6 million of those over-65ers were still in the work force. Arthritis is the most common chronic condition, affecting 47 percent of that population, and the group spends more than other demographic groups on health care.

And here’s a key statistic for those of us in the group who are wondering about retirement planning: in 2020, women who were 65 could expect to live an additional 19.8 years, and men at that age could expect to live an additional 17 years. Those numbers actually represent a decline from prior years, due to the impact of COVID and other causes of mortality. But here’s a bit of good news from a longevity standpoint–the number of people over 100 in 2020 was 104,819, more than triple the number in 1980. Adjust your retirement budgets accordingly.

Longevity Advice

Recently a new individual was officially recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the “oldest person in the world.” The prior title holder, a French woman named Lucille Randon who was 118, died, and the second place senior moved up to the top slot.

The new world’s oldest person is Maria Branyas Morera of Spain, pictured above, who is a mere 115. As is usually the case when a new title holder is named, there have been news stories about Ms. Branyas in which she offers her views on living a long life. Typically these news articles focus on lifestyle issues, and if you’ve read them in the past you may have noted there is one obvious problem: the eating, drinking, and exercise habits of the super-old seniors who have lived well into the triple digits often are conflicting. One person will say the key is to live a Puritan lifestyle, while the next will admit they enjoyed a rasher of bacon every day, smoked for years, and happily downed a slug of whiskey before bed. The only consistency between the prior title holders seems to be that they somehow didn’t die.

Ms. Branyas’ thoughts are a bit different, and perhaps more useful as a result. According to Guinness, she says that luck and good genes have a lot to do with it, but otherwise she attributes her longevity to “order, tranquility, good connection with family and friends, contact with nature, emotional stability, no worries, no regrets, lots of positivity and staying away from toxic people.”

This seems like good advice–especially the part about toxic people. Being around toxic people not only can get you into trouble, and maybe cause your longevity luck to change for the worse, but the stress involved in interacting with them clearly could have adverse health repercussions. And keeping a positive attitude as you deal with the inevitable issues associated with aging is bound to help, too.

We’ll probably never know for sure what, specifically, allows some people to live past 110. But even if we don’t make it that far, avoiding toxic people is bound to make whatever years we have left much more pleasant ones.

Graphite

For years, I stoutly resisted the notion–expressed on driver’s licenses and other official, descriptive documents–that I had brown hair and brown eyes. The word “brown” simply doesn’t really capture all of the virtually infinite, subtle variations and shadings of that hue, in the same way that “blue” doesn’t convey the obvious difference between a navy blue sport coat and the color of the water on a brilliantly sunny day on a Caribbean island. After careful analysis, I concluded that–to be precise–I had mahogany hair and burnt sienna eyes.

Alas! Although the eyes remain that sharp, piercing burnt sienna, the mahogany hair has turned on me. And as my hair color has changed, I’ve searched for words that aptly describe the new shade. “Gray,” like “brown,” is simply too generic. “Silver” isn’t a good match from a color standpoint. I briefly toyed with “pewter,” but decided it has too much of a colonial dinner plate connotation. “Smoke” and “fog” are evocative, but were a little too ephemeral for my taste. “Fossil” was rejected for obvious age-oriented reasons.

Eventually the choices were narrowed to “slate,” “graphite,” “lead,” and “flint.” Each has a clear mineral overtone and thereby communicates an entirely appropriate degree of personal ruggedness. After some meticulous color analysis, I’ve decided that “graphite” best captures my current hair hue, so that’s what I’m going with.

I wonder if “graphite” will be among the hair color options the next time I renew my driver’s license at the BMV?

Getting From Point A To Point B

Recently I learned that I am still able to get from point A to point B–literally.

It happened at the doctor’s office, where I went for my pre-physical assessment tests. As I entered the interior part of the office, the nurse stopped me and pointed down at the floor, where a circle with an “A” in it had been affixed to the surface.

“We’ve added a new test for you,” she explained cheerfully. “It’s called a gait test, and it helps us to determine if you are at increased risk of falling. We will need you to walk from point A here just down to the hall to point B,” she added, indicating another circle on the floor about 10 feet away. So I walked from point A to point B while the nurse timed me, all the while resisting the urge to run down the hall like a football player doing a wind sprint and set a new “gait test” record, just to show that I am not only not at risk of falling but there’s life in the old boy yet.

After I went from point A to point B, I learned from the friendly nurse that another new test had been added to my routine exam: a “grip test.” In this test, I was handed a metal object and told to squeeze it, repeating the process three times with each hand while the nurse took readings of my grip strength. I tried to give the device a good squeeze, hoping to register results somewhere above the “feeble old guy” level.

So the “gait test” and the “grip test” have been added to the testing mix, making a visit to the doctor’s office a grim reminder of the indignities of old age, when a tumble could break a hip and opening a jar becomes increasingly difficult. What’s next? Using calipers to measure the sagginess of neck skin to determine whether you’ve sunk down to turkey wattles level?

Elder Action

Last night we watched the first episode of Tulsa King, the new Paramount+ series starring Sylvester Stallone. Created by Taylor Sheridan, one of the creators of Yellowstone, Tulsa King is the story of a mobster (don’t call him a “gangster,” incidentally), Dwight Manfredi, who is released from prison after 25 years. Because he didn’t rat out anybody, he expects to be welcomed back with open arms and given a prominent place in the family business in New York City. Instead, he’s exiled to Tulsa, Oklahoma and told to take over the town.

We’re only one episode in, but Tulsa King looks promising so far. It’s got the fish out of water element, with the street-wise New Yorker schooling the credulous, safe-in-middle- America Bible Belters about crime, and also the Rip Van Winkle element, with Dwight having been in the Big House for 25 years and not knowing about things like iPhones and Uber. Stallone has always had good comedic talent and timing–Demolition Man, for example, includes lots of funny scenes, and so do some of the Rocky movies–and he does a good job with the humorous parts of Tulsa Kings.

The real challenge in the show, however, is the tough guy stuff. It seems weird to question the ability of Sylvester Stallone, the guy who brought to life Rocky, Rambo, and countless other hard-ass characters, to carry off the action scenes, but the actor is 76 years old. He’s evidently had some facial work–his cheeks look puffy, and his eyebrows are perpetually raised–and physically he looks to be in pretty good shape. But when your star is in his 70s, you’ve got to be careful not to strain the viewers’ willing suspension of disbelief beyond the breaking point. In the first episode, Dwight coldcocks one younger guy, punches out a few others, throws a water bottle that knocks out a tubby security guard, and has a bedroom encounter with a much younger woman. It all was reasonably plausible–Dwight may have been a workout fiend during those 25 years in the clink, right?–but let’s hope the show doesn’t use CGI to have the star chasing down a fleeing truck, defeating multiple attackers with kung fu moves, or beating up an Apollo Creed lookalike.

America is growing older, so it makes sense that action characters would grow older, too. Who knows? “Elder action” might become an entirely new genre on TV and in theaters. I’ll be interested in seeing how Sylvester Stallone’s character develops in Tulsa King, and whether he experiences some of the issues that afflict the rest of us who are aging out. And I’ll also be interested in seeing how Harrison Ford, who is 80, is presented in the fifth Indiana Jones movie, which is to be released next year. You’d expect Indy to be using a lot more of his gun and a lot less of his whip at that age. Will Indy–who once famously observed that “it’s not the years, it’s the mileage”–recognize that the years take their toll, too?