My Good Old Days Were Better Than Yours

Ahh, the good old days. I had to think about that motto after an incident at a local gas bar last week. While fueling up my trusty steed, a small car masquerading as a big stereo pulled up. The teenage driver, oblivious to all outside stimuli, was bopping to a thunderous rap beat.

I don’t usually care what others listen to, because hey, it’s your mind melt. However, music that hits my eardrums like an auditory tsunami gets me a little wound up. The wanna be gangster must have seen my frown because he greeted me with a hearty, yet insistent digitus impudicus, or Trudeau finger.

So I found my mind drifting back to the gentler times of the 1940’s and 50’s, when North American life was less hectic, and mom and dad didn’t have dual careers; actually spending time with their children. They had to, because video games and Ipods didn’t exist to numb their little minds and keep them quit.

Rock and Roll was just in the infancy stage and many still listened to Big Bands and Jack Benny on the radio. I can’t remember reading of too many kids getting suicidal after listening to Tommy Dorsey.
Kids went to school, making real friends, instead of having internet chat buddies. They also played outside and incredibly, used their imaginations to think of things to do. If that didn’t work, Mom or Dad could always find plenty of chores or steer them towards helping those in need.

In those days, ‘grass’ was mowed, ‘coke’ was a cold drink, and the biggest school problems were talking in class, making noise, or running in the halls. Anyone getting out of hand was rewarded with a weekend of labour over a push mower, and crime was easily and cheaply monitored in the lock up, instead of group therapy.

Dates for the most part were still fairly innocent, involving drive-in movies, cherry cokes and listening to old 45’s. Back then, young people also got married first, then slept together.

In general, lives were governed by good judgment and common sense, and children were taught to stand up and take responsibility for their actions. In other words, character values and hard work were of higher priority than selfish activities leading to improper behaviour.

Times have changes dramatically since then and after listening to the kids complain about being bored once too often, grandpa would roll his eyes, get that really weird look on his face and proceed to throw all romantic notions of his time out on its ear:

“You kids have it too easy. When I was a young man rocks were heavier, journeys took a person uphill, BOTH ways, and we one had one shoe which we shared between seven kids while walking though year round snow.”

I admit grandpa poured it on a little thick to get a response. And yeah sure, there may have been some oversimplification on my part with the youth of old, but at least back then, digitary salutes consisted of a more positive thumbs up.

Turning Seventy And Life’s Other Little Glitches

A while back, I wrote an article about suddenly turning sixty, a benchmark age for sure, but not one of panic. Personal friends of mine in this age category still work hard, play sports, and vacation around the world. Others may have slowed down a step or two, but live in a decade which suggest some miles to go before the journey’s end.

Still time marches on and despite some misgivings you’ve gone and turned seventy. For some it becomes a descriptive and precise time marking the homestretch of life. For others it’s a period of acute denial. What, me 70 – are you kiddin’ me? I don’t feel any older. Sure my kids are now middle aged, but that’s only some only kind of cosmic aberration in life. I can still do everything I did 30 years ago, and better. Maybe so, but for most reality demands a heavy payment for foolish notions.

Yeah, that’s the 40 year-old inside talking, that same loutish youth who still wants you to eat cholesterol with impunity. He’s also the same one who allowed you to enter thirty without notice, slip into fourty with denial and then turned fifty, and sixty into a crisis. Why are you still listening to him?

Most everyone intends to live to one hundred, it’s a nice round number. And we want to do it without too much snap, crackle and pop when we get up, or too many aches in our joints. There is no guarantee, of course; I know that, but if you had known you were going to live so long, would you have taken better care of yourself? That way you may have steered clear of a heart attack, dodged that oncoming cancer, or missed the freightrain known as diabetes.

Hopefully the memory stick is also still fully charged at this time, but if not, set aside 10 minutes or so a day to find the glasses on top of your head. The hearing too may start to suffer now and you might have trouble perceiving the high-pitched voices of your grandchildren. This is not necessarily a bad thing – just ask your overstressed daughter.

Overall, you realize that turning seventy speeds wisdom towards maturity. As you raced along the path of life, you were serious about work, commitments and family. Now major victories or notable accomplishments, which were important even a decade ago, seem so meaningless when stacked up against today’s friendship, family and love. Disappointments and failures are lessons taught to to grandchildren.

So, don’t be intimidated by the years, because they’re a natural flow of life. Regard instead the age of your character, which is something that will be sorely missed when the torch of your flame flickers out.

Finding The Real Fountain Of Youth

As we age, many of us start looking for the fountain of youth. It’s a natural reaction to wrinkly skin, droopy muscles, and a rear end that starts an independent journey towards the heels. And would you believe, all this without ever asking for your permission?

Wouldn’t it be nice to sail through your golden years without disability and disease; without loss of strength, endurance, flexibility and balance problems? Sure it would. But contrarily if we’re not careful, by retirement, we could lose one-third to one-half of our muscle tissue. This debilitating condition, called sarcopenia, also lowers our metabolic rate and accumulates excess body fat.

Endurance also suffers, reducing mobility in daily life. Consequently, flexibility and balance issues lead to increased stiffness, a decreased range of motion and more injuries from falls.

So there you have it – for those of us who like to put the blame elsewhere, there’s a name to the culprit. However, it still shows up because we’re not active enough, says the National Institute on Aging.

The good news is that besides great genetics, the one thing that makes a big difference in quality of life is exercise. Research from the International Longevity Center points to the impact that exercise can have on the risk of sarcopenia. Men and women 60-96 years of age who suffered from loss of body mass and strength, and who did a moderate amount of strength training twice a week, had an increase in muscle strength ranging from 113 percent to 174 percent after eight to 12 weeks.

Additional benefits are also huge. Regular exercise can you reduce your chances of heart disease, regulate blood pressure and boost the good cholesterol, HDL. It also reduces obesity, which is a contributor to heart disease and diabetes.

As for bone density, studies show that physical activity which includes weight-bearing exercise can help prevent osteoporosis. Older adults are at a greater risk for this ailment, so therefore it is crucial they exercise since it reduces the chance of falling and subsequent injuries. (Exercise and Physical Activity: Getting Fit for Life, National Institute on Aging) In other words, it may help slow the physical (not biological – sorry) aging process.

Most older people think they need their doctor’s approval to start exercising. That’s a good idea for some. Your doctor can talk to you not only about whether it’s all right for you to participate, but also about what can be gained from exercise.

And if you’ve never lifted weights before, you may want to work with a personal trainer to learn the proper way to lift. If that’s not an option, contact your Parks and Recreation Society, ask about programs at your seniors centre or get some videos to see proper technique and to get an idea of what a strength training routine looks like.

So what types of exercise are best, you ask? Aerobics (walking, swimming, etc.) is fundamental, yet strength training produces dramatic results, allowing seniors who previously required assistance with daily living to become independent again. And stretching and balance exercises, like yoga or tai chai, can help arthritis and prevent falls.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends sets of 8-12 repetitions, two to three alternating days per week. Older and frail individuals who are just beginning a strength-training program, should consider starting with lighter weights and fewer repetitions.

With consistent movement application, seniors can achieve high levels of functioning. That is evident when looking at congressman and astronaut John Glenn or 82-year-old Payton Thomas, senior world record holder for the 100-yard dash. And no, his time was not recorded during a bathroom run.

So go ahead – make exercise a permanent habit. “Too old” and “too frail” are not good enough reason to keep you from becoming more active.