Embrace getting older

Morning, what a great response I received after last week's edition regarding scented candles and their potential to harm our health, thanks to everyone who responded.

I am writing this on a beautiful Sunday morning, the patio doors are open, in the distance I can here the tannoys as the marathon begins down the Embankment.  Due to the road closures for it and the fact I am as stiff as a board after a fitness convention yesterday in Sheffield, I'm spending the day catching up on stuff.  No I'm not feeling my age, just being sensible after a pretty full on week of classes, I was stiffened up before I even hit the road to Sheffield hahaha, which segue ways nicely to todays topic of embracing getting older.  If you're like me, you're determined to keep going like you're still 18!  

The realisation that you are getting older can come in waves.

You watch movies and point to the actors, saying: “She’s dead. Oh, he’s dead, too.”

Your parents move to a retirement complex they call God’s waiting room.

You hear more snap, crackle and pop in your joints than in your breakfast cereal.

In society, youthfulness is glorified and getting older is cast as something to avoid, but as your age increases, your quality of life does not necessarily have to decrease.

What is ‘old’?

Most people wouldn’t say that a 38-year-old qualifies, but once you pass the median age of 37.8, you may statistically be considered “old"! OMG!!!

Studies show that people start feeling old in their 60s, and a survey found that nearly 3,000 respondents said 68 was the average age at which old age begins.

Daniel B Kaplan, an assistant professor of social work at Adelphi University in Garden City, N.Y., said in an email that living to an advanced age was a relatively recent achievement.

“The average human life span gained more years during the 20th century than in all prior millennia combined,” he wrote, adding that the average life expectancy in the United States is 79.1.

Neurologist Dr Devi says your outlook on life can make all the difference, by being more positive will increase your chances of living longer.  

Dr. Devi said a patient who died at 101 had told her to try to have a friend “from every decade of life.” He had befriended an array of people, including Dr. Devi’s daughter, who was 12 at the time.

Having friends from multiple generations can help head off the loneliness that can come when others move, die, get sick or are no longer mobile.

“It speaks to an antisegregation of the aged, maintenance of community, as well as keeping in touch with modern advances to prevent being accused of being an old fogey,” she said.  

Many of the problems that adults face as they get older are unrelated to the normal part of ageing. The quality of your later life is partly under your control. Choices about lifestyles and behaviours can influence the effects of so-called secondary ageing.

Exercise and proper sleeping and eating habits will help your physical health, which will benefit your mental and cognitive health.  

We should prepare for the later stages of our lives as we would starting a family or helping a child gain independence.

Seek financial advice to help adapt to changes in income and plan for the costs of health care or for having to go into a home.  With recent changes by the government into how much money people are allowed to retain before receiving free care home places, this might be the time to look into it.  Discuss with your family and friends what you expect from old age and what type of lifestyle you desire.  

Embrace the positives

Older adults are generally happier and less stressed and worried than middle-aged and young adults, Mr. Kaplan wrote.

Although there can be declines in health and income, “the vast majority of older adults enjoy improvements in the emotional aspects of life” because they are more focused on positive information, he wrote.

The reality of ageing was not as bad as stereotypes would suggest.

While you might not be able to do all the things you once did when you were younger — he advises against playing tackle football with teenagers, for instance — there are ways you can compensate by finding other activities that are rewarding.

Find something to embrace in improving whether it’s golf, cycling, cookery. Mr. Ludwig suggested focusing on helping others, especially younger people.

Remember, too, that you are not the only one feeling sore or slowing down, he said.

“There are millions of people waking up with those aches and pains,” Mr. Ludwig said. “What is the alternative to ageing? It’s dying young.”

Reject ageist attitudes

Though it is true that as we age, we may gain some weight and lose some of our faculties, become forgetful at times, it is no reason to give in to stereotypes about older adults.

Myths about older people — that they are disconnected or grumpy (me haha) — are perpetuated in the news media and our culture. Advancements in technology have accelerated the stereotype that older people can’t keep up, Mr. Ludwig said.

Leslie K. Hasche, an associate professor at the University of Denver Graduate School of Social Work, said she supported AARP’s “Disrupt Aging” initiative, which seeks to counter social and cultural myths about what it means to be old.

“Too often, the myths create barriers or limits, which get in the way of older adults staying connected or pursuing what is meaningful to them,” she wrote in an email.

Various milestones — birthdays, changes in careers and the deaths of siblings and peers — are reminders of the passage of time, but you should not lose focus on finding meaning and quality in life, Mr. Kaplan wrote.

“For many people, old age creeps up slowly and sometimes without fanfare or acknowledgment,” he wrote. “While most people enjoy relative continuity over the decades, being able to adapt to the changing context of our lives is the key to success throughout life.”

Definitely plenty there to digest

MB

HOW HEALTHY ARE YOUR CANDLES?

Good Morning one & all,

Hands up, who uses scented candles?  What do you use them for?  A nicely scented room?  For relaxation?  Have you even considered potentially damaging to health?  A candle?  Come on!!!! That's what I thought until hearing someone at the gym explain that she'd had to take her doctor to her gp with very laboured breathing, coughing and sore throat.  The child was given medication to help alleviate the problem.  The mother considered what could have set this condition off.  She noticed that her daughter only started to have problems when she was sat in the front room and when the Yankee candles were lit.  After a bit of research she discovered that she was in fact making her daughter's health poor by lighting them.  And why was this?  The production of formaldehyde!!!



New research has discovered that an ingredient called limonene that helps give the candles their scent is to blame.  Now limonene in its natural state is very safe, it is found in cleaning products and added to foods but when it comes into contact with the air alters and becomes formaldehyde.  Research showed that levels of limonene in candles was 100 times greater than had been previously thought.  add to this the fact that our homes are now more airtight, what with double glazing etc, there is a lesser chance of the gas escaping our homes.  The longterm effects of being exposed to high levels of formaldehyde is unknown.  What is known that it can be formaldehyde by itself can be a cause of cancer.

Aside from opening a window when the candles are lit (defeats the object I agree) is to introduce some plants into the home that reduce formaldehyde levels.  These include Ivy, Geranium, Lavender, & ferns.

til next week