Day 238 of 365 - Eight Thousand Days
I don't normally read The New Yorker magazine, but a copy was left in our lobby and my husband picked it up. In it, there was an interesting article about aging. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology has an Age Lab. It's purpose is to develop new technologies, products and services for the growing potential market of aging people.
Because of increasing longevity, we can now expect to live one third of our adult life over the age of 65. If you make it to 65, you have a 50% chance of living to 85, a period of 8000 days.
Perhaps surprisingly, at least to those of us who do not yet need assistive devices, the aging market is resistant to buying items which remind us that we are old. For example, the personal alarm/emergency response devices for summoning help has been considered a marketing failure. Most people don't want one, and those have them seldom use them, even when needed. They are like wearing a sign saying "I'm Old!".
So, The Age Lab comes up with products that seem geared to a younger population, like hearing aides that look like earbuds and phone apps for emergency calls. The technology that is most needed is that which helps us deal with aggravations of day to day tasks which become more challenging as we age. Things like healthy, balanced meals which are delivered can be ordered by any busy adult and are not age specific, but could improve the nutrition of a senior who is not motivated to cook.
Then, there are those scientists who are working on anti-aging research, so we will not suffer the typical effects of aging so soon. That research is geared toward ways to make our cells work and replicate better. This includes things like dietary supplements or approaches but also forms of genetic engineering. Take stem cell therapy for example, which while not yet widely available to the general public, provides evidence that some effects of aging can be reversed, such as making joints work better.
The body is one thing, the mind is another. We might figure out ways to make our moving parts last longer, but research into neurodegenerative disease has been less successful. For all the research into longevity, the best advice still seems to be to stay fit and thin. In other words, eat a healthier diet and sty active to prevent many of the diseases typical of aging. As I've mentioned in other posts, dementia and Alzheimer's has been found to have a link with the same kind of diet and lifestyle which leads to diabetes. It's now often called Diabetes III because of the similar inflammatory symptoms.
What we still want to have as we live longer lives, is choice and possibility. I suppose in a way, that's an underlying intent for me in writing this blog. As I explore ways to enhance my health and vitality via approaches easily accessible to me, I hope to maintain those options of choice and possibility longer. Who knows? Perhaps I'll make it to that eight thousand day marker.
Because of increasing longevity, we can now expect to live one third of our adult life over the age of 65. If you make it to 65, you have a 50% chance of living to 85, a period of 8000 days.
Perhaps surprisingly, at least to those of us who do not yet need assistive devices, the aging market is resistant to buying items which remind us that we are old. For example, the personal alarm/emergency response devices for summoning help has been considered a marketing failure. Most people don't want one, and those have them seldom use them, even when needed. They are like wearing a sign saying "I'm Old!".
So, The Age Lab comes up with products that seem geared to a younger population, like hearing aides that look like earbuds and phone apps for emergency calls. The technology that is most needed is that which helps us deal with aggravations of day to day tasks which become more challenging as we age. Things like healthy, balanced meals which are delivered can be ordered by any busy adult and are not age specific, but could improve the nutrition of a senior who is not motivated to cook.
Then, there are those scientists who are working on anti-aging research, so we will not suffer the typical effects of aging so soon. That research is geared toward ways to make our cells work and replicate better. This includes things like dietary supplements or approaches but also forms of genetic engineering. Take stem cell therapy for example, which while not yet widely available to the general public, provides evidence that some effects of aging can be reversed, such as making joints work better.
The body is one thing, the mind is another. We might figure out ways to make our moving parts last longer, but research into neurodegenerative disease has been less successful. For all the research into longevity, the best advice still seems to be to stay fit and thin. In other words, eat a healthier diet and sty active to prevent many of the diseases typical of aging. As I've mentioned in other posts, dementia and Alzheimer's has been found to have a link with the same kind of diet and lifestyle which leads to diabetes. It's now often called Diabetes III because of the similar inflammatory symptoms.
What we still want to have as we live longer lives, is choice and possibility. I suppose in a way, that's an underlying intent for me in writing this blog. As I explore ways to enhance my health and vitality via approaches easily accessible to me, I hope to maintain those options of choice and possibility longer. Who knows? Perhaps I'll make it to that eight thousand day marker.
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