Old age creeps up on a person like a thief in the night. Toward the end, just before it grabs you, there are certain tiny signs: hard breathing over little exercise, slight trembling of the hands, certain little twitches, flabby muscles, slight aches and pains, increased trips to the doctor, wrinkles, gray hair, slight impairment of short-term memory, generalized weakness, less latitude in eating and sleeping habits, decreased interest in sex, less adventuresome, and on and on. May I repeat, these symptoms and others like them gradually creep on us without our noticing that we are growing old.
Many people are sensitive about old age. They say, "A person is as old as he feels," or "I don't have birthdays anymore." They don't reveal their age, hoping the process will go away. Other people do not even admit that old age exists. And others spend a fortune trying to cover it up by camouflaging wrinkles, dying their hair, surgically lifting their face, and taking all kinds of potions to keep themselves looking youthful. We have all seen people that don't look their age--some who are 50 years old and look like they are 90, and others who are 90 and look like they are 50. Ahem! Some folks say I hold my age of 70 as if I were much younger--it makes me feel good to think that it might be true.
We have hardly recovered from the shock of realizing that we are getting old when we receive more bad news. The thing we thought would never happen--we are going to retire or be retired from the job we have held for 40 years or more. Like others, I have said, "I'm never going to retire." And then, chagrin of chagrins, I did. It is so difficult to retire that a small percentage of people appear to shrivel up and die shortly after retirement. Most people who successfully face old age and retirement claim that they do not retire; they only change what they do.
When I think of coping with old age a number of cliches come to mind: "Act your age," but I don't want to act old. In fact, it comes to me that I don't even want to admit that I am old. "Ignore old age" is my motto. Then some of the aches and pains of arthritis catch up to me and old age cannot be ignored. The "march of time" is inexorable--everyone who doesn't die young is doomed to get old and die, but there are certain things we can do to delay old age and make it more livable.
TAKE GOOD CARE OF YOUR BODY
- Keep yourself clean. The old saying by Benjamin Franklin, "Cleanliness is next to Godliness" gets truer as the years go by. When suffering, sickness, and mental deterioration come upon older people it is more difficult for them to keep clean. But, it is a necessity, even if we must hire someone to help. To be unkempt is the surest way to hasten the problems of old age.
- Exercise regularly and moderately. Older people often are sedentary and have problems with exercise and activity; but to stay alive exercise isn't a choice; it's a necessity. I can remember how pleased I was to get my electric wheelchair, only to discover that I quickly lost body strength when I stopped pushing myself around. Now my electric wheelchair is in a semiretired condition and I am getting better.
I remember Betty Johnson, a patient at the Riverside Convalescent Home. She was just 35 years old, but she got tired of life and refused to move. It only took her a year to wither and die without exercise. I used every argument I knew trying to get her to move her body. She had chosen this vindictive form of vengeance against her family--the slow suicide of not moving her body. A sedentary life-style can be a form of suicide. We must persuade ourselves and others to keep moving as old age approaches.
- Eat a little less, but be sure the food is well balanced and nutritious. Growing a garden is a neat idea. There is nothing better than fresh vegetables. It seems to me that some warning needs to be made about fad diets and peculiar eating habits. If a person has reached retirement age, probably they need to go slow in radically changing their mode of eating. The older we get, the less we eat for pleasure and the more we eat for survival. We eat, not so much to satisfy our appetites, but to satisfy our nutritional needs.
One 90 year-old lady said to me, "I don't feel like eating any more, so I won't." I said to her, "You can't fool God that way; your choice is slow miserable suicide, and you are just as guilty of taking your life as the person who chooses a gun." She was a wise and mature spiritual lady so she said, "I never thought of that before. You are right! I will start eating again." She did, and the next 5 years were quite beautiful.
- Take a sensible approach to dieting. Many people who reach retirement age are overweight. Now is the time to do something about it. The magic formula is simple: Eat a little less and exercise a little more. Don't go on a crash diet. Fast weight loss only means fast weight gain. Gradually cut down on fat, sugar, and the amount you eat and increase the amount of exercise. Gradual weight loss by changing your life-style of eating and exercising is the only way.
However, I knew a man by the name of W. A. Moore who lived to be 105, worked every day, and weighed over 300 pounds. Research tells us that when you get to be a certain age (probably over 70), weight no longer is a factor in longevity. But, don't count on it. If you are overweight, reduce it a little, if you can. Sometimes the worry over weight is more serious than the weight itself. So, try to reduce; but, don't kill yourself trying.
I went on a diet,
swore off drinking and heavy eating,
and in fourteen days,
I lost two weeks.
-- Joe E. LewisUnfortunately, many times weight loss is based on depression or some other serious condition. It is possible to be very slender because of a mental disorder known as anorexia nervosa or bulimia in which a person forces vomiting after each meal. Preoccupation with slenderness can often be more debilitating than plain ol' fat.
- Eliminate bad habits. It's never too late to stop smoking, boozing, or kicking any addictive condition. In my psychological practice I have treated people of every age who have quit "cold turkey" every addictive practice known, no matter how severe. I treated a 70 year-old man who had been addicted to alcohol all his life. He stopped short one day, by choice, and never drank again. He died at the age of 82. I treated another man, age 52, heavily addicted to heroin. He threw away the needle and with a prayer "God Help Me" never went back to his addiction. I have seen it happen in my prison work a thousand times. A true religious faith is stronger than any addiction. With the help of God and our faithful friends, the world of booze and narcotics can be conquered.
- Fight back at sickness and disease. In our day of Social Security and Medicare there is little excuse for older people to let health conditions slip up on them. With little expense, we senior citizens can get regular checkups; and if something is coming, we can take preventive steps. If you have a medical problem find out as much as you can about it. The government has free booklets on every health subject imaginable. The booklets are easy to read and contain the latest information on every item of health. Examine the health information source listings, pages 246 and 247 and write for a list of publications relating to the subject you would like information on. This way you can stay up on the latest information about good health.
The rules for good body health are so simple that they are taught early in grade-school years to children. However, those simple rules are often so neglected and so costly to health that the U.S. Department of Health estimates that 25% of our senior citizens die needlessly of simple neglect years before their time.
The body is a marvelous machine; but, like all machines, it will eventually wear out. However, we know that with a little care a machine may go for 100,000 miles or more before it gives up; but, with a little neglect the best of machines can be brought to an untimely end. A major rule in coping with old age consists of taking care of our machine--our body. (Information provided by: Seniors Site)
Posts
0 comments:
Post a Comment