I recently attended the American Marketing and Health Care
Research (AMHCR) meetings in Big Sky Montana .
Our paper entitled, “Who wants to age, maybe you will!”, (coauthored
with David Agogo and Charles Schewe) was on the program. I was also joined at the meetings with my 75
year old Dad, who joined me for skiing during my free time (the conference
session format had very early morning and evening sessions). The
experience of discussing aging with my academic colleagues and spending some
time with my older father, gave me a greater appreciation of what may be in
store for me.
The Academic
Perspective
Our paper presented a new paradigm for aging. The basic premise is that one’s perceived age
is a function of the number of new things you try in life minus the number of
things you give up. We conceptualized
“things” in terms of biological, cognitive, and social dimensions. Thus, one can decrease their perceived age if
they engage in new health enhancing activities (as opposed to giving up
exercise), learning new skills (as
opposed to not learning and forgetting skills), and making new friends as
opposed to becoming isolated.
A Case Study
My Dad has been called by his physician, “not your ordinary
70+ year old man.” He lives in Park City
Utah and skis 100+ days a year (and has done so for over the last decade). In the offseason he rides horses and works
out regularly at the gym. He reads his
daily paper and is current with the news, and works part-time. Also, he is very friendly and quite
social. “I like people,” and his laugh
and easy conversation helps him meet people and gain new friends.
There are challenges he faces at this age. His distant vision and depth perception is
declining (evidenced by his misreading of the slopes in flat light). He has aches and pains that have accumulated
over the years (a former football player, a skier with torn knees and rib
injuries, and long-time horseback rider who has been bucked several times). “It’s not that I don’t pay attention to the
aches and pains, but it is that I only pay attention to what hurts the most.” A few years back he had a staph infection
that was very serious, in the last six
years he has broken his ribs and back (4 spinus process) after being thrown from
his horse.
Yet, every morning he rises early, and has some coffee
during his “meditation” and then goes to face the day with joi d verve. Although he moves slower than in the past,
he methodically prepares for his day.
And on the slopes, he skied more and more challenging terrain that most
half his age. “The key to skiing fitness
(and aging) is to work on one’s balance, flexibility, and fast twitch muscles.”
Exhibit A
My Dad attended the session with our paper. During the discussion, in support of our
proposed theory, an audience member mentioned that seniors are more active than
ever in terms of skiing. In response, I
introduced by Dad as Exhibit A. “My Dad
is 75 years old. In the past 2 days he
has skied over 50,000 vertical feet on challenging terrain.” For those of you non-skiers, this is a lot
of skiing. He received a round of applause
from the academic audience who also understood skiing.
My Learning
The feedback from the conference was that our theory makes a
lot of sense. Also I got to spend time
with a 75 year old who feels less than 60. Together I have a road map for my
continued aging now that I have reached 52.
I know what I need to do and have a good role model to follow on the
aging road.
How do you plan to age?
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