90 + YEARS OF AGE
The Old Rusty Nail
AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE
Russell Burton, an Old Person
Last night I watched the CBS ‘60 Minutes’ show and enjoyed the
segment on 90+ Aging. A scientist found
an old study conducted in 1980 concerning several thousand 60-year-old
subjects. She got a grant from NIH to
study the survivors now when they are in their 90's.
Her findings were very interesting and controversial for
sure as many of the things she found were opposite of what we have been
taught. Not surprising the killer was
smoking for none of those interviewed were now smoking. I assume that many of the survivors sometimes
in their lives had smoked. This was not mentioned
but apparently, all of those who were smokers in 1980 were now dead.
I was a heavy smoker beginning in my late teens when I
joined a fraternity house in 1951. Back
then distributors of brands of cigarettes would come by the house and give each
of us a free pack. I think ‘Lucky
Strikes’ and ‘Camels’ were the most common brands. That was before filtered cigarettes made the
scene.
Of course the idea was to get you into the habit, one which
is easy to start and very difficult to break.
I got hooked but then the health risks were not known and cigarettes
cost about 18 cents a pack. Even that
cheap I would bum smokes from friends for on many occasions I could not afford
a pack. I guess today a pack costs over $5 and people still smoke cigarettes
and the health risks are well known. For fun I calculated that it would be
costing me today smoking three packs a day for a year - about $5500! Of course the real answer would be zero for I
would be dead.
I continued to smoke cigarettes, cigars, and even a pipe
until I was in my mid thirties when I quit cold turkey. Then I was smoking three packs a day with a
cigar tossed in and perhaps a pipe bowl of tobacco. After dinner in the evening I would smoke a
pack of cigarettes before I went to bed.
When I quite I was a graduate student and animal pathologist at the University of California
at Davis . I remain friendly with a fellow graduate
student who frequently remarks that back then I was smoking all three forms of
tobacco at the same time! Oh my…
When I quit for good it was a horrible struggle. I had quit several times before once for as
long as six months, but I went back to them.
When I had quite before it was not that difficult but when I quit the
last time it was extremely painful. I
write painful because mentally it was with great anguish. I told my boss that I was doing nothing
except sitting at my desk staring at the wall.
He was a terrific guy and had been a smoker himself so he understood the
nightmare I was going through. After
three long months I had finally beat the habit!
Today there are aids available to help a smoker kick the
habit. You know, like nicotine patches
and other things. I guess they help but
all that does is make quitting less painful so the penalties of starting to smoke
again are less.
Now the thought of having just one cigarette is not without
a mixture of fear, disgust, and relief that I have beat the habit. I have
friends who have quit and still can have an occasional cigarette but not me for
sure. Of course I am so pleased that I did quit for I have friends who
continued to smoke who have died or are suffering the ill health consequences
of the habit. They will never live to be
90.
During the show I compared my habits and health markers with
those discussed on the show. And, I was
very pleased that I am right on target to make the nineties and I think with
reasonably good health. So, I went to
bed with a smile on my face assuring myself that I have a decade more to enjoy
life. Well, that is silly but I think the
odds are in my favor.
What was interesting to me were some of the facts of having
long life ran counter to what I and I am sure many of you readers were led to
believe. In fact being over weight,
drinking a reasonable amount of alcohol on a daily basis, and above average
blood pressures all were beneficial! Not
only were they helpful in living a long healthy life but the opposite was true
for those who were thin, did not drink alcohol and had low blood pressure. Amazing…
Well the above information fit my lifestyle perfectly except
for the overweight. I am not underweight
but I guess that small difference will not kill me. Now what is a reasonable amount of alcohol
can be debated. A couple of drinks of
wine were mentioned and it did not have to be red wine. In fact, the beneficial ingredient here was
simply alcohol. And, I think I detected
from her that more than two drinks each day might even work better.
My geriatric physician considers a systolic blood pressure
of 160 and a diastolic of 90 as acceptable.
I just took mine and it is 159 over 77.
A lower diastolic is better than a lower systolic for it allows the
heart to rest some between heart beats.
My former family physician had my systolic below 120!
Another finding which was also some what surprising was the
numerous different kinds of vitamin and mineral supplements were not
beneficial. From that information I will
assume that taking these supplements were not of any benefit at all.
Of course, the real benefit regarding life style was
exercise. Even a simple walk for a few
minutes each day was helpful. I was not
surprised about the benefits of exercise.
Still, I wish she had been more exact about the benefits regarding the
types and amounts of exercise, but I assume that that information could not be
obtained in the study. It was mentioned
that only 15 minutes each day of some form of mild exercise extended one’s
life.
Being active socially was a big plus not to be a surprise
and romance was still something to pursue. That reminded me of when I was a
young man in my twenties I had a party at my house. One guest was a woman in her late 80s. Her grandson asked her when she stopped
thinking about sex. She said with a
smile on her face, “You have to ask someone older than me.”
Dementia was discussed at length which was not surprising
for mental health is a major concern for us old people. People are not good at much of anything
except for their fantastic brain and the tremendous thought processes which it
generates. Certainly old age dementia is a complex issue but with some light at
the end of the tunnel regarding a better understanding and future treatments. Still, it is a terrible malady.
I wish they had gone into more detail on what they found
regarding helpful habits to prevent its occurrence. You know, keeping the mind active with such
activities as reading, Sudoku, and crossword puzzles. I guess my mind is still working okay as I
remembered all of this stuff from the show last night.
I know I was blown away with the results of this study as
are some of my chums with whom I have discussed it. But, as I think about these ‘strange findings’
I am convinced that old age is a different stage of life. So, why shouldn’t the health indicators also
be different? As, I have written many
times before I knew when I entered my last stage of life, you know when I
recognized I was old obviously something inside of me had changed.
So now I’m better off with higher blood pressure, being a
little fat, and having a few drinks in the evening. You know I might get to like this being old
stuff.
5/14
