FEATS OF WILL

THE OLD RUSTY NAIL

AN E-JOURNAL FOR OLD PEOPLE

Russell Burton, an Old Person

An article by Elizabeth Svoboda in the October 2014 issue of the Discover Magazine with the title of this essay caught my eye.  As I read it, I realized that her message pertains to us old people.  The article begins with the epic swim of Diana Nyad who swam the channel between Cuba and Florida, a trip of 110 miles.  Without a protective shark cage and encountering swarms of venomous box jellyfish she made the swim in 53 hours non-stop. She had trained several years in preparation for this challenge. 

Of course such a swim requires a high level of willpower and physical effort which none of us will ever be able to achieve. Her feat was compared to the grueling training the Navy Seals receive with a drop out rate of 80% starting with mentally and physically highly fit men.

To determine more about their capabilities, Nyad and the Seals were given a constricted breathing test along with images of the brain using fMRIs technique.  Both showed similar changes in the brain which were different from people not trained to tolerate a high level of stress. Simply these people were mentally prepared to endure the restricted breathing stressor just as they had endured their rigorous training.  That is, Nyad believed her success was due to her ability to refocus her mind away from the stress and pain by using various conscious tactics.

In an attempt to develop a similar mind set a study was conducted on 200 Marine recruits who where given a course called Mindfulness-Based Mind Fitness Training simply called M-fit.  They were given 20 hours of this training.  Their brain changes were found similar to Nyad and the Seals.  Simply by changing their perception of pain they were able to maintain their focus. Nyad sums up her ability by building her will to accomplish her vision. She has the ability to preserver in the face of great stress.  Simply she has made her mind up that what she focuses on she will accomplish.

So, can anyone do this mind-set thing and over come adversity?  The article notes that there is no doubt some DNA basis for developing such a will, but there is ‘a lot of flexibility’.  In other words the system is not fixed but ‘well honed attention focusing skills can be useful’ in overcoming lots of life’s adversities.

The article’s summation was simple in that ‘life is life - things are going to happen to you’. So, let’s prepare our brains for what life holds. And, for us lucky people who are experiencing old age ‘preparation’ is the key word here.

An analogy between the rigors, yes rigors, of old age and the above noted training of will I think can be found.  Of course there are some differences but there are also many important similarities. The differences are that the examples discussed are activities chosen by the participants to accomplish which have a beginning and an end resulting in a feeling of well-being of accomplishment.  And, the beginning is abrupt which results in stimulating or warning the body that some serious activity is beginning. Finally, Nyad prepared for her swim for many years; after the swim her preparations are finished. No doubt these differences which helped to bring success with perseverance do not apply to living with old age.  

Yes, we did not elect to enter into old age it just came along and for me without any warning.  Unlike Nyad’s story, preparation for old age must continue though all of old age. And, of course there is no feeling of accomplishment when it is completed for the end of the old age experience is simply death. On the other hand, we can enjoy a reasonable good quality of life during old age which we achieve with will and perseverance.

So there are many similarities which I think bare noting which gives me a certain amount of added perseverance as I tackle the stressor of old age.  There is no doubt that being old is a stressor in many ways.  Certainly, we are in some pain most of the time, we have less balance capability which results in falls some of which have killed people, we are less mobile thus most athletic activities can not be enjoyed, jogging for most of us is not possible anymore, simply walking in the park for enjoyment has become less fun, the realization that we have fewer years to live affects our focus on planning for the future and some of our sensory abilities have diminished such as vision and hearing.

So in many ways old age is more demanding than the high-energy-short-term examples used here as an analog as it is without end (well death) so the help of focusing as used herein which is a short-term fix can not work.  But, how we can focus to get us through these golden years is the will to do what needs to be done to slow its ever deteriorating effects. 

We all know that age affects our brain and body in a not so kindly manner.  Re the brain, many types of dementias are waiting to attack.  Our body loses muscle mass at the rate of 3% each month, bones loose their strength, and our immune system is not what it use to be – you know death from pneumonia is called ‘an old person’s friend’. Of course these old-age effects can be prevented or at least slowed with many well-known techniques which I have written about previously.  Here is where the Will Power comes into play to accept the challenges which arise by going to the gym; putting on those walking shoes; doing that crossword or Sudoku; reading more, writing articles for a blog (ho, ho) and, engaging in regular activities with friends.

And, like Nyad and the Navy Seals if the challenge is not accepted with these activities all is doomed from the start.  Also, these preparations can be started for a while in old age but not forever.  There comes a time when our unprepared mind and body just can not return to where it can function ‘normally’ resulting in a good quality of life. Certainly, old age can reach a ‘tipping point’ where there is no return and nobody wants to reside their golden years in an assisted living facility.  And, the older we get without preparation the easier it is to reach that tipping point.

I am convinced what is most dangerous to us is our inability to perceive the rigors of old age so we slip into it without any warning.  Perhaps there is a warning but the changes are so slow that it is not perceived as a warning.  You know a warning is a loud blast not a whisper. A race begins with the shot from a gun and I never heard that bang. No doubt, old age is a long-term challenge, if a person is lucky, and humans are not good at perceiving or preparing for the long-haul.  It is not in our DNA.

I have a friend who I frequently saw at the gym.  I have written about him here before in an article ‘A Friend Fell at the Gym’. His outlook on physically working out which is really not much fun always gave me added incentive and is relative to this essay.  He is younger than me but has suffered a stroke, so he is less fit and he struggles more with the weights.  Still, he smiles and says, ‘Never give up’.

Since he fell sometime ago, I have not seen him at the gym.  Perhaps he is coming when I am not there.  I hope that is the reason.  Otherwise his absence would be that he has given up.  I hope not….

Of course what was to be noted in what I have written is ‘will’ and ‘perseverance’ which is a mind set that gives people the ability to climb mountains, go through Seals training, swim from Cuba to Florida, and yes live old age with a reasonable quality of life.

PS:  I wrote this blog in April 2015 so I am nearly 4 years older. I can report that my memory is worse and my mobility is seriously impaired. I use a cane now and beginning to use a walker.  I will move into a retirement village the end of this month.  All of my long time male friends are dead.  I have two women friends still alive.  Yes, women live longer than men.  I wrote here some 4 years ago that I did not move into a retirement facility, but I have no choice.  Like Art Linkletter once noted ‘old age is not for sissies’.