In Brief
By Andy Humm
Older But Abler
U.S. Census Bureau director C. Louis Kincannon says that while (a) the number of people over 65 will double over the next quarter-century, (b) older people today have lower rates of disability than ever before.
In 1982, the disabled share of the population beyond 65 was 26.2 percent. By 2000, that fell to 19.7 percent.
Dr. Richard Hodes, director of the National Institute on Aging, told Reuters, however, that even as life expectancy at birth in the United States in 2000 hits 76.9, there exists “a very troubling increase in disability rates for younger Americans, partly driven by the epidemic of obesity.”
Escalator Going Up
Despite bird flu, AIDS, global warming, and what may look like the beginnings in the Middle East of World War III, biologist Shripad Tuljapurkar of Stanford University is predicting that advances in medicine could, in the words of a BBC News report, “raise life expectancy by a year each year over the next two decades.”
“People are going to do things they didn’t get round to in their working lives,” Dr. Tuljapurkar told the American Association for the Adancement of Science in St. Louis. “Current institutions are really not equipped at the moment to deal with such long lives.”
He suggested that the retirement age in the developed world may have to be raised to 85 by the year 2050 to keep Social Security and other pension programs viable, and that 50-year or 75-year mortgages may by then not be uncommon.
Think Positive, Hear Better
A Yale University study has concluded that the more a person thinks of older people as “frail” or “senile,” the more that person may experience hearing loss.
Subjects who scored perfectly on hearing tests were subsequently tracked over three years. The more negative the subject’s attitude toward aging the more likely he or she was to lose some hearing. Researchers theorize that harboring negative attitudes leads to stress, and stress has already been shown to be linked to hearing loss.
Previous studies, according to Reuters Health, have concluded that in cultures such as Easter Island where there are fewer stigmas about getting old, the overall rate of hearing loss is lower.
Targeting Boomers
The food industry tends to market new products to younger people, who are seen as being more open to new things. But at the Reuters Food Summit in Chicago, food suppliers were abuzz about the 50+ population bloc that David Johnson, president of Kraft’s North American Commercial group calls “liberated boomers.”
“As the kids leave the household and you’ve got that older consumer, there are a lot of needs that we see,” Johnson said. His company is responding with foods lower in calories and fat. Other manufacturers are introducing lines of dinners for two and ready-to-eat meals for the empty nesters.
Food people note that while the youth market is stagnant given falling birth rates, the over-45 population is growing rapidly.
Living Longer, Working Less
Some people say that they can’t retire, but a new study from the Center on an Aging Society at Georgetown University finds that the percentage of American men who stay in the workforce has decreased dramatically in the past 55 years.
Back in 1950, about half of U.S. men over age 65 were still at work. By 2003, it was 19 percent. Among women, who go to work much younger than men, a steady 10 percent over 65 continue in the workforce.
Stay Sharp, Be Sharp
Dan O’Leary of Mystic Valley Elder Services in Malden, Massachusetts, notes in his Wakefield Observer column that older people can be masters of their own fate when it comes to keeping mental and physical edge.
He recommends lifelong learning at local colleges, taking up new hobbies, and studying something you have always wanted to but have not had the time for. Daily reading, even of a newspaper, is important, along with things like doing crossword puzzles or other word games. “Staying curious about life” by way of travel, outdoor activities, museums, art galleries, etc., is his final tip.
In Japan, the Nintendo company that makes electronic games for kids is now marketing “Brain Training for Adults,” a test of mental acuity through use of a pen on a touch pad. It has sold more than 3,000,000 copies since its launch last May.
“The game won’t cure dementia. But it’s a good form of stimulation — especially for old people living alone,” says Takeshi Kihara, a neuropsychiatrist at Uchida Hospital’s dementia clinic in Kyoto.
Older Lovers Better, says Jerry Hall
Beauteous Jerry Hall, now 48 and ex-wife of Mick Jagger, now 62, told Britain’s All Headline News that she’s fed up with boy toys after doing her Kept “reality” show in which young contestants vied for her attention.
She believes older men are better in bed because they know how to please a woman. “Anyway, younger men make you listen to Coldplay [a rock group], and there ain’t no treatment for that.”
Alcohol Plus and Minus
The Mayo Clinic has just released a study that says women after menopause should limit alcohol consumption to one drink a day if they don’t want to put themselves at increased risk for heart disease, liver damage, and cancer. Men have a higher tolerance for booze.
That said, another study, reported in Heart magazine, finds that drinking wine rather than beer or liquor can be good for a woman’s heart. “Compelling epidemiological evidence suggests that moderate intake of alcoholic beverages, especially wine, is associated with lower risk of coronary heart disease morbidity and mortality,” the Swedish researcher declares.
Drive, She Said
Norfolk’s Eastern Virginai Medical School has teamed up with the Raydon Corporation of Daytona, Florida on a simulator designed to test the dexterity of older drivers, the Associated Press reports.
Barbara Freund, an associate professor at EVM, says: “The focus is not to take old people off the road but to give an objective assessment of their strengths and weaknesses so that we can keep people on the road as late in life as possible, as long as they can be safe.” The half-hour test includes stress-inducing challenges such as avoiding hitting a pedestrian on a highway.
Age alone doesn’t determine who will succeed; A 91-year-old has passed the test and some 50-year-olds fail it.
Raydon hopes to sell or lease the simulators to state departments of motor vehicles, citing accident rates for drivers over 75 that are second only to those younger than 24.
