Very Short
By Abby Tallmer
Help Available for Technologically Challenged Seniors (and Others)
There is much talk about the “technology gap” that purportedly exists among 50+ers. Older Americans who did not grow up with computers are technologically illiterate victims of computer-phobia, or so goes the popular thinking.
Want to help deflate this myth? Live in Manhattan and want to take a free basic Internet class? Learn how to navigate the information highway simply and painlessly with the free help of SeniorNet, a non-profit that provides computer assistance to older Americans. Call (646) 505-4390 locally — or SeniorNet’s head office at (408) 615-0699, should you have a good long-distance plan) for registration information.
SeniorNet also posts many basic computer tutorials on topics ranging from Internet options to backing up your hard drive to dealing with e-mail attachments, and many more. You can access these online lessons by going to the SeniorNet home page at www.seniornet.org, clicking on “Technology” in the top left banner, and then clicking on “Tutorials & Demonstrations” under the words “More Info” in the left-hand column. (The direct link s www.seniornet.org/php/default.php?PageID=7117). Finally, once you’re a fully participating member of computer-savvy society, you can join the active 50+ community that populates discussion groups run by SeniorNet -- these are accessible from the home page -- as well as a plethora of other sites on the Web (see later in this column for more of these).
Health News Fruits and Vegetables Are Good for You!
Drinking fruit juice and vegetable juice more than three times a week may help ward off Alzheimer’s disease, according to a new study by the Fisher Center for Alzheimer’s Research Foundation at Rockefeller University. Men and women 65 and older who drank fruit and vegetable juice four times a week or more were 76 percent less apt to develop Alzheimer’s than those in the study who drank juice just once a week. The exact reason is unknown, though, in the words of the report, researchers are investigating “disease-fighting substances called polyphenols that are found naturally in fruits and vegetables as a possible source of protection.”
No Pain, No Gain, Brain-wise
Scientists have long hypothesized that keeping alert mentally as well as physically is a key to good health and longevity. Now comes some further reinforcement. This month’s AARP Webmag debunks some “Myths About Aging and the Brain,” such as: “You can’t change your brain,” “People lose brain cells every day and eventually just run out,” and “Memory decline is inevitable as we age.” Au contraire, the good news about aging is that “[w]e develop a richer vocabulary, and a better understanding of how to use these words effectively” and “Our short-term memory and ability to recall events from our past tend to hold up well as we grow older” and “Our memory for factual and conceptual information also remains well preserved.” The AARP even recommends shopping as a brain-sharpening pastime, and provides some tips on using your brain to its maximum potential. Go to www.aarp.org, then click on “Health” in the middle of the top banner, then click on “Brain Health” in left column to see AARP’s series of articles on the subject.
Happiness Is Growing Older
According to a recent study by Heather Pond Lacey, Ph.D., at the Ann Arbor VA Healthcare System, Michigan, older people are happier than younger Americans. Lacey polled 542 people online and asked them about their level of contentedness. “Of those, 273 were aged 21 to 40 and 269 were between 60 and 86. On a 1-to-10 scale, with 10 representing the highest level of happiness, the younger group reported an average happiness level of 6.65, while the older group stood at 7.32 ’ In our culture we think of old age as a time of helplessness, disability, loneliness, and isolation,’ said Lacey, ‘none of which are necessarily true.”
Volunteering Is Good for More Than the Soul
Many researchers believe that people, especially seniors, derive a distinct health benefit from participating in ongoing volunteering. If you are a 50+er with time on your hands, think about contributing a few hours a week (or even a month) to a cause that you care about. Don’t know where to turn to find organizations that could benefit from your skills? The following Websites are good starting points for matching your skills and interests with a worthwhile group that could use some volunteers: www.idealist.org, www.nycares.org, www.volunteermatch.org, & www.volunteernyc.org.
Women’s Attitudes About Aging: Life Is Looking Up
Two recent studies on women’s attitudes about aging concluded that women have or are developing decidedly more positive attitudes about their later years than have been seen in the past.
The first study, conducted by researcher Frances Harrison at the Manukau Institute of Technology in Freeport, New Zealand, demonstrated that an overwhelming 91 percent of the polled women picked “Health” as their top priority, over more conventional choices like weight and attractiveness. Many women “said they felt empowered and independent reaching their middle years, [with] increased time and finances due to children having grown up [opening] new activities not explored in younger years.” Said one study subject: “Women in their mid-50s are starting to live a different life than their mothers ever could dream of.”
The second study, entitled “Single Women Are Doing OK,” was commissioned recently by the AARP and is reported on by a Website called OlderWiserWomen.com. Of the 2,500 45+ women polled for an AARP Foundation Women’s Leadership Study, a solid majority indicated that finding a mate is not a major life goal. “While having a ‘significant other’ is still important to many single women, it is no longer key to their happiness. Eighty-one percent polled said they were comfortable with the prospect of being alone as they age.”
Daredevil Seniors Take to the Road
Last month, TV Channel 27 ran a fascinating, truly inspirational documentary about John Fitch entitled Gullwing at Twilight: The Bonneville Ride of John Fitch. It seems that the dashing and dignified Mr. Fitch, born in Indianapolis in August 1917, had a notable career as an international race-car driver (according to Internet’s Wickepedia he was “the first American to race automobiles successfully in the postwar era”) as well as demonstrating lots of bravado and acquiring lots of awards, including a Presidential Citation, Air Medals, a Purple Heart, and a POW Medal for service as a pilot during WWII. Fitch, a descendant of the John Fitch who invented the steamship, did not exactly go gently into the night upon his official retirement in 1966. He continued to dabble in amateur vintage racing, and returned to official automotive competition at age 87 in 2003, when he entered the famed Bonneville Salt Flats race. He re-entered the same race in 2005 when, at age 90, driving a then 50-year-old Mercedes-Benz, he again attempted to break the land speed record for his class at Bonneville Salt Flats. His attempt failed owing to a failure of the fuel-injection pump, which limited the top speed to 150 mph.
The entire scenic race and Fitch’s spectacular effort are captured in the riveting Gullwing documentary, which this writer was lucky enough to catch. (See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Fitch_(driver) for Fitch’s bio; info about the Gullwing documentary can be found at http://szwedo.com/gullwing.htm).
And lest we assume that it’s only our 50+ men who are out there avidly trying to break automobile speed barriers, think again. When researching John Fitch’s tale I came across a piece on the Web entitled “60-Year-Old Race-Car Driver Proves It’s Never Too Late to Pursue a Dream.” The article told the story of Dr. Susan Addison, a mental-health counselor from Seneca, South Carolina, who always wanted to be a professional racer (her 1964 high-school-graduation present was a trip to the Indianapolis 500). Even though she knew she wanted to be a race-car driver, but because of her gender neither her family nor society at large supported this ambition, after college graduation she entered the more acceptable field of counseling. But she never lost her passion for racing.
Finally, in 2001, something in Addison, then a woman in her fifties, was set free, and she went and enrolled in the Skip Barber Racing School. Most professors there didn’t take her seriously. She persisted on, completing her coursework, racing teammates, and ultimately becoming the first woman to win a Skip Barber Masters regional race as well as first woman to participate in a Skip Barber national race. Other accomplishments Addison has racked up: Finished fourth in the Southern Regional Masters Championship; eleventh in the overall Southern Regional Championship with Skip Barber in 2005; and accomplising “multiple podium finishes in the National Auto Sport Association club racing, where she drove in the Renault Sports Racer and Spec Miata divisions.”
Susan Addison, like John Fitch, perseveres at racing till this day and is still looking for that perfect win. “It’s all about keeping the dream alive in your heart,” she says. “With the dream alive and well, it’s all about pressing on, regardless of the obstacles.”
