Aging Well

By Pastor Marcia Moret Sietstra

July 18, 2004

Recently, I was flipping through the mail and when I noticed an invitation to join AARP – the American Association of Retired Persons – I thought, "Well, this is a mistake! Phil and I are too young for AARP!" But guess what – we aren’t! We actually joined AARP so we could get the travel discounts.

It comes as quite a shock to many of us to discover we are getting "old," even though the Bible tells us that with age comes great wisdom and respect. In many cultures, the elderly are revered, and their mentoring is highly valued. We need to remind Americans of that! What we tend to focus on, instead, are less positive aspects of aging, like creaky knees, stiffness, and reduced energy. Have you noticed that staying home at night actually sounds more pleasurable than going out! Maybe you are noticing a bit of forgetfulness. Is deteriorating health inevitable?

No! says Dr. David Lipschitz, Professor of Geriatrics and Director of the Donald Reynolds Center on Aging, who lectured at Chautauqua recently, and today I want to share some fascinating information he provided to an audience of about 2000 over the course of 2 days.

Dr. Lipschitz goes by the name Dr. David (with a name like that, it is obviously a wise choice!). He is 60 years old and for years has experienced what he calls benign forgetfulness. An example of this normal but somewhat troubling kind of forgetfulness is what happened one day before he was about to go on stage to give a speech. He was already wearing the lapel mic, and it was turned on because they had tested its volume before the audience gathered. He decided he’d better use the restroom before his speech, so he walked down a short hall and into the men’s room...the entire audience heard his conversation with another fellow in the men’s room as well as…well the audience heard everything. Forgetting the mic was on was what he called an example of benign forgetfulness, that is, normal and not a sign of disease, which made all of us feel better about our own lapses of memory. It is normal in our 40’s to begin to forget little things, like where we put the keys. But we shouldn’t worry unnecessarily about it, says Dr. David. Dr. David emphasized, again and again, that significant memory loss is not likely to interfere with our lives until at least the mid 80’s unless we develop a disease such as Alzheimer’s. Only 1 in 20 adults over age 65 has a significant degree of memory loss. By age 85, about half of men and women will have some trouble with activities requiring memory, such as balancing the checkbook. For them, there are some coping skills that can be implemented to help them live successfully.

I was surprised to learn that many memory problems are caused by medications, that high blood pressure can cause memory problems and so can nutritional deficiencies. Dr. David told about a man who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s by his family physician, and was taken by his family to the geriatric center that Dr. David directs. There the doctors discovered he had a completely curable condition called normal pressure hydocephalus, a condition caused by blocked passageways in the brain. He had surgery to unblock the ventricles and his symptoms disappeared. In another 17% of the patients treated at his memory disorders clinic, a vitamin B12 deficiency is the cause of memory problems. It is very common for memories to improve after these patients are given supplemental Vitamin B12. Depression is another cause of memory loss, so are alcohol, sleep disorders and common medications including tranquilizers, sedatives, and some medications for heart disease. Even antihistamines like Benedryl can cause significant memory problems in older people.

Now this is not a medical lecture. This is a sermon, and here is what I think is so important for me to relay to you: I believe that the God who created us and who we believe loves us, wants wholeness and happiness for us. But God gives us a great deal of responsibility for our own well-being. Just as God gives us the ability to choose how we will live morally, God also gives us a great deal of choice about how we will live physically. We need to plan for own wellness in body, mind and spirit.

It may come as a surprise that how long and how well we will live is only partly attributed to our genetic make-up. About 20% depends on your genes. 80% of what determines how well you will feel when you get old is not the inevitable result of aging, according to medical experts. 80% of how you will feel in your 70’s and 80’s and 90’s is due to the combined effects of poor nutrition, inactivity and illness—both physical and mental. That means young adults are already affecting their health in old age by what they eat, how much they exercise, and other life choices.

Dr. David looked out at the crowd gathered at Chautauqua, which is a place where we go for recreation, education and the fine arts all enveloped in an atmosphere of spirituality and religion. He said, "this kind of place and what you do here is vitally important to aging well."

He told us that if we wanted to be well we should do four things, each of which I’ll describe in more detail. The four things are: 1) Cultivate your spiritual life. So hooray for everyone here today – it’s one of the best things you can do to stay well! 2) Second, stay involved and be productive as long as possible so you have a sense of purpose. 3) Think positively, especially about yourself. And 4) maintain a healthy diet and exercise.

Let me say just a bit about each one. First, cultivate your spiritual life. Studies demonstrate that people who believe in a higher power live longer and that being in a faith community contributes to well-being in later stages of life. In a large study of 5000 adults, men who were religious had 35% less heart disease than those who weren’t. People who participate in religious activities of all kinds have lower blood pressure and less risk of hospitalization. One theory is that activities such as meditation and worship, and the embrace of positive emotions such as hope and love, cause a sharp reduction in hostility and anger—emotions that have clearly been shown to increase the risk of heart disease and other health threats. It’s also likely that people who are active in their religious community spend time with like-minded people, which gives them a sense of connectedness and belonging, qualities that have been clearly linked with longevity.

But the number one spiritual attribute that contributes to long life, is learning to forgive. People who are able to forgive and let go of old anger and hurt suffer less stress; their blood pressure goes down, as do the levels of stress hormones which, over the long run, damage our bodies and suppress our immune systems. One of our other speakers was a Harvard Medical School professor who told us that learning to forgive is crucial to aging well from a purely scientific perspective; he wasn’t basing it on religion, but on mental health which we now know affects physical health. Forgiving is healthy for us.

The second piece of advice was to stay active and involved, to be productive. Dr. David says that American culture has bought into the myth that old people are weak and all washed up. That’s false, he said, and most are able to stay far more physically and mentally active than they realize! He drew on one illustration after another, patients who travel, work, play sports, go out, and contribute to society. One of his patients, at 75, just earned a doctorate degree. Another, in her 80’s rides a motorcycle. He told us: "Forget everything you’ve ever been told about old age. It doesn’t have to be a time of such decline." And then he told us about his mother.

His mother is 79. Her first husband died young. Her second husband also passed away. So she married again, but this one ended in divorce. A few years ago when he was visiting his mother, he discovered she was still dating—two men, one on Tuesdays and Fridays and the other on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Then she met a third fellow and fell in love. They’ve been together five years. This fellow is 94, and still walks two miles a day.

On the last day of the lecture series on aging, we heard a panel of delightfully interesting folks who had been bused to Chautauqua from Cleveland. Every member of the panel was over the age of 90, and they talked about what life is like. Most of them had some health problems, but one after another talked about how much they were enjoying life, and about all the things they were involved in—one still does some legal work, though he has done it for free since his early 80’s. Another still does his own taxes, many travel, most of them exercise, and they keep their minds active taking classes, reading or in other ways.

The 3^rd important factor he mentioned was to think positively and build self-esteem. Dr. David said, "If I had to pick one quality that I wish I could prescribe like pills from a bottle, it would be self-esteem." He described a study in which two groups of older adults sat in front of a computer screen on which subliminal messages were flashed. The messages to one group were highly negative—words such as senile, dependent, disease, and disabled flashed across the screen. The other group got positive messages: wise, astute, revered, respected, and accomplished. The people who were exposed to the negative stereotypes had higher blood pressure and faster heart rates at the end of the experiment than the group exposed to the positive messages. They performed less well on a battery of mathematical and verbal challenges. Even their walking gait was affected. Before sitting in front of the computer screens, people in both groups took about 76 seconds to walk a 50 foot distance. After the test, the negative-message group took 79 seconds to walk the same distance, while the positive message group did it in 68 seconds. The negative message group shuffled more noticeably!

Like food, the thoughts and messages we ingest can help make us feel worse or better. I wonder what the constant barrage of negative television programming does to the health of older persons who watch a lot of tv? Watching those dreadful daytime talk shows with arguing and yelling, as well as too much sensationalized, always-bad news may be affecting the health of older viewers.

There is one prescription Dr. David gives to every one of his patients—men as well as women—to stand in front of a full length mirror every morning when they get up, to stand there in front of that mirror and to say, "You’re gorgeous! I love you!" We laughed, but he seriously makes his patients take an oath to do this! Because being beautiful is not about how we look on the outside. It is about inner beauty. And each of us can be beautiful on the inside! Say thank you to those feet that have carried you for years! Thank you to hands that care for you and others! They’re beautiful!

He asked the women in the audience to raise their hand if the man in their life is beautiful. Nearly all of us raised our hands! Let’s try it. Women, if the man in your life is beautiful—or if you’re a widow, if the man who was in your life was beautiful—raise your hand. We are all beautiful to God and to those who love us! Dr. David claims that helping people feel good about themselves does as much for their health as writing a prescription.

Time prevents me from saying much about his fourth prescription for good health into our 80’s and 90’s. It is a healthy diet and exercise, exercise, exercise! He doesn’t recommend dieting, in fact he told us that after the age of 70 those who are 10-15 lbs overweight have the lowest mortality rate of all the weight groups. But he does advocate less fat, fewer carbohydrates, and eating more vegetables, fruit, and whole grains. He stressed more the exercise. His own mother hates exercise, and told him, "David, when I get the urge to exercise…I lie down. And I stay there until it goes away." He said there is a direct correlation between amount of exercise and length of life and quality of health. So I’ve turned up the speed on my treadmill this week!

In the Book of Psalms we read "So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom." It is good to regularly think about the long view of life, because we humans have a tendency to get caught up in the short range view.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "The years teach much which the days never know." Emerson was a very spiritual person who believed that aging well is living each day with the will to hallow it, to give it to God. May we do so, for certainly God gives us blessings unique to each age and stage of life. Amen.