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2019-04-25 -Signs, Portents, and the Weather-
Getting Old is Not as Bad as it's Supposed to Be
[Dallas News, Wednesday, but linked to the Author's blog]
Before you buy into that stereotype that all older Americans are demented, helpless and lonely, check out these statistics.
Not everybody is Hillary Clinton?
Ninety-seven percent of Americans over 65 are NOT in nursing homes. Here’s an even more interesting statistic ‐ ninety-one percent of Americans aged 85 and older are not in nursing homes.
I am part of the 97% and hope to squeeze into the 91%.
Ninety percent of Americans aged 65 and older DO NOT have Alzheimer’s dementia. Ninety percent, folks. According to the American Medical Association, dementia rates continue to fall significantly. Interestingly, however, Americans’ anxiety about memory loss is increasing.
I wonder if the media has something to do with that misconception?
Or possibly connected to the fact that more Americans have reached the age where dementia is a real possibility, even if a smaller percent actually experience it.
Over fifty percent of Americans aged 85 and older can go about their everyday activities without any help. Dressing, cooking, paying bills ‐ they are doing that just fine, thank you.

If most older Americans are not demented or helpless, surely they are at least suffering from loneliness and depression, right? Nope. Health-service company Cigna did a survey and found that the loneliest group is Generation Z, defined as ages 18 ‐ 22. The next largest group is composed of people aged 45-49; a whopping forty-three percent report being lonely. In contrast, only twenty-five percent of Americans over 70 say they are lonely.
If you've been in a stable relationship for a number of years, that's a big help.
How about that secret conviction held by most that older people are an economic burden to the country and, by extension, to every one of us? Not true. People over 50 make up thirty-five percent of the population yet contribute forty-three percent of the total US GDP. That’s a $7.4 trillion contribution by that aged and decrepit over-50 group.
Workers 50-67 are generally in their peak earning years, just before they retire. The concern centers on the years after retirement, when they’re spending down their retirement savings.
If you find any of that surprising, then you might be suffering from ageism, which is the discrimination and stereotyping of people by age.
Some interesting examples of late-term bloomers at link.
Posted by Bobby 2019-04-25 00:00|| || Front Page|| [18 views ]  Top

#1 "Supposed to be".

According to whom?

I'm turning 70 shortly and think that getting old really sucks in some ways. No dementia but I have way more aches and pains than ever and don't have the energy I need to do half the things I want.

Not depressed and lonely just occasionally annoyed. Of course then there are the Democrats trying to ruin everything which is the worst of it.
Posted by AlanC 2019-04-25 08:10||   2019-04-25 08:10|| Front Page Top

#2 I'm right there with ya AlanC. Can't do stuff I did only 5 years ago.
Posted by Deacon Blues 2019-04-25 08:16||   2019-04-25 08:16|| Front Page Top

#3 I have a new found love of the porch
Posted by Besoeker 2019-04-25 08:19||   2019-04-25 08:19|| Front Page Top

#4 "Supposed to be" according to everything else I ever read.

At least, if I remember correctly.
Posted by Bobby 2019-04-25 08:57||   2019-04-25 08:57|| Front Page Top

#5 On Wednesday evening at 6pm a 101 year old, soon to be 102, walks into Bible study meeting when he is not running in a national track meet for the 100-105 age group.

He just turned over his oil investment portfolio to his decendents which he created himself and managed to make enough to be sitting on $4,000,000.00.

As a WW2 trainer of pilots, yet wanting to actually fly in combat but told they needed him to be a trainer instead, they finnally gave him the honor of being one of the pilots to fly a strata-fortress over Moscow and nuke it for many years until the went with a Ballistic delivery systems, sadly.

He encounters the same symptoms as everyone else but he says he works through them. He is very shy and a very good man but I would hate to be his enemy. At 101 he came charging out of the Wednesday night Bible study like he had an important appt and I accidently got into his path and it felt like I was about to get hit by a locomotive as I quickly got out of his flight path. He just sold his Camaro and that is a shame. I will never get to race him.

A few weeks ago I saw him approach a three flight set of stairs, look at them and determindly procede to climb them. The elevator he could have taken was near the stairs but that was not on his list of options at this geographical encounter. The man could still survive on a remote island by himself. Seriously.

If you are fortunate enough to witness this 101 year old go by a time or two, you realize he will not be stopped.
Posted by Ebbavirt Clunk4147 2019-04-25 09:08||   2019-04-25 09:08|| Front Page Top

#6 #1 and #2--Youngsters.
Posted by JohnQC 2019-04-25 09:14||   2019-04-25 09:14|| Front Page Top

#7 Getting old sucks, but is preferable to the alternative.
Posted by Regular joe 2019-04-25 09:54||   2019-04-25 09:54|| Front Page Top

#8  ninety-one percent of Americans aged 85 and older are not in nursing homes.

This is a bit misleading. "Nursing Homes" (AKA skilled nursing facilities) are at the most extreme end of the eldercare spectrum. Many more people are in assisted living facilities, and even more are in independent living (55+) communities with nurses etc. on staff.

Still the headline is correct. My grandfather died at 78. My parents survived into their 90's. My mother was in independent living at age 95.

It is great to see people in their 70's and 80's playing golf and swimming. A generation earlier they would have been dead.

Al
Posted by Frozen Al 2019-04-25 09:55||   2019-04-25 09:55|| Front Page Top

#9 Fake news.
Posted by Bigfoot Croting8845 2019-04-25 10:26||   2019-04-25 10:26|| Front Page Top

#10 Bench 225, Squat 300, Deadlift 350 on my 68th.
Posted by Skidmark 2019-04-25 11:17||   2019-04-25 11:17|| Front Page Top

#11 re: #6 - I've out lived almost all my previous generations of relatives already. If I make the end of the year I'll have surpassed both mother and father; way past all grand parents there are only a couple of Aunts or Uncles that made 80.

Those long life genes seem to have missed us.
Posted by AlanC 2019-04-25 11:33||   2019-04-25 11:33|| Front Page Top

#12 Keep exercising until those aches and pains go away.
Posted by Abu Uluque 2019-04-25 11:49||   2019-04-25 11:49|| Front Page Top

#13 Not living longer, living better longer.
Thank you every/anything/one for making this possible.
Posted by Skidmark 2019-04-25 15:35||   2019-04-25 15:35|| Front Page Top

#14 Good numbers Skidmark. You need to up your squats, though.
Posted by Regular joe 2019-04-25 16:52||   2019-04-25 16:52|| Front Page Top

#15 #11 A wish for a long, happy and healthy life AlanC.
Posted by JohnQC 2019-04-25 18:11||   2019-04-25 18:11|| Front Page Top

#16 John Q C hat's what I tell the 60-year olds I know.
Posted by Deacon Blues 2019-04-25 18:48||   2019-04-25 18:48|| Front Page Top

#17 My refrigerator magnet says, "Getting Old Ain't For Sissies".
Posted by KBK 2019-04-25 19:30||   2019-04-25 19:30|| Front Page Top

07:18 Besoeker
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