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I keep reading all these statements about how much longer Boomers are expected to live . . . but that is not what I am seeing happen around me.
I have mentioned this to my high school friends and to my dad, and we are shocked at how many of our peers have died in their 50s and how many have died in the last two years at 58-65. It is very unnerving. None were accidents and none were suicides . . . folks are dying from cancer, especially - but a lot of brain tumors and lymphoma - wh/ typically just isn't that common (or hasn't been in the group of people I grew up with, their siblings and parents). Many of my classmates are NOT outliving their parents.
Also, we keep finding out about folks under 65 who have chronic illnesses and some who are disabled from chronic disease - but whose parents (in their 80s - 90s) are still living.
Maybe this is totally isolated and just coincidental, but it seems that every article I read is about how Boomers will, overall, live longer than their parents . . . and yet, I am seeing a significant number of folks who won't outlive their parents (or who have already died).
I don't think I will outlive my parents. They died at 91 and 82. I am 55 and when I think of how they were at my age, they were MUCH more active than I am. I work at a desk all day. They had jobs (but not desk jobs), but I remember them coming home and spending an hour or two working in the yard, mowing, gardening, etc. They just in general had a whole lot more energy than I have and were in much better shape. Later when they retired, they had some land and had a big garden and raised cattle and they were always busy and active with that. I told my mom before she died that I'm sure I won't make it as long as she did.
So it seems to me that the article is bascially saying that generations before ours sort of withered and died living with their families and didn't get out much. But today, ta, ta, dah! Our generation has technology which will allow us to rise above all that.
BS to that. Other generations of retirees found plenty to do if they so choose to.
Interesting that they are refering to an article reprinted in AARP from an investment company newsletter. AARP which likes to show us how we are supposed to live via the most good looking models and movie stars and an online investment company that would love to show us how to use our money.
Honestly, it seems no matter which way we turn these days, someone is telling us how to live our lives.
I truly believe they are writing for the people who still read newspapers and magazines. If your subscribers are predominantly older folks, you write older folks stories/articles. I don't think there is any kind of conspiracy. Like television show ratings that don't measure whether you like what you watch, only that you watch, the same can be said of newspapers and magazines.
I truly believe they are writing for the people who still read newspapers and magazines. If your subscribers are predominantly older folks, you write older folks stories/articles. I don't think there is any kind of conspiracy. Like television show ratings that don't measure whether you like what you watch, only that you watch, the same can be said of newspapers and magazines.
No, no conspiracy, just tired old worn out cliches that discourage people from thinking for themselves because it's easier to have others do it for them.
I generally agree with this. I don't see any boomers running marathons; most are couch potatoes even if they hit the gym a few times a week. Most have chronic illness and take a fair amount of permanent meds. I've lost four friends in the past few years, all in their 60s, from cancer. I think cancer is now emerging ahead of heart disease. I know too many boomers getting hip and knee replacements. The really old folks keep ticking and ticking, even through bypass surgeries and cancer that they seem to recover from or hold at bay. The oldest generation did not grow up bombarded by toxic pesticides and plastics, etc nor were they brought up on terrible food, even if they ate little during the Great Depression. Their original constitutions seem hardier than ours, the Wonder Bread kids. There are a LOT of 92 year olds out there today, and beware, many are still behind the wheel.
Objectively, the Silent Generation will go down in history as the wealthiest and longest lived. This is now beyond debate, the stats speak for themselves.
Most of the people I know of my generation are not couch potatoes. But some have had to slow down due to the onset of chronic illness. Like my friend Barb who has play golf practically all her life every week and then after retiring every few days. In between she would go to the gym, hike and once a week go dancing. Perpetual motion.
Yet one day she woke up with aches in her knees. She has had to slow down. Sometimes she gets cortisone shots for the knees when it gets really bad but for the most part she sees a chiropractor and does physical therapy.
I bring this up because sometimes I hear people of my generation being "blamed" for slowing down for being couch potatoes. While they may sit on the couch more now, they sure didn't start out that way. I had to slow way down when I developed an illness called Sarcoidosis. I gained weight from the meds I had to take. Looking at me people may say I was a couch potato but that was the result, not the cause of my being overweight. Although I have managed to lose quite a bit of it. And I am a bit of a couch potato due to the lack of energy the illness causes. Or on my computer chair posting on CD.
I believe that the many things our generation was exposed to growing up that previous generations were not is a large contributing factor toward our ill-health plus our genetic makeup. It's a lot more complicated than pointing a finger and saying that everyone who is unhealthy became that way by sitting on the couch too much.
Most of the people I know of my generation are not couch potatoes. But some have had to slow down due to the onset of chronic illness. Like my friend Barb who has play golf practically all her life every week and then after retiring every few days. In between she would go to the gym, hike and once a week go dancing. Perpetual motion.
Yet one day she woke up with aches in her knees. She has had to slow down. Sometimes she gets cortisone shots for the knees when it gets really bad but for the most part she sees a chiropractor and does physical therapy.
I bring this up because sometimes I hear people of my generation being "blamed" for slowing down for being couch potatoes. While they may sit on the couch more now, they sure didn't start out that way. I had to slow way down when I developed an illness called Sarcoidosis. I gained weight from the meds I had to take. Looking at me people may say I was a couch potato but that was the result, not the cause of my being overweight. Although I have managed to lose quite a bit of it. And I am a bit of a couch potato due to the lack of energy the illness causes. Or on my computer chair posting on CD.
I believe that the many things our generation was exposed to growing up that previous generations were not is a large contributing factor toward our ill-health plus our genetic makeup. It's a lot more complicated than pointing a finger and saying that everyone who is unhealthy became that way by sitting on the couch too much.
At approximately what age did your friend develop the knee problems which caused her to slow down? Knees are interesting. Like cars, people get different mileage out of them. And of course carrying too much weight is hard on knees. Some folks, especially nowdays, are heavy as children and teenagers, which does not bode well for the future of their knees (not to mention their heart health and other problems). I am an older boomer (born in 1944 - actually two years too old to be a boomer at all) and I can see generational differences in my own observations and experiences. When I was a kid growing up in the 1950's obesity was fairly rare. Now it's like the new normal.
At approximately what age did your friend develop the knee problems which caused her to slow down? Knees are interesting. Like cars, people get different mileage out of them. And of course carrying too much weight is hard on knees. Some folks, especially nowadays, are heavy as children and teenagers, which does not bode well for the future of their knees (not to mention their heart health and other problems). I am an older boomer (born in 1944 - actually two years too old to be a boomer at all) and I can see generational differences in my own observations and experiences. When I was a kid growing up in the 1950's obesity was fairly rare. Now it's like the new normal.
Her knees began to trouble her around the time she turned 62. That would have been 2011. She was never overweight but weighed just the right amount for her height all of her life from childhood on. She is still slender and looks very fit. She in fact spent part of her mid teen age years and into her early twenties working on a farm.
She is as active as she can be because she one of those people who never likes to be idle so to hear her tell me, as she did just yesterday, that she spent one whole day just sitting in her easy chair watching TV all day sounded kind of odd. But she only does this occasionally because sitting still for is just not her thing. But of course, most of us slow down as we age. And that's okay.
She does spend several days a week baby sitting her three year old great niece and that's a bit of exercise in itself. Instead of playing 18 holes she plays 9 and for the first time, sometimes uses a cart although she hates to. She tries to be as active as she can but there is no question she has had to slow down rather than speed up as some of those magazines and online websites for older people suggest those of our generation do.
Here's the thing. I am afraid that many people will read that they are supposed to be active but their bodies are telling them the opposite. Well of course they should be active and move as much as they can. However, no one should feel they have to hold their bodies up a standard they read about as some kind of "norm."
It's difficult enough to accept the fact that many of us are no longer keeping up with our younger selves for whatever reason let alone those people who are being held up as examples of people our age we should aspire to be like. Those are the people who are still running marathons or climbing mountains and so forth. That's great and inspiring and more power to them. But it is not possible for everyone and in fact I think for most of us.
If Barb can finish her 9 holes without the use of a golf cart, she should be just as proud as if she did 18. And she deserves her day on the couch.
Her knees began to trouble her around the time she turned 62. That would have been 2011. She was never overweight but weighed just the right amount for her height all of her life from childhood on. She is still slender and looks very fit. She in fact spent part of her mid teen age years and into her early twenties working on a farm.
She is as active as she can be because she one of those people who never likes to be idle so to hear her tell me, as she did just yesterday, that she spent one whole day just sitting in her easy chair watching TV all day sounded kind of odd. But she only does this occasionally because sitting still for is just not her thing. But of course, most of us slow down as we age. And that's okay.
She does spend several days a week baby sitting her three year old great niece and that's a bit of exercise in itself. Instead of playing 18 holes she plays 9 and for the first time, sometimes uses a cart although she hates to. She tries to be as active as she can but there is no question she has had to slow down rather than speed up as some of those magazines and online websites for older people suggest those of our generation do.
Here's the thing. I am afraid that many people will read that they are supposed to be active but their bodies are telling them the opposite. Well of course they should be active and move as much as they can. However, no one should feel they have to hold their bodies up a standard they read about as some kind of "norm."
It's difficult enough to accept the fact that many of us are no longer keeping up with our younger selves for whatever reason let alone those people who are being held up as examples of people our age we should aspire to be like. Those are the people who are still running marathons or climbing mountains and so forth. That's great and inspiring and more power to them. But it is not possible for everyone and in fact I think for most of us.
If Barb can finish her 9 holes without the use of a golf cart, she should be just as proud as if she did 18. And she deserves her day on the couch.
You make an excellent point that some people have genuine medical issues which prevent them from exercising at optimal levels. However, running marathons is an extreme example; very few people are capable of running marathons at any age, and trying to train for one when we are older is an invitation to knee trouble. It is just unnecessarily extreme. I am 69 and I am doing well to be able to jog for 20 minutes without stopping, although I can still walk a couple of hours at a very brisk pace. We are all individuals with our differences; for me, for some reason, jogging is difficult/problematic but very fast walking is a piece of cake.
I'm afraid all too many people use the aches and pains which crop up as an excuse not to exercise at all, as if their age precluded all exercise. I think we should all try to hang onto at least brisk walking as long as we can, age-wise.
You make an excellent point that some people have genuine medical issues which prevent them from exercising at optimal levels. However, running marathons is an extreme example; very few people are capable of running marathons at any age, and trying to train for one when we are older is an invitation to knee trouble. It is just unnecessarily extreme. I am 69 and I am doing well to be able to jog for 20 minutes without stopping, although I can still walk a couple of hours at a very brisk pace. We are all individuals with our differences; for me, for some reason, jogging is difficult/problematic but very fast walking is a piece of cake.
I'm afraid all too many people use the aches and pains which crop up as an excuse not to exercise at all, as if their age precluded all exercise. I think we should all try to hang onto at least brisk walking as long as we can, age-wise.
I mentioned the marathon runners to make a point because this is the extreme the media uses when showing us what older people can do as if we all should be doing this. It seems to me that these are the extreme examples they hold up to the rest of us as ideals rather than the many more who are able to do the 20 minutes of jogging or the couple of hours of walking.
I usually don't see them show the more average goals that are accomplished. That was the point I had intended to make.
I keep reading all these statements about how much longer Boomers are expected to live . . . but that is not what I am seeing happen around me.
I have mentioned this to my high school friends and to my dad, and we are shocked at how many of our peers have died in their 50s and how many have died in the last two years at 58-65. It is very unnerving. None were accidents and none were suicides . . . folks are dying from cancer, especially - but a lot of brain tumors and lymphoma - wh/ typically just isn't that common (or hasn't been in the group of people I grew up with, their siblings and parents). Many of my classmates are NOT outliving their parents.
Also, we keep finding out about folks under 65 who have chronic illnesses and some who are disabled from chronic disease - but whose parents (in their 80s - 90s) are still living.
Maybe this is totally isolated and just coincidental, but it seems that every article I read is about how Boomers will, overall, live longer than their parents . . . and yet, I am seeing a significant number of folks who won't outlive their parents (or who have already died).
I agree. I too know many Boomers who have passed away from cancers or have chronic progressive illness. I am 59 years old and have been battling several autoimmune illnesses since I was 43 years old. It was a struggle, but I was able to work until Rheumatoid Arthritis of the hands, wrist, elbows, shoulders and feet, finally made it impossible for me to work, and I was forced into early retirement from my career as a web designer in March of 2016. I am grateful that I paid for private LTD insurance, which now allows me to collect 60% of my salary, but that does not stretch far; especially if you are sick. My parents, however, are in their late 80's. Yes, they now have health issues, but they enjoyed a really great retirement (for which I am glad). They were healthy enough to travel extensively, stay active and enjoy life. (Again, I am very happy that they have enjoyed their golden years). Just wanted to share my experience.
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Thoughts on couch potatoes
