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I really dislike those commercials aimed at Seniors selling products on TV that seem to be trying to convince us we should be having the same energy, eating the same amount and kinds of food, exercising with the same vigor and having just as much sex as any twenty year old. All we have to do is buy this or wonder vitamin or piece of exercise equipment they are selling and we will be miraculously transformed. Baloney.
I think nature really wants us to slow down a bit in our elder years, not speed up, just a little slow-down to remind us we don't have to rush around any longer.
I just look at my old cat. She will be fifteen sometime this year. She has slowed down considerably. She doesn't eat any differently than she ever did but she eats less. I think that makes sense. She naps more. She doesn't exert herself. She just takes life as it comes and doesn't seem to worry much about her little bit of a middle age kitty spread. The vet says she is healthy, all parts functioning pretty well for an old girl.
She has some old age kitty ailments and I have some old age human ailments but I complain and she doesn't so I think she has a better coping mechanism.
She is smart enough to know she is no kitten any more and is aging gracefully. She doesn't try to turn back the clock and no longer attempts to leap tall counters or chase squirrels out of the yard. She is content to watch them from the window. She knows her limitations and accepts them.
I am taking my cue from her. I join her in one of her naps in the afternoon, eat pretty much as I always have but less and try not to stress about things because now that I am retired, there is less to stress about. She gets up her energy enough to bat around a toy mouse just as much as she feels so inclined no more no less and I exercise enough to make certain the old bones are still sound and the muscles stay in good shape. Common sense on both our parts.
I don't like those commercials that promise youth and youthful functions. I don't want to waste energy trying to turn back the clock and I am not going to compete with my youth. I plan to take care of myself but I also plan to act my age.
I don't disagree about commercials but that isn't confined to just the ones aimed at seniors.
Can't say I totally agree about the part of your post as to how things are supposed to go but can say you have the right to any interpretation of it all that suits you.
Although I don't watch TV, I can easily believe the absurdity of the "fountain of youth" type advertising claims. Ironically, however, it is actually true that regular exercise does give us more energy, health, and longevity. And this is achievable without any trendy piece of equipment; a pair of walking/running shoes and a few hand-held weights will do nicely. As for diet pills and/or supplements, the baloney is even thicker. We all know what a healthy diet is: more fruits and vegetables, less red meat, less sugar and less refined carbs (such as white bread, white rice, and potatoes).
I find a lot of the advertisements as irritating as the ones aimed at young women -- which set up these impossible standards of beauty and body image.
Not everyone can run a marathon at 80 (or would even WANT to) . . . not all of us can bike with our husbands . . . not all of us are slim and trim and bouncy, lol.
On the other hand, there are commercials showing folks who are decrepit and practically "shut ins" -- lingering by the phone, praying their children will call and otherwise afraid to go outside because they might fall or their arthritis prevents them from putting some flowers in a flower pot (until they take a miracle drug that makes them suddenly capable of playing catch and frisbee with their numerous grandchildren).
Blah.
According to most advertisements, seniors are either spending their time dancing under the moonlight on a cruise or they are looking for a miracle drug so they can throw the cane away.
I find a lot of the advertisements as irritating as the ones aimed at young women -- which set up these impossible standards of beauty and body image.
Not everyone can run a marathon at 80 (or would even WANT to) . . . not all of us can bike with our husbands . . . not all of us are slim and trim and bouncy, lol.
On the other hand, there are commercials showing folks who are decrepit and practically "shut ins" -- lingering by the phone, praying their children will call and otherwise afraid to go outside because they might fall or their arthritis prevents them from putting some flowers in a flower pot (until they take a miracle drug that makes them suddenly capable of playing catch and frisbee with their numerous grandchildren).
Blah.
According to most advertisements, seniors are either spending their time dancing under the moonlight on a cruise or they are looking for a miracle drug so they can throw the cane away.
Or sitting in their own individual bath tubs looking out at the ocean or some other scenic view.
Of course;its the shifting of where the market is selling to a huge audience growing older. Look at the numbers and realize its no different than selling you ache solutions when younger or anything else.
Of course;its the shifting of where the market is selling to a huge audience growing older. Look at the numbers and realize its no different than selling you ache solutions when younger or anything else.
What I suspect is happening is that at 30 we were less likely to see ourselves as one monolithic entity and marketing could carve out individual target audiences and we ignored what wasn't us. As teens this was even more true, however now we often see what is targeted for someone else as being all seniors.
If you don't like the commercials, do what I did. Watch as little TV as possible and get a DVR, so you can record the shows you want to watch and then watch them when its convenient and fast forward through all the commercials. Yes, people are always trying to sell us something that will solve our problems. Most of that you have to ignore. Their products don't really work anyhow, or if they do, they sure aren't going to make you 25 again.
On the other hand, I have every intention of maintaining a healthy energy level. I don't like sitting and doing nothing. I like to get out and have fun. Yes, I still take a nap some days, but then I'm ready to go again. I've started a regular exercise program and I've noticed that already I have a little more energy.
Snake oil sales pitches have been going on for 100's of years. Todays TV ads are just the modern version of that quackery medicine man going from town to town in his covered wagon hawking these products to relieve you of your hard earned money. Usually a small percentage fall for the spiels thinking it will make them feel younger and better.
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