In the last century nearly 30 years has been added to the average life expectancy in the industrialized world. But for many older adults these later years are not a time of happiness and wellbeing. A century ago, the average adult in the Western world spent only 1 per cent of their life in an ill or unhealthy state towards the end of life, but today’s average adult spends more than 10 per cent of their life ill. Has modern medical science extended the human life span but not managed to extend the human health span?
People may be living longer but are they dying longer too – of chronic diseases that cause frailty, becoming incapacitated and incapable of taking care of themselves, therefore dependant on family, community and society for their care.
The estimated annual cost of managing chronic conditions in the US alone will exceed a trillion dollars in the year 2025. Already half of those aged sixty five and over have two or more chronic conditions and one quarter have problems so severe as to limit their ability to perform one or more normal activities of daily life.
It is a shame our medical model is so focused on illness and disease rather than wellness.
This is backed up by the fact that older adults;
? Consume 25 to 40 percent of all prescription drugs.
? Purchase 70 percent of all over the counter drugs.
? Use an average of 15 prescriptions per year.
? Often have up to 10 different prescriptions at one time.
How can the over prescribing of pharmaceutical drugs lead to wellness? Why we may ask has medical science paid so little attention to the special attributes that enable people to live long and healthy lives, and to remain energetic, strong and independent in their later years?
Very few of us are actually aware that there are entire cultures where the majority of people live productively, passionately, and vibrantly right to the end of life. There are many people today who want to live in harmony with their bodies and not fear the deterioration of health to the point where we are unable to take care of ourselves. Aging should not be a source of grief, anxiety, unhappiness and illness. Medicating people with anti depressants and other toxic drugs is not the answer.
People need to understand that the human body does not stay strong and healthy when its owner leads a sedentary and inactive lifestyle. The choices made yesterday and today effect how ones future is played out. You are shaped by those choices. How you look after yourself and how you manage your life, your choice about whether to exercise and stay strong in particular has great bearing on how much strength you retain in the later years.
Strength is extremely important as it affects so much else connected with our health and wellness. When strength declines along with muscle tissue and bone density to the tune of 3 kilos per decade after age 30 a downward spiral is set in place. This degeneration accelerates as one ages leading to increased risk of loss of physical function and mobility. The risk also increases of being the victim of chronic illness and disease and becoming medically dependant. Any wonder many people fear aging.
The prescription remedy to halt this decline is within easy reach and access to everybody. A proper exercise program that includes at least 60 % strength training exercise along with cardio interval training should be implemented by age 30 to offset the lack of physical activity or work that our bodies are programmed to do. Two to three sessions per week can reverse decades of lost strength and physical function in just a few months.
When you take practical steps to recover your lost strength you will discover that it is possible to age with more vigor, happiness and inner peace than is the norm in the Western World today. We can have a brighter future filled with pleasure, dignity and purpose at any age.
