And I think... how will I be when I'm old?
And I'm not thinking about this in any good way...
Like... some of the elderly I see are bent over, hardly able to walk well, or some of them might have some mental issues, dementia, difficulty in speaking, some might be in wheelchairs, etc... It's quite sad really. And I think... is this going to happen to me? How can I prevent it? Can I even prevent it?
We had a Geriatrician give a talk at my old company once.
(Geriatrics or geriatric medicine is a specialty that focuses on health care of elderly people. It aims to promote health by preventing and treating diseases and disabilities in older adults. There is no set age at which patients may be under the care of a geriatrician or geriatric physician, a physician who specializes in the care of elderly people. - Wikipedia)
And she said... she knows of a way to not grow old.
If we didn't want to grow old, it's very easy. Just die young lor.
And she further explained... It's not growing old that people don't want, they just don't like the side effect of growing old. The deterioration of the body, disabilities and all that. And she continued... So the thing is... how do we mitigate all these factors to reduce the risks of such issues happening.
Essentially, we want to delay the onset of the aging process. So that in our later years, we still function reasonably well. Cos it's during the later years, that we can relax and spend our money, take those holidays which we've been waiting for, and all that, but if we aren't mobile then there's pretty much no point anymore.
And the thing is... most of the time, we don't know that we are aging til aging hits us. Like... someone doesn't know his arteries are clogged until he gets a heart attack. There's no read warning when it's 10% clogged, no warning when it's 50% clogged, but at 90% clogged, the person gets a heart attack and by then it's super hard to reverse the situation. I think aging is something like that.
As humans we all atrophy. If we don't use it, we lose it. Our muscles, our brains, our skills, everything. And as we grow old, we lose things faster than when we were young. It's also harder to develop muscles when older as well. Or learn new things. I've spoken with my dad and he was pretty much telling me that recovery is slower, muscles are weak and all that. If he slips, he falls straight down, his muscles just aren't fast enough to try to break his fall or soften the impact, they don't work that way anymore. So he needs to be careful to not even fall down. Cos once he falls down, he can't break the impact, the impact breaks him instead.
Or I've seen elderly with dementia, they can't even remember their children and grand children, they can hardly take care of themselves. They may end up in hospital after a fall, but yet they don't even remember the fall and still don't know why they are staying in the hospital. And even after explaining to them, the next day they forget and continue to wonder why they are staying in hospital. It's actually very tiring for the caregivers.
And I think... how DO I try to mitigate all these bad effects? Like financial planning, every dollar saved now, is a dollar saved for the future. I think, this is the same for aging. The planning starts now. All the small things being done now gets us more ready for aging as well.
Things like eating healthily, eating good food, low in trans fats, less preservatives, less canned food, less luncheon meat (don't scream, out of all the readers I'm sure there's a large % who love luncheon meat).
More activities, like exercise, muscle building activities. Just light muscle building activities will be good enough. Of course more is better, but it's the habit that counts. So I think like, 20 proper push ups, 40 sit ups, 20 proper squats, is a reasonable daily habit. The thing is, if you are able to do all these now, tomorrow you will still be able to do it, and tomorrow again, and again. And if you keep doing it daily, you will continue to be able to keep doing it. I highly doubt that between yesterday and today, you will suddenly drop to 19 push ups.
But if you wait til you are 60, then want to start, you may be able to do only 5 push ups. Then you have to work even harder to train to reach 20, and at 60 years old, training to be able to do 20 push ups and the other calisthenics aren't going to be easy. So I think constant light exercise is the way to go.
Then for mental health, I think being active is very very important. Sometimes, family members think they are being nice to the elderly by providing a domestic helper, or to ask the old folk to sit around to watch tv, and they don't get to go out and they don't need to do chores and stuff. I think that's bad for the elderly. They need to think, to do things, to plan what to cook for the day, etc. They need mental stimulation. Like quarreling, discussing topics. There's a difference between being rude and quarreling. If something they do is not right, then I think it's the duty of their children to point it out to them and tell them why. Things change, technology changes, I point out new things to my parents all the time and try to change their perceptions cos, things just aren't done the old way anymore.
The thing is pretty much keeping up the mental stimulation. Writing, reading newspapers, watching intellectual things, playing mahjong, planning what to cook for dinner, planning what to cook for some event, etc. I think these things are necessary for older folk so that they can keep being mentally active. Else they could end up rotting away in front of the TV.
And seriously, I've experienced rotting my brains away... I've watched TV for hours during my free time, and I have a lot of free time. And I feel it. After a few days, the brain just shuts off. It's like NS, but worse. Cos at least during NS we still need to stay alert and learn new things. But when there's little incentive to think, the human mind WILL start to atrophy.
So yes, I do think of growing old a lot. It's only 30 more years til I'm 65, and I've already lived 35 til now. It's not THAT far away really. And those years are supposed to be the best years, when life settles down, we can take the backseat and cruise along, our money issues should be all settled, the older we are, the better able we are able to budget our remaining AUM cos there's less years for error. So I do hope to be able to remain healthy physically, mentally and financially. Cos seriously... if I'm not healthy in all 3, then...
Well... it's better to be healthier in all 3, else 1 is better than 0, and 2 is better than 1...
But definitely we should aim to do well in all 3 and the time starts now... not when we are 50-60 years old and things are already starting to wear out.
So hopefully, we will all become or continue to stay healthy mentally, financially, and physically. Now and in the years to come.
<<PREVIOUS POST // NEXT POST>>
Did you like this post? If so, could you "blanjah" me 1/4 cup of my afternoon coffee pls.
Many thanks for continuing to come to this blog to read my posts.