Choice and consequences in the fight for a healthy old age

Constantly we read sweeping and often misleading generalizations in the press about today’s over 50s. Take these two articles which appeared in one recent issue of the Daily Mail:

First was a story about the development of a new ‘polypill’ which Professor Sir Nicholas Wald of the University of London maintains should be given to all over-50s to prevent heart attacks and strokes. Tests showed that taking the tablet every day for 12 weeks gives those in their  fifties, sixties and seventies the blood pressure and cholesterol  levels of twentysomethings.

The proposal is that we should all be taking it. ‘It is specifically designed for healthy people to keep them healthy,’ the professor commented. ‘It is like taking anti-malarials if you are going to Africa – you take them in order to reduce your chance of contracting the disease.’

The second story focused on the rise of eating disorders in older women which apparently have increased by 42 per cent in the past 11 years — leading to all kinds of health problems such as osteoporosis, heart, liver, digestive and gastro-intestinal problems, not to mention depression. Surprisingly, women over 50 — average age 69 — comprise 78 per cent of all deaths from anorexia.

So, on one hand we are all thought to be eating and lazing our way to disaster and in need of mass preventative treatments that will keep us physically as young as in our twenties, and on the other we – women at least – are being criticized for wanting to counteract the signs of ageing and being told to resign ourselves to the inevitable: “our mothers at [this] age would have slipped into a skirt with an elasticated waist and indulged in another cake,” the journalist comments.

While the author of this piece maintained that a desire to emulate impossibly beautiful women celebrities has led to a new anxiety and discontent in older women, I don’t think it’s that simple.
One of the biggest challenges for us all today as we age is that we have unprecedented amounts of choice.  And exercising that choice and making those decisions about what we want and need and have to do is hard.

Should we choose to take the easy option and decide that polypill protection is an easier path than living a healthy lifestyle?  And should we, men and women, choose to disregard aspirational role models that perhaps in earlier years encouraged us to up our game and slump into invisible comfort rather than taking a robust stance against some of the unwelcome signs of ageing such as grey hair, increased weight and lack of flexibility?

As a nation of elders it’s surely time we grew up, got a grip and took greater responsibility for ourselves and our futures – physical, financial and emotional – so that attitudes such as this become irrelevant.

Yes, we’re ageing, and yes it isn’t always all great,  but aren’t we lucky to be alive for longer to enjoy it?

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2175493/Polypills-Why-50s-offered-slash-risk-strokes-heart-attacks.html#ixzz213UC4fPX

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2175610/An-obsession-looking-Fab-Fifty-rise-older-women-eating-disorders.html#ixzz213TiTzBe

Things in life that just don’t add up – no. 619

As we all face the likelihood of living longer we are exhorted to adopt a healthy lifestyle in order to ensure that any extra years of life can be enjoyed in good health while reducing the burden on state care. Employers too are encouraged to offer health and wellness programmes for all.

However in direct opposition to this is the fact that large numbers of retired people are entitled to a higher income in their retirement if they have underlying health conditions which would qualify them for an enhanced annuity.  Qualifying conditions for an enhanced annuity include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease and diabetes – all of which are, to some extent, preventable, lifestyle-related ailments.

A new press release issued by MGM Advantage, a specialist in retirement income, contains the following comment from their Sales and Marketing Director: “It is an unfortunate fact of life that as we get older, we are more at risk of getting underlying health conditions. Those buying an annuity should have a health check and be sure to inform their annuity provider of any health conditions to see if they qualify for an enhanced annuity. The difference between a standard and an enhanced annuity can be significant and would make a real difference, particularly when the cost of living is squeezing finances.”

So sod the salad and gym. Hunker down in front of the TV and have another pint and pie…

 

 

Heart bypass

A very strange TV advertisement is currently being aired showing a throbbing human heart in all its rather slippery looking glory. The ad is from the British Heart Foundation (BHF) and its aim – according to their press release – is to grab our attention and raise awareness of the UK’s biggest killer – heart and circulatory disease. Having been put off my dinner by the perky pulsator I guess I can confirm that it does do that.

The ad appeared about the same time as a report from Help the Aged showing that, due to the huge increase in the numbers of us living longer, “the UK’s ageing population is set to cause a huge rise in the number of older people living with long-term illnesses (heart disease, osteoporosis and dementia)”. This will undoubtedly, as they predict, stretch the NHS to breaking point.

Although they maintain that more research is needed into causes and cures, the message has got to be that we all must individually do more now.  Surely by now we are all aware that smoking, poor diet, excess weight and lack of exercise will almost certainly affect our health and lead to heart and circulatory problems. Already there’s plenty that the medical profession can do to fix such problems, the message for everyone – from the cradle onwards – has got to be prevention, prevention, prevention.

Perhaps if we were able to have a look at our hearts and other inner organs and found that they looked nowhere near as bright and bouncy as the BHF model we might be motivated to take action.  A similar series of ads some time ago showing what smokers’ lungs actually looked like were pretty powerful and effective.