When it comes to growing old gracefully, the odds seem stacked against us. If you can dodge cardiovascular disease as you head into your golden years, then you are already beating the odds of the number one killer. Hypertension, coronary heart disease, heart failure and stroke rise as we age, and the likelihood we suffer from any one of them grows from 40 percent in our 40s and 50s to a whopping 79-86 percent among those aged 80 years or older.
Then there’s the cognitive challenge. Dreaded Alzheimer’s, as well as other dementias, topping the list and affecting nearly six million Americans alone, are now the sixth leading cause of death. Despite having spent more than $42 billion and more than 25 years experimenting, drug companies have failed to find a drug to treat the disorder.
By age 75, roughly 43 percent of people are at risk of developing Alzheimer’s dementia, and women, by right of living longer, have higher odds of losing their mind before they die.1
This says nothing of the perils of other diseases, from cancer and diabetes to infections. Little wonder that our culture worships youth as much as it fears aging.
“It’s paradoxical that the idea of living a long life appeals to everyone, but the idea of getting old doesn’t appeal to anyone,” former American commentator Andy Rooney once quipped.
Never mind living to 100. How do we get that holy grail of aging pleasandy—the kind of life often depicted, ironically on television adverts for adult diapers and medications for diabetes, that show old people climbing on hilltops, frolicking with their grandchildren or playing tennis on a cruise ship?
Is aging nicely just a marketing ideal? Is it a rare gift to a handful of Hollywood elites with “good genes”? A new book suggests the contrary. Getting old is inevitable, but a healthy active and energetic long life is more than possible if we can avoid the perils
