Aging has its inevitable challenges, some predictable and others that come about without any apparent cause.
This reminds me of a statement about the opposite age spectrum, the young, that it’s such a wonderful period of life; it’s a shame it has to be wasted on children.
When I visit the Wellness Center for my daily walk, I often see and hear the young campers playing there in the gym, uninhibited and generally undeterred by the predictable aging process still a seemingly eternity away. Envy comes to mind. But growing old has consequences.
I read an opinion piece in the WSJ recently about aging; it as written** by a former Secretary of State and a Nobel Prize winner.
The theme was that there was a critical need for more basic medical research especially in the areas of Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.
They cited statistics showing that the twin problems are increasing because for one reason, people are generally living longer and therefore more susceptible to the ravages of these two dreadful enemies of the old.
The writers stated that presently there are more than five million Americans with Alzheimer’s and an estimated half million with Parkinson’s the latter that seemingly is genetically passed from one generation to another. Scientists know much about how Alzheimer’s develops but are still puzzled by why and even less as to how to combat this mind robbing tragedy.
Do you know someone who suffers from either of these little understood illnesses? Both are easily recognized; Parkinson’s is evident by the moderate to severe lost of muscular coordination manifested by uncontrollable shaking of hands.
Alzheimer’s’ is the ultimate thief that robs one of his/her memory. Both generally increase in degree over a period of time.
You perhaps know of someone who has the misfortune of being a victim of one or the other. An Alzheimer’s acquaintance outwardly shows little signs of the degnerataive illness.
He appears as normal; he can carry on a conversation, he can read, use his many keys to open a variety of locks and still has an understanding of basic financial matters.
In a crowd of his peers, he would never stand out until one begins to understand that there are ‘blanks’ in his memory. He has difficulty in recalling names and associations and has to be reminded of elements of time such as the day of the week.
He understands corrections to his mental mistakes, but within a few minutes (or less) he has lost the connection and must be reminded again.
A poster I once saw at the Wellness Center showed an active exercising senior citizen with obvious signs of lost youth with a caption: Old Age Is Not for Sissy’s!
One possible suggestion to delay Alzheimer’s is to “exercise” your brain by performing challenging activities such as doing puzzles, learning another language and developing a musical talent among others.
“Use your brain. If you don’t, your brain may leave you before you leave it.” (Stanley B. Prusiner, George P. Schultz**)
“The mind of man is like a clock that is always running down, and requires to be constantly wound up.” (William Hazlitt)
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Bill Lee, PO Box 128, Hamer, SC 29547