Age Warrior Call to Battle: Let’s Not Become Burdens!

[This report, “Boomers Doomed to Disability?”, started Sunday.]

Despite what the Seeman UCLA study tells us, the most important question remains: what are we doing wrong? What accounts for this trend?

The researchers said that the statistics can’t tell us yet. The data does tell that it’s not just obesity or degenerative diseases or what the researchers termed “health behavior”.

While the statistics don’t tell us precisely what caused the dramatic increase in disability among those in their 60s between 1988 and 2005, we can take the common sense approach of following all we know about what constitutes a healthy lifestyle.

For me that means:

• Weight control

• Age appropriate exercise
• Supplements as needed
• Stress minimization
• Optimism
• A network of positive social attachments with family and/or friends
• Mental exercise
• No smoking
• Alcohol only in moderation

The research study closed with this ominous statement.

“Current economic conditions only serve to underscore the imperative for the United States to undertake efforts to better delineate and understand not only disability trends and their sources but also the broader societal costs of such disability.”

That’s why I’m issuing this Age Warrior Call to Battle. Those of us born right after the end of WWII or earlier were raised to take care of ourselves, to be responsible for ourselves and our families. We were taught not to expect handouts; not to expect “free” healthcare, “free” higher education, “free” housing, “free” hover chairs … or even “free” lunches.

Wake up! There is no “free” lunch!! We, as a society, will all be better off when every individual can stand on his or her own two feet … literally or figuratively or both!

Tags: avoid disability, boomer wake-up call, age-appropriate exercise, anti-aging supplements, drink in moderation, stop smoking, healthy lifestyle choices, quality of life