don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

A few days ago, recognition came to Mary Christian of San Pablo, California. Mary, born in Taunton, Mass., on June 12, 1889, has just become the oldest American, at 113. This title was conferred by an organization called the Gerontology Research Group, a nonprofit collection of volunteer demographers who study aging and chronicle those who remain above ground longer than any others. Imagine that -- 113 -- you should live so long -- or should you? Let's think about that.

Mary's two sons are dead, she has lost much of her vision and she is bedridden in a care center where she is unable to taste her food or recognize the voices of but a few of her closest grandchildren (of whom she has 14 plus 30 great-grandchildren.) Still want to live to 100 -- or 113?

Well, it's a matter of taste, I suppose, as is just about everything else from the clothes you wear to the religion you choose, if any. I'd suggest to you that it's better to live in a country that offers choices than one that does not.

Mary Christian probably never set out to one day become the oldest American. I wonder if anyone ever had that goal, at least before he/she got to be around 100 and realized it was a remote possibility. Until a person gets to be about fifty, the light at the end of that proverbial tunnel is rarely seen or thought about very much, unless of course you have to deal with a life-threatening illness or injury. While I don't believe children, adolescents and young adults really think they're immortal as many claim, it is true that the early stages of life are not given much to concerns about aging and death. Nor should they be so focused. Yet, an occasional musing on the matter of how old, more or less, you would LIKE to be before checking out might be both interesting and constructive. It's interesting in that there is no way to know but speculating can be fun; and it's constructive in that vivid images of ending up the oldest living American (or oldest in your city, neighborhood or block) might spark a few lifestyle reforms or a phone call to one of Jack Kevorkian's successors.

My Australian friend Glenn Cardwell sent me his delightful new book called Top Blokes Food Manual in which he placed this wonderful quote from that famous guy named "Anonymous: "With proper care, the human body will last a lifetime." Just so. Of course, it will last just as long, that is, "a lifetime," with improper care, too. The difference is that a lifetime will be a lot more pleasant toward the latter years, of which there might be more, under conditions of proper care than under conditions of dedicated abuse.

It might be good to keep perspective when reading about someone who has attained the very ripe old age of 113, or when pondering your own fate "down the road." An article in the October 23-30 JAMA (page 1974) sent along by Dr. Jim Mayr notes that humans everywhere are "living dangerously" either with too few choices or from making wrong choices. There are two extremes: On the one side, more than a billion humans are "dangerously short of the food, water and security they need to live" -- a burden exerted by poverty, undernutrition, unsafe sex, unsafe water, poor sanitation and hygiene, iron deficiency and indoor smoke from solid fuels. On the opposite side of the spectrum lies overconsumption with its risks of hypertension, high cholesterol levels, tobacco use and alcohol abuse and obesity." The JAMA article quotes extensively from a recent World Health Report on the subject of promoting healthy lifestyles, urging action "to dramatically reduce exposure to health risks in all populations if people are to live longer, healthier, more productive lives..."

Make no mistake -- we all want these outcomes. We all want to be healthier and to enjoy productive lives and yes, we want to live longer, too. But, how much longer? How long do YOU want to live? As long as Mary Christian? Or longer, perhaps? I wouldn't mind living so long, provided I could still do triathlons, enjoy great sex, travel widely and produce Ardell Wellness Reports -- while looking good! (At age 113, I calculate I'd be preparing AWR issue # 199 and E-AWR issue # 3,548 -- but would these productions still be witty, incisive, profound, funny, cutting edge and yes, kooky? Are they such now? Never mind.)

On Monday, I'll discuss some of the key insights scientists have made about aging, such as what causes it, how the body changes over time and, naturally, about how long you expect to live, assuming you look both ways crossing the street and otherwise succeed in staying out of harm's way.

I'll close with a quotation from Miss Alabama from the 1994 "Miss USA" contest who, when asked, "If you could live forever, would you and why?" replied, "I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever." My sentiments, exactly.

Be well. Always look on the bright side of life.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the MENTAL DOMAIN under the skill area of mental health. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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