2024 October 1 Choose good health

 Hi, this is Jim Cranston from 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com, the podcast and website about reimagining your life. If you like what you hear today please leave a Like, subscribe, tell your friends, and send me a message! 

Thanks for joining me tonight to talk about health and longevity, and how much perspective can affect them.

But before I really get going tonight, I just want to say something to you that I don’t say nearly enough: YOU ARE ALL AWESOME! Seriously, every one of you is uniquely, wonderfully exactly who you should be. You have learned a lot and you are interested in doing more, and that truly does make you awesome in so many ways!

Also, a public service announcement about a likely company sale. I am Celiac and one of the best things that happened to me was Siete Foods. Until recently they were all grain-free and all are gluten-free. It is a 7-member 3rd generation Mexican family with awesome products! I read today that PepsiCo is in advanced talks to acquire them for over $1B. I am glad for the family, but sad for me and other customers. Just like medicine, the food industry has become an industry, and it continues to get more difficult to get good quality food.

What got me thinking about this topic of health was an editorial in the Wall Street Journal decrying the increase in interest in longevity. There were a few reasons I disagreed with the article, starting with it singled out Baby Boomers with the statement: “Baby boomers desperately seek to control the aging process.”

To begin with, the author, Ms. Brenda Cronin, is off by a couple of civilizations, since people have been trying to extend their lives essentially since they realized their lives will end at some point.

Even in modern history, there’s a reason there was a crackdown on patent medicines in the early 1900s with the “Pure Food and Drug Act of 1906”, a bit before Baby Boomers were a thing. It’s not like wanting to live longer is new, or became an especially urgent matter in the past few years, as writings have shown, predating Aristotle in 350 BC. But a few things have changed since the Minoan civilization in 3,000 BC - notably, social media, and more widespread health information.

So back to the article: It is claimed that now people are publicly flaunting their good health and thundering, as she described, through old age trying to be young. This is not new, except the potential audience to see this is much larger due to social media.

The article continues decrying the modern aged population is trying to defy aging and that, again, “Baby Boomers … have discovered that getting older often feels quite bad.” But hidden a few paragraphs ahead of that last zinger were a couple of sentences that were mentioned in support of the silly things that Baby Boomers were doing, and I quote:

“Hence the bombardment of products and practices exhorting baby boomers and their younger cohorts - before it’s too late! - to turn back the calendar or at least slow its advance. Eat less and sleep more. Try intermittent fasting or transfusions of blood from youngsters. Do crossword puzzles. Work out and minimize stress. Don’t fret about getting older.”

Other than the transfusions, that paragraph is generally good health advice no matter what your age. Doing crossword puzzles can be generalized to staying mentally active, which is what a lot of the recommendations say. Working out and minimizing stress has repeatedly been shown to increase both longevity and attitude, and a good attitude further increases your overall health.

If you remember last week we talked about Liv Schmidt, who was removed from TikTok because she dared to say she liked to be thin and that made her feel better. Not that she wanted to be skinny, or ever promoted unhealthy eating habits, just that she felt better, and felt better about herself, when she was thin. You should be able to see where this is going. 

Now, in the weekend edition of a major newspaper, we have a column where Baby Boomers are being called out for taking care of their health.It was also mentioned that people wanted to stay independent and in control. No one wants to be at the mercy of caregivers. 

As someone who acted as a caregiver for two older women for many years, I can tell you that every day I tremendously appreciated that one of them in particular worked hard at maintaining her health and her physical condition as long as she could. I didn’t think it was selfish, I thought it was a blessing and that it made caring for her much, much easier.

It also allowed her to remain independent longer, and have a better relationship with her caregivers when they were needed, and also allowed her to remain socially active to days before her passing.

What silly goals to emulate, it seems to the author. Now the point of the column was to say how it was better to die after a life of grace, as she felt one of her neighbors was doing who had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. But saying that one precludes the other is a completely false dichotomy, as though living healthily precludes living with grace.

Indeed, it actually sounded like her neighbor lived the life the author was decrying, since she mentioned that the neighbor walks her dog around the block twice a day and had just invited her to a party she was giving. Sounds like a pretty independent and in-control healthy person to me. Living with grace includes giving grace to yourself.

So what is the real complaint in her story? Is it that she thinks people shouldn’t share a different version of aging than the incorrect one pushed by social media, advertising, the medical profession, comedians, and society as a whole? Is she against people who are trying to live their life to the fullest and sharing their successes with other people to encourage them to do the same?

Perhaps she has totally bought into the story that there is nothing you can do about your health and so you should do nothing? The story was pretty disappointing on many levels. It was explicitly ageist, specifically maligning and targeting Baby Boomers. It was making light of well-known sound anti-aging medical advice, such as being active both physically and mentally.

But perhaps most disturbing was that it promoted the all-too-common theme that there is nothing you can do about aging, so you might as well do nothing. Then it extended that even further by saying that people who are younger than Baby Boomers shouldn’t bother to try to change to a healthier lifestyle either. And this, exactly, is the type of negative bias and ageism influence that has resulted in the lowered life expectancies in the US versus many other countries. 

If you had missed the earlier episode, confirmed research shows a roughly 7½ year shortening of lifespan due to ageism in the US versus cultures where the elderly are respected, and that figure is adjusted to income, lifestyle, and all the common confounding factors. This is why I have covered the topic repeatedly. We all think I wouldn’t be influenced by ageism in social media or the news, but you are. 

The onslaught is constant, sometimes subtle, as in this WSJ article, but oftentimes blatant, as in the Morning Brew newsletter of September 28, 2024. The copy for their lead story contained Check on your Boomers: A new copypasta is spreading through Instagram Stories. Nearly 600,000 people have already shared. The Morning Brew is a financial newsletter although it often seems to find itself endlessly funny and snarky.

The problems with the story include that Instagram is not the preferred media for most Boomers - try Facebook - and I really doubt all those Instagram Boomers were skipping dinner to forward the story. But, why should we let reality get in the way of a baseless deprecating false ageist statement? It must be funny. It’s targeting Baby Boomers! This is the sort of nonsense that we are exposed to every day. 

There are roughly 1.1 billion Baby Boomers in the world today, which is about 12% of the world's population. It’s not easy being perfect, and we Boomers are lucky to have so many perfect people in the world today who think it is okay to be openly biased and prejudiced against an eighth of the world’s population.

I can come up with a dozen more examples just from searching this past week’s email newsletters. These aren’t stories about Baby Boomers, this is using the word “boomer” in a negative, biased and prejudicial fashion, quite openly and publicly.

But despite all this, tonight isn’t directly about ageism - rather it is about health, and that starts with protecting against the biggest dangers to your health as we get older. Number one is to avoid being influenced by the constant stream of ageist comments and ageism all around us. You have to become sensitized to it so that you will recognize it, and when you see it, you can call it out, either publicly or at least to yourself.

Second, do not be influenced by the various common knowledge false-facts you will hear. Claiming, Oh, I’m too old for it to make a difference where it might be walking, eating more carefully, stopping smoking, or any other positive health change, that is absolutely and clinically proven to not be true, period. You most certainly can make a positive change.

The best time may have been twenty years ago, but the second best time is always today. If you think you have medical conditions that prevent you from making any lifestyle changes then speak with your medical caregiver for some small ways you can start to make little changes. It’s not a race. If you are in your 70s, 60s, 50s, 40s, 30s, whatever! Don’t get fooled into thinking it is too late, or too early, to make positive changes in your lifestyle.

I will thank Ms. Cronin, that article author, for her succinct list of good things to do for your health, even though she dismisses them: Eat less. Sleep more. Try intermittent fasting or another healthy diet of your choice. Do crossword puzzles or other mental activities. Work out and be physically active. Minimize stress in your life. Don’t fret about getting older.

These are all great things to do no matter what your age. These are just good goals to keep in the back of your mind all the time. There are a million ways to make small  positive changes in your health and all it takes is the desire to make one little change at a time.

Remember to stay socially active! Join a group, go places where you might meet other similar people and actually talk to them. These are all great ways to help live your life to your fullest. But all of these positive attitudes are constantly under attack by all the negative age remarks, and they tend to just wear us down.

Worse, our mind is always sensitive to what is going on around us to try to calibrate us to our environment. Our brain is susceptible to being fooled by the ageist noise. Even if we think we aren’t affected, unless we call it out to ourselves and actively identify it as false to our brain, our thoughts about ourselves will become negatively influenced as we get older, no matter how old you are now.

Remember the breadth of examples we have given both today and previously. Two world-class newspapers with ageism comments and themes in their content. A financial newsletter, which regularly has ageist comments so apparently they think it’s really funny. A self-proclaimed inclusive and respectful podcasting newsletter who counts NPR and BBC as their readers. It truly is everywhere, and it truly is not true. Don’t let it get you down.

Again, I don’t say this enough, YOU ARE ALL AWESOME!

That's it for the evening. Have faith in yourself and don’t be afraid to try to live your life to the fullest. Ignore the nay-sayers. It is weak people who depersonalize other groups by just naming them and referring to them in a negative way. You have every right to be proud of what you accomplished and you will continue to grow in life as long as you want to. Never be afraid to live life towards your vision.

Your homework (always optional) is to think about some health related things you have always wanted to try but now think you are too old to do. Ask yourself why you think that? Extra points if you take one of those health goals and, with your caregiver’s advice, map out a plan you can start to see if you can make it a reality. It doesn’t have to be spectacular, just important to you. You are unstoppable if you believe in yourself!

That’s it for the evening. Please remember the many wars currently active in the world.

In Ukraine, the Middle East, Africa and everywhere there are disasters or suffering. If you are able and interested, the page of Ukraine donation links is still up at UKR7.com.

Remember the damage and injury in the wake of the recent hurricanes in the Southeast US, the Caribbean and Mexico. Remember and pray for the aid workers from WCK who died. They are totally humanitarian, providing meals for people in need.

Remember that one of the best ways to care for yourself is to care for others. So if you can and are able, please check it out at  UKR7.com.

So as always, be true to yourself and live your life aligned with your true goals and feelings. As always, thank you for stopping by! If you found something interesting or useful please pass it along and please subscribe and hit that like button. If not, please drop me a comment as to what you would like to hear. 

Have a great week!

Remember to live the life you dreamed of because that is the path to true contentment.

Love and encouragement to everyone and see you next week on 7EveryMinute and 7EveryMinute.com.