50 ... assume long life and be frugal or open up?

ManofLeisure_2

lessonlearned wrote: »

How you age is down to lifestyle choices..

That isn't necessarily correct. My son is an oncologist and 'many' of the patients he treats have made what one might consider 'healthy lifestyle choices'. Indeed, my wife has battled breast cancer for many years and this hasn't been a consequence of her 'lifestyle choices'.

lessonlearned

ManofLeisure wrote: »

That isn't necessarily correct. My son is an oncologist and 'many' of the patients he treats have made what one might consider 'healthy lifestyle choices'. Indeed, my wife has battled breast cancer for many years and this hasn't been a consequence of her 'lifestyle choices'.

I am very sorry to hear about your wife. I do hope she wins her fight. However, I think you are taking what I said out of context. Of course there will be exceptions. I fully appreciate that not all illness is lifestyle related but I was not talking about illness, I was discussing aging.

My husband died young, through no fault of his own. He was as fit as a fiddle, quite an athlete in fact, but he contracted a rare neurological condition when he was 49 and died when he was 57. He was just unlucky. Sadly just one of those things.

I am always minded of the saying that aging is a privilege denied to many. Many do not even make it to retirement age, let alone make old bones. So, yes, I agree, sometimes death and serious illness has nothing to do with lifestyle

However I stand by what I say......if we want to age well, then I think we have to live well. We have to take care of ourselves.

We now know that many of our modern ailments, including some cancers, are lifestyle related. Heart disease, diabetes, strokes etc. And we know that we can help ourselves to avoid at least some of the worst ravages of old age.

If we can remain active during the early years of retirement, eat well, exercise etc then we do improve the odds of remaining fitter and stronger for longer. It is not a given that we will suddenly become decrepit the day we hit 72.

Obviously choosing the right parents helps. :rotfl:

A good genetic inheritance is a huge advantage but it is not the whole picture. We can squander a good genetic inheritance but we can also cheat a bad one. I really do think lifestyle choices are hugely important.

I believe that if we want to age well and remain strong and healthy for as long as possible then we have to work at it. I believe that becoming a sofa sloth and stuffing our faces with processed foods is not the recipe for a long and vigorous life.

Obviously there are people who take a different view.

Ilona

lessonlearned wrote: »

I was not talking about illness, I was discussing aging.

yes, I agree, sometimes death and serious illness has nothing to do with lifestyle

However I stand by what I say......if we want to age well, then I think we have to live well. We have to take care of ourselves.

We now know that many of our modern ailments, including some cancers, are lifestyle related. Heart disease, diabetes, strokes etc. And we know that we can help ourselves to avoid at least some of the worst ravages of old age.

If we can remain active during the early years of retirement, eat well, exercise etc then we do improve the odds of remaining fitter and stronger for longer. It is not a given that we will suddenly become decrepit the day we hit 72.

Obviously choosing the right parents helps. :rotfl:

A good genetic inheritance is a huge advantage but it is not the whole picture. We can squander a good genetic inheritance but we can also cheat a bad one. I really do think lifestyle choices are hugely important.

I believe that if we want to age well and remain strong and healthy for as long as possible then we have to work at it. I believe that becoming a sofa sloth and stuffing our faces with processed foods is not the recipe for a long and vigorous life.

Too true, LL, I could have written that myself. I didn't choose the right parents, father died at 46, mother died at 64, they lived totally unhealthy lifestyles, drinking and smoking, in an unhappy stressful marriage. I am hoping I take after my uncle who lived 93 years. In the meantime I am doing everything I can to stay healthy, but even that does not guarantee I will have a long life. Whatever I die from, it won't be my fault.

Listen to and watch Dr Rangan Chattergee, he was the Doctor who went to live with families to sort out their unhealthy lifestyles. He has youtube videos which explain it all. As LL, and the Doctor says, you can reverse type 2 diabetes, and avoid a lot of heart problems, by just eating healthy and exercising. I wish more people would get a handle on this. I see people of my age traipsing past my house on their way to the doctors surgery, then traipsing back again with their medication. One woman asked me if I had any problems getting my medication, as they were a bit slow. She was aghast when I said I don't need medication, there is nothing wrong with me. Popping pills it seems is the norm now.

Ilona

Gers

All I can add is 'hear, hear'.

I reached the age of 64 this week. My only sibling died very suddenly aged just 56 years and one of his sons died in 2015 aged 34 years. My father died aged 81 and my mother is going strong as a rising 90 year old.

It's a lottery!

I work part time and have my own way the rest of the time. Don't spend as freely as I could as I now have everything I want or need. Travel is still exciting and now I prefer the 'luxury' of using trains when possible / practicable rather than flying. As I was flying across to Oz for the funeral of my nephew a fellow traveller pulled out a card he was given when he retired - the legend said 'travel first class, your beneficiaries will'. And we both were!

Plan for a good future but make sure you also enjoy a great now!

lessonlearned

Ilona. I am 67. I like to think I am still in pretty good nick. :rotfl: no major problems and like you I do not take any medications.

Do not worry too much about your genetic inheritance. I know from reading your blog (which I love Btw) that you lead a healthy lifestyle and that you do a lot of walking. I am sure you will do better than your parents.

My genetic inheritance is good in that both parents lived to 90. But they aged very differently. Dad could not understand why mum was so much “older” than him when they were the same age but I think it was really very simple. It was their lifestyles.

Whilst dad remained vigourous to the end, my mum was in a very sorry state. She ate her way to type 2 diabetes and refused to exercise or do anything that required expending a bit of energy. She would not even walk if she could avoid it. On the other hand dad ate sensibly, walked, exercised, did all his own diy, and worked on his allotment most days.

My mother took the view that her diabetes was genetic and inevitable, that she was doomed so she made no attempt to deal with it. She did the bare minimum of activity and just sat around eating and getting fatter. She took the pills and later injected herself, eventually having a series of strokes. It was awful.

I noticed my blood sugars were creeping up and took action. I vowed I would not end up like mum. Now my sugar levels are normal..

One of the things I am also working on is my balance. It is so important as we age to retain good balance to minimise the risk of falls. I do yoga to try and improve both balance and posture (I want to avoid the dreaded dowagers hump).:rotfl:

I did have have a serious fall a few weeks ago. I was in a ship and it was very stormy, the ship was pitching and tossing all over the place, throwing people across the room. Many suffered broken bones and fractures and had to fly home. I was lucky in that I did not suffer any broken bones only soft tissue injuries. So at least I know my bones are still ok. I do walk regularly and use hand weights and resistance bands when exercising but I am going to up my game and add proper strength training to my regime.

Anyway Thanks for the recommendation for Dr Chattergees research. I will look it up.

lessonlearned

Gers.......Like you i now also prefer the luxury of trains. And like you I always travel first class. :rotfl:

I am sooooo worth it.

Ilona

Hi LL. How awful to see your mum deteriorate like that, and not be able to do anything about it. Thankfully there is a lot more health information out there now, that's if people choose to read it and take it in.

I was with my mum when she had her first heart attack, luckily I got a doctor to attend very quickly. We laid her out on the floor and he started bashing his fist down on her chest, her heart had stopped. I couldn't believe what I was seeing, but something told me it wasn't the right time to go. An ambulance came, and she survived that one. We had no indication that this was going to happen, even though she was overweight. She didn't survive the second one six months later.

We can only do the best we can for ourselves. I have a friend who is borderline Type 2, but she still eats the wrong things. She seems happy enough. I wish she would try a bit harder to get her weight under control. At the end of the day everyone is responsible for what they put in their mouth.

Ilona

pearl123

You can still be frugal and also have adventures. For example, Travelzoo is good for breaks/holidays.

I suppose balance is they key. Save and spend.

badmemory

The difference between mid fifties and early 70's would appear to be "in the eye of the beholder". I have a friend (mid fifties) who doesn't leave home without a change of clothes, this avoids a previous scenario where she went into a store (wet through) & had to buy lower garments!. I leave home (early 70's) wondering where a toilet would be around roughly 3 hours from now.

I gave up mentioning pelvic floor exercises almost 20 years ago.