Learning to Age

Health News

“The aging process could be delayed if it had to make its way through Congress.” — President George Bush, State of the Union Address, 1/28/92

We were born into a society in which aging has always been taken for granted. Old age was a time of inevitable decline and loss, of increasing feebleness of mind and body. We have seen the social consequences of the old, with their deteriorating minds and bodies, and the rejection and disinterest of them by the younger and more vigorous.

Since most of us have believed we can do nothing about our aging, the history of aging in America has been characterized by hopelessness. And, those fearful images of growing old, coupled with high rates of disease and senility among the elderly, have resulted in grim self-fulfilling expectations.

Learning to Age
There are societies in this world in which people share very different styles of conditioning and, therefore, very different styles of aging. In recent decades, anthropologists have been surprised to discover how many so-called “primitive people” are immune to signs of aging that the West has long accepted. In fact, there are at least 25 traditional societies around the world where heart disease and cancer, two diseases long associated with aging, are almost unknown.

However, in America our inherited expectation that the body must wear out over time, coupled with deep beliefs that we are fated to suffer, grow old and die, creates the biological phenomenon we call aging. Although our awareness gets programmed in thousands of ways, the foundation for what we believe about our own aging comes from a lifetime of observation, imitation and reasoning.

The number of impressions that was laid down in our heads during childhood is staggering, with estimates that the verbal cues fed to us by parents alone amounted to over 25,000 hours of pure conditioning. Add to this the attitudes passed along from family, peers and society from earliest childhood, and you see how the learning process, teaching us how to age, is complex and never-ending.

For example, what did your mother say when she got her first wrinkles? Did she feel she had lost her youth? Did she still feel pretty and desirable? What about your dad? Did he like retirement? Was it the end of a useful existence or the beginning of a better time? How about your grandparents? Was their health good? Did they spend their time in a nursing home barely able to get around, or were they youthful, active, fun-loving people always with a house full of grandkids?

The impressions of these past experiences lock our minds into predictable patterns that trigger predictable behavior. So although we don’t consciously want to end up the way they may have ended up, many times we can be on the threshold of duplicating how they aged by “unconsciously” adopting their belief system.

According to public opinion polls, 80 percent of Americans say “yes” to the question, “Are you satisfied with your life today?” A majority, however, say they don’t want to live to be 100 years old and, therefore, must share an expectation that the road between today and 100 brings loss. This self-fulfilling prophecy can be changed only by choosing to improve with age.

Aging and Awareness
Awareness makes a huge difference in aging, and, although every species of higher life ages, only humans know what is happening to them, and we translate this knowledge into aging itself.

Awareness has the power to lead us towards wellness since the very act of paying conscious attention to bodily functions, instead of leaving them on automatic pilot, will change how we age. Thus, we develop new habits, new behavior, new expectations and new beliefs that can help make us well. On the other hand, giving up on awareness and standing on past habits, rituals, beliefs and other worn-out behavior, may help us continue going in the same direction.

Ask yourself today: Are you satisfied with the direction of your health? Is it taking you where you want to be?

Preventive Medicine Saves Lives
Preventive medicine is the key to wellness and rejuvenation. In many systems of alternative medicine, the preventive measure is the same as the cure. This is because many natural remedies simply help to bring the body back into balance, allowing the body to use its own wisdom to heal.

Although lifestyle changes are the major infrastructure of preventive medicine and good health, it is now readily accepted that nutritional supplementation can help maximize your potential for living a long and healthy life. We’ll say it again and again, you are in charge of your own well being.

There’s a great joy in living a healthy way. We’re all in this war against aging together. Let’s win the battle!

by Cathy Oats