We read a lot in the media about how important it is to stay active and engage in physical and medical care for the elderly. The benefits of leisure and exercise that help older people function better are well studied and documented in the literature.
So why is it so important that older people stay active and exercise? One important fact about the aging process, which should be remembered, is that for each person it is not the same thing. When we talk about the age of a person, we usually mean “chronological aging”, which refers to how many years she has been on earth. However, another and often the best way to look at the aging process when considering the state of health of older people is to base it on the functioning of a person or “functional aging”.
Forming an opinion about the abilities of an older person based on chronological age can be misleading for older health and well-being. For example, 85 years old are the same for everyone at this age, but this does not mean that each person functions as an 85-year-old. There are many different factors, such as chronic illness, depression, life experience and the level of exposure to other people and activities, which can significantly affect how older people work. There are many senior citizens who may be 85 years old, but who act like people at the age of 75 years. This is an important point, as it offers hope to older people in their ability to optimize their own potential for "functioning younger."
We can use the 1964 Ford Mustang analogy to make this clear. We still see the 1964 Ford Mustang on the road quite often, but they will not all be in the same shape. Some were well cared for, and they looked and felt great, while others did not take care of themselves and function poorly (if at all). The fact is that all 1964 Mustang is 47 years old, but not everyone works the same way. This is the same for the health and the health of the elderly.
You might think that we ended the analogy with the Ford Mustang, but we did not. Cars can not make decisions that can help with functional aging, but people can. Seniors, with the help of others like you, can improve, if not optimize their abilities and actually reduce their functional age, by making decisions of a productive lifestyle - for example, exercise and participation in leisure activities.
So the next time an older person tells you that she cannot attend the event because she is “too old”, tell her about functional aging and that she is “as old as her legs”, and not as old as its actual age suggests. You can make an important contribution to the problem of health and the elderly, helping the elderly to optimize their functional age!
