Is There 'Life' After 50?

“ If I knew I was going to live this long I’d have taken better care of myself.”   --  Micky Mantle

Like many of us, while in my 20’s and 30’s reaching the age of 50 seemed so distant and abstract I didn’t give it a thought. When I hit my 40’s, I still didn’t pay it much attention. After all, I was still very active and doing all the things I wanted to without a worry. But then it arrived, and all I could think was “how the heck did I get to 50 so fast?” I was in disbelief. I understand now, that my shock and disbelief is exactly why marketing companies aim their ads towards a population approximately 10 years younger than their target audience...we all think of ourselves as younger than we are!

There is no doubt however that at around this age I started to notice that things weren’t working as well as they used to and those early morning aches became a more frequent companion. So, while I didn’t believe I was 50 my body was telling me another story....and as a personal trainer I was someone who moved my body constantly!

The latest life expectancy figures tell us that we are likely to live until the age of 78, up 8 years since 1967 and 24 years since 1915. Some leading researchers believe that within 50 years that average will be 100. James Vaupel, in a recent article in the journal Nature, said, “deterioration, instead of being stretched out, is being postponed”. Good news indeed, but the point is that while age is to some extent a “state of mind” as we move into middle age and beyond our bodies and minds do begin to deteriorate slowly. As I constantly remind my clients however, at this stage of our lives the deterioration that we typically attribute to the process of aging is more related to disuse and neglect. As we’ve moved from college to work to families most of us have struggled in some part to stay as active as we should have or wanted to and no longer can we simply rely on youth to keep those abs tight and that brain sharp. The cold, harsh reality is that if we haven’t been doing so already, we in middle age have to start working hard to keep those things where we want them. The good news is that we can...and we must!

A functional life is a full life and for us to continue to function fully as we age, we have to address all aspects of that disuse and neglect mentioned earlier. It may be a cliché but by exercising, eating well and dealing better with the stresses in our life we can not only add years to our life but add life to our years. In the following weeks, I will be writing about these issues using the acronym N.E.G.L.E.C.T. Each piece will cover a different aspect of wellness as it relates to the aging process.

N- Nutrition

E- Exercise

G – General Health

L – Longevity

E – Energy 

C – Confidence

T – Time

So before those next few years pass by, we can all in one way or another make a start to reverse that disuse and neglect. Hopefully, the information that follows in the coming weeks will help you on your journey to live a fully functional life.