HOW LONG WILL YOU LIVE? A COMPLIMENT TO AGING.

Abstract: Aging has many both emotional and social components. How does one perceive their own aging?

Introduction: Except for those with pronounced terminal illnesses, most people have a VAGUE idea of how long they will live. This “back of mind” number is just that. There are many variables in terms of life expectancy when the questions are asked of the patient.

Discussion: This ordinal imagery is really like an index. It’s used to flavor what other choices are made. Research suggests that about 7 years old there is an emergence of right and wrong. At least, 10 or before may be a reasonable or safe choice. It is called the Age of Reason. They are clearly old enough to understand death (AGE OF REASON/WIKIPEDIA)

The respondent in their own young or very young minds, then begin to think about dying. Of course, their first answer is “I don’t know.” They then may reflect back on relatives and their age of death. Further, did they inherit any major ailments from distant relatives?

 The answer may be “cancer” runs in the family or there have been “cardiac” problems. What about risky jobs?  Perhaps, most worked in coal mines. That makes nature and nurture in this article.

So if you are ten years old, how far away are you   from death? We will also add a caveat. In this questionnaire and discussion, 100 years old is tops. A few live beyond that. To make this question more understandable let’s use a football field of 100 yards. The first 10 years is 10 football fields. That is 1, 000 yards. Before we go further, please recall at the societal level that there are actuarial tables that can indicate at the group level averages( Life span/ Wikipedia) that if you smoke you should deduct 5 years from the group level average of 76 years old (when you combine both sexes.)

Further, on the personal level one ten year individual may accidentally die in the next moment. This is part of the human condition. On the other hand, when we talk about the group level, we are on safer grounds.

So let’s interview one ten year old. How many football fields are a head for you? One football field of 100 yards is one year. That is far away. Death is so far away. So let’s say that they think that they will live to be 50 years old. They are already 10 years old, so that is 10 football fields with each having 100 yards. That is 1,000 yards. 40 more years means 4000 yards plus 1,000 more for one’s entire life including the 10 years one has already lived. That’s 5,000 years old, or football yardage. That’s long.

The point of this piece is that although life is short in terms of academic-textbook history, emotionally it is huge for the individual. Thus, age is both an intellectual and emotional number for medicine.

Age is so intertwined with health. One of the first questions asked in patient-doctor relationship is “age.” Patients can dramatically vary in their appearance of age. Depending on the context, other than conscious assumptions are made by the physician. Youthful appearance can be the intermixture of both genetics and environment. In this instance, a very tough and demanding environment can age a person. Physically, they have been through many football fields. Their hard life may become even shorter.  The yardage has come so fast, the personal football fields of patients quickly evaporate. The reverse may also be valid. Surrounded by nurturance and supportive relations, aging can be slowed. Then added both healthy foods and preventive meds, the person just doesn’t appear to age.

The author of this manuscript is 80 but is often thought to be in the late 50’s.  Unfortunately, a more youthful appearance can mislead a medical team. As this is being written, the author since the beginning of this calendar year has faced removal of cataracts in eyes, cancer surgery of the face, blood decalcification, and root canal and near death. Appearance has not really changed.

Placed in a transitional hospital, this author was surrounded by individuals who were slightly older but in reality waiting for death. They appeared terribly haggard. Surrounded by simulated cheerful medical staff, the ongoing atmosphere was uplifting, but not impacting the dying population. Most will probably go to their graves rather than back home.

Age and medicine can vastly vary. This begins at pre-birth and at the other end toward the early 30’s when aging is cosmetically reversed.

And so it goes. Growing up can be difficult, but growing old is so much worse. This makes commonsense in the medical community and the wider world.

Aging is personal (like the football yardage) but it is also social. Medical strategies may slow aging, but not stop it. Please recall when you have a little one and you tell them that life in this existence is not forever. There are tears.

So let’s try a compliment to aging. The following is on a separate page.

Conclusion: One of the most vital dimensions of one’s life is aging. It does not stop and social personal crisis can emerge.

AGE AND PERCEPTION QUESTIONAIRE

How old are you?_____

How many yards have you covered when like a football field, each field has 100 yards?_______

When do you guess when you will die?_______­

Will you slowly age given the comments of others?

Slowly? Strongly Agree_ Agree_ Neither Agree or Disagree_ Disagree_ Strongly Disagree.

Will you be generally healthy throughout your life given the experience so far?

Healthy? Strongly Agree_ Agree_ Neither Agree or Disagree_ Strongly Disagree.

What will your life be like wherever you live as you see and hear things slightly before you die? Will it be agreeably difficult or very difficult? Strongly Agree_ Agree_ Neither Agree or Disagree_Disagree_ Strongly Disagree,__

Please describe and discuss any and all the above.___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

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THANK YOU!

SOCIALVIBES

References Cited

Age of Reason/ Wikipedia/2023

Life Span/ Wikipedia/ 2023