My father quit smoking five years ago. “I don’t care anymore,” he replied when told about the sin tax bill, which make cigarettes and liquors more expensive. “But that’s a good news,” he added.
He is now in his early 70s but he still works – as a mechanic. “I feel so tired when I stop working,” he said. In fact, when he quit smoking, he also started bicycling – as a sort of his hobby.
My mother is four years younger than my father and she’s still going great – although she walks slowly these days. Thank God that she’s healthy – she doesn’t have diabetes, hypertension, or Alzheimer’s disease.
Her form of exercise: just walking two times a day from the house going to the public market, which is about half a kilometer away.
Why I am writing this piece? The reason: senior citizens are in the news these days. Just the other day, the “Philippine Daily Inquirer” reported that Mamie Rearden, of Edgefield, South Carolina, died. She was considered “the oldest living American citizen.” She died at the age of 114.
Rearden was more than a year younger than the world’s oldest person, 115-year-old Jiroemon Kimura of Japan, according to the Gerontology Research Group, which verifies age information for Guinness World Records.
“If only , when one heard / That Old Age was coming / One could bolt the door, / Answer “Not at home” / And refuse to meet him!” This poem, written in Japan in 905, shows that avoiding old age has been a common goal among people the world over for centuries.
Ponce de Leon’s quest for the mysterious fountain of youth led him to discover Florida. With its sunny weather, beautiful beaches, and palm trees, Florida in itself is a kind of fountain of youth. Many Americans today who retire to Florida do seem to recover their youthful energy and vigor.
In 1808, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe wrote of a 14th century alchemist, Faust, who sold his soul to the devil in exchange for a youth-restoring potion. As expected, Faust came to an unpleasant end.
The Bible recorded the oldest living man through these words: ‘When Methuselah had lived 187 years, he became the father of Lamech. And after he became the father of Lamech, Methuselah lived 872 years and had other sons and daughters. Altogether, Methuselah lived 969 years, and then he died” (Genesis 5:25-27).
No one lives forever, for sure. But this fact doesn’t stop doctors and scientists to search for ways how to live longer. “Aging is the progressive accumulation of changes with time associated with or responsible for the ever-increasing likelihood of disease and death which accompanies advancing age.”
That statement comes from Denham Harmon, one of the leading experts in the field of anti-aging research.
In recent years, people are living longer – thanks to science. This is particularly true in the Philippines.
A press statement released by the Department of Science and Technology said the country is now home to around 6.8 million senior citizens. This figure is expected to reach 12 million by the year 2040.
Most of those senior citizens are females. According to the Washington-D.C.-based Population Research Bureau (PRB), life expectancy of women in the country is 72 years old while those of men is 65 years old.
For both sexes, the life expectancy is 69 years old.
As of mid-2012, the Philippines has about 96.2 million people, PRB reports. The number is expected to increase to 117.8 million by mid-2025 and further to 154.5 million by mid-2050.
The country’s births per 1,000 population is 25. In comparison, the deaths per 1,000 population is only 6.
As expected, the percentage of those in the age bracket of 65 years and older is 4 while those from 15 years old and below is 35.
“Age is an issue of mind over matter,” wrote American humorist Mark Twain. “If you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
But it does! In fact, a range of degenerative diseases accompany aging, such Alzheimer’s disease, a disorder that causes the gradual loss of brain cells.
There are an estimated 200,000 senior Filipinos suffering from this kind of disease, but very few are diagnosed because many families do not consult a doctor and dismiss the ailment as forgetfulness that comes with old age.
“Alzheimer’s disease is chronic and progressive, and it takes its toll economically and socially,” reminded neurologist Jacqueline Dominguez of the St. Luke’s Memory Center.
She encouraged vulnerable groups – 65 years old and above – to engage in activities that stimulate mental exercise like cards, bridge, scrabble and domino. If your parents like videoke singing, don’t stop them.
Doing so makes the brain works as it requires reading the lyrics and remembering the tunes while the old folks are enjoying themselves.
To end this piece, allow me to quote some words from the song popularized the Frank Sinatra:
“And now, the end is near; and so I face the final curtain. My friend, I’ll say it clear, I’ll state my case, of which I’m certain. I’ve lived a life that’s full. I’ve traveled each and every highway; and more, much more than this, I did it my way.”
