How old is Old?
How old IS Old, really?
“What age do you consider to be old?” AARP posed that question to millennials aged 19-35, and the answers ranged from 40 to late-40’s to mid-50s.
Then they were asked to show how an old person walks when they cross the street. Shuffling. With a cane. With a walker. Hunched over. Poor Posture.
Next they were asked to show how an old person would send a text message. Confused. Straining to see screen. Slow typing.
Show an old person doing a pushup. Difficulty getting onto the floor. Extreme difficulty pushing up. Collapse.
What about jumping jacks? One maybe, then breathe. Partial. Exhausted.
Then they individually were introduced to and partnered with an “old person” — like 55, 66, 68, 70 and 75 — and told to take 2 minutes to “teach each other something you are good at.” Surprisingly, the “old people” caught on pretty quickly, but when the roles turned it wasn’t as easy for millennials to learn things like ballroom dancing and yoga.
“Now what age do you consider old?”
The answers changed dramatically! 80, or 90, or 100. The 75-year old guy may have said it best, “When people start stopping, that’s when they start getting old.”
The video reminded me of my friend, Tuck Kamin’s book, Design Your Age. With his experience as a Madison Avenue advertising executive, Tuck offers a fresh, entertaining, and perspective-busting way to see and communicate the positive aspects of aging that is so desperately needed. His book flies in the face of naive assumptions that aging means physical and mental decline, along with a lost of identity and purpose.
My added comment
The pillars of health (and healthy aging) are exercise, nutrition and Sleep. And pillars of wellness add body, mind and spirit. So I prioritize Living With Purpose, and that’s why I founded Modern Health Talk. It’s also why I also work with Dr. Bruce Meleski and Tuck Kamin to promote population sleep wellness at Intelligent Sleep.
