Wellness News

Aging gracefully, and healthfully
Rx for Health
Angelena Craig

Originally published in The Essex County Newspapers.


I know a fair share of baby boomers, 50- and turning-60-year-olds, who are worried, agitated, and, in fact, consumed with the reality ... they are aging. In past generations, it was pretty much assumed it was OK to "let yourself go" after a certain age — let the skin and body parts fall where they may, allow the weight to pile on, accept the gray or balding hair, and never mind about looking sexy or appealing to the eye. Simply stop learning, stop growing, and give up.

But now it is different. These coming-of-agers have been exposed to more information on how to better care for themselves. The new aging generation won't give up easily on feeling vibrant, alive, attractive, curious, even adventurous. But who can they turn to for comfort and support other than the hype in magazines and on television selling us on how to be forever young?

The choices abound. Go to the gym or work out at home, pumping and jumping to keep up with that downward slide. You have a choice of endless, costly cosmetics and skin-care creams and gels for every part of your body, inside and out. If this no longer does the trick, you can choose a more serious approach to nip and tuck and lift. If surgery scares you, then try rubber bands and sticky tape for a short-term fix.

Here's something else to improve — the attitude. It is now accepted that we have not one, but three ages to calculate. There is the usual chronological age that we are most often called on to disclose, or lie about. But then there is the physical age, which could, if you take care of yourself, be 20 years younger than your chronological age or, if you have neglected your body, could be 20 years older than your actual age. There is also your emotional age. So you can be 60 chronologically, 40 physically, and emotionally anywhere from an adolescent to an evolved elder.

I feel something like an expert in the realities of aging. My awakening to the fact I was aging began the day, while showering, when I looked over my shoulder and exclaimed to myself, "What is that thing hanging from both buttocks? Oh my, could that be a collapsed butt? And, what about the folds of skin over my knees or my droopy triceps?"

I knew I was doomed when people started to say, "Are you sick? You look tired."

"No," I wanted to scream, "not tired, just aging."

Those first signs warned me more was ahead, and I better start paying attention while trying to find some solutions to this state of decline I was witnessing. I admit to a certain vanity, not wanting to loose "my looks." Even before I saw my own self aging, I found it irritating whenever I heard someone refer to an older person and say, "She must have been a real beauty when she was younger."

How about looking good and feeling great when you are older? Why, as a culture, do we not find older people beautiful, with all their lined skin and rounding bellies?

So, what have I learned? What advice might I offer my baby boomer sisters and brothers?

For one thing, I encourage making peace with the body. If I am at war with it, if my body is seen as the enemy with me trying to defeat it, no good can come of it. I need to admit, "No, I will never again look 30 or 40, but perhaps on a good day, I'll look 50." So, how can I be the best I can be, without giving up food altogether or hiring a personal trainer to drive me mercilessly to thinness?

Making peace with the belly comes first.

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