{"id":7516,"date":"2023-12-28T08:08:28","date_gmt":"2023-12-28T13:08:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.silvercentury.org\/?p=7516"},"modified":"2023-12-28T08:08:28","modified_gmt":"2023-12-28T13:08:28","slug":"what-to-expect-as-you-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/78.142.243.82\/~silvercentury\/2023\/12\/what-to-expect-as-you-age\/","title":{"rendered":"What to Expect as You Age"},"content":{"rendered":"

As you grow older, it\u2019s sometimes hard to figure out whether a physical or mental change needs medical attention or whether it\u2019s just normal at your age. For this article, journalist Judith Graham interviewed a geriatrician who has written a comprehensive guide to help readers make such distinctions and to suggest ways to adapt. <\/span><\/i>KFF Health News<\/span><\/a> posted Graham\u2019s story on October 20, 2023, and it also ran in the<\/span><\/i> Washington Post<\/span><\/a>. <\/span>Funding from the Silver Century Foundation helps <\/span><\/i>KFF Health News<\/span> develop articles (like this one) on longevity and related health and social issues.<\/span><\/i>   <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

How many of us have wanted a reliable, evidence-based guide to aging that explains how our bodies and minds change as we grow older and how to adapt to those differences?<\/span><\/p>\n

Creating a work of this kind is challenging. For one thing, aging gradually alters people over decades, a long period shaped by individuals\u2019 economic and social circumstances, their behaviors, their neighborhoods and other factors. Also, while people experience common physiological issues in later life, they don\u2019t follow a well-charted, developmentally predetermined path.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPredictable changes occur, but not necessarily at the same time or in the same sequence,\u201d said <\/span>Rosanne Leipzig<\/a>,<\/span> MD, vice chair for education at the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York. \u201cThere\u2019s no more heterogeneous a group than older people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

I called Leipzig, 72, who works full time teaching medical residents and fellows and seeing patients, after reading her new 400-plus-page, information-packed book, <\/span>Honest Aging: An Insider\u2019s Guide to the Second Half of Life.<\/span><\/i> It\u2019s the most comprehensive examination of what to expect in later life I\u2019ve come across in a dozen years covering aging.<\/span><\/p>\n

Leipzig told me she had two goals in writing this guide, \u201cto overcome all the negatives that are out there about growing older\u201d and \u201cto help people understand that there are lots of things that you can do to adapt to your new normal as you age and have an enjoyable, engaged, meaningful life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The medical disorders older people have are different than those doctors see in younger people.<\/b><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Why call it \u201chonest aging\u201d? \u201cBecause so much of what\u2019s out there is dishonest, claiming to teach people how to age backwards,\u201d Leipzig said. \u201cI think it\u2019s time we say, \u2018This is it; this is who we are,\u2019 and admit how lucky we are to have all these years of extra time.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The doctor was referring to extraordinary gains in life expectancy achieved in the modern era. Because of medical advances, people over age 60 live far longer than people at the dawn of the 20th century. Still, most of us lack a good understanding of what happens to our bodies during this extended period after middle age.<\/span><\/p>\n

Several months ago, a medical student asked Leipzig whether references to age should be left out of a patient\u2019s written medical history, as references to race have been eliminated. \u201cI told her no; with medicine, age is always relevant,\u201d Leipzig said. \u201cIt gives you a sense of where people are in their life, what they\u2019ve lived through, and the disorders they might have, which are different than those in younger people.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

What questions do older adults tend to ask most often? Leipzig rattled off a list: What can I do about this potbelly? How can I improve my sleep? I\u2019m having trouble remembering names; is this dementia? Do I really need that colonoscopy or mammogram? What should I do to get back into shape? Do I really need to stop driving?<\/span><\/p>\n

Underlying these is a poor understanding of what\u2019s normal in later life and the physical and mental alterations aging brings.<\/span><\/p>\n

Can the stages of aging be broken down, roughly, by decade? No, said Leipzig, noting that people in their 60s and 70s vary significantly in health and functioning. Typically, predictable changes associated with aging \u201cstart to happen much more between the ages of 75 and 85,\u201d she told me. Here are a few of the age-related issues she highlights in her book:<\/span><\/p>\n