Ellen Gellar Kamaras
“Age is a question of mind over matter – if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”
Have you heard that 70 is the new fifty? In 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) concluded that 70 is now viewed as the new 50, with studies indicating that older adults are sharper and fitter than they were 25 years ago.
Charles Kalshoven is a macroeconomist and financial market specialist based in Amsterdam. He explored why the IMF said the average 70-year-old has the same cognitive abilities as a 53-year-old possessed in 2000. Contributing factors may include the decrease in alcohol and tobacco use and the increase in higher education in the 1960s.
Research revealed that people with higher educational levels remain healthy longer, including cognitively. This is attributed to activities that maintain one’s cognitive faculties. An example is working part-time after retirement in a job involving mental tasks.
Since approaching my 70th birthday, I’ve been thinking about how I want to spend the next ten years. I chose a decade for planning purposes and for creating a bucket list. Tehillim (90:10) describes a typical lifespan as seventy years, or eighty for those with greater strength.
Focus on Life
Focus on living fully rather than fearing a number. Remember the saying, “Growing old is mandatory; growing up is optional. The message is clear, that youthfulness is a matter of mindset.
Google offers an abundance of quotes on aging, which is viewed as a natural, frequently celebrated journey of gaining wisdom and perspective.
Aging is described as a privilege rather than a burden and provides an opportunity for learning and growth.
Staying Healthy
As a society, we are getting collectively older, and the way we are aging has changed. According to the American Psychological Association, “One out of every four 65-year-olds today will live past age 90. This demographic shift has moved the focus of researchers, health care providers, and policymakers from how to extend the lifespan to ways to improve the quality of our later years.”
Staying healthy is the biggest goal of many older Americans. “Keep Moving” is my guidepost for a healthy life, both physically and mentally. An article in Community Magazine’s March issue noted that exercise helps every part of your body as well as your mind.
A recent study led by AdventHealth Research Institute and the University of Pittsburgh verified that consistent moderate-to-vigorous aerobic exercise can substantially slow the structural aging of the brain, making it look almost a year younger. Additionally, everyday movement may help support brain health long before memory or focus becomes a concern.
Accountability and Goal Setting
To get when you want to go in life and to become healthy, setting realistic goals combined with building in accountability is a winning proposition. My accountability partner is my dog Davy, who gets me out of the house to walk in nature.
Besides getting me moving, Davy offers emotional and social support and helps me be mindful. He’s my companion and I have made several new like-minded friends through Davy, also out walking their dogs.
Take C.S. Lewis’s advice, “You are never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.” Setting new goals contributes to aging well and to keeping our minds and physical skills sharp and to increasing our emotional well-being. Goals keep younger people focused and hopeful, too.
As we get older, we sometimes ask ourselves what’s left to accomplish. Susan Flashner-Fineman is a health and wellness consultant at Hebrew SeniorLife. She believes that we need goals as we age, more than ever. “You want your remaining years to be good ones, so what do you want them to look like? Goal setting can help you get there.”
Try SMARTing your goals, which stands for making them Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Timely. Following these guidelines will help you attain your goals.
Many older individuals enjoy learning new skills such as painting or playing a musical instrument. Or try to challenge yourself to walk a certain distance each day or week. Flashner-Fineman recommends avoiding overly grand or unrealistic goals. For example, if you used to walk five miles without fatigue and now can only walk one mile easily, try setting a goal of two or three miles.
Meet and Greet
Aging better also means socializing with like-minded people or finding one’s tribe. It’s about meeting individuals who share similar values, interests, or beliefs. When we are teenagers or young adults, finding our tribe is easier. Later, as we grow older, our paths may deviate from those who we are regularly in contact with. We lose touch, and we find we no longer have a lot in common.
To connect with like-minded people try joining groups based on your interests or volunteer with an organization whose mission resonates with you. Doing acts of kindness also boosts physical and psychological health.
Focus on activities that bring you joy. Engaging in a fun and active lifestyle can help support healthy aging. As people grow older and spend more time at home, they may feel lonely and isolated, which increases depression or anxiety.
Incorporating joyful and meaningful activities into your schedule can prevent or lessen these negative feelings and can add purpose to your daily life.
Volunteer, develop hobbies, and spend time with friends and family. One activity that keeps me healthy in every way is flying out to California and spending time with my grandchildren.
There are many hobbies to try out at your local JCC, including art, dance, mahjong, creative writing, and more. An active lifestyle can have a three-prong impact, benefiting your body, mind, and spirit.
The Isolation Trap
Do you ever feel invisible as an older person? The University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging is a recurring nationally representative survey of US adults aged 50 to 80 on health related issues. This survey found that 56 percent of adults aged 50 to 80 felt isolated during the pandemic.
Even before the pandemic, another study determined that 43 percent of adults over 60 said they were lonely. These feelings are associated with serious health risks such as heart disease, increased likelihood of dementia and premature death.
Helpful Strategies
Here are some strategies suggested by the Area Agencies on Aging (AAA), which are local, non-profit organizations that help older adults and people with disabilities live independently in their homes and communities. If you are feeling invisible, AAA recommends to “flip the script.”
Age out loud – you have experiences and wisdom to share. Be vocal and speak up in public forums. Your experiences, wisdom, and presence are invaluable, and you deserve to be seen and heard.
Seek out community. Network and connect with individuals of all ages.
There is no one-size-fits-all formula when it comes to friends. Intergenerational Friendships (IGF’s) benefit the old and young alike. IGF’s, between individuals of different ages, can evolve into the most rewarding and deepest friendships.
Research indicates that younger people often find that older friends add a new dimension to their lives. They can serve as mentors and provide helpful guidance or life lessons and can even become wise life coaches. On the flip side, working with younger people, can keep an older person on her toes, feeling sharp and with it. And let’s not forget about laughing!
Advocate for yourself and your age group and push for policies that recognize the value of older adults.
Support fellow older adults and reject stereotypes and negative connotations associated with aging. Be proud of your accomplishments.
Stay away from people who are toxic and bring you down. Toxic relationships can cause chronic stress, anxiety, and related risks like hypertension and depression. Eliminating the negative influences of toxic people allows for better physical health and improved self-esteem, energy, and general well-being.
Pardon?
Follow up if you find yourself saying this phrase often. Hearing loss in older adults can lead to depression, feelings of being cut off from others, and an increased risk of falling. Age-related hearing loss diminishes one’s capacity to connect with others. An excellent solution is to wear hearing aids.
A new study by Johns Hopkins University found a strong, independent link between hearing loss and higher dementia risk, with studies showing that untreated hearing loss can double, triple, or even quintuple the risk of developing dementia. While a 2020 Lancet report highlighted hearing loss as a top modifiable risk factor, it is considered a major contributing factor and rather than the sole #1 cause of dementia and Alzheimer’s. The Hopkins study showed that wearing hearing aids can reduce the risk of dementia by 32 percent.
Keep Smiling
Please remember, dear readers, that you matter. Use your voice to share your knowledge and wisdom. Age with pride and let people know who you are.
New research from NYU found that worrying about getting older – in particular, fearing declining health – may actually speed up the aging process.
So keep smiling and remember, “Wrinkles should merely indicate where smiles have been.”
Ellen Geller Kamaras, CPA/MBA, is an International Coach Federation (ICF) Associate Certified Coach. Her coaching specialties include life, career, and dating coaching. Ellen can be contacted at ellen.kamaras@gmail.com (www.lifecoachellen.com).