Thursday 18 October 2001

Pic of the day: Gray, wet, chilly fall day. Not a day to take a walk. Or is it?

Mid-life health revival

It isn't just me. I've mentioned how it has become easier to walk uphill or take the stairs without getting winded and without my heart pounding, after I lost a few pounds last fall. But today I noticed some guy I see fairly often, who used to look seriously pregnant. Now he looks quite sporty. He's around my age too. And now that I think about it, he's hardly the only healthy and active 40-something around. I have started to suspect that there is a kind of mid-life health revival.

This would be no big miracle. What often happens around the age of 40 is that we realize our finite life span. In part I think it is because society alters its attitude to us. That is, people around us treat us differently. Our youth is definitely over. And young people may flirt with death, because they don't really believe the relationship will ever get serious. But when you're 40-something, you realize that you and death are an item, and there's no breaking up. You wake up from your daydreams and realize that you are, indeed, mortal.

It's not purely philosophical. Perhaps you have friends your age who die or are severely set back by a heart attack. Perhaps your parents die, reminding you that you are born of the same mortal flesh. Perhaps your own body starts to fail you. I recently talked with one worker who had been in office jobs since he was twenty. Then suddenly, just after he turned 40, his back gave out. Now he has to exercise every day and cannot sit through a full workday. Even with all precautions, the damage is done: He can never heal. But even with this, the young ones keep believing that it won't happen to them. Until they turn 40.

***

Whatever the straw is, the camel's back breaks, and you decide to swallow it and go through the eye of the needle. No more taking the elevator when you could get there faster by stairs. No more lazing on the sofa all afternoon when you could be taking a walk or, even better, jogging. No more second and third helpings of the gravy. It is time to pay the price for your health.

Yes, we are still drifting toward death; it cannot be avoided. But it can often be delayed, and not least, we can look and feel human while we still are. We look at people in wheelchairs and decide to use our legs while we still have them. We look at grossly obese people panting as they make their way to the car, and realize that it isn't funny. We realize that a healthy body is worth a price.

Of course, some people have known all along. But I guess some of us were just too much dreamers to realize, until life shook us awake. Good things don't always come to those who wait. Some have to go outdoors and fetch the good things.

***

Of course, it is not quite that simple. For instance, according to Scientific American, if a woman in her 40es start running or a similar level of exercise, she will prolong her life with approximately the same amount of time that she spends exercising. So if she hates it, she's essentially only added a worse part to her life. The same goes for sleep: Within reasonable bounds, you live approximately one hour longer for each extra hour you sleep. But you're not conscious during the time, you don't get to have any fun (unless you dream funny dreams) and you don't earn any money. And you still have to pay the rent. On the other hand, the future might be even more interesting than now (hard as it is to imagine) and who knows what miracles you might witness if you live a few years longer?

Well, I know one miracle we won't see, and I know some who will be disappointed. I can live without the flying cars and the cities in orbit. But when we come to nanotechnology as imagined by Eric Drexler et al, it becomes a matter of life and death. Many of his followers sincerely believe that nanobots in the bloodstream and even inside the cells will repair the damage from disease and even restore youth to an aged body. Yes, and perhaps we'll find the fountain of youth somewhere in a hidden valley in the Andes or Himalayas.

Technology won't keep me from dying eventually, though it has already helped quite a bit. But in the end, this life is finite, and the best we can do is to live it according to the light within us.