Can We Get to 85 Without Any Ailments? An Opinion.

I’m forced to take a shortcut this week because of a tough schedule. So, I’m borrowing an article I posted on Quora a few months ago that garnered over 50,000 views. It was in response to the question:

How can one live 85 years without any ailments?

I offered my opinion:

It’s not likely you will. It’s really more of being able to live with them. Resilience is one of the characteristics found in those who live longer lives.

I’m 78 with the goal of living past 100. I have my share of “ailments”, some of which I’ve had for years. Both knees ache from 20 years of pickup basketball and two “clean up” surgeries; I have an arthritic left-thumb that hinders my love of guitar playing; a CT scan revealed I have significant cardiovascular disease; I have an under-active thyroid that makes weight control difficult and causes tiredness that I’ve medicated for 30+ years; I have atrial flutter (a first-cousin to atrial fib) for which I take a blood thinner.  And my feet hurt about 24 1/2 hours a day.

Having said all that, I stay firm in my conviction that I can live well beyond the average lifespan for men which is 78.9 in America. If I don’t, I will be checking out next Tuesday. I don’t have symptoms of anything that would say that is going to happen.  I’m remaining highly sequestered to increase the odds it won’t.

Here’s the point.

So much of how long we live and how we live long is between the temples. We aren’t likely to avoid ailments, especially if we are an American since our lifestyle preceding our later years was likely – shall I say – less than stellar. We most likely ate badly because we are beholden, out of naivete, to the deplorable Standard American Diet (SAD). And, we are likely on the bell curve of those who exercised far too little.

Also, let’s be honest. We still aren’t good at releasing this 20th-century myth that disease, debilitation, and dementia are automatic, an unalterable phenomenon – the ‘ol fate/God’s-will myth versus choice.

It’s really pretty simple. As a culture, we don’t really know jack about how our bodies and minds work and how to treat them optimally even though the how, what, and why information is massive and at our fingertips. And then we whine when we hit 60+ and some of our parts are acting like they are ready to be sent back to the universe.

I love the golf analogy. Far too many of us have played a pretty crappy “front nine” with our lifestyles of comfort, convenience, and conformity and find ourselves either remorsing through a dismal back-nine or trying to make up for or reverse it on the final nine holes. If I may stretch the analogy (for you golfers), we can find ourselves 175 yards out with only a 60-degree wedge in the bag.

I’m the poster-child for that.

I smoked until age 37 and ate badly through my first 60 years. Although I have been a gym rat and avid exerciser for over 40 years, the CT scan at age 73 revealed the truth of how those first five decades+ (my front-nine plus a few holes) had slowly, insidiously taken their toll.

So, resilience is part of the backbone of my existence as I march on this “pollyannish mission” to 100+. I work out aggressively, both aerobic and weight lifting, six days a week. It’s painful at every session but I’ve learned to tolerate the pain in favor of the results. I’ve also moved my diet more to a WFPB (whole-food-plant-based) program and away from the SAD C-R-A-P (calorie-rich-and-processed) diet that we Americans are captive to.

I choose to do the things that I know will maximize my chance of hitting my goal while having no illusions that I could be out of here by the end of the day. I’ve learned that all I have is today and have, with difficulty, learned the value of avoiding time travel into the future or the past.

It’s really all about ATTITUDE (see this article) and RESILIENCE as we age. Do some research on the lives of centenarians and you will find that nearly all of them have two consistent characteristics: (1) they have endured and survived numerous health and mental challenges with their resilience and (2) they have kept a sense of purpose and meaning in their lives, with the majority of them avoiding leisure-based retirement and staying engaged in some form of work.

So, if 85 is your goal (P.S. I suggest raising the bar – the human body can last to 112 years, 164 days), be prepared for ailments but adopt a “second half” lifestyle that will help you keep those to a minimum or give you more physical and mental strengths to live with them.

“It’s never too late to start but always too early to quit.”

How are you handling your “ailments?” (C’mon, you have some!) Share your thoughts with a comment below.