They move in opposite directions!

As one’s age increases, it is inevitable that their agility decreases. Why does that matter and what can we do about it?

There is not much to do about it, absent a magic anti-aging pill (where are you, Donald Trump?). Instead, we have to accept it as inevitable and look for ways to get things done without killing ourselves.

Some tactics are obvious—very few septuagenarians, for example, climb ladders or try to lift heavy things. Nor have I seen many 90-year-olds doing head stands, though I allow for the possibility that they do it at night long after I have gone to sleep!

These sorts of risks are relatively easy to avoid. More insidious is the danger of ordinary falls. Such in-home accidents claim the lives of nearly 25,000 people 75 and older each year – triple the number of 20 years ago!

There is a fierce and understandable reluctance among people ‘of the age’ to make concessions to time. We’re hard-wired to ‘get things done’ and measure ourselves, in part, by our ability to do so.

Overcoming that urge to ignore age and its concomitant lack of agility may be the most important way to extend one’s life.  

Agility is not entirely a physical thing – mental agility is subject to the same natural forces, but with a wider variance. They have in common that dead one way or another does not really matter.

So, the lessons from this tiny piece of musing are to be alert, know your mental and physical limits, and unless you are ready to check out of this world, BE CAREFUL!

Paying attention when ‘up’ pays big dividends by avoiding ‘down’.