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As our work lives wind down, our hearts, ears and eyes deteriorate and arthritis starts to become a real pain -- all the better to keep the pharmacist busy. The to-do list: Find new friends and creative outlets.
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Appearance: Ninety-three percent of women and 94 percent of men 65 and over say they're satisfied with their personal appearance, higher than any other age group.
Sleep: By their 60s, people tend to have more trouble falling asleep, and their sleep grows more shallow.
Heart: The cardiovascular system becomes less efficient during exercise, as the heart's maximum pumping rate and the body's ability to extract oxygen from blood declines.
Hearing: About one-third of Americans older than 65 have trouble hearing.
Brain: One in 10 people over 65 has Alzheimer's disease.
Falls: Between 1997 and 2001, more than 62,000 people in Washington were hospitalized for falls. That's more than triple the number of people of any age who were hospitalized for motor-vehicle crashes during the same period.
Disease & disability: In Washington and King County, 38 percent of people 65 and older have a disability, compared with the national rate of 42 percent. Arthritis is the top cause of disability in Washington. Thirteen percent of Washington's 65-and-older population have diabetes.
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Exercising: Washington's 65-plus set is physically active more consistently than any other age group in the state. Forty percent report getting the recommended daily amount of exercise of at least 30 minutes a day, five times a week - a higher percentage than any state except California and Hawaii. A highly active 65-year-old woman is expected to live nearly six years longer than her sedentary counterpart.
Smoking: If a smoker quits by age 50, by the time he or she reaches 64, his or her risk of dying is similar to that of someone who never smoked. In Washington, most smokers have kicked the habit by the time they hit 65.
Nursing homes: Just over 1 percent of Americans age 65 to 74 live in nursing homes. In Washington, about 1,500 people, or 0.4 percent, of residents in their 60s live in nursing homes.
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Feeling good: Seventy-four percent of Washington's 65-and-over population rate their health as good to excellent, 4 percentage points higher than the national average.
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Americans older than 65 take an average of four prescription drugs a day, not to mention an unknown number of over-the-counter medications and herbal and vitamin supplements. But taken in the wrong combination, a cocktail of drugs can harm instead of heal.
How? Sometimes, other drugs or foods interfere with how quickly the body absorbs the medication. Grapefruit, for instance, decreases the metabolism of certain drugs. That allows more medication to enter the bloodstream - in effect raising the dosage.
Calcium-rich items, such as milk, cheese and antacids, can reduce the effectiveness of antibiotics such as Cipro or Tetracycline.
Older people are particularly vulnerable to drug interactions because of changes in their bodies, including muscle loss, fat gain and diminished liver and kidney function. The changes might require a dosage adjustment - and greater vigilance.
Tips on taking medications:
· Ask your doctor about potential interactions, especially if you have multiple prescriptions.
· Fill all your prescriptions at one pharmacy and give your pharmacist a list of any over-the-counter drugs or herbal supplements you're taking.
· Type in two or more drugs at www.drugdigest.org and check for possible interactions.
· Don't keep medications in a humid bathroom. Store them in a dry, dark place to maintain potency.
- Kyung M. Song, Seattle Times staff
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'Aging was something I did not think
about seriously. It just came.' |
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Photographed on Oct. 10, 2003 by Harley Soltes,
Seattle Times staff |
Qwihee Lee, 62
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Residence: Seattle
Occupation: retired toxicology researcher
Personal: married
Lee was born in Daegu, South Korea's third-largest city. She moved to the United States in 1965 to earn her doctor's degree at the University of Minnesota.
While Lee was in Minnesota, her husband was studying at the University of Hawaii. The couple moved to Seattle, and Lee found a job with the University of Washington School of Medicine. Lee co-founded Seattle's Korean Community Counseling Center in 1983. Her husband, businessman Ick-Whan Lee, is the president of the Korean American Historical Society in Seattle. The couple have three grown children.
Culture clash: Like many Korean women of her generation, Lee was raised to put family duties first and to defer to her elders. But such attitudes befuddled some of her American colleagues. Once, Lee tried to open a door for a male academic adviser in Minnesota, a customary gesture for seniors in Korea. "He was really embarrassed and asked me if I'd ever heard of women's liberation."
Seeing is believing: Lee says she does not feel 62, however that's supposed to feel. She is trim and, aside from high blood pressure, mostly healthy. Lee is trying to reconcile the gap between her mental age and her chronological age. "I will not feel old as long as I recognize my (former) self. ... Aging was something I did not think about seriously. It just came." Just about her only concession to age is coloring her graying hair.
Life in two parts: In her 20s, Lee planned to divide her life into two phases: contributing to society, then focusing on herself. She made the shift in her mid-50s. After years as a wife, daughter, mother, researcher and community volunteer, "I decided that I did my share. I wanted to stop everything and have a life for myself." These days, Lee indulges in simple things: golfing, hiking, just relaxing.
Aging in America: Lee counsels working women with children to "learn to be a friend with them, not always a parent." Lee has tried to instill Korean values in her two daughters and her son. Yet she wonders if Korean elders, who traditionally have lived with their sons, are really better off than their American peers these days. Thanks to Medicare, Lee says, some elderly Korean immigrants "say the U.S. government is a superior ... son than their own."
- Kyung M. Song, Seattle Times staff
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Retire happily: If you're planning to stop working, make it a rewarding time. According to a landmark Harvard study of aging, that means replacing co-workers with new friends, rediscovering how to play, pursuing a creative outlet and continually learning new things. Many older people have delayed retirement; 42 percent of people over 65 are either working full- or part-time.
Get an eye exam: Every one to two years after age 65, get an eye exam to keep your lens prescriptions updated and to screen for age-related problems such as glaucoma, macular degeneration and cataracts. Vision decline can put you at risk for falls. It also can limit reading and travel and lead to isolation and depression.
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