Getting older isn't all bad

What do you expect to see in your mirror as you age? How will you stack up when you are 60 or 70 years old? Will you have good or bad health? Will you be able to bend, climb stairs, shoot pool, swim, or square dance?

Accepting and understanding how your body ages is the key to enjoying your later years. It's a fact that as you age there will be changes in your muscle mass and increases in body fat, changes in bone mineral content, decreases in the body mass index and a loss of activity. Lower calorie intake due to reduced activity may lower the ingestion of needed vitamins, which means you may eat less of the important needed vitamins. All of these factors appear during normal aging processes. You can slow down these changes with simple changes in your daily routine and by reviewing your daily nutrition.

In your 40s, jobs, children and financial matters create stress that interacts with the aging process. When you reach your 50s, some of these factors disappear, and you begin to relax more and take time for your mind and body. The age of 60 brings a whole new outlook. If you are retired, you are free to take college courses, plant a garden, and travel. Try them all. Retirement is a time for taking a good look at yourself and to begin to plan for a lot of good years ahead. And the most important factor in your enjoyment of this time is your health. That means having regular doctor check-ups, eating proper nutrition, and, most of all, some form of exercise activity. Don't let one day go by without exercise. Whether you take up gardening, walking, or swimming, every day is open to exploring new avenues of movement.

In your 60s and 70s, you can still plan a new career, make new friends and set new goals. Consider changes in diet, exercise and daily routines to help postpone the aging process. If you are happy, enjoying life, have new goals, and have a good self-image, none of your physical flaws due to aging will matter to you or anyone else.

This is an interesting fact: no other species has reached the level of aging than has the human species. And no other species has had the control over such enormous evolutionary pressures. Overpopulation used to be the worry, but now it is being replaced by population aging. This trend has changed the way we live life and it has changed the quality of that life. We all wish to live longer, but we also want that longer life to be useful, productive and fun. Good health will help.

n Jerry Vance is owner of The Sweat Shop/Wet Sweat. She offers classes through Carson City Recreation and Aquatics Center and is a fitness instructor for the Senior Center.