Preparing for old age

BY ANDREW Scott

TODAY the number of old people throughout the world is increasing alarmingly and many state as well as voluntary oragnaizations are doing their best to assist helpless and lonely old people to make their lives happier.

One of the most important facts to be realised is that in any country old age creates many economic and sociological problems.

At the same time many old people and others on the verge of reaching that stage feel that it is a dismal and unhappy age about which we should always be worried to a lesser or greater extent.

However, this need not be so if one takes care to prepare for old age gracefully even amidst mundane failures and frustrations that human beings usually have to face from time to time.

One of the most important aspects in life is to readily accept your age, no matter what your age is, remembering that one ages in three ways - chronologically, physiologically and mentally. The chronological age applies equally to everyone at the same rate as time passes at the same pace for all of us.

However, even among some individuals of the same age the physiological aging happens to all of us.

Along with ageing the vision alters. The skin wrinkles. The legs weaken and the heart begins to function with less efficiency. We must accept these changes as natural even though their effects can be altered by the way in which we live, eat and indulge in habits.

It must be accepted that the decay and the weakening of the faculties of the human body in old age cannot be totally prevented even with the giant strides made recently in the medical field. In contrast one must face these weakening forces as something normal and controllable making use of modern medical innovations.

Facing old age brings many psychological problems too and it is very important that the ageing and the old accept their limitations in all human activities both physical and mental as natural changes that old age brings about. If an old person or for that matter anyone is bed-ridden or mentally weakened, he should be given optimum encouragement and hope for his life and this will have a remarkable recuperative effect.

The best time to prepare for old age is when one is youthful and vigorous because if you prepare for old age long before you reach that inevitable phase in life, you will not have any regrets when you reach old age. Of course it is very important that we follow right values and wholesome principles in health throughout our lives if we expect to reach a reasonably satisfying old age.

Much evidence is available in our country of many individuals who have strived hard for worldly success, losing their health and the capacity for enjoyment in the very process of achieving that success and accumulating wealth.

Psychological stability and happiness in old age can be gained by maintaining a balanced personality no matter the problems that beset old age. As a medical psychologist has pointed out: "High blood pressure, diseased arteries, impaired digestion, many rheumatic troubles are among the disabilities of old age which are not by any means inevitable.

They are the fruits of wrong living. Not wrong in the dietetic sense, but the fruits of anxious living....the anxious person is piling up tensions which have no appropriate release and so accumulate in organs, muscles and joints."

Old age is also a phase where we should have a philosophic acceptance of life no matter the worldly problems one is usually faced with. If one wants to have a serene old age one should also cultivate a sense of total detachment based on one's religious and cultural beliefs. For instance if he is a Buddhist he could follow a methodical system of regular meditation.

Along with ageing and particularly when one becomes a very old person he may develop a certain queerness or a weakening of his mental faculty and physical strength and these must be considered as normal features of old age.

The friction between the old and the young which is a common feature in many families in our society, can be reduced to a great extent if the old show a great sympathy and understanding of the younger generation and form a mutual companionship which could be enjoyable and beneficial to both groups.

It will be rewarding if even in old age we are young in mind and spirit and base our lives on sound psychological principles, living an active life fostering interests and hobbies, showing concern for other people and participating in social service work whenever possible and engaging in some creative work such as writing poetry or prose, engaging in painting, appreciating music, engaging in reading, continuing any childhood hobby such as photography or gardening and even looking after some pets.

After all, old age need not be unhappy if you prepare for it in advance. It need not be unhappy as the world unfolds so may opportunities for the aged to live a happy and contented life.