Looking to the future

February 20, 2010 in Ageing, Demography, My PhD, Research | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

So many countries are aware of the fact that their populations are ageing and that this is likely to be expensive, but go no further.

I was made aware of this by Underhill in his book ‘Why we buy’. There is general talk of the baby boomers being different but there seems to be little definition of how different. Underhill details this difference. He says that ”They came of age during the fat, self-indulgent ’50s, ’60s and ’70s”. Among other points he makes is that they didn’t absorb ‘the quaint notion that to be old is to accept infirmity and inability stoically, as one’s lot in life’.

After reading his comments I felt much more hopeful that my research results, that the post retirement, later stage of life can be just as productive as the earlier stages, are likely to be accepted by this newly emerging group of older people.  I argue that this later stage is a wonderful opportunity to find your true self, your hidden and latent talents. It is a time when most older people are much freer of commitments than they were in previous stages- for many the kids are off their hands and the mortgage is paid for. There is time and money freedom so why not use the time to follow old dreams which disappeared under those commitments- or find new ones!

I was much younger than my fellow students in high school and got laughed at for still drawing stick figures. I assumed I was useless at art. Now I can’t wait to see if this was really true. I’ve got loads of books on the subject (I hope they really are for dummies!) and my kids gave me the necessary pencils and paints for Christmas. As soon as I’ve handed in my thesis (currently at the editing stage) I want to start being an artist- after I’ve turned my thesis into a book and painted my neglected house! There are so many opportunities when you are older! A lot of older people take up painting and find they are quite good at it I hope I join them! One of my older friends has decided to learn to play the cello so we decided she would play at my first art exhibition! Such stuff as dreams are made of!

I get upset when I meet an older person and ask them what they do and they say “I’m busy”. If you push further to ask what they are doing they say “I’m just so busy”. I always assume that they are being busy just filling in time with as many things as they can- appointments, lunches etc- but have no purpose in their lives. Those who do have a purpose are usually quite eager to tell you about it. This is important as it seems to be widely accepted that our brain cells die as we age and we need to build new connectors between those that are left. We can do this by being involved in something interesting, exciting and productive, finding the talented side of ourselves. Yunus, author of  ‘Banker to the Poor’ reckons that all human beings have the potential to be entrepreneurs, and he works with the poorest of the poor. How much more chance have the rest of us not so disadvantaged to find our entrepreneurial selves.

As individuals we need to look to our futures as older people as being a time to find our talented selves. Governments also need to find an environment to facilitate this. Older people have so much to offer and we need to be given the chance, and to live in an environment in which this can happen.

Australia Day- should we celebrate?

February 7, 2010 in Uncategorized | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

Last week we celebrated Australia Day- the day white men landed in Australia and took over. We are often reminded that there was no bloody coup but this is not true. Many Aboriginals were murdered but it happened gradually as the invaders spread across the country.
Many Aboriginals refer to it as Invasion Day.
Aboriginal Health and education levels are well below that of the non-Aboriginal population. Our solution is to send in the military even though it is a sociological problem. It doesn’t work and we are condemned by the UN but as most white people are doing quite well we just pretend not to have heard the criticism. The problem is that governments from both parts of the political spectrum take the same approach so the deadlock is hard to break.
In an interview last year for my thesis I spoke with the Australian of the Year, himself an Aboriginal person. We discussed the three ‘isms’, racialism. sexism and ageism. He said that racialism was worse at it displaced people from their lands and they had to start again, with nothing, on inferior land.
With the UN being ignored, it is hard to see what individuals can do.

Targetting older people seems to be politically correct

January 29, 2010 in Ageing, Healthcare | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

Once again older people in Australia are being targetted by our political figures. Last week the public servant responsible for the next tax reform was forecasting tax increases to pay for the cost of our ageing population. There are other calls on the tax dollar but targetting these doesn’t seem to be half as much fun.

My impression is that  Australia has the highest per capita rate of obesity in the world, but it gets little more than a passing mention. The cost of this in the future will be huge- the increased cost associated with increasing diabetes for example will be able to be shafted over to the aged health care bill. (Both of our major seniors/older people organisations accept members from age 50 after which diabetes tends to manifest itself). Heart attacks follow a similar pattern. Any tax increases could be reduced if we seriously tackled the twin problems of poor diet and lack of exercise in the general community but elder bashing seems to be more fun. My thesis has shown that it is much better if older people are involved in a productive exercise such as work or an intensive hobby, the latter probably unleashing untapped talents. This is beneficial both for older people and for the country but the idea gets no government support from its ‘young’ officials who have no concept of ageing.

I’m trying to push for an award for the employer who employs the most older people and has an older worker friendly environment which I suspect will leave many government departments red-faced. Meanwhile, let’s get back to elder bashing- it’s much more comfortable and easier as they rarely fight back.

Nearing the end of a Ph D

December 28, 2009 in Ageing, Research | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

It’s hard to realise that I am nearing the end of four and a half  years of research into healthy ageing. I have read and learned, and experienced, so much, it is hard to know what to put into my thesis and what needs to be left out. One of the people I interviewed, a Professor in Sociology, agreed to look at it for me, which has been a great help.

I was also advised to read another book on the subject, written 20 years ago, about the situation regarding ageing in England, which made me even more determined to write a less academic book about where we should be heading with ageing in Australia. It would be applicable  in other developed countries. We are retired for so long these days it is important that we plan wisely, particularly as it is a time when our brain cells die and we need to counteract this.

When I was in high school I was much younger than the other students in my class. I was still drawing stick figures when they had moved on. Their laughter left me with the impression that I was no good at art so next year, with my thesis out of the way, I hope to have another go at it, as it is something I enjoy. I want to learn book binding first, and write the book I just mentioned, and will become a grandmother, so I don’t know how many of my plans will still be on my list this time next year! It’s better to have a long list than no list at all!

I hope the world will try to achieve peace, and work together to protect our planet in 2010. It is much easier to achieve our personal plans when the world around us is calm and stable. We have enough problems with natural disasters and an uneven distribution of food without adding to the problems by fighting each other.

Older researchers

December 20, 2009 in Ageing, Healthcare, Research | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

As I near the end of my research I am becoming more aware of how few older researchers there are in ageing, and how the younger researchers are getting it so wrong.

The latest edition of the ANU Reporter, a publication from Australia’s leading University (ranked 19th in the world) contains a quote from one of their leading researchers, a younger woman, in this field. She is quoted as saying ‘Keeping the mind sharp through crosswords and other puzzles is one likely contributor to healthy ageing’. Crossword puzzles were discredited a few years ago at another Australian University as only keeping a small part of the mind healthy. This is also a part-time solution to a full-time problem.

My research has shown that for successful and healthy ageing we need to have a purpose in life, such as continuing with work, part-time or full-time, or have a new career or hobby which we really enjoy, and which takes up a substantial part of our lives.

Retirement, if taken near age 65 years, can span 20 or 30 years and it needs more than just doing puzzles to be fulfilling and to keep most of the mind active. There is a lot of negative publicity about the ageing and if we are seen to be doing something exciting and worthwhile then this negativity will have even less foundation.

In the UK, applicants for grants for ageing research now have to include older people on their research team. As older people are trained for this they will become aware of how inaccurate much of the current research is and how much will have to be scrapped as older people tell ageing as it is. We need to fast track this to save money.

You’d think we would have learnt from mistakes with women’s issues in the past, and research into coloured people,which still is often done solely by non-coloured people. Involving the target audience at every stage in any field of research should be compulsory- we’ve known for years that it is necessary for accurate results.

The Key to a Happy, healthy and Successful Last Stage of Life

July 2, 2009 in Conferences, Research | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

In a couple of days I leave for Paris to attend the nineteenth

IAGG World Congress of gerontology and Geriatrics. I submitted an abstract for an oral presentation but I am only allowed to do

a poster. It contains a copy of the submitted abstract but is largely concerned

with the lack involvement of older people in research into ageing, and

conferences on ageing (parallel to men running research and conferences on women

100 years ago). This is what I would have said if my voice had been allowed to be heard:-

Introduction. Increasing life expectancy extends life beyond age 65,

often for decades. This research investigates optimum ways of spending those

years. Methodology.  The research initially produced a profile of people age

55+ using a reliable Australian data base (year 2003) with over 3500 respondents

in this age group. It looked at background information such as education, and

physical and mental health, finance and lifestyle issues, with over 80

questions, all answered by people in this age group. This data was later updated

using 2007 data from the same source. This defines what we mean by the term

‘ageing’, a definition which is usually missing, particularly in research done

by younger people. The research went on to look at successful agers, from centenarians, to

people who have had a successful career change in the later stage of

life; to interviews with seven outstanding, achieving, older

Australians.

Results. What emerged from this research is that older

people need a purpose in life, or short term and long term goals, or a lifeplan.

The research endorses the view that it is important to keep the brain

active in later life, and to feel part of the community. By having a purpose in

life, or equivalent, many parts of the brain are kept active, and older

people often fulfil an important role in the community. The idea of

retirement as being a time of relaxation, doing nothing, does little to

stop brain deterioration, often to the point of dementia. “Being busy”, the new

goal of older people, may not lead to a happy, healthy and successful last stage

of life.

The X1Xth World Congress of Gerontology and Geriatrics

June 22, 2009 in Uncategorized | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

This congress is being held in a couple of week’s time in

Paris. At last count over 5300 people had registered to attend. This should be

good news for older people, but from past experience of conferences on ageing I

am feeling cynical. I suspect that most of the speakers will be younger people,

and most of the audience will be younger people, with very little representation

from older people themselves.

A hundred years ago women were considered too stupid to present papers at

conferences on women’s issues- they were run by men. Most of the audience were

men with just a few token women. Will we have to wait another hundred years

before the genuine voices of older people are heard at conferences and in

research papers on ageing?

Far too often research papers presented, and published, on ageing by

younger people have big holes in them. This is hardly surprising as the

only information younger researchers have about ageing is from what

they read, information also usually written by other younger people. Worse

still, researchers don’t include older people in their research. Good research

involves the target audience in developing the research question, designing the

research instrument (e.g. questionnaire), analysing the results and writing up

the report. Most ageing research does none of this. In the few cases where older

people are involved they are usually in a subservient position and are not

encouraged to contribute their own ideas or make any tangible

suggestions.

I submitted a paper for an oral presentation for the conference. It was

knocked back but I was told I could do a poster (meanwhile, two of my colleagues

in their early thirties had their papers on ageing accepted!). I don’t normally

like posters but as I am nearing the end of my research for a Ph D I decided it

would be a good opportunity to raise some of the issues above. I have included a

message to say that I will include what I would have said in my presentation if

I had been allowed give it on this web site.

I will post it before I leave for Paris.

Older people are forming an ever increasing proportion of populations in both

developed and developing countries. It will be disastrous if our voices cannot

be heard.

The 19th International Association of Gerontologists and Geriatrics World Congress

May 25, 2009 in Conferences | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

In July 2009 I will be travelling to Paris for the 19th IAGG congress. It should be valuable because it is one of the few conferences on

ageing which unites both gerontology and geriatrics, thus combining both the physically healthy and unhealthy aspects of ageing. The two conditions often/usually interact with each other.

My concern is that once again participants will have to listen to papers given by youngsters whose only knowledge of ageing is from

reading textbooks usually written by other younger people. Their research often contains huge holes and either misinforms or isn’t worth listening to. The holes or misinformation are often not recognised because most of the audience themselves are younger people.

The situation always reminds me that 100 years ago, conferences on women’s issues were run by men, with only a few token women in

the audience. The excuse given was that women were too stupid to be involved! I wonder what the excuse is today for parallel circumstances in

conferences on ageing. I don’t recall any of the research from the ‘men’s conferences’ lasting. It wasn’t until women started to run their own conferences that real progress towards equality was made. Similarly I don’t think older people will achieve equality until we get our act together and run conferences on ageing ourselves. I hope we would never go to similar extremes to those used by the men, and ban younger people, except for a few token ones in the audience!

A couple of my younger friends have been invited to make presentations whilst I seem to be among the elite (from the names of others who

have been rejected) relegated to doing a poster. I refused at first as oral presentations and posters are entirely different media, arguing that had I wanted to do a poster I would have applied in that category. The organisers wouldn’t accept my refusal (probably unheard of!). The third time I was reminded that I had been honoured to be allowed to do a poster it occurred to me that it would be a good opportunity to do a ‘dissenting’ poster along the lines above, together with a copy of the ‘rejected’ oral presentation abstract!

It will be interesting to see the reaction of the audience, and the organisers, and the presentation selectors. It has made me realise how vitally important this latter role is. Having quality researchers sitting in the audience while second rate people present (in this case younger people), are not the hallmarks of a good conference. I hope I am misjudging the quality of the 19th IAAG conference. I’ll report back!

Inspirational achieving older Australians

April 9, 2009 in Uncategorized | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

As part of my research into ageing I interviewed 7 of Australia’s older achievers in different fields (all household names). There was a huge amount of similarity between them. All have a very positive attitude towards life and even though they are all past the retirement age none
of them have any desire or plans to do so.

In the current economic climate this may be a good opportunity to rethink our attitude towards the way we spend the latter stage of our lives. Maybe spending our days just filling in time without a purpose is not such a good idea. More and more evidence is suggesting that we need to keep our bodies physically fit through exercise, but it is also important that we do the same with our minds. This doesn mean giving it the occasional stimulation- we lose too much in between. A friend of mine came across some research which suggested that if
we take a bit of leave from work, when we return it takes our intelligence time to get back to where it was. How much worse it must be if we retire for several years.

Part of my research also involved reading the research into the centenarians in The Blue Zones, four parts of the world with the highest number of centenarians. Even at 100 these people are still heavily involved in their communities, are physically and mentally healthy and have a purpose in life. This was also true of the achieving Australians I interviewed. I am becoming more and more convinced that for successful and healthy ageing we need such a purpose, either work or volunteer work of some type which takes up a good part of our week. It becomes something to get out of bed for, and if we are looking forward to doing an interesting project or activity we tend to
overlook our physical aches and pains.

Successful ageing

January 1, 2009 in Conferences, Papers, Research | by Audrey Guy | Leave a comment

This year has been a busy one, although without any overseas conferences. In March I was sponsored to attend a Masterclass for
students doing research into ageing, in Brisbane. This proved to be an interesting experience. It reinforced my impression that most research is being done by young researchers whose knowledge of ageing comes from what they read in books- which are written by other younger researchers. To me this is a dangerous situation, and is a barrier to first class research.

Later in the year I attended a conference in Sydney on employing older workers. There were many employers represented- but no older workers! I subsequently used part of my research data to submit a paper on employing older workers to a conference on employment in Newcastle in early December. This published, refereed paper should be available on the Centre of Full Employment
and Equity website or email coffee@newcastle.edu.au”>coffee@newcastle.edu.au</A>.

I also presented a paper on how the role of general practitioners in the ACT will change with an ageing population, at a conference on health in the ACT. I followed this with a presentation on Successful Ageing at the ANU Intergenerational Forum in October.

The more research I do the more I am convinced that ageing is much more successful if it is part of a seamless life span. The pension was a wonderful financial help to those near the end of their lives, when it was introduced. Today, with increasing life expectancy, it has tended to become a right to a carefree, paid, decades-long existence which appears to be far from a physically or mentally healthy way to live. There are plenty of examples in the world of older people who continue on with their work, or change to new careers, and live healthy, productive, satisfying lives. Research in Manchester in the UK suggests that in 40 years, the number of people with dementia in Australia will treble,
yet we don’t really know either the cause or cure for this frightening, and expensive, disease. I suspect that filling in time until death, as so many do, is not a healthy way to age. Those who continue to contribute to society seem tobe much better off.