OPINION:
I turn 75 years old today, and two facts loom. First, the Social Security Administration reports that over 40% of my male American peers are already dead. Second, 75 marks the accepted point when physical and mental abilities begin to markedly decline.
I mark this birthday by starting a new career: extending my health span. (“Health span” means a life without serious disease or disability, when a person can do the things important to him.) This goal may sound obvious, even banal, but this new career has a distinct character, with specific challenges, just as my former career did.
That one began precisely as I turned 20 years old. I announced it to my parents in a September 1969 letter: “My studying this year is … a complete break with the past. I have gone into the Middle East business with totalness.” Indeed, my college classes consisted of Arabic language, medieval Islamic history, Saharan anthropology and the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Studying the Middle East defined my life for the next 55 years, including an undergraduate degree, three years in Cairo, a doctorate, teaching at four universities, working at the State and Defense departments, heading one think tank and founding another.
The Middle East remains important to me, but so does staying healthy. I realize that maintaining a healthy life has five main components. One of those, the financial, required planning over the decades. The other four — emotional, mental, nervous and physical — require discipline going forward.
Financial: Getting old is expensive; Social Security and private pensions provide the basics, but not enough. Therefore, each of us must save for old age. That means an awareness over the decades that what one spends in youth and middle age will not be available when one is old. If done right, on reaching 65 or so, finally released from the burden of planning for the future, we have enough to spend more freely.
Emotional: Health requires cultivating friends, giving priority to loved ones and avoiding loneliness. The latter does special damage. A recent study, “Do We Become More Lonely With Age? A Coordinated Data Analysis of Nine Longitudinal Studies,” finds, in a paraphrase, “When loneliness goes unchecked, it can be dangerous to our physical and mental health, and has been linked to problems like heart disease, dementia and suicidal ideation.” So, resist crankiness, and cherish those in one’s life.
Mental: In my old career, I made a living, built a reputation and gained some influence. As a writer, I was fortunate to have a career that was both stimulating and not physically strenuous. At 75, the old career becomes a component of health. The priorities of money, career and impact diminish, and those of staying sharp, busy and useful increase. The work remains the same, but its function shifts. For someone with a less sustainable career than writing, turning 75 demands finding something new and useful to do.
Nerves: A low-stress life becomes deeply beneficial at 75, so pace yourself. This means getting along, staying calm, avoiding disputes, letting go of little things, leaving enough time and not attempting too much.
Physical: Staying in shape consumes so much time that, to some extent, it replaces gainful employment. Go to sleep early. Avoid setting an alarm. Dine early. Eat well and not too much: Preferably, cook at home and hold the sugar. Fast intermittently. Nap often. Exercise. Do physical therapy. Religiously take medications on time. Brush and floss your teeth. Obey doctors and dentists as though drill sergeants. Pay out of pocket for a full-body MRI.
The National Institute on Aging sums up a study of almost 3,000 older adults showing that “healthy lifestyle factors — physical activity, not smoking, not drinking heavily, following the Mediterranean-style diet, and engaging in mentally stimulating activities — can have important benefits. People who engaged in four or five of these behaviors had a 60% lower risk of developing Alzheimer’s compared to those who only followed one or none.” In short, it all pays off.
My mother lived to 98 and my father to 94. Perhaps more important, his final article came out when he was 93. By that measure, I have 18 years yet to go; in the Jewish tradition, 18 is the auspicious number of chai.
• Daniel Pipes (DanielPipes.org, @DanielPipes) is president of the Middle East Forum and author of “Israel Victory: How Zionists Win Acceptance and Palestinians Get Liberated” (Wicked Son).
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