93

My daughter who is now 16 said to me, "Dad. He's 93 and doesn't have hearing aids." I replied, "My hearing aids are job related." Some people at this point might have felt hurt. However, this, for me just sort of woke me up in a way. She was talking about my wife's step father who also has a brother who is 98 years old. Even though the 93 year old has a pacemaker he also just flew to Washington to visit one of his kids. My wife said, "How did he do that with a pacemaker?" Because they last she had heard the electronics in a passenger plane can shut a pacemaker down. But, obviously technology has found a way to deal with that I guess.

I once read a book written in the 1930s called, "Life Begins at 40". Because life was very different than now it basicaly said, "If you have your finances and family in order life can begin at 40". Though this is all very true still in some ways there are many new factors in longevity today than in the 1930s especially when you consider than in 1900 only one man in 12 made it to even 60.

So, when I look back at longevity in my own family my mother, sisters and their mother all lived to 90. (It's interesting to me that they all passed on at 90). Whereas my father after living an extremely healthy life (he could have lived to 100) passed on at 69 because he didn't believe in or trust medical doctors even though he was a real master at preventative medicine. So, often he could physically outdo me on walks and hikes even in his 60s. So, losing him for my mother and I was a really big shock at the time and helped cause my divorce in 1994.

However, I remarried in 1995 and had a daughter in that new marriage.

So, I would say that what I see are the two main causes of longevity are intelligence and adaptability. There is just as much adaptability necessary in ones 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s and beyond necessary as there is between ages 12 and 30. If one is not very adaptable and intelligent about they way they handle all aspects of their lives they tend to falter and pass on a lot.

So, a part of this adaptability is psychological in continuing to embrace new and useful ideas that help one prosper and survive well. And some of those ideas have to do with health.

For example, my father's passing and the struggle to survive my divorce in my mid 40s and getting remarried and having another daughter while still trying to get custody of my other daughter from my divorce was incredibly stressful to the point where I seriously wondered if I would physically survive the whole thing which created my near death experience for 7 months through a heart virus in 1998 and 1999. However, once I had survived that my life since then has been relatively easy for me compared to the rest of my life from age 18 to 50. So now I'm 64 and financially and physically okay except my doctor now has told me I must lose some weight to stay healthy ongoing. So, this week I bought a Breville juicer for about 300 dollars so I can try to do the "Fat, Sick and nearly dead diet". The reason I know I can do this diet is because I spent a lot of time juice fasting up until my 40s when I started to have low blood sugar problems. However, since I was 58 I was diagnosed with hypothyroid problems and started taking Armour Thyroid from Canada through a doctor's prescription. For me, there are absolutely no side effects from taking armour thyroid other than feeling in my mind and body like I'm about 20 years old. (But I still have the aches and pains of an active 64 year old. I just tend to never take pain killers unless it feels like I'm dying. Instead I just get into my Hot Tub Spa outside when my body hurts to much and I feel better within a few minutes. I like the temperature about 98 to 100 because I can stay in an hour or more and read the news articles on my laptop or write just outside the edge of it. Also, I walk about 1 to 3 miles a day and often lifts weights (about 50 pounds) over my head to help keep my rotator cusps from going like they do in many men. I don't want to lose the ability to lift my arms above my head while carrying weight which happens to many men over 50 or 60 years of age.

One of the reasons I got hearing aids is  I discovered that when someone has hearing loss if they don't get hearing aids the brain pathways start to deteriorate and it tends to move someone towards senile dementia in a slow way because a person tends to go off into their own world because of the difficulty of communication. I have really noticed lately that hearing the birds outside and even dragonfly wings as they fly by means a great deal to me now. So, all the sounds that slowly fade out with hearing problems are important to address either with an internal (invisible hearing aid which are very expensive) or with something like I have which is (sort of expensive at about 5000 dollars for two). I chose Starkey as a brand that are small with multiple programmable settings for different situations one can encounter. When I need them the most it is in restaurants where there are many different background noises that interfere with figuring out consonants. (hard sounding letters as opposed to vowels). Most people with hearing loss hear all vowel sounds but can't hear consonants properly in restaurants or places with a lot of background noises.

So, you can wear an external aid or an internal aid with can be invisible like the Lyric hearing aid. I tried a Lyric but ALL you hear is electronic sounds and this was too weird for me even though one day I might start using a Lyric too. But for now I prefer at least hearing some normal sounds along with amplified sounds. Amplified sounds often can sound like you are in an auditorium listening to someone speak over a sound system which can be good, bad or indifferent but never like talking directly with someone. So, the transition to using hearing aids is difficult psychologically and auditorially but necessary if you want to keep your hearing. Because it isn't your ear that is the problem. If your brain forgets to be able to hear sounds you won't be able to hear no matter what anyone does. So the brain is the problem not your ears in the end. So, using hearing aids keeps your brains capacity to hear sounds alive and well.

I take my hearing aids out in the hot tub or shower and when I sleep at night. Otherwise I try to leave them in the rest of the time. I use baby wipes that have alcohol on them to sterilize them before I put them in each morning so I don't give myself an ear infection or something. Also, I open the battery door at night on the aids to air out any moisture from my ears or head area and this also shuts off the aid so it doesn't prematurely run the battery down during the night. My aids turn on whenever the battery is inserted to the first lowest hearing setting and then there is a bar on the back that will do 3 higher settings on each hearing aid if I need. So, if you need hearing aids be sure to get some so you can keep whatever hearing you have and not have your brain lose the ability to process sounds.