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Exploring Aging
Did you know that 95% of adults 60 and older have at least one chronic health condition? Nearly 79% of the same adults have 2 or more chronic health conditions. Are you aware of the top 10 most common chronic conditions for adults 65 and older? Do you have one of them? Do you have one of the top 10?
Ray:Is there anything you can do to help prevent a chronic medical condition or make managing one easier? Well, today on the Exploring Aging podcast, we will answer these important questions and unpack more myths regarding aging and age related issues. Stick around, pull up a chair, and I think you're gonna like what you hear. Welcome back to this edition of the Exploring Aging podcast. I'm your host, Ray Sanders, and my 2 co hosts have made their way back into the studio.
Ray:Doctor Pierce, Greg, McNeese, I might add to that, are in the studio. They're in the house. Welcome back, guys. It's always great to see you guys.
Greg:It's good to be here today. Good to
Bill:see you, Ray.
Ray:Are you guys ready to bust some more of these myths that we've been trying to bust here on the podcast? Yes.
Greg:Let's go. We are.
Ray:You're loaded and ready. We're ready. Alright. I'm I'm gonna count on you today. You know, would you guys mind since we're talking about these myths and that we're trying to bust and there's a lot of them.
Ray:I mean, come on. There's just a lot of them out there. And we've kind of honed in on some of them. But would you guys mind just kinda reminding some of our folks some of these myths that we're trying to bust related to to aging? Aging is something that we're all doing.
Ray:It's something that's in the news big time right now with the presidential election. I've learned about what ageism is. You know, that's a big deal. But what are some of these myths that we're trying to bust here on the Exploring Aging podcast?
Greg:You know, Ray, we started back, and we looked at myth we said myth number 1. Myth number 1 says, you know, as you get older, as you age, it means the end of your development cognitively and physically. So we spent some time, if you remember that, and we said, that is just not true. Right. So myth number 1, we busted.
Bill:That you have dementia or you have you're gonna have Alzheimer's. We busted that myth. The 2 don't necessarily go hand in hand. So we talked about the fact that there are people who get to very advanced ages who don't have those issues.
Ray:Well, you know, you and I were out at, the Oklahoma City campus not too long ago, and here we are, all these folks are enjoying the hay rides and things like that. And what was it, Bill? A 104 year old lady was out just enjoying herself. I dare anybody to challenge that she wasn't capable.
Bill:I'm not gonna say she was acting like a teenager, but it certainly looked a lot like that.
Ray:They were certainly having fun.
Bill:We also busted the myth that says that when you get older, you're not productive anymore. And boy, that's one of the myths I really like to bust because I've worked with older people for so long that I can just see that that's not true. In fact, there's some studies going around that say that people that are between 60 70 are the most productive people in our society.
Ray:You know what they're willing to do is they're willing to slow down and take the time. They've realized that there's magic in that margin And I know you guys probably could say the same. Some of my best memories, I love my parents and they did a great job, but some of the greatest lessons I've learned in life were from my grandparents.
Bill:Absolutely.
Ray:So had they had they checked out or I thought that they didn't have something of value, I mean, come on. I've learned some of my greatest life lessons from my grandparents. And now being a grandparent myself, I certainly hope I can do that for my grandkids.
Greg:That's true. That's true. You know, Ray, we also took the myth and we kind of what we said is myth number 4. And we said, you know, that is where the idea out there that as you get older, as you age, you are just sick and you're incapable of doing things. Maybe you're even you're disabled because you're older.
Greg:And, you know what, that is just not true. So we spent time in that last episode where we talked about this. That is just not true. Just because you're older doesn't mean you're sick. Doesn't mean you can't do something.
Greg:And so it kind of feeds back into that myth of productivity, but health. And, so so we busted that myth as well in our last
Ray:And I think these myths really apply not if someone's listening today and you know, you consider yourself up in age, take take this and listen to it and gain some confidence in realizing you're not finished. You got plenty to offer. But if you're also younger and you're looking at older folks, don't discount them. Engage them. You might be surprised they might beat you in a game of chess.
Ray:You know? That's right. There may be other things that they could challenge you on. And so let's learn to value, what age does for us, not discount it. Right.
Ray:Fair enough?
Greg:That's it.
Ray:And that's part of what we're trying to do when we we bust these myths. Well, so far so far, we've busted 4. And today on the Exploring, Aging podcast, we're out to bust at least once more. So I know you guys are locked and loaded. So let me set the stage for everyone.
Ray:Let me set it for you guys. I know you're prepared. Let's set the stage for our listeners. Here's what we know, and this is some pretty amazing stuff. According to the National Council on Aging, 95% of adults 60 and older have at least one chronic health condition.
Ray:We alluded to this in the beginning of the show, in the teaser to the show. Greg, when you sent me the information on this, I got up from my desk and I went to my wife and I said, I'm 60 years old. And they're saying, everybody my age, 95% of them have at least one chronic condition. Now I'm not bragging, but I don't know of 1 at least. And I'm thinking 95%?
Ray:I heard a joke, not really a joke, it was I guess it's a joke. And somebody was talking about how they, were they said, you know, I I saw some of the the girls that I went to high school with, and I and I realized that, oh, that's someone my mom or my mother's age. And when in fact, it's someone my age. And you begin to realize, you know, aging is something we're all doing and I don't feel 60.
Greg:Sure. I
Ray:don't feel 60. I know you guys probably don't feel your age. I really am beginning to realize that age is a mentality. You know, you're as age as you feel you wanna be. You're as old as you feel you wanna be.
Ray:There's are some limitations, but the fact that 95% of people out there have one chronic condition, health condition, surprised me. And if people are listening, they're going, well, lucky for you because I can tell you, I fit into the next category. And what is that? 79% of this same category have 2 or or more chronic health conditions. Man, those are challenges.
Ray:Does it have to slow us down? The what are they? And that's part of what I wanna unpack. What are these top 10? What are we learning?
Ray:What are these top 10? So can you guys kinda name some of these top 10 chronic conditions and help us understand is there if there's anything that that we can do about it?
Greg:So, Ray, look, before we go there, let me kind of just throw this out there. As someone who's in their fifties Mhmm. I bet if we
Ray:He's bragging, Bill.
Greg:I know.
Ray:He's bragging. He's the young one on the he's the young one on the show.
Greg:I think if we could take this data and we look further, I think we would be surprised at the systemic issues in our American culture, that that number as a 50 year old, I I have an issue. I take cholesterol. I take a statin drug for high cholesterol. It's genetic in my family. But I think if we were to be able to go back and look and see, we hear that word chronic condition or a chronic disease.
Greg:There's such this negative gray cloud aura over that. But I think, you know what, if we looked at it, we might be surprised there are people in their thirties, forties, fifties who would fit that they have at least one chronic disease issue that they're dealing with in life. So I think we need to kinda think about it in terms of it's not just older adults, those above 60 who are facing 1 or more chronic conditions. Those of us who are under that threshold face those very same things as well. I think part of it's a product of our environment, product of our American culture, diet, all that kind of stuff.
Ray:Well, I think what you're saying is be careful or learn from what we're saying. It's not necessarily age related. Correct. And there are some things that we can do to help us. I mean, eventually, we're all gonna pass and something's gonna take us out.
Ray:Right? We all know that. But there are some young people. I mean, I'm telling you, I think they're probably in worse shape than any of us. And it's it's our culture.
Ray:One of the programs that I've seen on television, is gentleman who did a documentary about going to different areas of the world and talking about what allowed people to become centurions. Right. How do they get into their 100? And Greg, he's tracking right with what you're saying. There were some basics and and we're not doctors.
Ray:This is not, you know, the doctor Pierce Medical MD show. Right? This isn't the doctor, You know, McNeese show. And certainly, I guess I'd be the nurse practitioner or something if I was going to be on this show. But we're not medical, you know Correct.
Ray:Credentialed. Right. At the same time though, there are some things that we're going to discover that we've probably been hearing a while, and we might need a buddy or somebody to come alongside us to help us work through this.
Greg:Some some
Ray:of the things were you gonna say something?
Bill:Yeah. I wanna say that, we've already talked about how many what percentage of the population has has to deal with a chronic condition. I agree with Greg, that word chronic condition is perhaps not something we should have in our everyday vocabulary it's a matter of what do you do about that? Can you do something about it? And it's a it's a matter of what do you do about that?
Bill:Can you do something about it? And what kind of quality of life are you gonna have? And I wanna say that since there are so many people who deal with these challenges, I admire the way they go about their life, even though they're facing these challenges. I admire the people who look to Christ, to have an attitude that brings joy to them no matter what they're facing. So many people are facing these things.
Bill:I mean, I mean, just when when we talk about these things, they're so prevalent in our society, like high blood pressure.
Ray:Mhmm.
Bill:What do you do about that? And arthritis. Mhmm. You go to the doctor and you ask him if you can do something. He says, well, you know you have arthritis, don't you?
Bill:And so there's all sorts of things like that. Greg already mentioned high cholesterol and something that is a challenge for a lot of people too.
Greg:And, Ray, I think as we kind of think about our culture and depression, is a big deal that people deal with. And so the mental health, of people and so it's it's important. When we look at, last spring, the surgeon general came out with a report that said, you know, loneliness, isolation, and obviously depression that feeds in that is a leading issue in our aging society today. And so we see that. We see that in the ministries address.
Greg:And we see it prevalent in our churches and society and that kind of thing.
Ray:Well, this documentary touches on that. In all these different communities, there was a sense of community, a sense of belonging. Whether it's family, whether, you know, it's a place of worship and what have you. But that's one of the advantage of being people of faith when we do gather together. Quite frankly, that's that's one of the advantages of what the services that that you guys provide.
Ray:Let let me just you've touched on some of them. And, Bill, I don't even know if you knew this or not, but the number 1, and we're going to go through these, the number 1 is high blood pressure at 60%. That's just one of them. And then I'm going to the the last one on the list was COPD, and that's about 11%. But if I'm listening today and I'm 60 years or older or I'm considering, you know, my chronic illness, I I'm tuning in.
Ray:You've got my attention. You're gonna give me some tips. And I'm I'm quite frankly shocked at some of these percentages. But Bill and Greg, what is going on here? Is there anything that we can do practically to prevent chronic medical conditions or at least make managing them easier?
Ray:Is there anything we can do?
Greg:I would think there are things we can do to maybe lessen some of the effects sometimes. But to say, we can take this or do this and never have to deal with that and then to get rid of it, it's just not that's just not it. Because we're we're talking about, genetics. We're talking about how we're made and our chemistry. And so, is there one is there one pill out there that we can take?
Greg:No. There's not. But there are some things that we can do. We can be smart about how we live, and we can talk through some of those and what that might look like. But, you know, it is it is kind of like you said earlier when we were beginning the session.
Greg:We're all going to die of something somewhere along the way. And so, it's just can we mitigate that experience, if you will?
Ray:Well, this then is myth number 5. Sure. This is myth number 5. There's nothing we can do to help prevent a chronic medical condition. Let's just throw in the towel.
Ray:Let's just quit. There's nothing we can do. We let's just end the show early.
Bill:You know, Ray, when whenever I go to the doctor, the doctor will tell me some of the same things every time I go, you know, and it has been for decades. And and sometimes I listen and sometimes I I don't do so well. Mhmm.
Ray:You know
Bill:how that goes? Mhmm. I mean, he'll he'll say the same things. It's like, you need to lose weight, you need to exercise, you need to eat right. Yeah.
Bill:Those are 3 really basic things that we can do about a lot of the things that are on these this list of top 10.
Ray:Yeah. Well, and and I think when we go through these and we don't have to belabor them because, you know, some of these things it's it's obvious that what we need to do, but I am going to pick on you just a minute. You said you went to the doctor and you said you weren't listening. Now I don't know about you guys and Bill, you probably have had this happen. There came a point that my wife said, I think you need to get your hearing checked.
Greg:I've had that very same conversation at my house.
Ray:But I didn't do myself any favors, Bill. I don't know about you, but I went to get my hearing checked and I went in over the Hough Ear Institute and I went through the whole regimen and the doctor said, no, remind me of why you're here. And it's classic. I I said, well, but my wife he said, oh, yeah. We get a lot of guys like this.
Ray:Yes. Didn't he? And I he said, I got I got some good news. You know what he said? I got some good news and I got some bad news.
Greg:Sure.
Ray:The good news is you've got perfect hearing. And in fact, you're probably better than most your age. And then he said, you know what the bad news is? You've lost your excuse. So That's right.
Ray:You know, I don't
Greg:I don't know how it works
Ray:in your house, but that's I've lost my excuse. Do you have you lost your excuse, Shaneville? You have? Okay. Alright.
Ray:Well, let's let's let's jump in here. We don't have to belabor these really, but, you know, the number 10 at 11 came coming in at number 10, if we're watching a a talk show. Coming in number 10 was COPD. COPD, what can you tell me that someone can do that my dad suffered from COPD. He was a firefighter that contributed to it.
Ray:But can I just tell you, hardworking blue collar guy And my grandpa was the same way? He loved to roll his own. Yep. And they not only did they smoke camels, but they have to have their own papers to roll their own tobacco. And what are we doing, guys?
Ray:So what are some things that are somewhat obvious that if you have COPD, that you might could do that would be obvious.
Greg:Sure. And I think as we talk about COPD, you know, just that pulmonary to have a healthy pulmonary system when you've gotta you gotta quit smoking. You you can't you can't undo the damage, but you can certainly help restore what you do have left. So it that's a big deal, as to stop smoking. Like for your dad, I mean, just his his occupation put him in and around smoke filled surroundings.
Ray:Mhmm.
Greg:And if if you're if you're in a house, for instance, my grandparents, my grandfather smoked. He smoked a pipe. He just like you're saying, he was a cigarette smoker. That was part of that culture.
Ray:Right.
Greg:My grandmother, I mean, while she never smoked in her a day in her life, she had secondhand smoke Yeah. All the time.
Ray:Yeah. She married a chimney.
Greg:Yes. Exactly. You know? And so it's just it's one of those things where I think you have to just do some basic kinda here's how you help yourself.
Ray:Well, some of the things I heard too were and I didn't really think about this. 2ndhand smoke you mentioned, chemical fumes and dust. I mean, you know, a good air and a good air filter. So that's that's that's kind of a basic one. So, you know, that's that's that's one of the things that we were we were talking about.
Ray:Another one we've touched on this show before, was Alzheimer's. You know, I've heard the the biggest risk, you touched on this earlier, one of the biggest risks for that really is pretty much family history and genetics. But, apart from that, what can we do? Somebody can help me out here.
Bill:I think we've talked about this subject we're we're perhaps making progress. We know the numbers are growing of people who have these challenges, but, getting a good night's sleep and and exercise and eating a diet. Now that's all the things the doctor tells me every time, right? Yeah, right. But they they really fit right here.
Ray:Right, right. Exactly. We're not going to belabor it, but, you know, keep moving. Keep moving. Move it or lose it.
Ray:And if you if it helps, get a buddy, get a friend. Go to the mall, walk around, do whatever you can.
Greg:You know what I find interesting is as we look at, I'm seeing more and more as I go to the gym, I do see more and more older adults boxing. Mhmm. Boxing? Boxing. They're over there with the bag and
Bill:You mean packing things in boxes?
Greg:No. No. No. No. I mean, they've got their boxing gloves on, and they've got the bag that's, hanging from a
Ray:a Chain
Greg:or a chain or something. But it's there are there are some preliminary studies out there that are showing that it actually because of the right and left motion of hitting, it actually is working their brain opposite. And so there's some there may be some great benefits, in helping to maybe slow the progression of some dementia issues by boxing. So I don't know if a
Bill:church new one on me.
Greg:I don't know if a church needs to set up in the fellowship hall little, some suspended boxing boxing bags and
Ray:But you know the key here is to find something you enjoy. Yes.
Bill:That's right.
Ray:And I have things I like to do, there's things I don't like to do. And don't make yourself miserable. And I really do think find a buddy, somebody to help you hold you accountable.
Greg:So true.
Ray:So true. Let's keep moving here. Depression came in as one of the as a chronic, you know, health issue and concern. 16% of the people that were surveyed, that that was part of it. And those are the ones that indicated they were depressed.
Ray:How many people are depressed that don't indicate that they're depressed? How many are out there? So what can a person do that's listening today? Man, they wake up in the morning, there's just a cloud. They there's in some ways, they've been zapped of hope.
Ray:What can you say to these people?
Bill:I'm really thankful that we can do something about depression. You know, the doctors can help us. Mhmm. Sometimes people think when they're depressed, they'll never recover. They'll never get over it.
Bill:But that's not true. You can be depressed, you can get help, and you can come out on the other side. And being around people is so important when we're depressed. We've talked about the suicide, increasing the suicide rate in men that are over 80 Yeah. And the depression that goes with that, the loneliness that go with that, getting around people.
Bill:Again, the sleep factor is a is a huge one.
Greg:And when I I think to what you're saying, doctor Pierce, to make the concerted effort to keep yourself from being isolated, you know, to surround yourself with friends or to develop something that's going to push you out of your comfort zone to go be around other people. If you're being isolated, that is a breeding ground for depression and, so many other issues. And so and I think you think here we are in the in the winter months of a year, as the nights are longer, days are shorter, and there is an uptick in depression and loneliness because it's just dark so much longer.
Bill:The winter's the winter's worse.
Greg:The winter is worse.
Bill:When I get with my connect group, some people know that as a Sunday school class at Waterloo Road Baptist Church, Mhmm. They uplift me every time I'm around them. Mhmm. And they can pull me out of the doldrums just like that when whenever I'm in my in my connect group at church.
Ray:You know, you said something, Bill, and basically tell someone. Speak up. Say something. You're not alone. And for whatever reason, mental health has kind of been taboo to talk about.
Ray:Mhmm. Yeah. You know, you can have, you can twist your ankle, you can have of all the things that were on this list, we're somewhat comfortable talking about. But the minute we bring up depression, somehow we just kind of clam up. And it's okay to talk about it.
Ray:We've seen a lot of celebrities, that have depression has gotten them and for some reason we won't talk about it. So if someone's listening today and you're just feeling blue, you're feeling down, reach out to someone, reach out to your chaplain. If you're in one of the, communities, reach out to one of the chaplains and say, hey, I don't know what it is, but I am just not able to shake this depression bug. Tell your kids, talk to your spouse, talk to your doctor, talk to somebody and let them know where you're at. It's okay because like you said, there is a way to get through it.
Ray:There is a way to overcome it. I I like why someone said, don't don't take a permanent solution to a temporary problem. And suicide when you feel like you're so depressed, what's the reason for moving on? People care and they love you and they want you around and just speak up. It's okay.
Ray:We're not going to judge you for it. In fact, we're gonna be happy, and we wanna come alongside you and get you through that. That's exactly right. You know, heart failure is one that, comes up a lot. You know, heart failure occurs when your heart can't get enough oxygen to your body and you feel tired and light headed and nauseous.
Ray:So what can we do to to fight heart failure? I mean, goodness, that's a big topic.
Bill:It's the basics again.
Greg:Yes.
Bill:It's the basics like what you eat and your exercise and your sleep. Losing weight for sure. But certainly, if you have any of those issues, you've got to have a relationship with a doctor who can treat you and, and and have an ongoing ongoing plan for that heart disease.
Ray:I'm gonna tell you, I am I'm not a doctor, but I think one of the things that's killing the part of the baby boomer generation, the younger side of the baby boomer generation is fast food. Now the older part of the boomer generation, it might have been a cast iron skillet with fried chicken. And I I fit into both categories but that convenience factor is killing us. And so anything we can do to get our the basics. Get your greens, get your exercise, stay away from processed foods, stay away from fried foods.
Bill:Oh, you tell me we can't eat french fries anymore.
Ray:Man, come on, man. I know. We, you know, we all talk about, you know, the Lord's chicken and and Chick Fil A. I mean, those waffle fries, come on, man. You guys are making me hungry.
Ray:We gotta move on before we get stuck here. Yeah. Another one that's interesting is kidney disease. It came in at number 6. This is another one that surprised me, 25% of people suffer from this.
Ray:What can we do here?
Greg:I think it goes back to a diet. It it goes back to good hydration, plenty of water. So I think for that kidney thing, it's one of those things where we've got to make sure we're doing ourselves a favor, in there.
Ray:And especially if you suffer from high high blood pressure or diabetes, it's putting an extra load not only in those organs, but your your kidneys are really suffering in that regard too and drink plenty of water. And we just mentioned another one, diabetes. And this one's kind of interesting. A lot of commercials these days on diabetes and a lot of emphasis placed on type 2 diabetes. And but this is an interesting, challenge.
Ray:You know, you mentioned earlier about, how chronic illness or chronic health conditions have not really been something that's necessarily age specific. I've mentioned this before, but I have a daughter who's a type 1 diabetic. We've dealt with this since she was 3 years old. But I think mainly what they're talking about here is that these are people that have type 2 diabetes. And I I don't know if you guys have known anyone who's had type 2 diabetes, but a lot of times, they they find out once they've been walking around with their blood sugars in the 2 fifties, 300, 400, they get really sick.
Ray:They don't know why. And then they get their blood sugars back down, and then they've got these habits that they just can't shake, and they don't take this one serious. It's it's a silent silent little killer that's just ripping our blood vessels apart as those sugars bounce around inside those veins and scar them up and calc phy, and it's it's killing us. So diabetes, I mean, the National Council of Aging, you know, said that 27% of older adults are being treated for diabetes, plus the chances of having diabetes increases after age of 45. What what can we do to get people hope here in terms of trying to dodge this one?
Ray:Or
Bill:I talk to a lot of people who have diabetes just in the normal course of conversation in our villages. And they've had it for a long time, many of them. And I I'm encouraged a lot by the progress that they make, that they're compliant with their treatment plan. And they're they're actually participating in in trying to live a good life. And then we're back every time.
Bill:Every it just seems like today, if we could conquer our weight challenge and our diet challenge and our exercise challenge, we could make so much progress in every one of these areas.
Ray:You pretty much summed it up right there. Okay. Anybody that's listening, I just wanna kinda give
Bill:you 3 things
Ray:to think about when it comes to diabetes. And really, you can, you can read labels. Yeah. Just and there's 3 things when it comes to diabetes that you wanna look at. Carbohydrates.
Ray:Mhmm. There's simple and complex carbohydrates. Simple carbohydrates would be anything like raw sugar and fried processed flour, things like that. But there are other complex carbohydrates like broccoli and other vegetables like that that are more complex, but it's those those simple carbohydrates that are killing us. And that's what spikes our glucose levels.
Ray:So interesting enough, with a little bit of investigation, carbohydrates are something that we can begin to manage with much more ease than we may realize. And then, you know, sometimes you may want to, think about the role protein plays. Protein won't spark spike your sugar as much as a carbohydrate. And it but what's great about protein is it fills you up, but then you gotta be careful that you're not getting a lot of fat and cholesterol. But, you know, in terms of diabetes, if you're hungry, don't go eat a bunch of candy or cereal or something like that.
Ray:Find you some type of hearty, complex carbohydrate or some type of protein. And then the role of fiber. Goodness. There's all kinds of great things with fiber. And there's cereals out there that are good for that.
Ray:There are things that we can eat that are full of fiber. But those 3, those are the ones to really watch. There's an app out that I really like. If you guys haven't got this app, it's kind of fun. It's called Yuka.
Ray:I think it's y u k a. You can download it on your, Apple iPhone. I think it's available on Android. You wanna shock her? Get the Yucca app.
Ray:It's free. You can scan the barcode on things you're eating. If you're going to the grocery store, it will change your diet. And then if you're suffering and struggling with diabetes, it'll help you get back on the right road to righteousness. Wow.
Ray:Okay? So that's that's kind of a hot one for me because that's, it's really close to home for our family.
Greg:Sure. Yeah.
Ray:Another one on our list here is no. You know, we've is heart disease, which is different than heart failure, but heart disease. And we know that narrowing or the blocking of arteries decreases the amount of oxygen that's delivered to the heart and this can cause blood cots and a heart attack. Yeah. You know?
Ray:So nearly 30% of older adults suffer from this heart condition. What can we do? Well, I think we know some of the answers, but what are some of the basics here, guys?
Greg:You know, I think it's much of what we've talked about. It's how we're conducting our diets, how we're exercising, how we're hydrating. I would for me, heart disease, while it's not necessarily curable, I mean, I think we can treat it by making healthy choices. We can reduce we can reduce the impact, and so it's it's important for us. It's the quit smoking, it's the exercise, it's the diet.
Greg:I mean, it does have an impact.
Ray:This one as much as anything to me has to do with food. I mean, and the amazing thing is, if you get serious about it, you can actually reverse some of these things. That's true. And you had talked about seeing your doctor, there's things that your doctor can do there as well.
Bill:The one issue we haven't talked about here is stress.
Greg:Mhmm.
Bill:And it's it's hard to know how stress connects to these diseases, but we know it does. So we we certainly have to have times in which we pull away from whatever we're doing and relax. And, I guess you can learn to relax, can't you Ray?
Ray:You know what, I think it's harder than we realize. We we're in the western culture, We're in a cowboy state. We're pioneers. We're go getters. We're driven.
Ray:We're we're sun up to sun down kind of people. You know? And if you go to other parts of the world, like some of these blue zones, hey, you know what? They work hard, but they play hard too. And there's something in our culture that if we sit down or we pause for a minute, we feel guilty.
Ray:And that causes stress in and of itself.
Bill:Right. Right.
Ray:I'm going to tell you, you have to rest to be your best. I'm glad you brought it up. And we are we are addicted to work. Yep. We're addicted to activity.
Ray:And everybody's different, but we need to find ways to unwind and relieve this stress wagon because with squeezing down on our heart, that's what you're saying.
Bill:Rest till your your best
Ray:You You gotta rest to be your best.
Greg:Rest to be your best.
Ray:Rest to be your best. Rest to be your best. I like that.
Greg:That's a
Bill:good word.
Ray:You know, take a break.
Greg:That's a good word.
Ray:Arthritis. You mentioned this earlier. Arthritis is something inflammation of the joints. You know, it's just terrible. I mean, it's in my family.
Ray:I've seen and this is something that women, in particular, really struggle with, maybe more so than men. But, arthritis, again, what are some of the things I I saw some of the tips here. Some of them are obvious. 2 of them, I think, are legit. What are what are some things that people could do that, that might help with their arthritis?
Ray:Other than, obviously, see your doctor. Mhmm.
Bill:There's so many different kinds of arthritis. You know, I've looked I've studied that a little bit. Sometimes it takes a while to get it right, the right medications and the right dose of medications. But, you know, I I see so many problem people who have problems with their joints, their their knees, and that sometimes we put too much stress on our knees. We we may lose weight.
Bill:We can overdo it sometimes when we're running. You know? And, and so things like that, maybe not putting so much. And then but there are all kinds of diseases connected to arthritis. It's important to get treated for those things.
Ray:You know, that that pound of pressure that you're putting on your knees and your ankles and other places. I was recently carrying in some bottled water and I'm going to be honest with you guys, I need to lose probably £15. I mean, I got through Thanksgiving, I got through Christmas, then I went on vacation. It was the triple threat. And I just justified it all.
Ray:Sure. And every month I put on I mean, I put on like £15 in 3 months. And I'm not going to accept it. I'm going to get through it.
Bill:Good for you.
Ray:But I was carrying in 2 jugs of water, 5 gallon jugs, you know, 1 in each hand. And I kind of thought, this is the way I feel. Yeah. But a little bit goes a long way.
Greg:It does.
Ray:You know? And so exercise, a healthy weight. But you touched on something I don't think that people often think about and it's how do you support your back and legs and arms? So explore those things, talk to your doctor about it, but but don't don't twist your ankle. Don't put undue stress on these joints and and be okay with an ankle brace brace or a back brace, and maybe you don't need it all the time.
Ray:You know, I'm at the point to where I don't wanna go out my front yard with my back brace on. But can I just tell you, the times that I don't, and then I feel it and I'm down for 3 days, I go, why didn't I? Swaddle the pride, put on the back brace, pull some weeds, you know, turn the shovel. It's okay. You're getting there.
Greg:Yep.
Ray:Alright? Yep. Another one, 51%. We're we're closing in on this, guys. We're we're closing in on the all of these, but, high cholesterol, 51%.
Ray:This this statistic caught my attention. I mean, 50% of older adults or more, more than 50% are being treated for high cholesterol, and many probably aren't being treated. Sure. Mean, that's the ones we know of. One tip I heard here was eat listen to this, Bill.
Ray:Eat your food as if it were medicine or your medicine will become your food. Wow. That I mean, I'm gonna say that again. Eat your food as if it were medicine, or your medicine will become your your food. Basically, pay me now or pay me later.
Bill:Mhmm. Yeah.
Ray:You're gonna pay me now or pay me later, and you you truly when it comes to this area, you truly reap what you sow, and you are what you eat. Processed foods, fast foods are killing us. I mean, I mean, I know diet and exercise have got to be at the top. Am I right? I mean, what are some things that people can do here?
Ray:I mean, again, it's probably basic, but what are some things that we we can do here?
Greg:You know, Ray, I would also say, you eat and we've heard this before. All of us have heard this. Even men who don't do the grocery shopping in the home, eat on the outside of the grocery store. Oh, yeah. You know, because that's where your fresh fruits are, your vegetables.
Greg:You know, when you start getting to the inside of the grocery store on the shelves is where all your processed stuff is. So eat the outside grocery store, and that's a that's a way to kinda
Ray:He just ruined my shopping experience.
Bill:Oh, my god. As I said, maybe stay out of the grocery store. Yeah.
Greg:That's that's where I am. I am.
Ray:You know, that's that's an interesting observation. I mean, how many I mean, I never really thought about that. I mean, if you if you have your local supermarket in mind, there's something to that.
Bill:Mhmm.
Ray:There's something. I don't know if that's good or bad or they're what they're thinking, but shop the outside. Shop the outside. Yeah. Alright.
Ray:So alright. That's a good one. That's good.
Bill:One of the things about this one, the high cholesterol, is that you you can actually do something about this one. You can lower it. And and when you read about high cholesterol, it doesn't take that long to change your actions that will result in lower cholesterol. So this is something we can take action on right now today.
Ray:Now one of the things I know that you guys do from time to time, in the communities is that it's not that hard and you can even be out in public blood pressure testing.
Bill:Mhmm.
Ray:You can go to the drugstore and get your blood pressure test. You can get a blood pressure cup pretty inexpensively. But you can check your 2 things we've talked about today, you know, checking your blood sugar. There's people who are walking around in high numbers and they they're ignoring that. Some people say, well, what's it take?
Ray:It doesn't take much to get your blood sugar tested. It's not hard. It's just a prick of the finger. You could go buy a blood test or glucose tester at the store That's right. And test your blood sugar.
Ray:And if you're questioning that, it's not hard at all. Trust me. But high blood pressure. Come on, guys. High blood pressure, high cholesterol, those things.
Ray:60% of older adults are being treated for high blood blood pressure. 60 percent. I mean, we're talking about choking down our arteries, resisting our blood flow. It's causing us high blood pressure. I mean, with so many suffering from this condition, so many, this was number 1 on the list, 60% of people, 60 and older, 60%, more than half, high blood pressure.
Ray:What are some what are some basic things?
Bill:That is a big number, 60%. Yeah. That's a lot. Yeah. And one of the things, you know, just before we say something about how how to lower your blood pressure, is learn how to take your blood pressure.
Bill:Mhmm. You know, some people aren't aren't taking it correctly and they need to do a little research and make sure when you take your blood pressure, when you take your own blood pressure, learn how to do it correctly. This is another one where stress plays a big part. Agree. We get anxious.
Bill:A lot of people are anxious and they have anxiety and that raises our blood pressure and the stress that we have in our life. Beyond that, it's those basic things that we've talked about time and again, our weight. Weight's a big one here. All we have to do is walk down the street to see where a lot of us need to do what you you know, Greg and I didn't admit it and maybe Greg less than the other 2, but yeah, we do need to work on that. Sure.
Bill:We all do.
Ray:Here's one, have you seen you're out at a restaurant and the portions they give us are amazing. Mhmm. I mean, truth truth is we're really getting 2 meals in one. That's right. How many times have you seen, and I'm I've been guilty of this, but I have family members definitely guilty.
Ray:Plates sit down in front of in front of them. What's the first thing they reach for? Not their fork, not their knife.
Greg:It's a salt shaker.
Ray:Salt shaker. What automatically automatically, we think that we have to grab the salt shaker. And some people, they'll take the lid off and and but that salt, we're we're over we're over salty. You know, I know there's a scripture that goes with that. We're not losing our saltiness when it comes to this one.
Ray:Yeah. So
Bill:Every snack has salt. Everything. We have this discussion. It's kinda funny at our house because I saw all all this season. Did you put salt in this?
Bill:She goes, well, I didn't put any extra
Ray:in it. Right. Hey, guys. This has this has been another great show. I know these, I think if anything, we we're not doctors.
Ray:We're not trying to solve all these ourselves. What we're trying to do here, if you're listening, we're just trying to join you in raising awareness. And there's a few of these things. There's 10 that we listed. There's a pretty good chance whether you're 60 plus or even below 60, to your point, Greg, these are some of the things that we need to keep our eye on.
Ray:And most of them, there's things that we can do about it if we'll just do it. Do it. Like Nike says, just do it. And I'm going to say it again, you're not alone. Find somebody to buddy up with, somebody to partner with.
Ray:Especially one of the things that, you know, I'm thinking about today, if that just come back into my mind. If you're out there and you're you're thinking, one of the things you guys talked about was depression and everything you talked about has made me more depressed. Well, I don't want to. Right. We're really here to encourage you and we're exploring aging and this is part of it.
Ray:But if you are out there and you're depressed, for goodness sakes, give somebody a call. Call us. Reach out to somebody, your chaplain, whoever, your pastor. But guys, we're out of time. You know, we've got a lot of people in the your chaplain, whoever, your pastor.
Ray:But guys, we're out of time. You know, we've done a good job again here today. We've we've busted myth number 5, and that is there's nothing you can do to help prevent a chronic medical condition and make managing it easier. That's just not true. There are some things that you do.
Ray:And as we learned, the truth is there are a lot of things we can do to help prevent chronic health conditions and manage them and easier. So if you're out there today and, you like what you're hearing, you would and you would like a list of these tips, we'll, we'll we'll make them available to you. We have, that available. We have some ideas. We'll send that to you.
Ray:Reach out to us if you wanna go to baptistvillage.org or just give us a call. We'd be happy to to hear from you. And if you like what you learned today, my my goodness, tell a friend. You know, get them involved. We'd love for you to subscribe and, stay in touch with us.
Ray:We'd love to hear from you. So guys, until next time, I'm gonna encourage both of you guys to stay active and stay in informed as we explore the realities of aging on the Exploring Aging podcast.