What do you think will end your life? It’s a tough question because this is something we just can’t know… and it’s something we really don’t want to think about. Unfortunately, these days, dying of “natural causes” is rare. Although deaths from accidental injuries is in the top five leading causes of death, just about every other top ten cause is a chronic illness.
So, unlike an accident that can take you out in an instant, the most common causes of death involve a slow, gradual decline. And this decline can occur over many years. This downhill trajectory could be called aging, but technically we are aging from the day we are born. And aging, in general, has gotten a bad rap. The fact is, we age. Another fact is, we die. There is no escaping either one.
Instead of clinging hopelessly to the misleading idea of “anti-aging” (there is no escaping aging), our focus must shift to aging gracefully, slowing the aging process, or maximizing life as we age. While there are many things out of our control when it comes to our health and longevity, there are lots of things we can control, all of which have a direct impact on how we feel, how well we are, and how well we live.
For most of us, it will be the last decade of life when we will see the most decline. A good amount of our attention will be spent on our health in those last ten years. After a lifetime of our heart beating, our joints bending, and our stomach digesting, our bodies just start to wear out. And it won’t just be our time that gets invested in that last ten years of life, more money gets spent as well. In the U.S., roughly 10% of all healthcare spending goes to end-of-life care. I think it’s also safe to say that most people do not look forward to this time in life.
Here’s a tip… plan accordingly for that last decade of life. Most people understand financial planning. Many hire financial advisors in order to ensure that they have enough money to last them until the end. A good financial plan includes enough money to maintain the lifestyle you are accustomed to, to account for increased needed healthcare expenses, and to have the peace of mind that you’ll be financially secure. One of the keys to good financial planning is to start as early as possible.
When it comes to your health, starting as early as possible is also a key strategy. The earlier in life you make healthy living a priority, the greater the return on the investments you will see. The worst strategy would be to wait for the health crisis, then scramble to try to recover. It’s often too late.
I have my pilot’s license, and when learning to fly, you quickly realize that altitude is your friend. The higher you are, the more time you have if a problem arises. Flying at higher altitudes, or climbing higher if you are experiencing issues, allows more time to figure things out and make adjustments, and it gives you more options. If you end up in an inevitable decent, the more altitude you have built, the better.
Because we know that our last ten years of life are spent in a decent, building our health up now can help make that decline much easier, safer, and more enjoyable. You can think of all your health-building, health-improving, and health-oriented initiatives today as investments into the health you want and need later.
There are some things we know for sure when it comes to aging. We know that we lose muscle mass. We know that the strength of our heart weakens. And we know that our balance becomes poorer. We also know that the better these things are going into that last decade of life, the slower the decline, and the better we can live. This is why it is so important–critical actually, that we invest in lifting weight to build more muscle, doing cardiovascular exercise to build up our heart function, and engaging in regular activities that involve bending, twisting, and moving our bodies.
To say that we must use it or lose it is accurate. That’s how the body operates. But we must go beyond just using it. We’ve got to build it. We need as much as we can get, because the more we have, the longer we live healthfully, and the slower the decline will be. You want to gain as much altitude as you can before hitting that inevitable decline.
It’s not just making it to live out those last ten years of expected life, it’s the quality of those ten years that matters. Surviving late in life is important, but thriving is the goal. Your actions today will determine not just how long you will live, but how well you will live. Start building that reserve today!
