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Alyne Ellis: Welcome to Hally HealthCast the monthly wellness podcast from Hally health. You're a partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Every month on our podcast, we address a new topic important to your health, bringing in expert doctors, therapists, and specialists who offer advice and answer your most pressing questions. This month, we're talking about healthy aging. It's almost another new year, and we want you to know that getting older doesn't have to be daunting. In fact, if you take care of your body and mind a year older can simply mean another year to enjoy life. I'm Alyne Ellis and here with us is Faith Roberts, MSN RN, and the Executive Director of Community Engagement at Carle in Urbana. Welcome Director Roberts. It's so nice to have you here with us today.

Faith Roberts: I'm glad to be here.

Host: So, let's jump right in. We're busting five myths about getting older. I know I've heard quite a few of these over and over, and you probably have too. Myth one, getting older means a sharp decline in physical and mental capacities. And there's nothing that you can do to prevent this.

Faith Roberts: Well, I would certainly agree that that is a myth and has no truth to it. Our body does change as we get older, but that does not mean a decline in physical capabilities. Rather, we learn to do things a little bit differently, and I think one of the main things that people need to remember is the physical concern that most people have is with balance. And there are so many things that we can all do to keep our balance, to prevent falls, but it does not mean changes in your mind or other physical losses, as much as a change in, and I would say for many people, you'll notice that they do walk a little bit slower. And it's because they're conscious of balance and there's nothing wrong with that. I think probably all of us are going way too fast through life. So it doesn't hurt to slow down a bit. And there are many things you can do for your mind. Anything that involves mental steps are great things. So think of baking. You have to follow a recipe to bake. Think of gardening. There are steps in gardening. All of us have heard about crossword puzzles and word search findings, the opposite, what does not help our mind to continue to be sharp would be anything like television. Where you pick up a remote, turn it on and you don't really have to follow that closely. So it's about being more purposeful in some of your daily activities to keep your mind sharp.

Host: And as far as balance is concerned, there are some really sort of small exercises you can do to improve your balance.

Faith Roberts: Absolutely. And I think people tend sometimes to do the opposite, which is I don't want to fall. I'm a little nervous. So I won't get out of my chair today. And really it's the opposite. Can I do five laps in my house? Can I walk to the kitchen? Can feed my dog? And making sure that every hour that I'm up and I'm walking and then probably the biggest for everyone is to learn that when you come from a sitting to standing, instead of grabbing the table in front of you or the chair, arms, push your hands on your thighs and stand up. Physical therapists do this in therapy all the time with people who are over 60. And there's a reason is to teach us not to grab other things, because that will throw our balance off. Our body was made to stand with our hands pushing down on our thighs to stand. And it's a simple thing you can do, and it does help your balance.

Host: That's really interesting. Well, myth number two is that once you reach a certain age, it's just too late to make lifestyle changes like quitting smoking, exercising more or eating healthier. And you're already doomed by your past choices so that anything that you do now, just won't make a difference

Faith Roberts: From my frame of reference. That would be an incredibly negative way to look at it and not really understand how your body works. The last cigarette, the last cigar, your lungs start preparing themselves after that last one. All research has shown that one month after stopping smoking, the lungs have already started significant repair. And it's important to understand it's never too late to stop. Same for alcohol. If you're someone who enjoys a cocktail or a glass of wine, but if you're someone who drinks frequently slowing down on that can really not only help you emotionally and mentally with feeling sharper. But you know, I think people need to remember that alcohol chemically is a depressant. And so maybe the first drink or two, you do feel relaxed. But after that, it really does bring emotionally the person down. So anytime you can back off of that, it would be a good thing.

Oh my goodness, diet, if you are high fat, low fiber diet, which unfortunately for people who do live alone or as they get older and don't want to put as much effort into perhaps meal prep, people who are living on frozen dinners and no matter what they cost, some of the new ones are pretty expensive. Things are very high fat, very low fiber. The minute you change your diet to high fiber, low fat digestive issues change almost within a few hours. When people are concerned that perhaps their digestion is too slow, they're struggling with constipation. A good kind of quick check on that is to change your diet for 24 hours to increase fiber, think of oatmeal, think of almonds and nuts and anything with fiber. There's some great high fiber cereals on the market. If you're someone who likes cereal in the morning, it's amazing how quickly the colon will respond to a change in the food that is going through it.

So highly recommend that anybody willing to make a change, do it. If you're change is I'm going to exercise more, you don't have to spend money. You don't have to join a gym. It's about saying to myself, this is how far I walked today. Tomorrow, I'm going to walk farther. It's Fall. It's beautiful, depending on where you live, some of you will be snow birding and having the ability to walk throughout January and February, but just keep in mind that exercise, a lot of it can be done in the home. If people make a conscious effort, you know, look at the clock and say, I'm just going to walk for five minutes. The next day increase it a little bit.

Host: Well, myth number three is one that I've heard people echo so many times and that's that people with so-called bad genes whose parents and their grandparents died relatively young are just always doomed to repeat this fate.

Faith Roberts: It is true that genetics plays a part in everyone's life. I mean, I have Brown eyes because my father had Brown eyes, that's genetics. And there are certain diseases that we say have a familial tendency, which means they travel in families. That doesn't mean you're going to get them. It means that you have to make a concerted effort to change certain parts of your lifestyle or diet to make sure that you don't. If you're someone who has a history of colon cancer in your family, then you should be getting that tested every year. If you're someone who has a tendency of high blood pressure in your family, then when you go to your physician, let them know that or your healthcare provider, and they will not just write prescriptions. They can actually sit down with you and talk about different techniques you can use, whether it be diet or with blood pressure.

A lot of its learning how to handle stress in our life. And you can, I mean, I guess I would say for everyone that people want to talk about, I know someone and so do you, that did not succumb or fall victim to some of these diseases because you know what genetics are part of it, but they're not all of it. And if you focus on your health and your body, which most people don't until the age of 50, because we're so busy being busy and running around. But yes, you can reverse some of the aspects as we talked about earlier, that might have already been there, but we can also just remind you that genetics are not a hundred percent and there are certain things you can do to keep yourself healthy. I think part of it for people is almost a fear or stress that comes with everyone in my family had this. So now I'm going to get it and that's not always true. So part of it is changing your mindset about whether or not this will be a factor for you.

Host: And, you know, I think the other one that people fear so much is myth number four, which is that as you get older and especially after retirement, you're going to feel lonely or more isolated, depressed, and without purpose.

Faith Roberts: I think that it is something that people do believe, but I also think it is a myth. You and I both know people for whom they're the antithesis of this. They're absolutely more involved and stay busy. Majority of people, you know, the standard line about, Oh, you're retired, I'm busier now than I ever was, but then what's the next line they say? The difference is this time I'm doing what I want to do. And I think in a pandemic in a time where there is a, almost a sense of gloom for many people, we need to remember what abilities we have to keep contact. If I live alone, and that is new to me by the loss of a partner, that's different than someone who's lived alone for 20 years. But for both the important thing here is to stay connected. So how do you do that?

Well, if you're in an apartment building, if you're in a place where several people live, it is very much about getting outside in every day. Maybe just walking down the hall, of course, with a mask on, but saying hello to people. If I live by myself in a home, then I have to look at what my options are. Number one way, a lot of people stay connected, especially during a pandemic is through the use of the phone. And it doesn't mean just random calls, for many people, it's saying, how can I help others in the community? If I'm lonely, somebody else's lonely. Certainly any place of worship would be able to work with someone, they always have a list of people who would benefit from a phone call. I would also say though, that right now libraries are looking for people who will read stories that they can record and then children can call and have their story read to them in a time where a lot of parents cannot be at home with that child.

I think that's an awesome idea to be able to share the gift of reading with someone younger than you. The school districts again are also looking for people that will either commit to doing a zoom or a recording stories. So that teacher who's trying to do a disinfection of the room every 30 minutes, can do that while someone is up there on the screen or the kids are listening to them, do a story. If you catch yourself just saying to yourself, you know what, I'm just not quite myself. That's your body and your emotions telling you something's off. You know, the baby boomers are aging. And because of that, healthcare and counseling has come up with an entirely new specialty that is based on working in counseling for people who are over 60 and the word Gero, which is where the word geriatrics comes from.

It means in that second part of life. And so now I feel it's a lot more of a possibility that when you call and say, you know, I just like to chat with someone I'm just not quite myself. That's the first thing they may ask you is your age, because they're going to connect you to a counselor who works with people who are in the second part of their life. And I think that is a great gift. The counseling skills necessary for a single mom of three who's in her thirties are quite different than for an older adult who has seen a lot of loss that is part of aging and able to help you where you're at to move forward so that you can get out from under that cloud of gloom.

Host: Well, you know the last myth is the one that I think some people just focus on too. And that is that getting older just means more physical pain, more illness, and increased suffering. And you might be thinking that's going to happen right now or down the line. And it's just incredibly depressing thought.

Faith Roberts: Yes, that myth is depressing. And I think when people have that almost fatalist viewpoint, it's hard not to be depressed, but Oh my gosh, look at what has happened in healthcare. Across the country now you can get a total knee or a total hip and go home that evening that wasn't even true three years ago. It is amazing the advances made in healthcare that help us to keep going and be able to have higher function than we ever thought. We would have. One of the ones that most of us can relate to immediately is cataract surgery. Cataracts are now done, the actual surgery takes 12 minutes. The person goes home two hours later. And the advances with technology has meant sight is restored at a much higher visual acuity to someone who has cataract surgery today versus 30 years ago.

You know, everyone's talking about the Spanish flu and to be honest, anyone who lived through it really can't tell us about it, but many of the listeners remember polio and remember the sugar cube. And they remember when the chicken box vaccine came out, you know, chicken pox was something that everyone thought everyone had to live through. And now we know that with certain vaccines, we can prevent illnesses that used to really affect people later in life. And, Oh, I don't know, typhoid fever, Scarlet fever. Some of those things are just words of the past. People are allowed to live longer now. Yes, that's we do live longer, but we need to remember that people live better too. And it's our ability to embrace the second part of our life. And to understand that there are gifts to that part of life. A lot of the worries you had when you were younger, a lot of the stresses you had when you were younger, don't seem as prevalent.

You're able to connect with people and not have to end a conversation or rush off because you have to get back to work. I think when people think about living longer, how the bus, this myth very much is to always remember to add that second part, I'm going to live better. I'm going to watch what I eat. I'm going to get off my chair out of my lazy boy, and I'm going to do something. You know, it is in these moments of life, in the second part where we get to look and see so many advances, not just in medicine, but in technology and everything. And yet one of the reasons, the word nostalgia is important is that when we age one of the parts of the brain that actually activates more is long-term memory. And so that's where it is fun to be on the phone or socially distanced with another person. And to be able to reminisce brings back good memories.

And it's the ability we have sometimes to remember things about a certain day or event in our life that we have forgotten. And as that comes to life, you can take a bit of joy in that memory and share it with someone else who also has those memories. So I think it's just understanding that as we enter that second part of our life, it's a whole new life. And it's a great way to be able to take a moment and think about the things that went well. I don't want to get lost and down over what didn't go. Well, I want to think about what did go well and doing that makes a huge difference for most of us.

Host: Excellent information and advice. Thank you so much, Director Roberts, and thanks for all that you do at Carle and beyond.

Faith Roberts: You're welcome.

Host: That concludes today's Hally Health Cast, tune in next month when we tackle yet another topic important to your health and wellbeing. And remember Hally Health is your partner in helping you live your healthiest life. Visit hally.com for resources, information, tips, and much more. Let us help keep you and your family healthy and well. I'm Alyne Ellis. Thanks for listening. We hope you tune in next month.