“Great” News about Being Middle-Aged
By Mark D. Marotta
Okay, I admit it. I'm middle-aged. It's not something I'm proud of, or even particularly happy about, nor is it something I consciously chose to become. It just kind of snuck up on me over the years, and, well, here we are.
Now, there might be an argument that it's not all that bad a thing to be. For instance, I'm well past the point of feeling teenage angst.
That may be true, but there is definitely a downside. For instance, I saw an online article about a recent study reportedly showing that the decline in cardiorespiratory fitness accelerates after the age of 45, especially in men. Hey, that's me!
The study, appearing in the Archives of Internal Medicine, looked at data for more than 3,400 women and nearly 17,000 men, from ages 20 to 96, participating in something called the Aerobics Center Longitudinal Study from 1974 to 2006. During that time, the participants, who were mostly white, well educated, and in middle- or upper-income brackets, underwent health examinations and treadmill tests. According to the study, the participants' decline in fitness was not linear, but became more heightened after the magic age of 45.
On the other hand, the researchers said that keeping active, maintaining a low body-mass index, and not smoking were tied to keeping higher levels of fitness. That's not too surprising, but I guess it shows there's hope, sort of, although it sounds like there's some work involved, and, for that matter, all you can hope to accomplish is to keep the decline from being worse than it would otherwise be.
As far as being active goes, another online article reports that a study at the Duke University Medical Center has found that exercise helps conrol blood pressure, weight loss, and fitness. No surprises there, either, I guess.
The article goes on to recommend working out at lunchtime if you're otherwise too busy. I'm okay with some of the suggestions, like having a handy pre-workout snack (such as nuts or cheese), but I'm not so sure about the bit about keeping baby wipes around so you don't have to shower. If nothing else, it seems a little ironic that, as a middle-aged person, I should be thinking about making sure I get more exercise, but also considering the use of baby wipes. What's next: teenage angst?
What so bad about being old? What's so depressing about it? In a word, limitations. He's too old, he can't do that any more. He used to be able to, but no more. There's no real future in trying to start a new career at his age. He doesn't have the time. He's "paid his dues" and he didn't get what he expected. He doesn't like it, but it's his lot in life. He gets tired quickly, doesn't have the energy he used to have, but he "can't expect it" at his age. It may seem logical, but it's depressing to hear such negativism.
If middle age is the period between these two states, then what more is it? I've decided that middle age is that point in your life when you shift from seeing the future in terms of your potential and begin to see it in terms of your limitations. It's a shift that's so slow, so incremental, that we don't even notice it on a day-to-day basis. But we start at one end and end up at the other. It doesn't happen overnight.
These hands have changed diapers, held up patients relearning to walk, worked strictures out of arms and hands. They have caught softballs, thrown back basketballs, and pulled sleds and wagons, but mainly they have weathered like an old barn. The kind of abandoned barn you see along the side of the road, with peeling paint and dilapidated sides. Like many nostalgic people my age I plan to start a restoration project soon, unfortunately for me it will be on my hands.
While 50 may not be where I think I should be, it is where I am in my life. Instead of living with regrets and wishing I was younger, richer, more advanced in my career or anything else, I think I'll relish this time of my life. While I may not be as young as I once was, I am a lot smarter and am ready to take on the world, if I can just remember where I put my car keys.
Being middle aged, I think, means that: you're in the middle between grandchildren and grandparents, the bridge between generations. The joy of watching nieces and nephews enter into lives of promise is made bittersweet by watching our parents, aunts and uncles struggle with life threatening illnesses and die.