Plan your 60 plus life
By I. M. Soni

A MAJOR overriding problem of the elderly is the problem of poor physical health. Our senior citizens are sick more frequently and for more prolonged periods than the rest of the population. They suffer some kind of chronic ailment, have heart disease or high blood pressure, arthritis or rheumatism, impaired vision, and hearing impairments. Above all, those living fossils lack sympathy and care.

They suffer constantly from at least one, often more than one, chronic condition. Accident rates go up with age, causing many forms of illness or disability.

Many exist at or below poverty level. In order to have any type of physically rewarding life at all, an elderly person in our society usually must find some way to augment his income. He must either lower his expenses or find a part-time job, or some other means to supplement his income.

Retirement is taking a great deal of the older generation out of work. But do they want to? Or are they being forced into retirement? Take university teachers who have been struggling to get the retirement age raised to 65. Obviously, they resent retirement earlier than this age, especially when the job is non-pensionable.

An insensitive callous administration has been responsible for this malady which afflicts the university teachers and administrative officers after their retirement.

The trend of to earlier retirement can only lead to an increase in mental disease. When people have one of their main aims in life — work — taken away, their incentive is gone. They feel useless.

Many realise that retirement and a life of leisure is not the answer. A man who has spent 30 years on the job cannot be "put out to pasture." The change is too drastic.

Of course, for vast numbers, the years spent on a job have not been fulfilling. Perhaps it would be best for them to make the break, switch to something they would enjoy more, perhaps on part-time basis.

The practical and prudent move an elderly person can make is to plan for his plus-60 years well in advance. Lack of planning has caused untold heartache and misery for far too many.

One of the major contributors to health problems is the lack of proper nutrition among the elderly. Medical journmals state that 75 per cent of senior population suffers from malnutrition. Some studies reveal that most people over sixty suffer from six to eight nutritional deficiencies.

Many older people retreat into isolation. They are either frightened or confused but most feel they are fossils. They develop malnutrition because they lack the interest in eating meals alone. Serious health problems can result from malnutrition.

Also, many have not been properly educated as to what constitutes a balanced and nutritious meal. Those who smoke or drink in excess further complicate their malady and drain the resources.

Health is imperative to success of any kind. Even in the latter years, one should continue some from of exercise and watch diet so one many have good health. We are what we eat. Ninety to 95 per cent of sickness and disease comes from a faulty diet. This area, as so many other, needs action.

Poor health is an effect of the lifetime habit of poor nutrition or of physical injury in some. The normal condition of the human body, even during advanced age should be one of not sickness.

However, the role of the individual is of utmost importance. Karl Menninger says, "Illness is in part what the world has done to a victim, but in a larger part it is what the victim has done with his world and with himself."

Many suffer in the fast deteriorating large cities. They are forced to reside in cheap or dirty housing accommodations. Most are bedridden shut-ins. Others live with someone not related, or alone.

True, lucky ones own their a home. Usually, these homes are clear of debt, but often old, and in need of repairs. Some are too large for the needs of the elderly who find their maintenance hard and beyond means.

Many of the aged are residing in the old houses. Others stay in "homes," institutions, or shift to ashrams, because they have been abandoned by their offspring.