Debbie & Sam on the Acceleration of Aging: Smudged Glasses, Creaky Bodies and Before It’s Too Late
Welcome back to Season 6! You might’ve noticed that we changed the name of the show to more accurately reflect the focus, which is to explore the transition from midlife to old age. [B]OLDER seemed a bit too general, so it's now [B]OLD AGE. Given our ageist society, it requires [b]oldness to say proudly, "I am old." This season our goal is to be even more honest and vulnerable about what it’s like as the clock ticks away.
For this first episode, Debbie is joined by her husband, Sam Harrington, a popular recurring guest who is known for his dry humor. He's a retired physician and an author.
They start by talking about how aging has suddenly accelerated for both of them, in their early 70s. Sam says he can see his telomeres fraying when he looks in the mirror. He notes that only a decade ago they still looked remarkably young in photos. (See photo accompanying this episode; in 2014 Debbie and Sam were hanging out in Madagascar with lemurs.)
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Don't miss the accompanying Behind The Scenes essay for this new episode in Debbie's [B]OLD AGE newsletter.
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They also talk about the long vigil of accompanying a dying parent and how that affects your own sense of old age; how health span has noticeably increased in the past 50 years; and what the stunning demographic shift to an aging society will mean. By 2030, there will be more adults over 65 than children under 18.
Debbie notes the parallel between the acceleration of aging and the acceleration of global warming. At first the changes are slow and hardly noticeable. Then they happen all at once, like this past summer.
But the conversation veers back to the physiological fact of aging. Sam's favorite mantra is that "80 might be the new 60, but 86 is the new 85." The current research to better understand and to slow aging may be too late to benefit them, Sam says.
Mentioned in this episode or useful:
- Definition of heuristic
- Definition of telomeres
- Living to 120 is becoming an imaginable prospect (The Economist, Sept. 28, 2023)
- How a Vast Demographic Shift Will Reshape the World (The New York Times, July 16, 2023)
- The Washington Gerontocracy (The New Yorker, September 24, 2023)
- AT PEACE: Choosing a Good Death After a Long Life by Samuel Harrington MD (Hachette, 2018)
- Earlier podcast episode: S5-EP7: Andrew Steele on Research at the Cellular Level That Could Slow Aging
- Sam’s summer project: Island Workforce Housing on Deer Isle, Maine.
Connect with Debbie:
- [B]OLD AGE podcast
- [B]OLD AGE newsletter on Substack
- Email: thebolderpodcast@gmail.com
- Debbie & Sam's joint blog: Gap Year After Sixty
- Facebook: @debbieweil
- Instagram: @debbieweil
- LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/debbieweil
Our Media Partners:
- CoGenerate (formerly Encore.org)
- MEA and with thanks to Chip Conley
- Next For Me (former media partner and in memory of Jeff Tidwell)
How to Support this podcast:
- Leave a review on Apple Podcasts
- Subscribe via Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Stitcher or Spotify
Credits:
- Host: Debbie Weil
- Producer: Far Out Media
- Music: Lakeside Path by Duck Lake
