Longevity

In addition to adventure tourism, one of the newest shade covers offered to an anxious public are longevity tours. It’s a mixture of ‘out of your comfort zone’ tourism with a hint of healthy living tips incorporated into the whole expensive package.

It’s one of the newest industries to raise its capitalistic head in the never-ending search for eternal life. That is, the illusion that they (whoever is advertising at the moment) have finally found Valhalla (Viking heaven), the Fountain of Youth (sorry, Ponce De Leon) and/or some magic elixir that assures each of us that ‘we really can get out of this place alive!’

From a daily dose (on BusinessInsider.com) of some middle-aged male hawking longevity caplets to snippets on my Facebook feed, I’m inundated on almost a daily basis with folks who have found the secret to life everlasting. And for only a small amount of money, they’ve got a pill, liquid, AI app, workshop or class that can help you reach that goal too.

It’s an industry that feeds upon itself and never goes out of fashion. News outlets love ‘this stuff’ because it grabs eyeballs minus the gray matter that ought to accompany it. Like the new weight-loss drugs that promise weight loss without the bother of diet and exercise, these old-fashion magic elixirs promise results without any effort. All you need is lots of money and leave your brains at the door.

Dr. Eric Topol, in his heavily-researched book ‘Super Agers’ encapsulates the newest Oklahoma Land Rush of Longevity. In it, he writes:

“There are eight hundred longevity clinics in the United States – even at the prestigious Mayo Clinic. Some charge up to $50,000 per week. There are longevity vacations with intravenous drips; “Rejuvenation Olympics”, a Fountain Life “country club for precision diagnostics”, fitness centers with intravenous antiaging drips; an X-Prize awarding over $100 million to restore at least a decade’s worth of muscle, brain and immune function in older adults; and stem cell clinics for longevity.”

“Then there are the many hundreds of companies developing drugs or interventions to promote lifespan or selling biomarkers to track one’s biological age….. Dr. Topol continues: “I am reminded of a line by Venki Ramakrishnan in ‘Why We Die’: “When they were young, they wanted to be rich, and now that they’re rich, they want to be young.”

There is one point where I do agree with these charlatans of eternal life; that is, health is wealth. An interesting thing happened on my well-traveled road to maturity. My assets, long assumed to be material things and a bank account, morphed into something far more valuable and priceless. Health became paramount and without it everything else pales in comparison.

At any age, all the money in the world doesn’t mean a damn thing if you don’t have your health. And as wealthy as these often-scorned billionaires might be, few of them, if any, can buy their way back to health once it’s gone. Even they aren’t going to ’get out of here alive.’

In retrospect, I’ve been very lucky. I think I’m in fairly good shape simply because I started running early on and never stopped until I was well past 70. After one memorable weekend in the service, I stopped drinking all hard liquor and haven’t had another drop for 67 years. I’ve never smoked (okay, a couple of joints doesn’t count during my wannabe hippie years), and I’ve maintained my weight pretty well. I thought about this phenomenon after finding that more and more of our friends and acquaintances are experiencing health issues at this stage in their lives.

‘Late in life’ issues often prompt a reflective glimpse back in time. The famous Irish poet Oscar Wilde once said, “The final mystery is oneself.” So how does one unravel the mystery of self? It probably can’t happen without self-awareness and self-awareness won’t happen without reflection.

I’m at that point in life where things are starting to happen beyond my control. This old body has been pumping and expanding for seventy-six years. Fortunately, its wear and tear has been relatively minimum. For others an excess of ‘living the good life’ is finally starting to show its consequences. For others, it’s the luck of the draw or the flip side of that event. I mentioned that idea in another blog entitled ‘The Final Tabulation.’

Reflecting back on circumstances or events in one’s life can bring about new insights into your present circumstances. I think reflection is looking inward so one can look back with a broader, more accurate perspective of your current situation in life. Health more than most other events can bring that to the forefront.

As the cliché goes, it’s never too late to begin again. When my mother and stepfather couldn’t dance anymore at ages ninety and eight-two respectively, they took up cards to strengthen their minds. I didn’t recognize it back then but their actions were a powerful motivator for me to keep pressing on.

Assessing what’s really important at this stage of one’s life comes down to the basics. Health, family, friendships and life experiences. All the rest is soon to be outdated, worn out or replaced by this season’s new trend. Stick with the basics and, oh yeah, take time to smell the roses along the way.