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Two 94 year olds: one dementia, one healthy

by | Apr 20, 2025 | stereotypes of aging

Photo by Linh Nguyen on Unsplash.

The WSJ ran an article about couples aging at different rates. Take two people in their 90s. One has severe dementia and requires constant care. The other doesn’t.

This article illustrates the wide variance as people age. What they don’t say is, you have limited control over your health. You can eat right, exercise, and still die from cancer or heart disease or something even worse.

Even the World Cancer Research Fund and the American Cancer Society say that 60% of cancers are NOT due to avoidable risk factors, i.e., not preventable. But that’s not how they say it. They say that 40% are preventable. But another way to say this is that more than half are NOT preventable. They’re genetic or environmental.

One comment on the article:
Younger man to older man: “How old are you?”
Older man: “I’m 85.”
Younger man: “I don’t want to live to be 85.”–n
Older man: “Wait till you’re 84.”

There was a comment that people want to live longer as they age. I don’t think that’s true at all. Many people in their 80s and 90s have no meaning in their lives. They’re ready to go..

When you’re past 80, you shouldn’t need a psychiatrist to validate your choices. I suspect a lot of diagnosis will depend on the psychiatrist’s belief systems. Would a devout Christian ever feel that medically assisted dying is a rational choice? Beyond age 80 it’s not always depression; it’s often reality.

I am the author of a book about aging–a funny irreverent book with a serious message. https://cathygoodwin.com/agebook