Old age ain’t for sissies
· Citizen
On Thursday, I read that Chuck Norris was taken to the hospital but was in good spirits and cracking jokes. By Friday, he was dead.
He was 86. Nowadays, that’s not exactly a ripe old age, but it’s certainly a good innings, and it seems he was a pretty healthy octogenarian, with a video from his birthday earlier this month featuring him lightly sparring, and then the legend spoke: “I don’t age, I level up,” Chuck said.
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His lifespan wasn’t remarkable, but his healthspan – the number of years spent in good health – seems to have matched it. That is what we all hope for in old age: for our later years to be healthy ones as far as possible, and not to linger endlessly in pain.
It’s about quality over quantity.
Norris’ death made me think of my dad, who was a big fan, and it returned me to my childhood with the karate lessons he insisted on, the martial arts movies we watched, and his enduring love of Walker, Texas Ranger.
My dad’s death came quite quickly at 79, but his demise was slower, happening over several years, so much so that sometimes we just thought he was being difficult when he was quite possibly displaying symptoms of a deeper, hidden illness.
I remember how he sporadically fought his physical decline, limping into the gym and onto the treadmill, holding tight as he tried to regain fitness, with his walking stick hooked over the bars.
Six years later, it still makes me cry.
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‘I don’t think the body is meant to outlive the brain’
The other day, a friend spoke to me about her dad’s dementia. He’s the same age as Chuck was, but his brain is gone. This man, who used to be so very alert, now spends his days colouring in at a nursing home.
“I don’t think the body is meant to outlive the brain,” she told me sadly.
And I suppose the opposite might be true too.
Old age ain’t for sissies.
Average life expectancy in South Africa currently sits at 61.5 years, according to the World Health Organisation, but healthy life expectancy is 52.8, so we face a final grim decade of poor health (mirroring global patterns).
We clearly need to better align healthspan with lifespan. And that means taking care of ourselves right now if we hope to keep kicking ass, Chuck Norris-style, until the end.
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