What if

In the email, my daughter said that my grandson was so excited because he was now tall enough to ride on some of the big rides at Luna Park in Melbourne. It made me wonder if we could still feel the excitement and adrenaline rush that a youngster feels the first time on an exciting ride. There are a number of factors at play with my grandson. First is the fact that he has grown taller, which is important to him, second, this growth allows him to stretch his experiences and allows him to do things that he could not do last year and third it allows him to show how big and brave he is to tackle rides which are meant to be scary.

Over time many of us have become addicted to habits that are comforting but not exciting. I believe we need changes and challenges in our lives to keep us young. What challenges have you tried or been faced with over the past few months that have given you an adrenaline rush? If we stop seeking adventures and challenges we may end up at the end of our lives wondering what if.  

And God Looked Down upon Seniors

Most seniors never get enough exercise. So, in his wisdom,
God decreed that seniors would become forgetful that they
would have to search for their glasses, keys, and other things
misplaced and move around more. And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God saw there was yet another need. So God in his wisdom made seniors lose coordination that they would drop things, which would require them to bend and reach and stretch. And God looked down and saw that it was good.

Then God considered the functioning of senior bladders and
decided that in His wisdom there might be calls of nature more frequently, requiring more walking to the relief station, which would burn calories. God looked down and saw that it was good.

Seniors were obliged to exercise more from these senior
shortcomings and did become more active as a result. So if you find you are required to get up and down more as you age, remember it's God's will and in your best interest, even though you mutter under your breath.

Ageing at Home

A growing trend among retirees is the desire to remain in one's home as long as possible. In fact, a recent study quoted by AARP shows 87% of those 65+ want to age in place for as long as it is safe. Even among those 10 years younger, 71% would opt to stay put. Familiarity and community ties are the biggest draws.

In BC 93% of seniors live independently, with 80% owning their own homes and 20% renting. The three biggest challenges to senior homeowners are:

• Taxes and utilities increasing faster than inflation
• Maintenance costs
• Major repairs may force a move
• Home equity becomes difficult to assess.

The biggest challenges to senior rentals are

• Affordability
• Availability
• Appropriateness

 The following chart from the office of the Senior Advocate of BC shows how in BC senior renters and homeowners are in trouble:

Homeowners and renters Living expenses 2016
Metro Vancouver	Home Owner	Renter
After Tax Income	1902	1902
Total Homeowner Expense	966
Basic Cost of Living	1064
Remaining Funds	-371
Average Rent 1 Bedroom		1079
Basic Living Costs		1008
Safer Subsidy*		108
Remaining Funds		-81

*Shelter Aid for Elderly Renters

So We want people to age in place, but we make it almost economically impossible to do this, so we have to advocate the government to give more consideration to this particular aspect of ageing. 

The research shows that if more seniors end up in homes than the health care costs will go very much higher. This issue is not just an issue for us in BC, but it is an issue in almost every jurisdiction. Allowing seniors to age in place reduces costs to society, and makes ageing a more pleasant experience.

Licencing Issues for Seniors

One of the workshops I give is on Licencing Issues for Seniors. In BC when a person reaches 80, they have to go in for a medical assessment to see if they are still able to drive.  As one ages, specific functions related to driving skills may be impaired. These functions include vision, hearing, sensation, and cognitive and motor abilities. For example, a decline in peripheral vision may affect the ability to pass approaching vehicles safely, and the decreased range of motion in an older person's neck may impair the ability to look behind when backing up. In addition, reaction time decreases by almost 40 percent on average from age 35 to 65. 

The aging process may also affect cognitive skills. Short-term memory loss, for instance, can impair driving skills by interfering with a person's ability to process information efficiently when merging with traffic or changing lanes. Such difficulties are magnified when the older driver performs these driving skills under stressful conditions. The higher incidence of cognitive impairment, particularly dementia, among older adults produces an increased risk of accident involvement. 

As a group, persons age 65 and older are relatively safe drivers. Although they represent 14 percent of all licensed drivers, they are involved in only 8 percent of police-reported crashes and 11 percent of fatal crashes. This can be compared to drivers age 16 to 24, who are involved in 26 percent of police-reported crashes and 26 percent of fatal crashes, but represent only 14 percent of licensed drivers.

In fact, drivers age 65 and older have a lower rate of crash involvement per 1,000 licensed drivers than any other age group. They also drive fewer miles on average than any other age group.

When drivers over 65 are involved in crashes, the situations and reasons are generally different from those associated with crashes involving younger drivers. For older drivers, the situations in which crashes occur most frequently are when they are turning left, whereas for younger drivers, crashes occur most often while they are driving on a straight road or highway. The errors most often involved in older driver crashes are failing to yield right of way or not responding properly to stop signs and traffic lights. By comparison, the errors most frequently made by younger drivers are related to speed or to following too close.

Among all drivers age 65 and older, it is the oldest drivers who pose more risk to themselves and to public safety. For all adults age 25 to 64, and for adults age 65 to 69, the rate of crashes per miles driven is relatively constant. The rate begins to rise at age 70, and increases rapidly at age 80.

Older persons may also regulate their own driving behavior. They may stop driving or limit driving to accommodate their individual declining capabilities. On average, persons age 65 and older drive substantially fewer miles than drivers in any younger age group.

In addition, older drivers often adopt different travel patterns, driving shorter distances, driving less at night, and avoiding rush hours, major highways, and bad weather conditions.