U.S. work life used to last until age 65. Back then, infirmity and death were too common within a few years.
But increasingly, people are living longer, healthier lives.
Many today continue their careers beyond age 65, or kick-start a new one upon retirement. And they have the potential to live much longer than people of previous generations.
Instead of illness and death after retirement, many people continue active lifestyles late into their 80s and even 90s. Organizations in Hilo are even working to expand that to the 100s.
“This has never happened before in human lifespan,” said Cullen Hayashida, elder care programs adviser with St. Francis Healthcare System. “This is a new period.”
That 20 or 30 years, if a person lives to be 100, can create the opportunity for a new focus, attendees were told during a late-November conference at the Aging and Disability Resource Center in Hilo.
It was presented by Community First, the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Hawaii, Hawaii County and the Blue Zones Project.
“For retirees, it’s like falling off the cliff. Because there is nothing to help us think about what we’re going to do for the next 20 to 30 years,” Hayashida said.
Takuya Nakamura, director of the Advanced Healthy City Program in Fukuoka, Japan, traveled to Hilo to speak during the conference. He told attendees his city has the fourth-highest number of restaurants per resident in the world. Elderly individuals, who might not want — or be able — to travel far from home, are well-served by copious restaurants in their communities.
Nearby restaurants can entice elders to get out of the house, stay connected with society and eat healthy. But eating that way requires restaurants to focus on offering healthy options prominently.
Hilo planners are hoping their efforts mimic what Fukuoka is doing to create an aging-friendly city.
Hayashida said keys to successful aging include: exercise, challenging your brain, staying connected, remaining socially engaged, keeping nutritional fitness in mind, taking action to lower health risks, finding purpose, leaving a legacy, laughing, never acting your age (which drew laughter from the crowd), “being present” wherever you are through “mindfulness” and keeping children in your life through family or by volunteering.
Young professionals and college students, Hayashida said, should consider geriatrics when thinking about the economics of their careers.
“Let’s pay attention to this particular population,” he said. “Their needs, regardless of the field you’re in, there’s going to be opportunities.”
Most of the approximately 65 who attended the conference were baby boomers — people born between 1946 and 1964.
That’s the group presenters said has created a “silver tsunami” in need of workers, health care, interesting activities and infrastructure.
“We’re shifting from thinking of ‘active aging’ to ‘purposeful aging,’” Hayashida said.
Instead of retiring, sitting on the couch in pajamas and watching TV all day, elders should find purpose, he said.
“What’s your song? I think we need to ask ourselves that. Because once you get that, once you find that out, then I think you have a boat with a rudder.”
For a city to be successful at supporting purposeful aging, “you have to have patience, time and a plan — and put things together,” said Community First board member Charlene Iboshi during the Hilo event. “I think you’ll find that we have a lot of things in place already.”
Carol Ignacio, community program manager for Hawaii Island with the Blue Zones Project, said four cities globally have unusual rates of residents who routinely live beyond 100 years old.
There are efforts underway in Hilo to make it the next so-called “Blue Zone” city(https://communities.bluezonesproject.com/). All of the current four cities (Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Ikaria, Greece; Nicoya, Costa Rica; and Loma Linda, Calif.) have certain characteristics in common, including a natural tendency toward physical movement (residents bike, walk, tend garden, tend sheep).
“They had purpose. They knew why they woke up in the morning,” Ignacio said. But, she said, they also “all learn how to downshift — they take time to relax.”
Residents of those four cities eat until they feel about 80 percent full(http://okinawa-diet.com/okinawa_diet/hara_hachi_bu.html). They eat diets rich in vegetables, tossing in nuts and grains, and consume meat that’s about the serving size of a deck of cards only about three or four times per month. And they drink about two to three glasses of wine a day while socializing with friends, family or neighbors.
Roann Okamura, operations director for the Elderly Activities Division with the county Parks and Recreation Department, said this is a generation of people that doesn’t want to live a sedentary life.
“We’re the generation — we wanna play!” she said. There’s been an aging program in Hilo since the 1960s, she said.
“We take care of our people on this island, and we need to continue that,” she said.
In a fit city, Nakamura said, it’s easy to become healthy naturally. Such cities are set up so it’s easy to be physically active, get healthy food and stay engaged mentally and socially.
Kimo Alameda, Hawaii County executive on aging, said the Office of Aging serves about 60,000 people who are age 60 and older.
“Our senior population is booming,” he said. “That’s why they call it the ‘senior tsunami.’”
Email Jeff Hansel at jhansel@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
