S6-EP1: Debbie & Sam on the Acceleration of Aging: Smudged Glasses, Creaky Bodies, and Before It's Too Late

[B]OLD AGE With Debbie Weil

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S6-EP1: Debbie & Sam on the Acceleration of Aging: Smudged Glasses, Creaky Bodies, and Before It's Too Late

Debbie Weil

Oct 27, 2023

Transcript

Another episode with Debbie’s husband

Sam Harrington

… This is Season 6 of my [B]OLD AGE podcast. Thank you for listening! I interview authors, experts, and exceptional individuals to reveal the truths about [b]oldly entering old age in a society that (generally) devalues old people. I also invite my husband on as a frequent guest. He’s a retired physician with a very dry sense of humor; he makes me laugh. You can find over 100 previous episodes on Apple podcasts or on my website.

Official Show Notes For This Episode

Listen via the Play button above or on Apple podcasts where you can subscribe.

Welcome back to Season 6! You might’ve noticed that we changed the name of the show to more accurately reflect the focus, which is to explore the transition from midlife to old age. [B]OLDER seemed a bit too general, so it's now [B]OLD AGE. Given our ageist society, it requires [b]oldness and courage to say proudly, "I am old." This season our goal is to be even more honest and vulnerable about what it’s like as the clock ticks away.

For this first episode, Debbie is joined by her husband, Sam Harrington, a popular recurring guest who is known for his dry humor. He's a retired physician and an author.

They start by talking about how aging has suddenly accelerated for both of them, in their early 70s. Sam says he can see his telomeres fraying when he looks in the mirror. He notes that only a decade ago they still looked remarkably young in photos.

THEN: a decade ago, Debbie and her husband Sam in Bududa, Uganda in 2014.

THEN: Debbie and Sam hanging with lemurs in Madagascar in 2014.

They also talk about the long vigil of accompanying a dying parent and how that affects your own sense of old age; how health span has noticeably increased in the past 50 years; and what the stunning demographic shift to an aging society will mean. By 2035, there will be more adults over 65 than children under 18.

Debbie notes the parallel between the acceleration of aging and the acceleration of global warming. At first the changes are slow and hardly noticeable. Then they happen all at once, like this past summer.

But the conversation veers back to the physiological fact of aging. Sam's favorite mantra is that "80 might be the new 60, but 86 is the new 85." The current research to better understand and to slow aging may be too late to benefit them, Says.