Senescence, the Last Half of LifeHall, G. Stanley (Granville Stanley)
Science
Senescence, the Last Half of Life
Hall, G. Stanley (Granville Stanley)
Geriatrics
On the other hand, some seem to take a new lease of life in this youth
of old age. It is not so much that they have a new sense of the value
of time but because they have taken in sail in other directions and,
realizing the limitations of life, have focused more sharply upon the
things they deem most essential.
_To what do you ascribe your long life?_
Good heredity is much more often specified than anything else. There is
a tendency in the old to inventory the virtues of parents and ancestors
and a deep-seated belief, even in these democratic days, that blood
will tell. Four correspondents believed their constitution was weak and
that the early realization of this called their attention to personal
hygiene, so that these individuals ascribe their long life more to
their own effort than to inheritance. Next in rating is the environment
of early life. In our land many have been born in the country and led
a laborious life in youth and later changed to urban surroundings and
to more sedentary habits, which always involves a considerable strain
of readjustment. Where this change has been successfully weathered
there is a strong disposition to place a very high emphasis upon the
beneficence of strenuous physical activity in the formative period.
Next in appreciation comes the preservative influence of good and
temperate habits, reinforced by observations of acquaintances of early
life who, by reason of less moderation, have preceded them to the
cemetery. When our own associates die we tend to draw the lessons of
their physical and moral life. One ascribes her longevity to the very
early implantation of the idea that everything must be determined by
its bearing upon her power to bring healthy children into the world.
Most mention, and many stress, the absence of worry and overwork,
although one insists that he had been chronically anxious from the
first, suffering by day for years from apprehensions of evil and lying
awake nights trying to plan the reconstruction of the universe. Several
ascribe their length of years to the fact that as they advanced in
age they learned betimes to give up former duties and lay off burdens
they could no longer carry with impunity. It is evident that this
realization of the effect of years differs very widely in different
individuals and seems almost lacking in some. Several take pride in the
fact that although they inherited a short life from both parents and
grandparents they have succeeded in greatly prolonging it, and by diet
and regimen in overcoming hereditary handicaps. One determined early in
life to make the mind rule the body. One old lady ascribes her vigor to
progressive self-forgetfulness and devotion to the service of others.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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