If You Live To 100, You Might As Well Be Happy: Lessons for a Long and Joyful Life

If You Live To 100, You Might As Well Be Happy: Lessons for a Long and Joyful Life by Rhee Kun Hoo, translated by Suphil Lee Park

People are living to be older and older. What should they do with the lives? The author has had a positive experience doing things that bring joy.  You wont make the olympics in old age, but you can still find joy in working out. Other pursuits can continue to carried out late in life. It is also important to build up relationships and act on needs to maintain the relationships. things will change. Younger generations will do things differently. Getting caught up in changes can make it difficult to appreciate the positives of the moment. Forgiving others can help you live a positive life. The advice here seems very similar to what is given in Christian work. Maybe the secular approach is easier to sell.

Super Agers

Super Agers by Eric Topol

Today, many people are living longer, but are they thriving in these years? This book looks at how we can extend our lives while also living in a way that we can enjoy life. Not surprisingly some of the best treatments are simple - exercise, healthy heating and social activities. The author goes through various conditions and always seems to come back to those same basics. There are also various drug treatments discussed. Many are quite costly. Some seem like great cures. However, there are often consequences in other areas. A lot of coverage is given to obesity and possible drug treatments there. Analyzing genes and finding appropriate ways to customize treatments and use genetic techniques are also helpful. The author is very positive towards AI. We can utilize AI and other knowledge to provide more customized treatments and screening. There are many screening techniques that do not have solid evidence behind them. There are also some that would greatly benefit to appropriate tailoring to the individual. There are many people that live comfortably in their 90s. We can likely increase that further. However, there are also concerns about equity. The rich have access to more drugs and healthy lifestyles. What about the poor?

We Spread

A widow artist has a fall. She moves into a small assisted rural living facility. She befriends the other residents. She dies.

The novel delves into her brain in the last part of her life. She has some dementia. She seems to think time is passing in a linear fashion. However, her experiences are jumping around. An injury is "miraculously" healed. A friend is suddenly much older. Suddenly a bunch of paintings have been created.  

The novel is deeply disturbing. Is this how aging happens? Or is this interpreted to be a supernatural book? Getting old and losing memory is very scary. Is it even worth it enduring this "half life" in the old age?

Running with the Pack: Thoughts from the Road on Meaning and Mortality

Running. Aging. Meaning of Life. Dogs. All is woven together in Running with the Pack. The author decides to run a marathon a few years shy of his 50th birthday. He has enjoyed running for most of his life, but his body is more equipped for sprinting than running. Injuries have plagued him. In training for the marathon, he was progressing well so he pushed himself harder. This led to an injury. He kept coming back too strong after trying to heal, thus leading to further problems. (And ironically, he started running because he was afraid he had gout, but he likely had a stress fracture instead.) Despite all this and a lack of training in the weeks leading up to the marathon he decided to do it anyway.

A lot of his running had been done with dogs. These companions experience a basic joy of running and give him reason to continue. 

He sees running as something that has meaning unto itself rather than something that provides alternate benefit. Even from a biological level, running helps clear out thoughts and allows the mind to solve some of the hard problems that were not solvable when "it was the boss". Running also helps our general energy expenditure to catch up with what the body is expecting.

As we age our physical ability declines. This is a genetic trade off that mammals have made. Reptiles and amphibians tend to be fairly equal in their abilities until they die. The decline is inevitable in life. We will not be able to run at age 50 like we did at 20. The regression will continue as we get older.

The book has many nice insights into running and aging. It is great to think of the meaning in what we are doing rather than just expect everything as a means to an end. Even something like happiness is not necessarily an "end". In work it is good to find something that we enjoy doing and then find somebody to pay us for it. Anything can be professionalized. It is up to us to find our meaning.

Ageless: The New Science of Getting Older Without Getting Old

People get old. As they get older, they are susceptible to many ailments and eventually die. The science of aging explores ways to counteract those actions. The book explores the research into aging. It doesn't spend much time exploring the ethical impacts of aging. (What does happen if we have a lot more people living a lot longer?) However, it does note that the "unhealthy" typically consume a lot more medical resources for limited longevity.

The science of aging explores a number of corollaries in other lifeforms. Some beings live much longer than humans. Others live much shorter. We can look at the aspects of the long-lived organisms for insight. We can study short-lived organisms over multiple generations to quickly get feedback.

Many aspects of aging are the resultant of accumulative defects. Cells divide. DNA gets repaired. Various ailments are fought. Eventually, systems are overwhelmed. There is a reason why many ailments primarily impact the elderly. Their bodies are no longer able to "fight back" as well as when they were younger. Research has explored different therapies and approaches to help preserve the ability to maintain the body, even in old age. There are challenges. Cancer is a disease in which cell growth goes amuck. We need to be able to still have the "good" going, while prevent the bad. We want to be able to continue to have an active life, rather than merely just extend years.

There is both a genetic and an individual component to aging. Certain genes can help in different aspects of aging. Different conditions can also help. For instance, castrated eunuchs have had longer lifespans than non-sterilized individuals

While there are possibilities of great treatments for aging, for now it is mostly the simple things that can help reduce the impacts of aging. A nutritious diet helps. (Though supplements don't.) Exercise helps. Keeping a healthy weight helps. Caloric restriction is also beneficial. However, the appropriate balance must be found. (People typically eat too much. However, too little can be harmful. )