Ida’s
Notebook
Ida Risser
The middle of March and St.
Patrick’s Day makes me think of
planting garden.
Despite my husband’s dis
ability, he rototilled a bit of our
garden so that we could plant
sugar peas. He did this while I
was at the grocery store as he
knew that I did not want him to
try to handle the big rototiller.
We planted three kinds of peas
in a 100 foot row. All of these will
need a six-foot fence for support.
I save my own seed.
Although, they are available to
the public through the
“Heirloom Seed Project” at the
Landis Valley Museum near
Lancaster. My mother-in-law
planted these kinds: “Risser
Sickle pea and Risser Early
Sugar Pea” in the 19205.
My parents’ farm was on the
edge of a village. And, each
spring we would see an elderly
lady with a pan out int he field
cutting dandelions. We thought
she was a bid odd, but now I too
look forward to cutting some
tender dandelions for a salad.
Many people add a hot bacon
dressing but I like mine simply
raw with a bit of mayonnaise
and a hard boiled egg.
Now that spring is almost
here, the pink geranium in a
hanging basket has started to
bloom again. It has seven big
blooms which I enjoy looking at
as it hangs in the big bay win
dow. Even the impatiens plants,
that I brought in in the fall, con
tinue to bloom.
Recently, I spent another day
of my life riding in a car. We
drove to western Pennsylvania
to visit my husband’s brother
He recently moved to a Veterans
Home in Holidaysburg. It
large complex, and he was
prised to see us.
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Farm and Home Section, Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 25, 2000—Page
Possible To Age More Slowly?
But it’s apparently that very
attitude that helps make older
folks, well, old. The less physi
cally active people become as
they advance in years, the faster
their bodies give out on them.
That’s the conclusion from a
team of scientists at the USD A
Human Nutrition Research
Center on Aging at Tufts Uni
versity.
Dr. William Evans, chief of
the Center’s Human Physiology
end Laboratory, and Dr. Irwin
Rosenberg, director of the
center, report that while inactiv
ity doesn’t necessarily shorten
the life span, it most definitely
shortens the health span. That
is, a decrease in physical exer
tion makes people less capable
of doing things for themselves at
a younger age than necessary, it
also makes them more prone to
such illnesses as heart disease,
diabetes, and osteoporosis, so
that the last 20 to 30 to 40 years
of their lives are often unduly
compromised by a combination
of bodily complaints and de
pendency on others.
Conversely, those over 45 who
continue to push themselves
physically as the years go by
have a much better chance of
maintaining their vigor, stam
ina, and physical flexibility as
well as overall health and there
fore of reaching and living
through old age self-reliant.
They can take out their own
trash, walk a mile to the senior
citizens center rather than be
driven, and carry the laundry
is a
sur-
Here, let me get that for you.
Just sit and relax; I’ll tend to ev
erything. Take it easy; you
shouldn’t be straining yourself.
Such is the nature of the soli
citous phrases often heard by
those who are nearing or have
reached retirement age.
There’s a strong feeling in our
culture that part of the proper
way to show respect for the older
members of society is to make
sure they exert themselves as
little as possible.
The golden years, to the
American mind, are best spent
sitting on porches sipping lem
onade, not walking to town for a
quart of milk, cleaning out the
gutters, and using stairs rather
than an elevator to climb a flight
or two.
down to and up trom the base
ment without feeling winded.
It’s true not only for those in
their 60s and 70s but even for
many in their 80s and 90s.
Better still, those in their golden
years who have lost a good deal
of physical capacity can retard
and even reverse the trend. Even
if you’re already 75 years old,
the researchers say, feel overbur
dened with aches and pains, and
have long since accepted the
idea that an energetic lifestyle is
over for you, you can still turn
things around. They cite evi
dence of men in their 70s who
within 12 weeks’ time went from
being able to lift 44 pounds to 85
pounds, losing fat and gaining
muscle. In just eight weeks,
women in their 90s nearly
tripled their strength! How?
With exercise. With huffing
and puffing and working up a
sweat, and with lifting weights.
The idea of an octogenarian
or nonagenarian working out to
the point of perspiring might
sound very distasteful, very pun
ishing, and perhaps even dan
gerous. But it’s just that level of
exertion that keeps aging from
being synonymous with illness
and proves that chronological
age, marked by the number of
years lived, is distinct from bio
logical age, marked by the
body’s capacity.
Consider the comment of a
93-year-old woman who com
pleted the researchers’ strength
training program: “I feel as if I
were 50 again. Now I get up in
the middle of the night and can
get around without using my
walker or turning on the light.”
Or the words of a 58-year-o\d;
“As I moved into my 50s, my
body felt more and more like a
dead weight. I simply accepted
it as part of growing older. How
wonderful to discover this isn’t
the way I have to feel at my
age-to know that, by working at
it, I can actually feel better and
more ready for life than I did
when I was 22.”
Drs. Evans and Rosenberg
detail their energy-enhancing
exercise plan, which they couple
with sound nutrition, in their
newly released book, Biomark
ers: The 10 Determinants of
Aging You Can Control (Simon
& Schuster: New York, $21.95).
The biomarkers arc actually
key physiological factors that
are associated with aging but
which regular exercise and a
prudent diet can keep in as tip
top shape as possible for as long
as possible.
In the 10 Biomarkers: Keep
ing Them ‘Young,’ famous base
ball pitcher Leroy “Satchel”
Paige never knew exactly how
old he was. He told people to use
his performance on the pitcher’s
mound to estimate his age. But
that did little good, since he was
a leading pitcher for about 25
years, from the 1920 s into the
19505. What that probably
means is that his biomarkers re
mained “young” even as he
grew older because he was so
active. The 10 biomarkers Drs.
Evans and Rosenberg have pin
pointed include the following: 1.
muscle 2. strength mass 3. basal
metabolic rate 4. body fat per
centage 5. aerobic capacity 6.
blood-sugar tolerance 7. choles
terol/HDL ratio 8. blood pres
sure 9. bone density 10. the
body’s ability to regulate its in
ternal temperature.
163