MPR: Aging Gracefully

A Time to Live
By Cara Hetland
June 2001

At the turn of the 20th century, the average life span was 47. As we start a new century, more and more people live to see 100. Experts say after retirement there's still a third of life left to live. How people choose to live it makes all the difference in the number of years they have left.

Ted Cate says he's running out of time, and there's no reason to put off one of his life's goals. The 76-year-old Spencer, Iowa native says skydiving is one of the things he's always wanted to do.

"I want to go up in an F-16 sometime, but I haven't had the opportunity. I'd like to go down in a submarine. Just one of those things I'd always wanted to do and thought I'd better just do it," he says.

Cate isn't one for senior centers. He says he's too busy to sit around. Retired for six years, he hunts, trains his dog and loves the Internet. He says he can tell his body is wearing down with what he calls normal aging ailments. That's why now's the time to take the leap.

"You don't have to tell the instructor over here, but I'm blind in one eye, I'm diabetic, I have high blood pressure, but I have all these things under control and it's not a problem for me to do these things," he says.

After completing a day-long class at the Luverne airport, Cate passed the written test and qualifies to make a static-line jump. His parachute will open automatically when he leaves the airplane.

"I'm too old to be nervous."

Dressed in a red jump suit, he wonders how he'll be able to see a red pull cord that opens his emergency reserve shoot since it blends into his coveralls. Once dressed and all equipment checks out, Cate heads to the small Cessna airplane.

Ted Cate is the first jumper, and as an instructor talks him to the ground, a pickup truck full of onlookers waits to see where Ted Cate will land. On the ground, the instructor helps pick up the parachute. Ted admits he had a rocky leap; his cords were twisted at first, but that doesn't stop the adrenalin rush he feels.

"It was the most fun I ever had with my clothes on," says Cate, adding it's an experience everyone should have. "It's a fun experience and you have no sensation of falling because it's all so quick, it's almost instantaneous. Once you get the shoot open, it's a ball of wax."

Jerry Ochs started weight training in 1956 when he was in the military. He started competing in Olympic lifting, bodybuilding and power lifting more than 30 years ago, and, at age 64, he still competes. Listen to more.

Learning new things, staying open to new experiences, says Ed Creagan, is a way to prolong and improve the quality of life. Creagan is a professor of clinical oncology at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester. He says so much of what we know about brain development has changed that much of what he was taught in medical school has proven to be wrong.

"We were taught that you were born with X number of brain cells and they never multiply or increase in size. We now know that with regular intellectual stimulation such as is presented by the internet the number of connections between brain cells dramatically increases in size and number, so Ted is being proactive and assertive and he's dictating his own clinical course," says Creagan.

As the approximately 78 million baby boomers age and reach their post-employment years, says Creagan, there's still a third of life left to live. "So the decisions we make now, psychologically, spiritually, physically and financially have overarching implications for the rest of our lives."

Creagan says those decisions can be made at any point in a person's life as long as they carry over into the senior years. He says exercise and a healthy diet are essential in order to live longer.

Jerry Ochs started weight training in 1956 when he was in the military. He started competing in Olympic lifting, bodybuilding and power lifting more than 30 years ago, and, at age 64, he still competes.

The 165-pound retired Aberdeen high school teacher takes the stage in Sioux Falls for his first event in the South Dakota power-lifting competition - the squat lift. He successfully squats 310 pounds. Later he set new record in the bench press. Ochs is a master in power lifting.

"One record (I'm) very proud of set in 1967 called two-hand snatch, 200-pound record for the state in the 148-pound weight class - and that's held up - other than that in power lifting I have 22 master records. It's pretty easy to establish records when you're the only one doing it. They'll vanish when more people compete," Ochs says.

Ochs works out five nights a week. He says he can't imagine not lifting weights. "It's just a good feeling. My bones aren't creaking yet, my day will come, but there are a lot of people a lot older than I am that are in a lot better shape and I know how they did it. It's persistence. They continue to do it," he says.

Ochs says the key to aging is to start any activity young and just keep doing it.

Geriatric specialists say it's never too late to try and turn back the clock. Ed Creagan, Mayo oncologist, says there are studies that show seniors even in wheelchairs who are put on a weight training schedule, can build body muscle and sometimes are able to walk without aid.

"By age 70," Creagan says, "70 percent of women cannot lift 10 pounds, and by age 70, 28 percent of men cannot lift 10 pounds. Now we're talking about a little more than a gallon of milk."

Creagan says without proper exercise by age 70, 70 percent of men cannot get up without assistance after a fall. Simple routines with hand weights are enough to make a difference. Creagan says activities like shopping, playing cards, and going to a senior center also prolong and enhance the quality of life. He says there are three things an aging person needs to live longer.

"The keys to the kingdom that both Ted and Jerry have is someone to love, programs and projects to put a fire in their belly to get out of bed. And a paycheck and pension is not enough. And some skill that makes the world a little kinder and softer and a better place."

Thirty-five million Americans are over the age of 65. Ed Creagan says as the population ages, more of them may well be taking leaps from airplanes and setting records in power lifting. Shuffleboard and horseshoes aren't enough anymore. Strenuous activities may well become more the norm as seniors exercise their mind and their body.

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