Using grey power to help fuel our recovery

Keeping older people fit and well is not just of benefit to them – it can help the economy by saving us a fortune in healthcare costs, writes JOHN McKENNA

OLD PEOPLE. Don’t you just hate them? Aren’t they awful?

Sad old duffers wearing Marks Sparks anoraks and sensible Clarks shoes. They make you want to scream.

Toiling through their grim golden years, mainlining on Sanatogen and stuff to help them read the word card in the doctor’s surgery. Looking for discounts in the supermarket at eight in the morning with tokens torn from Sky TV magazine. Appearing in adverts sponsored by the HSE walking hand in hand across sand dunes in their bloody Marks Sparks anoraks and sensible Clarks shoes.

And if it’s not Sanatogen and sandals, it’s pricey cruises and foreign holidays because the SOBs sold their house at the height of the boom to a young couple who are now in debt slavery.

Don’t you just hate them? Worrying about what yacht to buy, or what restaurants to eat in in London on that short break.

And what happens when the people elect a bunch of new, young TDs in a general election? The old fogies steal all the cabinet seats. Poor old Coveney and Varadkar, having to listen to all those stories of aching joints and hip replacements before any work gets done.

And what happens when you encourage them, as President McAleese did recently, when she said that “ageing should be regarded as an opportunity for new challenges and beginnings rather than an endgame”.

So, what did they think of that? Well, if Amárach Consulting is to be believed in its survey of the attitudes of people over 50, they are “not enthusiastic about the manner in which older people are portrayed in the media”.

Well, forgive us. We need to be kinder to the very people who are, as Shane Hegarty wrote recently in this newspaper, “the greatest beneficiaries of the boom and architects of the recession”.

At this point, I had better draw breath, and make a confession. I am one of them.

I am one of that demographic, now suddenly caught in the crossfire, the headlights and the crosshairs, as marketeers, historians, columnists and medical staff carve us up.

There are 1.2 million of us, and I’m one of them. Fifty two years old in a wee while, a “silver spender” with “grey power”. Well, grey hair for sure. But, if you don’t mind, I’d rather be the silver surfer than a silver spender.

The debate about the grey power (GP) demographic is going to burn and burn, but beyond the anger of younger people that the GP generation have ruined the country, stolen almost all the cabinet seats and – worst of all – shown the nation’s students how to conduct effective street protests, there is actually a far more important question, and it relates directly to health and health policy in the State.

The issue is this: the GP generation may yet wreck the country one more time. All that stands between the 1.2 million and their second shot at civic destruction is the state of their health.

If they are healthy, they can help the country.

If they are unhealthy, then by living longer they will wreck the country.

So, what are the chances of keeping them healthy?

Well, in an article published on the first day of this year, the renowned neurologist Dr Oliver Sacks wrote: “Neuroplasticity – the brain’s capacity to create new pathways . . . can be part of everyday life for all of us. While it is often true that learning is easier in childhood, neuroscientists now know that the brain does not stop growing, even in our later years.”

And there is more. Prof Rose Anne Kenny, who in addition to her gig as professor of clinical gerontology at TCD heads up Tilda, the Irish longitudinal survey on ageing, recently told the Third Age organisation that research has shown that 70 year olds who do 30 minutes of aerobic exercise five times a week benefited by increasing the size of the hippocampus. That means better memory, and that means a lot as you age.

“Just as physical activity is essential to maintaining a healthy body, challenging one’s brain, keeping it active, engaged, flexible and playful, is not only fun, it is essential to cognitive fitness,” writes Dr Sacks.

Work the body. And work the brain. Mental and Physical Plasticity (MaPP) is where the GP generation have to be.

Dr James Reilly, the new Minister for Health, is both a general practitioner and, aged 55, a member of the grey power generation. He has promised radical reform of the health services.

Along with the reform, he can give a great gift to the next generation: if he has practical policies that keep the GP generation plastic in mind and body, he won’t just save a fortune. He might also just save the country.

John McKenna is author and publisher of the Bridgestone Guides, bridgestoneguides.com