A different perspective

He can’t do this anymore; she is no longer capable of that. How often do we hear such a lament? The book The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson causes the reader to look at aging from a different perspective.

Its main character Allan may not have speedy reflexes, he may have a shuffling gait, and he may pee on his slippers, but his mind is sharp as a tack, and he still has his professional skillset. The adventures he has had during his first 99 years are astonishing, and his experiences once he turns 100 are equally outlandish.

As the story unfurls, Allan is found to be thinking outside of the box, inspiring others to be more risqué in their approach to life, and to contemplate attitudes towards the not-so-young.

Why do we all too often stick to routine and the mundane? Why don’t we step outside of our comfort zones more often? Why do we focus such much on the abilities that have been weakened or lost rather than focusing on the capabilities that have been retained?

We cannot put ourselves into another person’s shoes, but do we often enough consider life from the other person’s perspective? How does it feel to be in the same surroundings for days, months, years at a time? What’s it like to have one’s days scheduled exactly the same, with little variation in agenda or food or décor? How often are those who are in the last years of their lives consulted about their dreams for the future, personal preferences, needs in terms of stimulating activities?

Sherbrooke’s CSSS-IUGS research centre on aging, the Centre de Recherche sur le Vieillissement, has 40 researchers and 20 associate researchers whose work focuses on helping everyone lead an active and healthy lifestyle and “age well in a healthy, autonomous manner.” Their research covers a broad range of areas— from fall prevention to cardiovascular and neurodegenerative diseases (i.e. Alzheimer’s), cancer, endocrine dysfunctions (i.e. diabetes, from social and psychological vulnerability among seniors to driving and road safety, from the biological mechanisms of aging to nutrition, and more.

Sherbrooke is also one of only 258 age-friendly cities and communities around the world, recognized by the World Health Organization as committed to the philosophy that “The environment in which we live influences our health, resilience and well-being across the life course. Creating accessible and supportive physical and social environments can maximize people’s function and enable older men and women to continue to do those things that are important to them.”

According to the WHO, in an agefriendly city, “age-friendly service providers, public officials, community leaders, faith leaders and business people recognize the great diversity among older persons, promote their inclusion and contribution in all areas of community life, respect their decisions and lifestyle choices, and anticipate and respond flexibly to aging-related needs and preferences.”

Bishop’s University offers courses on Adult Development and Aging and the Physiology and Pharmacology of Aging. All around us people are realizing that many factors influence how we age.

The fictional Allan’s amazement at waking up alive each morning is reflected in the perspective of non-fictional Dr. Oliver Sacks, physician, best-selling author, and professor of neurology at the NYU School of Medicine. In a July 6, 2013 New York Times opinion piece entitled The Joy of Aging, he wrote: “At nearly 80, with a scattering of medical and surgical problems, none disabling, I feel glad to be alive — ‘I’m glad I’m not dead!’… My father, who lived to 94, often said that the 80s had been one of the most enjoyable decades of his life…. I do not think of old age as an ever grimmer time that one must somehow endure and make the best of, but as a time of leisure and freedom, freed from the factitious urgencies of earlier days, free to explore whatever I wish, and to bind the thoughts and feelings of a lifetime together.”