Why Aging Makes Us Old

The accumulation and interaction of acute and chronic conditions in our 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, along with normal aging changes that begin in our 60s and progress through our 70s and 80s become unmanageable. Bottom line. This is why most of us will need long-term care or a family caregiver to help us with our typical daily activities later in life.

Most people don’t think they will need long-term care so they don’t plan for it. Or, maybe they don’t know how to plan for it. Those who do plan mainly think about financial planning, wills, trusts, and advance healthcare directives, which are great. People don’t typically plan for it by thinking about family diseases and disorders and how genetics play a role. We don’t typically plan for why we would need long-term care based on our lifestyle and habits — healthy and unhealthy. And we don’t plan for it by having conversations with loved ones about wishes and expectations.

Perhaps we don’t consider that we would ever need assistance with activities of daily living (ADLs) such as showering, dressing, eating, grooming, or going to the bathroom. When genetics and unhealthy lifestyle result in potentially preventable chronic conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, arthritis, type 2 diabetes, strokes, heart attacks, surgeries, injuries, illnesses, one or two are manageable. But as we get older and we add (mostly)…