A better alternative for active baby boomers

My 88-year-old father recently passed away. His lifespan was 30 years longer than his youngest sister's, 15 years longer than his fraternal twin's, and 25 years longer than his parents'.

Like his contemporaries, he lived much longer than he ever thought he would.

We would joke about this in my weekly check-up call. "Well, we got up this morning!" he would say. I would laugh at this tired joke, as he would add, "It sure beats the alternative."

For the last several years of his life, Dad was satisfied with "just getting up" in the morning. He was in relatively good health, but had slowed down. He accepted his inability to do things he had always done.

Not me, a member of the baby-boomer generation. We boomers are not satisfied with "just getting up." We want to continue doing what we have always done. But, we have a problem: Our bodies don't always let us.

My body does not want to cooperate with my desire to remain active. My son delicately put my aging condition into perspective when yet another of my golf shots failed to reach its target. He said, "Mom, you know you aren't as athletic as you used to be."

Yes, I know it, but I don't like it. But, as my Dad used to suggest, the alternative is not that appealing. Neither is slowing down.

That's where you come in. No one has a formula to stop aging, but maybe, with your help, we can delay it so that regardless of how old we succeed in living, we will remain productive and healthy.

This issue is focused on anti-aging. Our cover story features seven chiropractors who specialize in anti-aging medicine, a natural fit with chiropractic. One of the DCs we visited said, "DCs have been trained to counsel patients on healthy-aging concepts from their first year in chiropractic college."

Perhaps what anti-aging is all about is living a healthy lifestyle, with chiropractic as a key component. I can live with that.

Until next time,

Linda Segall, Editor-in-Chief