Fifty Plus (50+) - Will you live to be 100??

There were a couple of articles on Yahoo yesterday about living to 100, including the prophecy that more and more of us will and ways to help make it happen.

Do you want to live to 100?

Do you see yourself cycling until what age, then? What kind of cycling?

( by the way, if I'm living to 100 I certainly don't want to think of myself as "old" at 50. That would mean that I will spend almost half of my life thinking of myself as old, rather than middle-aged) :)

I hope that I never stop cycling. If my body rebels too much, maybe I will eventually ride a recumbent trike!

No, I do not want to live to be 100. Don't want to deal with everything that would come with that goal. I can understand others wanting to, but I have no desire whatsoever.

I agree with your statement about turning 50. Even if one were to live to just 80 (which is very common if you have already reached 50), that's 30 years. Just as far away as 20 is from 50. No reason to consider one's life to be mostly over by 50, or to not have lofty future goals.

Technically, most people don't consider one to be "old" or "elderly" until you are 65 or 70, and a lot of people who are 65 or 70 reject that way of thinking. The U.S. Government's definition of "elderly" is 65 ... they may have to revisit that definition as the Baby Boomers age.

Maybe a metric. :D

Live long or live short, but live well.

No, I do not want to live to be 100. Don't want to deal with everything that would come with that goal. I can understand others wanting to, but I have no desire whatsoever.

I agree with your statement about turning 50. Even if one were to live to just 80 (which is very common if you have already reached 50), that's 30 years. Just as far away as 20 is from 50. No reason to consider one's life to be mostly over by 50, or to not have lofty future goals.

Technically, most people don't consider one to be "old" or "elderly" until you are 65 or 70, and a lot of people who are 65 or 70 reject that way of thinking. The U.S. Government's definition of "elderly" is 65 ... they may have to revisit that definition as the Baby Boomers age.

+1 this is exactly how I feel.

That would give me 35 years of struggling to survive on a pension that is not large enough.

And 35 more years of hills.

Mind you- if the pension increases-I'll take the ups and downs that go with it.

Live long or live short, but live well.

+1 Today was the only one that matters.

(And today was special since I got in 12 mile rides on my three favorite bikes.... every now and then I like to do this: ride a 12 mile circuit on three different bikes. I am a lucky man... three bikes that are fantastic.)

Should tomorrow come, I'll rejoice and deal with what it brings me.

Tough question. At 67, I feel like I'd like to go on living even past 100. However, I'm aware that things can change and I might change my mind as well.

Being 70, the predicted median (half live longer, half live less long) life span for a person my age today is 85. As for me, I'm more interested in maintaining a quality lifestyle that includes plenty of activity and don't much think about longevity.

Al

That would demand new jerseys!

I'm only 56 but really dont want to go that long.

I'm with Louis.........the older I get, the longer I want to live......:twitchy:

Do you want to live to 100?

Oh good lord no! WHY? I see myself getting to about 78, still fairly healthy, have my mind, some money to live on and "pop" stroke, gone... that would be perfect.

Do you see yourself cycling until what age, then? What kind of cycling?

Yes... everything I do now (road and mountain) but just slower and with more caution.



It's not so much about being healthy and living a long active life, it's just living in a world where I will probably still have to work and it's gone to hell in a hand basket. Alittle off topic I know, but I know hard times are coming and I don't want to be old and have to deal with it. Hard times are better suited for youth.

I doubt I will and do not think I would want to anyway. Seems alot of things can and will happen the older one gets and I do not want to deal with them or have someone have to deal taking care of me.
I am with NOS88, today is the day and if tomorrow comes I will deal with that.

I'm 56 and for me it depends more on the quality of life than anything else. If I manage to stay healthy then 70 0r 80 is fine. 100, I am not to sure if I want to hang on that long. I am retiring from my current job the day after Christmas and I am kinda worried about the future (hell in a hand basket and all). If you look back at the medical breakthroughs that have occured in the past 25 years the next 25 years could be quite amazing. Who knows.

I hope to live to 47. I will reach this goal on Friday. Beyond that, all bets are off.

I'm 70, my mother is 96 and in good health and is mentally sharp (and still drives). I hope that I have inherited her genes.

Mostly, I want to be healthy and active as long as I live. My grandfather and uncle both had strokes that disabled them for several years and it was pretty sad seeing them imprisoned in the hospital bed. My mother however was making plans on her deathbed to finish her PhD.

Y'all are too philosophical! You bet yer ass I want to live to be 100, and as far beyond as I can!

Look at all we've seen in life in the 50+ years we've had. I want to see what more life has to offer, and what wonders come down the pike. My grandmother lived from the horse and buggy days well past man landing on the moon. Imagine those sorts of changes for us.

Two years ago when Dad died at 77, suddenly those 24 years between us didn't seem nearly long enough! All four of my grandparents and several great grandparents lived into their late eighties. I can certainly do at least that well. When I was a teen I read Lord of the Rings, and decided then and there that just like Bilbo Baggins, I too would have an eleventy-first birthday party. I just passed the halfway point six months ago, so I'm barely half dead! :D

While I have no designs on living to 100, and really don't care if I live past 75, my wife has a fair chance of getting to 100. Her great-grandmother lived to 95, her grandmother is still kicking at 96. Given 40+ years of medical advances and 100 is not the least bit far-fetched for her.

But I've told her she's going to have to go the last 25 or so years alone. My pension should take care of her. So I have no guilty feelings about it.

I've never thought about it. Both of my parents died young and I had never thought I'd live to be as old as I am. I've lived longer than both of my parents. Like others here, I think the best that most anyone can hope for is to lead a healthy and active life until they die. We've all seen what medicine can do today--keep people around for a long time without decent quality of life, draining a family's financial resources. Whether that can continue in this country, I would suspect not.

I too look for the economic downturn to worsen much more before things improve; I hope I'm wrong but I think we could be in for triple-digit inflation in the US. Heaven help those of us in the US if the dollar is dropped as a reserve currency. Foreign investors will depart and we'll need loans from international organizations like the IMF and World Bank. The bureaucrats in D.C. will be in shock if they just can't print more money to cover their endless deficit spending. I don't see them able to exercise the discipline to reduce spending so I expect to see taxes increase significantly.

If I can still play golf, ride a bike and drink margaritas then heck yeah!! Not sure if I could still do a birthday ride but you just never know.......

I can't imagine how many bikes will be hanging in my garage if I live to 100. Best be thinking about some sort of storage building when we downsize the house.

I plan to live to 150 and be shot by a jealous husband while running out the back door with my clothes under my arm

[QUOTE=
But I've told her she's going to have to go the last 25 or so years alone. My pension should take care of her. So I have no guilty feelings about it.[/QUOTE]

But will your pension cover the second husband and the Corvette?

But will your pension cover the second husband and the Corvette?

I hope not.

This is a real issue - will the retirement funds be there, will you be able to afford health care, will you mind still be any good. I am not sure but currently I would not consider retirement because these costs may be out of control as we get older and there is no way to predict what you will need later in life.

I wont' have enough money.

I plan to live to 150 and be shot by a jealous husband while running out the back door with my clothes under my arm
:roflmao2: I plan to die in a bar room brawl on my 110th birthday.

Based on my family's history, I'd be lucky to see 80. Hopefully the bike riding and pills will carry me to at least 85. Currently have an aunt at 90 and a father in law at 92, both have walking issues, and bike riding is out of the question. I really can't conceive of me reaching 100; however the way time seems to fly by at my current age, 64, it won't be long now. I'm sure someone will let me know when it happens. I just hope I can remember the name of who is telling me.

I'm going to live to 93, according to some "life expectancy" test I took on the Internets.

Therefore, I plan to carefully manage my finances so I spend my last penny on midnight the night of my birthday that year. If I wake up the next morning, I'll need another plan. Maybe get a job as a bicycle messenger.

This thread reminds me of Izzy Mandelbaum. "It's go time!"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pcFSOnumgZA

I want to live forever, but only if I can stay young forever. Riding the bike every day has worked so far; it has delayed the aging process if I compare myself with other guys my age who have not ridden bikes every day. Anyway, it beats the alternative of being a vampire in order to achieve the same goal.

I remember when I was younger, thinking about death. I just could not imagine not being alive. Why would I be here, and then have this awareness taken from me for eternity? It's almost enough to make one religious. That's the downside of being an atheist - one can only surmise that scientifically, conssciousness is the happy and fortuitous result of a combination of chemicals coming together in a certain way that creates a complex phenomenon we experience as thought or awareness, and that once the physical body dies, so too does this process. Forever. Too bad.

One noticeable thing about aging is that time goes by faster. When you're ten years old, a year is a long time - it's 1/10th of your life. But when you're 50, a year is a mere 1/50th of your life, 2%. Makes you kind of want to be like the character in Catch-22 who tries to prolong his life by being as bored as he possibly can so that time passes more slowly. Maybe that's what meditation is all about? You reach that same state sometimes on your bike, in the middle of a long ride. I'm surpirsed Tibetan buddhists are not avid cyclists. The prayer wheels are already spinning on this wondrous contraption!

Luis

I want to live as long as I have good quality of life, and no longer. There's not much doubt that our riding helps with that.

When I was in the hospital in November, 2007, I was the long distance cycling freak that all the medical students were fascinated with and came around to visit. My roommate was an over 300 pound man who's diabetes caused him to get a serious blood infection when he had all his teeth pulled. While talking to him, my wife and daughter were struck with the fact that he and I were the same age, and were stunned that two people the same age could be so different.

The day after being released from the hospital, I was riding my bike. As long as I can do that, let me stick around.

Age one hundred is questionable for me. At age 63 I'm reaching the top rungs of middle age, so upper 90's seems the most reasonable approximation. <G>

In real life, my focus is on living as opposed to just being not dead yet.

Based on my family's history, I'd be lucky to see 80. Hopefully the bike riding and pills will carry me to at least 85. Currently have an aunt at 90 and a father in law at 92, both have walking issues, and bike riding is out of the question. I really can't conceive of me reaching 100; however the way time seems to fly by at my current age, 64, it won't be long now. I'm sure someone will let me know when it happens. I just hope I can remember the name of who is telling me.

On my paternal side- I have outlived all my male relations. Most died from Heart problems earlier in life- I had a Bypass.

Mind you- On my Maternal side- they all die of Cancer but at a ripe age.

And my great grandmother died at 98. A week after the doctor told her to cut down on the Guinness.

I'm amazed that the urge to live is so weak in so many of the respondents. Of course I want to live as long as I can while enjoying an acceptable quality of life. Maybe I'll not have any money. Maybe my bank accout will be overflowing. No matter, as long as what nature gives is something I can enjoy I'm up for it.



Definition: Living is not the same thing as Being Alive. Living is fulfilling whatever you percieve is your current purpose. Being Alive is merely existing and is a biological thing. Even then which of us hasn't enjoyed those moments of just feeling the body and mind unite in the work of climbing a hill, or swinging a hay bale, or just contemplating a magnificent sunset? Or, one could say: Being Alive is a prerequisite for Living just as being a caterpillar is a prerequisite for a butterfly.

Not in this lifetime.

The chief matter for me is what my life might (will?) be like at 100. If I'm still thinking clearly, have at least modest physical abilities, and am able to care for myself, that's fine. If not, forget it.

In watching many people age, I've come to the conclusion that attitude is one of the biggest factors in longevity. I've seen people in horrible shape live much longer than expected because they had a fierce drive to hold on for some reason. Of the great aunt of a friend who lived to be 103, it was said "the devil doesn't want her and God doesn't need someone telling him what to do".:lol:

I want to live forever, too. Or at least to a hundred. I want to see my grandkids. Great-grandkids. I want to see rocket cars and jet packs, vacation trips to Mars, cities on the ocean, all that stuff we were promised in the '50's. I'm 52 now, by the way. As for living off retirement, I doubt it. I figure I'll be working a long time, should I remain healthy.

I'm amazed that the urge to live is so weak in so many of the respondents. Of course I want to live as long as I can while enjoying an acceptable quality of life.

DO NOT GO GENTLE INTO THAT GOOD NIGHT

Do not go gentle into that good night,
Old age should burn and rave at close of day;
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.
Though wise men at their end know dark is right,
Because their words had forked no lightning they
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Good men, the last wave by, crying how bright
Their frail deeds might have danced in a green bay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

Wild men who caught and sang the sun in flight,
And learn, too late, they grieved it on its way,
Do not go gentle into that good night.

Grave men, near death, who see with blinding sight
Blind eyes could blaze like meteors and be gay,
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

And you, my father, there on the sad height,
Curse, bless me now with your fierce tears, I pray.
Do not go gentle into that good night.
Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

- Dylan Thomas


And my great grandmother died at 98. A week after the doctor told her to cut down on the Guinness.

"Guinness is good for you!"

Luis

I suspect the fickle F150 of fate will get me before then, but if I can still ride my bike at 100, I'm all for it.

I hope so, just so I can still acurately refer to myself as being middle aged.

Not if my health is poor though. No point in prolonging the inevitable.

It's all about quality rather than quantity.

Brings to mind the movie Zardoz.

Paul

Everybody wants to live a long life.

No one wants to grow old.

Everyone (who believes) wants to go to heaven.

No one wants to go today.

Ah....the paradox of it all.

It's all about quality rather than quantity.

Yep. There is more to life than just being alive for sure. I was nearly gone about 10 years ago(medical mishap) and live and appreciate every day as the bonus it is.

In my case, that would be the year 2050. That is incomprehensible to me, but I must confess to curiosity as to what the world will be like, whether I'd want to live in it or not.:(

Never tell your plans to God!

Not to be morbid, but take a look at the obits in your local rag. 100 is not that uncommon these days. Buddies mother just passed at 104. It is total bunk about the USA and life expectancy being short.

Even back as a teenager, I've threatened family members, and co-workers that I was planning to live to be 100. After watching many family members, friends, and acquaintances pass on, now I'm just happy to live as many years as I can.

I think we all should be happy with making it to the eighties in age, eighty five, eighty eight? isnt that enough life? Im sure you could think 'I want to see my grandchildren graduate college", but 85-90 is plenty long, and besides we have /are overpopulating this planet and destroying it as it is. Just think of what the earth would be like without us ?