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Tag: Aging
How old is too old to be president?
Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell is 81; President Joe Biden will be the same age on Nov. 20. (Photo/Patrick Semansky, The Associated Press)
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How old is too old to be president?
The candidates’ ages are a concern for many ahead of the 2024 elections, but significant life experience has its advantages, USC experts say.
Suddenly, it seems like our most prominent elected officials are quite … elderly. In the next presidential election, we may be choosing between the oldest president ever (Joe Biden, who would be 82 at the start of his second term) and the second oldest (Donald Trump, who would be 78 at the start of the term). The advanced age of candidates and incumbents, and the duration of their tenure, is striking: Think Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi, Mitt Romney and the late Dianne Feinstein.
There’s a reason for this, according to USC experts, and it’s a mixture of good news and bad news for our democracy.
“To get elected today, a candidate needs massive amounts of money and name recognition, both of which are hard to acquire without significant life experience,” said Kamy Akhavan, executive director of the Center for the Political Future at the USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences. “While there are some members of Congress who are millennials and even Gen Z, there are also freshmen Sen. John Hickenlooper, 71, and Sen. Bill Hagerty, 64. They both had many years of political and business experience before running for Senate.”
Earlier this year, the Pew Research Center released a report showing that the average age of voting U.S. House members has dropped slightly, to 57.9 since 2022, when the average age was 58.9. Meanwhile, the Senate’s average age rose to 65.3 years, up from 64.8 in 2022.
“To get more age and ideological diversity in our political pool, we need to lower the barriers to entry (money, party endorsement and name recognition) so amazing, accomplished and public service-oriented problem solvers who are not millionaires can have a chance to earn our votes,” Akhavan said.
Similarly, Dora Kingsley Vertenten, an election campaigns expert with the USC Price School of Public Policy, observes that our political system favors the “professional officeholder, who tends to be older.”
“As public life becomes more toxic in the current era, fewer quality candidates — including young and middle-aged individuals — are willing to expose themselves, or their loved ones, to the danger,” Vertenten said. “The lack of new talent running for office is a sad commentary.”
Old candidates: How old is ‘old,’ anyway?
Each time Biden trips, or McConnell “freezes,” the questions start again: Are they fit to serve? Can Biden make it through a second term?
USC experts don’t think age itself is a limitation. For one thing, a person’s “biological age” may be quite different from his or her chronological, or calendar, age.
“Biological age is more important than chronological age when evaluating a person’s cognitive and physical ability,” said Andrei Irimia, an expert on genetic and environmental factors in aging and an associate professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology. “Persons who live healthy lives and who stay engaged with their careers in ways that they find rewarding are more likely to have biological ages younger than their chronological ages.”
Irimia’s colleague Jennifer Ailshire, an associate professor with the USC Leonard Davis School and a fellow with the USC Schaeffer Center for Health Policy & Economics, agrees. “A momentary lapse in memory or focus does not necessarily mean someone is experiencing significant cognitive decline,” she said.
“In my research, I’ve seen many older individuals start to experience physical declines in their 70s — but there are people who avoid these declines. As long as someone is up to the task, I don’t see why age should be a limiting factor in an election.”
A ‘wonderful reservoir of older adults’
Laura Mosqueda, a professor of family medicine and geriatrics at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, sees ageism at work in the idea that an elderly person might be too frail to survive a term in office.
“The glory of aging is that our depth of understanding, compassion and wisdom grows because it is based on a lifetime of experiences,” she said. “The reality is that we can go downhill fast at any age — but we prefer to live in the fantasy that it only happens to old people.
“Other societies value their elders, and it is a shame that the predominant view in the U.S. now seems to be that older adults are a step away from going downhill fast. Ageism prevents us from utilizing this wonderful reservoir of older adults who can provide guidance, particularly during these times of turmoil.”
Political campaigns expert Vertenten believes that the extensive life experience that comes with age is attractive to the electorate. When elected officials exhibit a “senior moment” in the public eye, it makes them that more appealing, Vertenten said.
“Biden’s age is easily understood by a populace concerned for their parents living longer and aging in place,” said Vertenten. “Similarly, concern among some voters about McConnell’s ‘freezing’ spells is an extension of our worries for elderly loved ones, not a reason for him to step aside. Concern for the occasional public struggle is a natural extension of our humanness.”
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Helping older adults in times of extreme heat
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Helping older adults in times of extreme heat
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Helping older adults in times of extreme heat
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Helping Older Adults in Times of Extreme Heat
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As the summer of 2023 appears poised to be the hottest on record, caregiving expert Donna Benton shares how caregivers can help vulnerable older adults stay healthy despite the heat.
“It is predicted that this is not just going to be our hottest summer, but we’re going to have more extreme weather events, so we need to be prepared,” says Benton, research associate professor at the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology and director of the USC Family Caregiver Support Center (FCSC). “There are things that caregivers can do to make sure that an older adult is safe during these type of heat emergencies that we’re witnessing more.”
Check in and prepare
Simply checking in with loved ones, friends, or neighbors and making some quick preparations can be hugely beneficial, Benton says.
“It’s nice to have a checklist of things that you can do,” she says. “Can you make sure the person has enough water in their house? Are you aware of where the cooling centers are? If you have an extra fan and that person doesn’t have one, can you loan them a fan? [Is there] a list of their doctors, so that if you need to call the doctor and describe what’s going on, they can tell you the next steps to do if somebody’s feeling ill?”
This is especially important for people living alone, Benton adds: “It’s important if you can at least have one other person who checks on you on a regular basis. That way, if there’s an emergency, you should have somebody who knows.”
Know who’s at risk
Older people are at heightened risk during heat waves, especially in low-income communities, Benton explained.
“The highest-risk people during this climate change are people who are ill; a lot of older adults already have some illnesses,” she says. “People who are in low income areas [may not] have accessible ways of cooling their home. … Older adults are more vulnerable during extreme heat and other natural disasters because they may have physical limitations so that they can’t get out of the home.”
New training program for caregivers
The Los Angeles Caregiver Resource Center, a program of the FCSC, is partnering with UCLA to launch HeatWise, a training program for informal caregivers on helping older adults prepare for heatwaves and recognizing the signs of heat-related illness. The HeatWise program was proposed by UCLA student Nikolas Wianecki and was named a winner of the 2023 Health Equity Challenge, a competition presented by the UCLA Center for Health Policy Research, The MolinaCares Accord, and the California Health Care Foundation.
Benton says the HeatWise program will feature online and printed toolkits with checklists, resources, and lists of symptoms all related to heat as well as workshops to help caregivers learn how to respond to heat emergencies.
“[The toolkit] be easy to read, with things you can rip out and fill in so that you have your checklist ready and you can individualize it,” she says. “It’s really an exciting project.”
Watch below as Donna Benton shares how to help older adults in times of extreme heat.
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As the summer of 2023 appears poised to be the hottest on record, caregiving expert Donna Benton (@donnabentonphd) shares how caregivers can help vulnerable older adults stay healthy despite the heat. #Heatwave #Caregivers
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Field trip to introduces USC TRiO students to research opportunities in aging
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Field trip to USC Leonard Davis School introduces USC TRiO students to aging research opportunites
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Field trip to USC Leonard Davis School introduces USC TRiO students to aging research opportunities
GEMSTEM panel inspires students with valuable advice and mentorship.
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High school students from the USC TRiO Educational Talent Search program recently visited the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology, where they toured state-of-the-art laboratories and received advice from USC undergraduates participating in aging research. The goal of the TRiO program is to help students overcome class, social and cultural barriers to higher education and the field trip to the Leonard Davis School aimed to encourage them to see themselves as future students and scientists.
“Most of our students come from underrepresented backgrounds and we want to give them exposure to students doing university research and to ensure that they can see that it’s possible for them too,” said TRiO director Judy Fillarca. “Our goal is to make them inspired and hopeful.”
The high school students heard from a panel of undergraduate scholars from USC’s GEMSTEM program, an NIA-funded program designed to provide opportunities to emerging researchers from diverse backgrounds and to increase the number of researchers working to reduce health disparities in older adult populations.
Each GEMSTEM student presented their research and passed along valuable guidance, including encouragement to be true to oneself, avoid comparisons, remain curious, and embrace failure.
GEMSTEM students also shared the degree of support they received from faculty mentors, not only in research but also in academics and personal growth.
“You always have someone in your corner,” said Aaliyah Thomas, a GEMSTEM scholar conducting social science research on centenarians in the Ailshire Research Group at the USC Leonard Davis School. “The cool thing about research is there is so much to study. You can literally do anything.”
In addition to gaining an understanding that scientific investigations encompass many topics, the students also learned that options to participate in research can be available to anyone with an interest.
Maria Oorloff, a first-year transfer student and GEMSTEM scholar working in the Sanabria Lab recounted how she learned to conduct and present research despite never being exposed to it before coming to USC.
“When I was in high school, we didn’t have labs, and I’d never even seen a beaker or pipette,” said Oorloff. “My mentor worked with me one-on-one to figure out a plan that suits me and now I want to continue to do research.”
Hearing from students like Maria helped the students feel like there is a place for them in labs and at schools like USC.
“Some of them don’t even have a research background and for them to now have an interest in it, made me have an interest too,” said TRiO student Rich Lopez.
“After hearing everyone present, I realized they are just people,” added fellow student David Miguel. “It gave me the confidence to actually be able to apply to this school.”
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Field trip introduces USC TRiO students to research opportunities in aging
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Uncovering the secrets of the ‘SuperAgers’
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Uncovering the Secrets of SuperAgers
A new effort from the USC Leonard Davis School of Gerontology aims to glean life lessons from people who are redefining what old age looks like.
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At 96 years old, sculptor Thaddeus Mosley has never been more in demand. The Baltimore Museum of Art showcased five of his recent works as part of a traveling tour that also includes a stop in Los Angeles. Mosley created three large sculptures for a 2020 display at Rockefeller Center, and he is the subject of a soon-to-open exhibition at the Louvre-affiliated Eugene Delacroix Museum in Paris.
In his Pittsburgh studio, Mosley creates abstract sculptures carved from salvaged wood through an improvisational process he compares to the jazz music he loves and listens to as he works.
“I have no intention of retiring as long as I’m physically able to work,” he said. “It’s just like music — you just keep playing, you just keep working. And it is something I like to do.”
In the art world, Mosley is regarded as a prolific innovator. In the gerontology world, the nonagenarian is recognized as something else. Mosley is a SuperAger.
“SuperAgers are not just people who have lived to old ages. They’ve lived to old ages with the social, physical and mental state of a much younger person,” said Jennifer Ailshire, associate professor of gerontology. “SuperAgers are the people who are redefining what old age looks like.”
Mosley cooks. He goes to jazz clubs. And he spends six to eight hours a day in his studio, maintaining a work ethic and positive outlook that show no signs of slowing.
“I celebrate life every day,” he said. “I am always eager to get here, and always eager to get to work.”
Researchers believe that learning from SuperAgers such as Mosley can provide some clues to help the rest of us live longer, healthier lives.
That is the goal of an ambitious new project at the USC Leonard Davis School that’s supported by funding from the M Center of Excellence. The formal name is the Lifetime Circumstances Predicting Exceptional Longevity Project. Informally, the research team says they are working to uncover the secrets of SuperAgers.
“This project is going to try to reveal the realities of super-aging,” said University Professor Eileen Crimmins, who is co-leading the project with Ailshire. “We aim to examine the social, psychological and health characteristics of SuperAgers and produce insights into what works for different people and how society should best plan for future longevity.”
The project builds on earlier research the pair published that looked at the lives of exceptionally long-lived Americans, a rare but growing subset of the U.S population that is expected to increase sixfold by 2050. One previous study looked at whether longer lives are healthier lives, and concluded that some centenarians and near-centenarians achieve exceptional longevity in relatively good health and without loss of functioning. Another study found that the oldest old are more satisfied with life, are better able to maintain social relationships with family and friends, and receive more social support than younger older adults.
Their previous and current research leverages nationally representative data sets collected over the past two to three decades. As more people have grown older, these data sets — including the Health and Retirement Study — have amassed a wealth of information on social, behavioral and psychological factors for people who have lived to be around 100 years old. The sets include data on specific life circumstances that include jobs, marriage, military service, traumas, family, community and support from friends.
“Our focus now is on identifying psychosocial factors, including levels of satisfaction, happiness and social relationships, that can help provide clues to better aging,” said Crimmins. “While others have looked at the genetic factors linked to very old survival, we believe that also incorporating the social factors will provide insights as to why many people survive longer than average and can provide a roadmap for best practices and policies that can benefit current and future generations.”
Crimmins argues that incorporating social and behavioral factors alongside biological mechanisms is critical for making meaningful advancements in aging research and for promoting healthy longevity.
In fact, a 2020 study by Crimmins found that when it comes to our health as we age, social factors may play a stronger role than biological ones. Even when controlling for biological measurements — including blood pressure, genetic risk factors, mitochondrial DNA copy number and more — social differences such as education, minority status, psychological states and health behaviors, along with demographic factors such as age and gender, explained most of the differences in aging outcomes between study subjects, she said.
For example, loneliness and isolation are associated with shorter lives and poorer health, while other evidence points to the brain-boosting benefits of playing an instrument or learning a second language. In addition, living with purpose, maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly and socializing with others have all been linked to longer, healthier lives.
These findings don’t surprise Los Angeles resident and SuperAger Frances Ito. At age 90, she gardens, hula dances, plays the ukulele and attends regular Bible study. She credits a mostly vegetarian diet, physical activity and social connections as being key factors in her longevity. She also believes a positive attitude is essential.
“I think it’s just [your] state of mind that really encourages you to be healthy,” she said. “I think if you are negative and self-talk about ‘Oh, I can’t do this’ or ‘Oh, I can’t do that,’ oh, boy — you’re in trouble.”
A main mission of the SuperAger project is to disseminate the findings to a wide audience. A recently launched website includes interactive charts showing where centenarians are living and short videos featuring Ito and other SuperAgers in their daily lives.
The project also aims to gather relevant data and conduct additional studies to show how quickly centenarian populations are growing in countries around the world; understand whether there are countries where the oldest old are faring better than in others; and explore whether these longest-lived adults are happy, depressed, lonely or satisfied with life.
While earlier research underscored the importance of examining variation in the growing centenarian population, it was limited due to small sample sizes and lack of reliable records.
“Because there were few sources of data on the oldest old, and even less research on the psychosocial characteristics of the longest-lived, our understanding of longevity and quality of life was limited,” said Ailshire. “The current research benefits from better record keeping of births and deaths beginning around a century ago.”
According to the researchers, it will now be easier to investigate disputes like the recent dust-up over whether the world’s longest-lived person, France’s Jean Calment — who died at the age of 122 — was actually her daughter in disguise (she was not). Another benefit of the current project is that it delves beyond data and gleans life lessons directly from SuperAgers like Mosley. His advice:
“Believe in what you can do, because no one knows what your capabilities are. It is up to you to see how far you can go.”
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