Optimal Aging - and my Dad.
“Optimal Aging is the capacity to function across many domains - physical, functional, cognitive, emotional, social and spiritual - to one’s satisfaction and IN SPITE of one’s medical conditions.”
While there are a few different interpretations of healthy aging out there, I find the definition of Optimal Aging to align best with my own interpretation. Two little words - in spite - make all the difference in separating this concept of healthy aging from the rest. My whole professional career involves helping people live their lives to the fullest, IN SPITE of whatever medical conditions they may be experiencing.
My dad, William Levine, is an incredible example of Optimal Aging. This guy worked incredibly hard as a lawyer throughout my entire childhood to support our family, put my sister and I through college, and myself through graduate school, and as you can imagine, his health often came last. However, with an empty nest and more time on his hands after he left his busy divorce practice to start a private mediation practice, he started working out more. He lost weight, started spinning, and doing strength training regularly. He got more fit and as a result, more healthy.
However, fast forward a few years and I got a phone call that he was in an ICU in California, having had a stroke, on an airplane, on December 18th, 2018. He told me later he was in the bathroom, noticed half his vision was gone, and by the time he got back to his seat, was slumped over on my step mom, hemiplegic and unable to communicate.
He spent less than a week at that hospital, and thank god, was discharged with a near full recovery of strength and function. He was, however, eventually diagnosed with a Patent Foramen Ovale (PFO), which was likely the cause of the emboli that travelled into his brain and caused the stroke. He was put on a statin and blood thinners, until he was able to have heart surgery, in 2019, to patch the hole. If you’re from New England and this sounds like a familiar story, you may be thinking back to Tedy Bruschi, who experienced the same type of stroke, at the age of 31, back in 2005.
But back to Optimal Aging. Despite this setback, my dad got back to his workout routine as quick as he could. Currently, he rides 60-80 miles a week on his bike, does regular strengthening exercises - and now that he is finally retired, fills his days working for Habitat for Humanity building houses. Like legit, actually building the houses. The pics above were snapped this weekend, during a 22 mile bike ride we went on together as we trained for the upcoming Best Buddy Challenge. Though most of the day I spent looking at his back as I worked to keep up with him, he was kind enough to slow his pace to let his thirty-something year old daughter keep up.
If you’re interested in donating to our upcoming ride, click here:
Best Buddy Challenge Donation Page
If you’re interested in aging Optimally, put your fitness first. Find a way to make regular physical activity not only part of your routine, but a daily priority. Don’t let your medical conditions, fears of movement, pain or disability prevent you from living the best life you can.
