‘Ageism’ as a public health issue

By Pat Stuart
Posted 12/8/22

Have you noticed that, more and more, community gatherings, meetings, museum events, art shows, and an array of other functions are dominated by gray-haired participants?  

If you have, …

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‘Ageism’ as a public health issue

Posted

Have you noticed that, more and more, community gatherings, meetings, museum events, art shows, and an array of other functions are dominated by gray-haired participants?  

If you have, it’s not your imagination at work.  Park County has experienced a shift in demographics toward the over-60 end of the age spectrum, and the trend is continuing.  Many of the folks involved are newcomers.  Many come with excellent health insurance and disposable income.  

That said, an aging population is a net drain on our county resources, and it’s not helped by something called “ageism,” a term referring to stereotypes, prejudice, and discrimination based on age.

Ageism is a social reality, one leading to a list of negative outcomes that are pretty obvious — i.e. difficulty getting jobs, exclusion, marginalization — and one that came as a surprise to me — internalized ageism.

“What’s that?” you may be  asking even if you get the general idea.  I did.

Google told me that internalized ageism happens when people accept negative ageist beliefs and apply them to themselves.

Meaning what?  Basically, the way it works is this.  As people age and are the victims of ageism, they either already or soon come to believe it’s true.  That belief then leads, too often, to accelerated deterioration, premature adverse health outcomes, and even death.   Those outcomes, in turn, reinforce the negative stereotypes which, inevitably, create the same outcomes.

So, here, I’m thinking, is a prime example of the proverbial snake’s head circling around to bite its own tail.  

The negative results of agism and internalized ageism, I’ve been learning, have become so dire and common that public health experts term the phenomenon a “geriatric giant” and a major public health problem.

What are the actual health issues?  It’s a long list containing words like dementia, osteoporosis, depression, frailty, and even elder abuse.  All of them send their victims to the doctor’s office or the emergency room or the hospital, then on to home care or institutions.  At every step, even with those able to pay their own way, there’s a cost to society.

What’s really crazy is that many of the conditions that create this geriatric giant are an avoidable part of old age.  Yes, I said, “avoidable.”  Most of them, as a fact, are only loosely associated with age, being dependent on many other factors — including discriminatory attitudes and practices.

Which takes us back to internalized ageism.  This whole crazy cycle is so unnecessary, too often attacking people who otherwise might have decades more of productive lives.  

The key word, of course, is avoidable.  So much misery can be side-stepped by a positive attitude, exercise, balanced diet, wellness exams, and an active social life.  Yet, no one over 60 can altogether avoid the negative psychological impact of ageism because it’s all around us.

Here’s the bottom line, people who live their older years in good health and supportive environment make net positive contributions to society.  Those whose added years push them into a physical and mental ‘ring around the rosie’ decline are a drain on society.  

With the entire world aging and Park County aging faster than most, aging and particularly finding ways of avoiding premature aging, is definitely a civic problem for us and food for thought and discussion.

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