Several weeks back I wrote “Celebrity deaths remind us of dying.” Now I realize that celebrity aging inspires us too. It is encouraging that we are in the time of many centenarians.
Who doesn’t know Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the USA between 1977 and 1981? Carter will turn 100 on Oct. 1 and is already the oldest former U.S. president. His wife Rosalynn Carter died last year at the age of 96. How exciting that a couple almost reached double centuries together?
According to U.S. government statistics from 2023, about 0.05% of male and 0.09% of female people live to age 90 or above. As you can see, female longevity is almost double that of males, even in cases of centenarians.
Can you imagine 93 year old Rupert Murdoch – an Australian-American business magnate and investor? Still, he is going strong. He has been married four times — and is engaged again. Maybe a stronger manhood keeps him active and still running marathons.
Looks like I am talking about rich celebrities only! Last week it was in the news, Yoshiko Miwa, a Japanese-American living in California, just turned 110 years old. She has come through the Spanish flu, World War II, lost her parents, siblings, and friends and is still walking amongst great grandchildren.
I am sure most of us heard and still listen to the bold voice of David Attenborough, the English natural historian and TV producer. He will turn 97 years old this year.
How about Sophia Loren, an international film star from Italy, who turns 90 this year. She is still actively doing documentaries. In the U.S., we have many more celebrities such as Dick Van Dyke, Carol Burnett, Clint Eastwood, and Apollo moon astronaut Buzz Aldrin.
In India, there are a number of celebrities that are octogenarians, going strong who will make it toward their 90s.
Now I am going to talk about a familiar face on CNN. He is Sanjay Gupta. Dr. Gupta is an American neurosurgeon who turned to become CNN’s medical reporter and writer. However, he is only 54 years old. Why am I even mentioning his name while I am writing about mostly nonagenarians and centenarians?
This is about his parents: mother Damyanti Gupta, 91, and father, Subhash Gupta, 95. Dr. Gupta made a podcast by interviewing his parents and Professor Becca Levy about aging. Here is a glimpse from that podcast.
In reply to the question, “what comes to your mind about aging,” his mom said, “Well, the day you’re born, you start aging from that day.”
So, you are aging all the time, which is a very good thing. His dad said in another question, “People shouldn’t be fearful of aging, and retirement is the best time – the golden age.”
Professor Becca Levy is a professor of epidemiology and psychology at Yale University. She’s also the author of the book called “Breaking the Age Code: How Your Beliefs about Aging Determine How Long and Well You Live.” According to her opinion, “The positive age beliefs seem to have benefits to older individuals’ health, but unfortunately some of the negative age beliefs that we can also take in can harm different types of health outcomes.”
Regarding five words that describe an older person, she said, wisdom, creative, generative, stories and warmth. Whereas Sanjay Gupta said, content, happiness, wisdom, judgment, experience.
To me, humans belong to nature. The aging of humans is no different from other natural products such as plants, trees, and animals. There are 100 trillion cells that make up our body. All cells age as humans age. Their functionality slowly decreases, and they are less able to divide and multiply. The functionality of most of the organs, especially the heart, lungs and kidney slow down. The connective tissues also change and become more stiff and rigid. Most importantly, the muscle’s functionality starts declining.
Genetically, we are programmed to go through this aging process, so we should embrace it happily.
Jiben Roy, a native of Bangladesh, teaches chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences at Mississippi University for Women. He writes occasional column in the Dispatch. His email address is [email protected].
Jiben Roy, a native of Bangladesh, teaches chemistry and pharmaceutical sciences at Mississippi University for Women. His email address is [email protected].
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