Aging Well

Hello, and welcome to the Ask Dr. V show, where you can be informed and empowered about healthcare issues that are important to you. Today we are going to define how to age well and specifically redefining aging. Getting older really is a privilege, but we do have to be intentional, informed, and very proactive to take care of ourselves and also those around us that are aging with us. It is said that all of us have to face getting older, no matter our backgrounds or beliefs or status. Time marches on. And with that comes changes to our body and our minds and our relationships and even our roles in the world. Here's a powerful idea or concept. Aging is not a problem to be solved, it is a process to be lived through. It is a journey. Too often society paints aging as a slow decline or like a steady march towards loss. We try to fight off wrinkles or hide gray hair or chase youth. I am not talking about that today. So I am not talking about any strategies related to that, obviously, unless I get questions about them. But what I'm actually really talking about is something very different. You know, aging is not the enemy. It's one of the most profoundly rich, meaningful, and beautiful experiences in life. Often some people see it as a slow surrender or a gradual loss, but the truth is age does not really have to mean decline. What age really means is change. Just like you were born as a baby, you learned to walk, then you went to elementary school, you went to college, and it's a gradual sort of development of this journey of this thing called life. What's really interesting is that if you talk to a lot of older people and you ask them, would you want to go back and be 20 years old or 15 years old? Many of them say no. And the reason why they say no is they have gotten more confidence as they've aged, they've realized their purpose in life, they begin to feel very fulfilled, and they say, No way, I would I I I like where I am. So, so what we're talking about today is how do you make the right choices and support yourself and your mindset so you can age with strength, clarity, energy, and purpose. So aging is inevitable, but how you age is really, really up to you. So today we're going to talk about what it means to age well, not just from the physical side, but also from an emotional, social, and also your spiritual journey. And more importantly, how can you embrace the process with grace, joy, and purpose? And you can also email me questions, and it is info at asdrv.us. That's info atask drv.us. So I wanted to give an example of aging well from my family. I had an uncle and his name was uh Hurley and my uncle Hurley. Uh my family, as many of you may know, I'm my family's from Mississippi. And my uncle Hurley lived until he was 107 years old. Now, a lot of people think, I don't know if I want to live until I was 107 years old. But let me tell you something. Uncle Hurley enjoyed every minute of it. So, a couple of things. One is that um he walked all his life. He never ever became bedridden, other than when he, you know, finally passed and went into the hospital. He was a j very joyful person. He saw things in his life that he never thought he would see at 107 years old, like uh Obama, a black president being elected. He was a lot of fun, very much, you know, cognitively aware and could talk to you and read the paper and talk about various things. So I want to talk about some of the things that I thought were important in with Hurley and how he sort of did this. And I don't I don't know if Hurley was necessarily intentional about this, but some of it was part of his personality. So, first of all, he was a very positive person. Very positive, great sense of humor. I think a positive outlook and a sense of humor really, really makes a difference. The other thing is that um Hurley walked a lot. Now, he would walk 30, 45 minutes a day, maybe an hour a day, because he'd walk to the store, walk here, walk there. So he was very much a walker. You know, he wasn't necessarily particularly muscular or he didn't go to the gym or anything like that. But he was just someone who uh walked a lot. He did not smoke. He had never been a uh a smoker. I I don't really know him to drink. Maybe he was somebody who, maybe he went out occasionally and drank, but he wasn't really a big uh drinker. The other interesting thing about Hurley, at 107, he never got married. Now, I don't know if that has anything to do with longevity, but I'm just telling you, he never got married. He had lots of children. He had his last child at 72. I'm not recommending that either, but I'm just telling you what was going on with Uncle Hurley. And the interesting thing was I can't tell you that he particularly ate healthy. So I think that sometimes the not smoking and the walking sort of made up for everything. Hurley was uh very healthy. He was a veteran from the uh Korean War. He had a uh he had a pacemaker and he was on one pill. And probably one of his biggest challenges was that he suffered a lot of hearing loss. So uh he had a hearing aid. But he actually really enjoyed, he even made having a hearing aid uh a very positive experience for himself because he said that when he didn't want to listen to something, he would just take his hearing aid out. So, so I'm I I sort of give that as an example, but again, he wasn't someone who, you know, he would eat, you know, fried chicken, fried fish, you know, his wonder bread and all of this other stuff. So he wasn't necessarily someone who was very uh aware or attuned to his diet. He just sort of ate whatever he wanted to eat. But I think that I and I I bring up uh the example of my Uncle Hurley because he gives a very good, it's a very good example of someone who basically used exercise and just lifestyle things to live a very healthy life. Uh at 107, he walked into the hospital. Uh so he and he actually he actually died of the flu. And so um, and that occurred uh right before COVID. So to give you guys some example of sort of what I'm talking about, time frame-wise, so I should I give that and I share that as an example in in my family. It doesn't have to look that, you know, if you get 100 or above a hundred years old, it doesn't have to look look like you're debilitated or crawled up in a bed or anything like that. There are some things, obviously, we don't have control over everything, but we do have control over a lot of things. And that's what I want to talk about today. All right. So now it's time for some uh questions and uh questions and answers. Again, if you want to be part of this uh show, you can reach out and call at 1-800-450-7876, 1-800-450-7876, or you can email me. I've got a couple of emails uh that uh people did send me this week when they knew that this was gonna be my topic. So I have a question here from Vonnie. Uh and Vonnie, she wants to know people love to say black don't crack, but it does other things like droop and spread. And quite frankly, I see a lot of black people who get fillers because of wrinkles. Um, can you give us a 411 on what happens to the skin and overall body as we age and if there are solutions that we could be overlooking? All right, so so this is this is really interesting. I I got several questions on fillers. Um, and again, the the fillers are FDA approved, but there are natural ways to do to do some of some of this rather than injecting uh things into your body. But you know, obviously everyone is uh everyone has their own uh choices to make around this. So so let me just a couple of things. So most fillers are hyaluronic acid, um, and uh these injections usually last about six to twelve months. Uh NIH recently studied uh the hyaluronic acids, and there are there is a new hyaluronic acid that is hyaluronic acid polynucleotide, so P like in Paul, N like in Nancy, um, and they found that um that particular filler um has less side effects um and also leads to some tissue regeneration. So the tissue does begin to sort of build back as a result as a result of this uh hyaluronic acid PN. Um so as a result, um the the the results of the injection or the fillers um can last uh two two to three years as opposed to uh six to ten months. Now, why does this happen to begin with? Why does the face begin to sag to begin with? So one thing is that collagen is the thing that actually makes your face plump and firm. Um collagen is also uh very important in joint health, um, and is also very important in the vessels in your heart and the vessels that go to your brain. So collagen is is really sort of like a fibrous protein network that provides structure and support to various body tissues. So what happens basically as you get older is that you stop producing as much collagen. So what happens then is um things begin to sag, things begin to uh uh droop. Um now there are some things that happen that actually make this occur faster. So sun exposure without um without sunscreen makes this occur faster. Um exposure to environmental pollution uh makes collagen production to go down even faster. Uh smoking cigarettes, alcohol, sugar, and processed foods. All of these things actually make your collagen production go down faster. So you want to avoid those things. I know a lot of a lot of people, uh a lot, especially um in our community, they think that because we're African American and we have less likelihood of getting skin cancer, that we shouldn't use sunscreen. I tell people, even if you're African American, you need to use sunscreen. And it really does make, it really does make a difference. Um, the smoking, alcohol, sugar, and processed foods, those also make a difference. So now collagen is also naturally occurring in a lot of different things and foods that we eat. Specifically, uh, collagen is naturally occurring in salmon, uh, tuna, sardines, liver, uh, bone broth, uh, kale, collard greens. I just made a big pot of kale and collagens last night. Uh flax seeds, chia seeds, walnuts, um, mangoes, pineapple, oranges, grapefruit juice. Um, these are the things that actually have collagen. So if you want to take them in naturally, these are the sorts of foods that you would actually uh focus on. So the good news is really that these changes are not your actual destiny. You can actually slow this down and you can actually even uh reverse it. You don't necessarily need to go to injections or fillers. Um, all right. Hey Dr. V, I'm 56 and for years I've been told that cardio is the way to go for weight loss and better health. But recently it's come out that weightlifting is most effective at at my age. Do you have any insight in this? So this is this is also uh a great question. Um, and so a couple of things. As you age, you actually begin to lose muscle mass. So weightlifting is really important for uh the development of the maintenance and the development of muscle mass. And when we say weight, when I say weightlifting, um maybe a better terminology would be weight bearing, weight lifting. Um, it's not necessarily how much weight you lift. Um, people can actually get the same impact or even a better impact from lifting small amounts of weights and doing a lot of repetition, right? And what that does is um it begins to build up muscle in your body. Now, what's important is that how much muscle mash you have actually is what is what actually uh uh what actually defines your metabolism. So if you have a low muscle mass, your metabolism is gonna be slow, and if you have a high muscle mass, your metabolism is gonna be high. So as we age, what happens is we lose muscle, and then our metabolism actually slows down. So you can easily reverse that by actually uh gaining muscle mass. I think what's important about this is some people are um attempting to lose weight, and some people are using the GLP1s, uh, whether or not it's the Ozempic or Manjaro or the Rebelsis, which is the pill. Um it's really, really important that if you're using these medications, and they're always usually prescribed by a physician, you want to make sure to have a scale where you're able to measure your muscle mass because you can lose weight and you can lose more muscle than you lose in fat. And ideally, what you want to do is you want to lose fat. You don't want to lose muscle. Um, what I've seen of people that are on these GLP1 agonists, the umzempic, manjaros, and and rebelses, is that they begin to lose weight kind of fast and they begin to lose muscle. The way to actually turn that around, if you're on those medications, is to really go to a high protein diet so your body actually rebuilds that muscle and do a little bit of just a little bit of weight lifting. Alrighty. I hope that uh I hope that helps and um answers uh your question. Um I've got another uh question about uh from Clara. Um Clara says, um um what amount of exercise is an appropriate amount of exercise to slow down aging? So you know this actually brings me back to my story about Uncle Hurley. Um they've actually found that really just 15 to 20 minutes a day, and it could be 15 to 20 minutes of brisk walking a day, it works out to about 150 minutes of moderate activity a week, is really enough to actually improve balance, um, to strengthen your bones and muscles. It also improves your mood, um, it it helps with your um your cardiovascular healthiness, um, and it also sharpens your memory. So a lot of people, you know, think that they have to, oh, I need to train for a marathon, or I want to do a triathlon, or you know, I want to do um go to the gym for an hour. That is really not necessary. Um if you just do, you know, 15 to 20 minutes a day, that really, really makes uh that really makes a difference. All right, we've got another question from uh Deacon. And uh he's asking, uh, what role does sleep play as we age? It seems harder and harder to get eight hours of peaceful sleep, particularly uh with the nightly bathroom breaks. Is this all normal? So this is this is really this is part of part of aging. People often talk about having to get up and go to the bathroom at night. So so if you are newly having to get up and go to the bathroom at night, you really want to go get checked by your physician. It could be a urinary tract infection, your blood sugar could be high. Um, I know sometimes um women even have fibroids that are actually leaning on their bladder. You really want to get it checked and you want to make sure that there's nothing abnormal. I don't think that people should assume that getting up and going to the bathroom at night is necessarily a normal part of aging. So, first is go to your doctor, get it checked out, make sure there's really no medical reason why why you are getting up at night and um going uh to the restroom. Sleep is really is probably one of the most important things because it actually regulates your metabolism. It's time for your body to repair tissues, you sort of consolidate memory, um, you improve your mood during your time, your sleep. You'll find that when folks are struggling with um particularly with mental illness, one of the things is they have severe sleep disruption, right? And part of their therapy to actually get their mental fitness back is to actually get seven to nine hours of sleep. So there's a couple of things that you can actually do that will actually make a difference. Um, one is you want to try to cut caffeine out early in the day, whether or not it's dark sodas, coffee, or tea, you want to try to cut it off sometime between around lunchtime. So around noon, one o'clock. If possible, eliminate it from your diet completely. The other thing that is important is that you actually have sort of a bedtime routine. Um, you want to sort of have a routine where you wind down, you want to actually turn off uh TVs. I see people who have TVs in their bedroom, and I'm like, oh, that's the worst thing to have a TV in your bedroom. Turn off TVs, leave the phone in another room because you don't want to be getting up in the middle of the night and turning over and then pulling out your phone. That screen, that that's that screen is really disruptive to your uh circadian rhythm and your sleep cycle. Um, you also want to actually use um any, like some people use weighted blankets. They make sure that they have uh a cooling pillow or anything that would actually uh uh make a difference if they're getting hot at night. Um so all of these things, so you have to try a lot of different things and see what actually see what actually works for you to actually get uh better sleep at night. But it's really important to get seven to nine hours of sleep, and it's also really important don't assume that going to the bathroom at night is normal. We are talking about aging and how to age well and what sort of things actually make a difference. Um we're going through a little QA, so if you want to join the conversation, if you have some questions, uh whether or not it's on this topic or something else, you can also email me at info at asdrv.us. That's info at asdrv.us. All right, I've got a couple of questions here that were uh sent in to me. Um and um Richard is saying, he's he's saying he's had gut issues since he was young. Um and he recently learned about the gut brain connection and with Alzheimer's in his family, he wanted to know whether or not he should be concerned about how his gut may be impacting the functioning of his brain. So this is really important. So if you all um have not heard about this, um this connection is called uh the gut brain axis. Um and basically your brain and your gut are connected through a physical pathway uh like the vagus nerves and chemical chemical pathways used for neurotransmitters and hormones. And what happens is your brain can influence the function of your gut, and your gut can influence the function of your brain. So that's why we say it's a two-way pathway. Now, this is really, really important, particularly if you have been placed on antibiotics. Uh, antibiotics will um decrease the mixture of your gut flora, and that's why we often tell people during and after the use of antibiotics to take probiotics to sort of rebuild that up. This is a really, really important um axis, and it really makes a difference in your likelihood of getting Alzheimer's and also when you will get Alzheimer's. One of the other issues that we have found is that metabolic syndrome is very much associated with early Alzheimer's. We're seeing some people now get Alzheimer's in their 50s. Um, and let me go over what metabolic syndrome is, because it's kind of a it's a syndrome, so that means it has multiple things associated with it, right? So you have to have three of these things to be defined as having metabolic syndrome. If you are a man with a waist of greater than 40 inches, a woman greater than 35 inches, if you have elevated triglycerides over 150, or you're taking medication for triglycerides, um, we all know that there's a good cholesterol and a bad cholesterol. The good cholesterol you want to have a high amount. So if you have a low amount of the good cholesterol, less than 40 in men, less than 50 in women, hypertension or diabetes. Three of those things then actually define you as having metabolic syndrome. So metabolic syndrome is when you are resistant to insulin. It is very difficult to lose weight, right? This is one of the things that the GLP1s, the Ozempic and Manjaro and Robelsis kind of breaks up the syndrome. So people with metabolic syndrome are 25% more likely to get early Alzheimer's in their late 40s or 50s. So if you have if any three of those things, you have metabolic syndrome. So you could go to your doctor and say, Do I have metabolic syndrome? And they will test you for your cholesterol, your triglycerides. For some people, they're overweight, they have high blood pressure, and they have diabetes, and they've got metabolic syndrome right there, right? And so they don't necessarily, they may or may not have high triglycerides, but they've already met the criteria of three. So it's very important to actually interrupt that cycle of metabolic syndrome. And for that, that actually makes a very big difference in the onset of Alzheimer's. So the other thing that's happening with Alzheimer's is that, you know, we used to not have any treatment for Alzheimer's, and we used to not have any way to really detect Alzheimer's. Alzheimer's is something that also runs in in my family. So I've really been following the literature closely on this. Here are some things that you can do around early detection. Um one is there's a very there's various cognitive assessment tools, uh like a mini mental status exam and a Montreal cognitive assessment exam. So if you're wondering about, you know, your memory and are you having early early Alzheimer's, you can ask your primary care doctor to either do one of these exams or refer you to a neurologist. There are blood tests now that are coming out where they're detecting uh amyloid proteins, and amyloid proteins are the things that collect in your brain and form those tangles that lead to the problems with uh memory. So now that can actually be detected in your blood. There's also you we're seeing early Alzheimer's by MRI and PET scans. So some people are actually getting these tests to determine if they have Alzheimer's. So cognitive aging happens, but cognitive decline is really not inevitable. The other thing you want to make sure is you want to make sure you're challenging your brain, reading, doing puzzles. One of the most what I found very interesting, one of the best things you can do to slow down Alzheimer's is to play an instrument or learn a new language. I actually started, I was like, well, let me see if I can learn Spanish. So I actually uh started learning a little Spanish. So I figured since it runs into, runs in my family. Also, social interactions make a really uh big difference. So people who stay mentally engaged are able to decrease their risk by almost 30%. You know, if you can avoid or interrupt metabolic syndrome, and then if you can stay mentally engaged, you can make a really, really big difference around uh Alzheimer's. So thanks, Richard, for that question. I've got a question here from Veronica. And there may be a lot of people in this particular situation. So uh she says, Dr. V, I know stress is not good for us, especially as we get older, but between uh recently being laid off from my government job and menopause, I'm a mess. Uh my insurance is about to run out, and I need some cost-effective solutions. And we have a lot of folks that have been unfortunately impacted uh by the layoffs in the government, and it really does cause a disruption to a lot of different things. Retirements, health insurance, et cetera. A couple of different things I want to go over. One is if your health insurance is about to run out, make sure you go in before it runs out and get everything that you need as far as uh any sort of preventative care. You know, your mammograms, your colonsky, get that stuff booked and get that stuff done before your health insurance runs out. I see this a lot of times in the emergency department where people are coming in trying to get help on how to get things done, or they come into the emergency department once their health their new health insurance begins. Uh now, I I think that um when you're talking about stress, usually when people are talking about stress, and particularly, you know, the stress of losing your job can be one one of the biggest stressors that you uh ever have in life. They actually talk about the three major stressors that make a difference in people's life. It's losing your job, a divorce, and losing a child, uh a child or a spouse. And so there's a couple of things is that worrying, you're using a lot of time and energy without actually moving forward with a plan. So I always remind people that when you're worrying, you're not actually really solving the problem. So one of the things that is really important is to actually sit down and write what you're worried about. And then when you write down all the things that you're worried about, you actually write down what are all the things that I'm doing to make sure that I have a positive outcome related to this thing that I'm worrying about. So if you're worrying about the loss of your job, the loss of income, the loss of insurance, what are you actually doing? Or, you know, I sent five resumes out. Um, I have a job interview next week. So sometimes you have to focus more on what you're doing than what you've actually lost. The other thing that is important is to actually really have whether or not it's a meditation or exercising or a gratitude journal or something that works for you to actually keep you in a more positive space. People can really get in a negative spiral when they, you know, look around, they lose their, I'm losing my job, I'm losing this, I don't like this. You know, you start looking at all the things that you don't like in your life without appreciating some of the things that are there that you that are important. The other thing is important is to really challenge your thinking. People get into a real mental spiral. They think of things as either all or nothing, or they jump to conclusions, or they start labeling things, or they start uh catastrophes. Basically, everything is gonna be a catastrophe. This is gonna happen, and then this is gonna happen, and they they sort of begin to anticipate negative outcomes from almost everything they do. So, what you really want to do instead is really actually look at the positives and look at what you're actually doing positive in your life. And, you know, maybe you sent out 10 resumes and you found, you know, five more jobs that you could actually uh start. Maybe you need to start a job that you don't particularly like, but just start something so that you get some income coming in. You know, I I I think uh I think it's really important to kind of also set boundaries on worrying. You know, it's in I tell people sometimes you might want to actually say, you know what, I'm gonna worry for one hour and then I'm this gonna be over. Like I need to put it down, right? Um, I'm only gonna worry on Saturday, uh, right? And Saturday I'm only gonna worry for one hour and kind of create a time for you to actually, whether or not you're sad or worrying or anxious, and try to create a time. And sometimes you have to actually put yourself on a timer so that it rings and you get out of that state. But you want to really look at all of the things that you can do around that. And listen, if you still have your insurance for a couple of months or so, you may want to actually use it and actually speak to a counselor, uh, speak to a mental health provider so they can help get you grounded and create um some solutions for yourself. It's a really difficult time out here. I know there's a lot of folks in the government that never thought that they would lose their job, and the work that they did was so important, and we are really as a country uh gonna be worse off as a result of some of these, some of these positions uh not being filled. And so our prayer here is with you, and um but you gotta really keep yourself in a positive and a positive momentum, and you've got to keep a positive spirit. I gave the story about Hurley because Hurley was such a positive person, and so sometimes you gotta fake it till you can make it and keep on going. So thank you for that question. All right, Dr. V, you did a really good show not so long ago on loneliness. I was wondering if you could go back over the impacts of loneliness on your health. Great question. And you know, I'm glad this question came after the person who was laid off because sometimes when you're laid off from work, you become lonely because all of your friends were at work. So sometimes you also have to create uh a new friend and a new social structure. So loneliness can really increase the risk of heart disease, dementia, uh, and depression. Um, it is actually equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. I want to repeat that. Being lonely is equivalent to smoking 15 cigarettes a day. It increases the risk of premature death, which means you will die early by 30%. And usually what people die early of is heart disease, high blood pressure. It weakens the immune system so that you're more likely to get infections. Um, and then there's also things like uh cognitive decline, dementia, depression, anxiety, etc. So it's really part of healthy aging requires being in relationships. And I'm not talking about romantic relationships, I'm talking about friends, I'm talking about family, I'm talking about um uh who you call and talk to, about what's going on in your life. So it's really important to stay connected to family, uh, friends, faith groups, uh, work groups, whatever. It maybe even it's just people that you exercise with or play pickleball with or play tennis with. So um, you know, if you don't have that and you need to create it, it's very easy to give and receive love. All you have to do is start volunteering, get out in the community, and try to find a purpose to serve others. It'll actually really boost your spirit. You'll be surprised at what a difference it will make in your life. So loneliness is really, really important for us to uh combat. Uh, thanks for that question. All right, I have a question here from Trina. This one may step on some toes, but that's we've got to go there. Uh, she says, I'm 60 and I've been vegan for 20 years. I'm very healthy and I'm in good shape. But my doctors say I need to be careful about osteoporosis. So that is very true. So a lot of folks don't realize that if they're vegetarian or vegan, I know there's a lot of conversation about a plant-based diet. One of the things about a plant-based diet is it can be low in calcium, vitamin D, vitamin B12, proteins, and N3 fatty acids. And these are all things that you need for healthy bones. So when you talk about aging well, I tell people all the time, you've got to keep moving and you don't want to fall. I'm gonna repeat that. You wanna keep moving and you don't want to fall. And so being vegetarian or vegan actually is associated with um having an increased likelihood of having osteoporosis and thinning bones. There's been studies done in the US, uh, there's studies done in China, there's studies done done in Iran, and they all really uh um talk about the same thing. So, a couple of things that I recommend if you are uh vegetarian or vegan. Um, one is I think it would be really important for you to talk to your physician or or or a nutritionist about how to actually get those things back into your diet. How can you get calcium and vitamin D, vitamin B12? How can you get the proteins and the N3 fatty acids? That is really, really important. So you want to you want to make sure that you have that conversation and you adjust your diet so that you're actually getting those things, or if you feel like the source of those things are non-plant based, um, and you still want to make sure you get you still want to make sure then that you get that supplementation either through uh vitamin supplementation or whatever is recommended from your physician and nutritionist. The other thing that is important is to actually get a bone scan. So you part of preventive medicine is to actually get a bone scan, and people usually get it right around the the age of this uh uh person Trina that's calling in, right around 55 or 60. Most primary care doctors recommend. So so weakened or thin bones is something again that you want to catch early. So you may have a different strategy if you are vegan or vegetarian and you realize that you're already getting thin bones, um, then you've got to actually go into sort of a rebuilding mode. I also tell people that one of the best diets to have is pesca vegetarian. So it's a plant-based diet where you also have fish because fish often has all of these nutrients that you actually need. But for those that really want to stick with their vegetarian or vegan diet, you really want to make sure that you figure out some way to get those supplements back into your life. Dr. V, I swear at 63, walking up and downstairs has never been harder. It seems like everybody over 65 has arthritis. Is this preventable? So, so so great question. So, one is, you know, just because your bones ache or your joints ache doesn't mean you have arthritis. So I always tell people don't jump to the conclusion that you have arthritis. Also, you may not have osteoarthritis, which is arthritis associated with aging. You could have another form of arthritis like rheumatoid arthritis or chogrin's arthritis that actually requires medication. So if you feel like you're having joint problems, you really want to go to your primary care doctor and actually get it evaluated and get clear on what is causing the actual joint problem. I know for myself I was having some joint pain, um, and I realized it was kind of more the muscles around my joint that were weak that I needed to sort of uh strengthen. And when they actually put the ultrasound machine on the joint itself, there was zero arthritis. So I assumed that because I had pain, it was arthritis, and then when they put the ultrasound machine on, it wasn't arthritis. So one is don't assume that it's arthritis. Go to your primary care doctor and uh have sometimes they'll send you to a physical medicine and rehab doctor, sometimes they'll do some testing. You may need to go to a rheumatology doctor that actually deals with inflammation and immune diseases that impact your joints and figure out what it is. Don't assume that that everybody has the same thing and that is our arthritis. Uh, in general, though, uh, people, it is important. Uh, again, when we talked about uh weight lifting, it it is important to actually build up muscle mass around your joints. Um, and a lot of people, as they get older, take collagen and MSN, and again, all those things that I was talking about that's not in a vegan diet, the calcium, the vitamin D, the B12, all in very, very important. Next question. Is there such a thing as people over 50 having 2020 vision, or will everyone eventually need glasses? Oh my gosh, this one's hitting close to home. Um, you know, what's interesting about this is for myself, you know, I used to have 2010 vision. I would read lines when I went to the eye doctor that he'd be like, I didn't even know those lines were up there. Nobody's ever read those lines before. So I was one of these people that had really, really super duper vision. And now I'm in glasses. So I I uh I get this question. So one is that again, when you're having problems with your vision, you want to go to an eye doctor, go get your eyes checked. You don't want to assume that it's normal aging. There's a lot of things that can cause problems uh with your eyes that are not a part of just normal aging. Now, and I'll talk about that in a second, but first let's talk about what is a part of normal aging. So, what is a part of normal aging is prisbiopia, and it starts when you're about 40 years old. And basically what it is is the lens in your eye begins to stiffen and it gets a little bit harder. And because it stiffens and gets harder and a little thicker, then what it's hard to read objects that are close to you. So you can still see very far away. That seems to be fine. But if you're looking, let's say, for instance, at a menu, um, it looks a little unclear, right? So that's a part of normal aging, and that is what people often get reading glasses for. However, there are other things that can cause vision problems as you get older. Um, and specifically things like cataracts, glaucoma, diabetic neuropathy, all of these things. And so the normal part of aging is the prisbiopia, which is the stiffening of the lens, and that leads to people having to actually having to actually use uh reading glasses. The next question is Greg says, um, admittedly, I am a little cynical, but is it me or does it seem like people seem to catch religion after they've had their fun and after they reach a certain age? Oh, oh. But but you know, faith and spirituality are really important not only uh not only for older adults, but also those who are dealing with challenges. You know, we talked earlier about the government layoffs. Um, these are real challenges where spirituality can really make a difference. And so we we we find that, you know, whatever your religion is, spirituality or in going to church and having a faith-based routine really reduces loneliness and depression. Um, it helps people cope with difficulties, uh, it improves their mental health, it kind of gives them uh a renewed hope. Um they can find meaning in adversity and really look for what could be the positive uh out of things. Um, it also helps with creating a community. Um and so um it offers a very supportive social network and gives people a uh sense of belonging. Um so we we found that religion and spirituality really help slow cognitive decline. And so, you know, I think it's I think it's really important. Uh I I I don't I don't necessarily want to um relate it to people's uh sinning earlier in life. So, all right, we got a question from Tavia. Oh, I love this question. What actually happens to the body and brain when somebody dies of old age? Okay, I want to end this. No one dies of old age. I want to repeat this. No one dies of old age. Okay, old age is not a disease, it is not a diagnosis, right? So, what happens is you've got over time, you know, your DNA breaks down, you might have a little cell damage, you might have a weakened immune system, you become more frail. It's difficult to really maintain your homeostasis or kind of like your balancing there. And so what happens is a minor illness or a minor fall or a minor infection can be fatal. And that's why I gave you the example earlier of Hurley, my uncle, uh, who then caught the flu and passed as a result of the flu. But no one actually dies of old age. All right, I want to thank you. That's my last question for today. I love answering your questions and empowering you and your family with health information that can improve your overall health. Be sure to send your keep sending your questions in. You can email me at info at asdrv.us. That's info at ask drv.us.