Another take on aging well

By Elizabeth Bennett
Published March 27, 2007

How old would you think you were if you didn't know your actual age? That's the provocative question Dr. Sherwin Nuland poses in the first chapter of The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being, which explores the effects of aging on our minds and bodies.

"We could not act our age if we did not know our age," writes Nuland, a clinical professor of surgery at Yale University, where he also teaches bioethics and medical history. "We could not categorize ourselves. . . . We would be much more what we really are: individuals of infinite variation at any age."

Aging is such a gradual process that many of us, of course, aren't prepared for it. We hate the mental and physical changes that occur in later life and don't handle them well.

But in spite of all the problems and discomforts, most of us can improve our "old age" by maintaining our health, mental activity and important relationships, writes Nuland. He is the author of nine previous books, including the 1994 bestseller How We Die, which won critical acclaim and the National Book Award.

This new book, unfortunately, is not likely to win any awards. The language is sometimes ponderous, and the author often belabors the obvious. Nor will it appeal to many younger readers, who can never imagine themselves getting old.

But for those of us in our middle years, there's much here that's valuable and inspiring. Growing old has surprising blessings, reports Nuland, himself in his mid 70s. Or as he puts it: "An aging brain can become a more useful brain and often a wiser one."

One of his best examples is Dr. Michael DeBakey, the 98-year-old, multimillionaire heart surgeon. When Nuland went to Houston two years ago for an interview, DeBakey picked him up in a Porsche sports coupe.

The two spent several days together discussing longevity and productivity. Nuland makes some incisive observations about DeBakey's remarkable life, particularly his wide-ranging curiosity. And there's this interesting tidbit about DeBakey:

He eats very little, always finishing less than half the food on his plate.

Some of Nuland's best advice for the aging population concerns weight training, which he recommends for all men and women older than 50. He hired a fitness trainer several years ago and now works out in a gym three times a week.

This book includes some encouraging facts and figures about the benefits of weight training, which he says can prevent and even reverse frailty in the elderly.

But perhaps the author's most useful advice is that planning ahead is necessary if the senior years are going to be productive and rewarding.

"Old age must be based on a foundation built during earlier decades," Nuland concludes. "We must study how to be old. . . . In its own way, aging is an art form - in itself a type of creativity."

Elizabeth Bennett is a freelance writer in Houston.

. the book

The Art of Aging: A Doctor's Prescription for Well-Being

By Sherwin B. Nuland

Random House, 302 pages, $24.95

[Last modified March 27, 2007, 07:11:57]