Old people are frail, evidently…

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It’s 6am and I’m about to go out on my walk and I did a quick check of the papers.

A story caught my eye.

It was about how much sleep we need, broken down into age categories.

I’m 61 yrs old – evidently I need between 7-9 hrs sleep a night.

If I got between 7-9 hrs sleep a night I’d be doing jigs down the street.

I get between 5-6 hours a night. Last night it was 5 ½ hrs sleep. And now I’m about to walk 14 kms.

Here’s the thing though that got my goat – take a look at the graphic below, the picture that accompanied the news story. Take a look at the pictures at the bottom of the graphic, and how people 65+ are pictured.

They’re pictured with a walking stick!

Is that the common representation of people over the age of 65? That they’re so old and frail they need a walking stick?

Why not give them TWO sticks and show them climbing up the Pyrenees!

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9 thoughts on “Old people are frail, evidently…”

  1. Bill, You ARE so funny. I was over 65 and did use two walking sticks to go over the Pyrenees. I did feel like they should have called them the PyreKNEES though. I am getting to feel like the old person with the stick but I think keeping active and exercise and eating and sleeping right will help get me back to feeling not so old. I think today will be the start of proper everything.
    Love you and Jen
    Lynda

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    • Hi Lynda, had my head down in the book again today and hence my late reply – but I thought it was so funny that they’d put an over 65 with a walking stick. When we’ve seen people walking al the way across Spain in their 70s and 80s!

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  2. Hey,
    I just noticed the light blue section under the “older adult”!! Hooly Dooly! You are already in the “may be appropriate” section for those over 65! No comment!
    Lynda

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  3. As the oldest in the crowd, 72, I must say that I don’t feel good if I don’t get 8 hours sleep. I like that. But, I must also say I am a long way from needing a walking stick. Tomorrow I will be doing 225 pound barbell squats and 630 pound leg presses as part of my two times a week leg workout. Never too old, never too late.

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      • Thanks Bill, but that is the way I see the distances you walk. And, to be sure, when I am out for a serious walk, which I only do in Europe, I guess, I have two walking sticks and I use them. But that graft you posted implied that at 65 one would be using a cane. Not hardly. But then again, I guess quite a few people are.

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  4. At 65 I definitely need TWO sticks, just to get me safely navigating the 3 hour coastal bush (ie, hilly and lots of rocky patches to negotiate) walk that I did with a bunch of other apparently geriatric women yesterday. Luckily I couldn’t give a toss what young, graph-making ‘kids’ think of me or my capabilities, with or without one or more sticks 🙂

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