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As Young as You Feel?
Fighting a desperate battle with middle age, Baby Boomers go to ever greater lengths to look good
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Business New Haven
9/30/2002
By: Melissa Nicefaro
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It wasn t an Emmy that Everybody Loves Raymond star Doris Roberts was fighting for earlier this month, although winning Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Comedy was an added coup. Roberts, 71, took her act to a hearing of the U.S. Senate Special Committee on Aging in Washington, D.C. She was on a panel of experts that included a Yale physician and discussed the effects the media has on aging.
The Yale doctor, Becca Levy is assistant professor in the university s Department of Epidemiology & Public Health. She was lead author of a study published in the August issue or the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology.
We found that those individuals who reported more positive self-perceptions of aging demonstrated significantly longer survival than those who reported more negative self-perceptions of aging, Levy reported.
Once individuals become older, they may lack the defenses of other groups to ward off the impact of negative stereotypes on self-perceptions.
In a nutshell, the Yale study says that thinking positively about getting older can exceed one s life by an average of 7.5 years, which is more than the longevity gained from low blood pressure, low cholesterol or by maintaining a healthy weight, abstaining from smoking and exercising regularly.
Levy found in her previous research that depending on whether seniors are prompted to see themselves as wise or senile, they will experience enhanced compromised memory performance, will to live, cardiovascular response to stress, mathematical performance and views of other older people.
The study involved 338 men and 322 women 50 and older in a small Ohio town, combined with data from the National Death Index.
Levy says people are exposed to stereotypes very young, and it s something we can modify across a lifespan. The idea would be that as people get older, to question some of the negative stereotypes.
A lot of people do seem to have good mechanisms for dealing with negative stereotypes, Levy says.
Roberts and Levy don t want to see the next generation to grow old ‹ Baby Boomers ‹ facing the same negativity about aging that has become so apparent in preceding generations.
The oldest Baby Boomers are rapidly approaching 60, while the youngest are preparing to bid farewell to their 30s forever. And many members of the post-World War II were not born with the Feel young, be young frame of mind.
For those, there are a myriad of assistance out there to help them feel young by looking young.
They re coming in by the droves, says plastic surgeon Mark Weinstein, referring to aging Baby Boomers.
Many are approaching 60 and they re really interested in keeping their appearance and looking well. It s just part of the package of trying to stay young and look youthful, Weinstein, a Boomer himself, explains.
He believes that a faltering job market also keeps people coming to his office, looking for the latest in treatments. Appearances can be important when you re [in your 50s and] competing for a job with a 30-year-old, Weinstein notes.
For younger Baby Boomers, there is a plethora of options between wrinkles and going under the knife. There are skin-care products such as Kinerase, which claims to moisturize, reduce fine lines and wrinkles and improve skin texture, diminishing freckles and brown spots.
Years ago, when we went to our national meetings, we d look at instruments and implants. Now 90 percent of it is skin-care product, Weinstein says.
Although there are plenty of treatments short of surgery, there are certain things that the aesthetician, the beauty parlor or the spa are not supposed to provide.
Collagen injections are used to help iron out creases around the mouth. Botox reportedly works extremely well in many cases for the forehead wrinkle.
Those things are adjuncts to the major surgical procedures such as facelifts. If we combine a whole bunch of these things together, we can get some great results, Weinstein says.
The plastic surgery market is not all pretty, though. Not only must doctors be selective about who they operate on, they have to be realistic.
There are many people in my business who give it a bad reputation, Weinstein says. There are people doing these procedures who are not qualified or trained to do them, and they tend to become unselective.
In addition, reimbursements for insurance-covered surgeries have declined, according to doctors, and doctors who have not traditionally dabbled in plastic surgery are now dabbling.
Reimbursements are going down and everyone wants to get onto the bandwagon of cosmetic surgery or cosmetic procedures, Weinstein says. Since insurance does not cover most cosmetic surgery, many patients are required to pay up front and in full before the surgery or the service. So, says Weinstein, physicians, dermatologists, ear, nose and throat doctors and gynecologists all want a piece of the pie.
It s a bad scenario to me when a urologist is doing Botox and laser hair removal, Weinstein notes.
Botox is considered the latest craze in looking good, and was approved by the FDA last April. The treatment is intended to temporarily improve the appearance of moderate to severe frown lines between the eyebrows (glabellar lines).
Small doses of Botulinum Toxin Type A toxin are injected into the affected muscles and block the release of a chemical that would otherwise signal the muscle to contract. The toxin thus paralyzes or weakens the injected muscle.
Botox was first approved in December 1989 to treat two eye muscle disorders and in December 2000 to treat cervical dystonia, a neurological movement disorder causing severe neck and shoulder contractions. Botox treatments are not recommended more than once every three months.
It s clearly not the same world Baby Boomers were brought up in. Baby Boomers are considered an active bunch, and they remain so, but Mother Nature is playing catch-up.
Vanity starts at a very young age and it certainly doesn t diminish over time.
They ve had many things in their lives and they want to keep doing them, says Weinstein. Being happy with yourself and looking good is part of the way Baby Boomers were brought up.
Physician Brian Peck, an arthritis specialist, sees a lot of Baby Boomers in his Waterbury practice. He agrees with Weinstein that Baby Boomers are a spoiled bunch who had a lot in their younger years that their parents never had.
The war that was going on when we were growing up [Vietnam] was not as all-encompassing as World War II, says Peck. So we had time for the extra stuff and we thought we were so important and so young. Then we turn around and we re 50 or over.
Peck wrote a book about his generation called, The Baby Boomer Body Book: A Complete Health Reference for Our Generation. He says education can be key in taking care of one s self.
People who read and take the time to educate themselves, are committed and see the importance of things, do take care of themselves, Peck notes.
But for every person who does make the effort to gain knowledge, there are others who don t, or can t.
We have a lot of blue-collar people here and some of them have no concept how bad smoking is, says Peck.
In a youth-oriented culture, looks are more important than ever, according to Peck. Youth is extolled everywhere in contrast to somewhere like Asia, where age is revered.
Looks are more important than ever to Baby Boomers as it gives them the illusion of clinging to some of the youth that rushed past.
Aside from plastic surgery and cosmetic treatments, there are a few things Baby Boomers can do to take care of themselves, according to Peck.
Stay away from cigarettes, cut whatever fat is in your diet in half, double your exercise and fruits and vegetables, and medical things like [have your] blood pressure and cholesterol checked. It ll add five years to your life, Peck says.
Peck s theory, coupled with Levy s theory, could have Boomers living longer than any generation yet ‹ with or without plastic surgery.
Surgery does make some people feel good, but I think it s coming from a place of not feeling good about aging, says Levy. A better approach is to think about some of the good aspects of aging as opposed to thinking of ways to deny it.
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