In pursuit of gracefully aging

We read what interests us and I’m no exception.  At this middle-age man point in my life, I’ve taken an interest in literature popularly-described as “anti-aging”. It's not a term I invented; others did and I don’t like it.

You see, there’s nothing anti about aging in my book. It’s an activity of the highest order; something we all do breath by breath, second by second, minute by minute, hour by hour, day by day, and year by year. To live is to age and to age is to die.  It’s all been figured out and there’s nothing we can do to change it.

So what’s the meaning of anti-aging? It depends on who you ask.

According to the American Academy of Anti-Aging Medicine, until recently, medicine has presumed that there is little we can do to intervene the process of aging but new scientific data reveals otherwise. They further state that anti-aging medicine is a wellness-oriented model of advanced clinical preventive medicine devoted to achieving demonstrable and objective results that beneficially impact the degenerative disease of aging.

What the heck does that mean? Remember, I’m a middle-age man meathead and need to be talked to in a way that I can understand. I don’t understand that gobbledygook.

I’ve learned that anti-aging medicine is a field that is not recognized by established medical organizations, such as the American Board of American Specialties or the American Medical Association. That’s not a deal breaker for me since I’ve never been a fan of mainstream establishments. Still, I don’t like the term “anti-aging” for the reason stated above.

This anti-aging stuff, in my mind, falls under the umbrella that there's nothing new under the sun. What’s practiced now is not much different than the efforts of Spanish explorer Ponce de Leon over 500 years ago in his futile search for the Fountain of Youth to cure his aging.

Longtime followers of Pierini Fitness know of my classic blogflection:

Ever man who looks in the mirror sees a 16 year old kid

So true in the mindscape of middle-age men (and women) that it’s easy to understand why we have such an interest in this anti-aging stuff.

Still, I don’t like this “anti-aging” term and refuse to use it other than to describe that it exists in the literature that’s out there.

For me, I prefer to think that my efforts in chasing fitness, health and wellness are all in pursuit of gracefully aging.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum