Paul Irving - The Upside of Aging: How Long Life Is Changing the World of Health, Work, Innovation, Policy and Purpose

ADDITIONAL PRAISE FOR
THE UPSIDE OF AGING

Paul Irving has gathered some of the smartest, most thoughtful minds for a wide ranging discussion of the challenging, the good, and the hopeful parts of the aging phenomenon.

Donna Shalala, president, University of Miami;
former U. S. Secretary of Health and Human Services

This extraordinary book is profoundly optimistic, enlightening, and empowering. Our aging population presents unprecedented opportunities for enhancing health, transformation, and success across virtually all disciplines. If you read only one book this year on aging, this is it.

Dean Ornish, M.D., founder and president,
Preventive Medicine Research Institute; clinical professor
of Medicine, UC, San Francisco; author, The Spectrum

It's time that all of us, young and old, talk about aging in the 21st century and how we can tap into the wisdom and experience we gain to create stronger communities. This compelling book redefines aging: Getting older isn't about declining abilities; it's about increasing opportunities. It's recognition that aging doesn't limit the possibilities in front of us; it grows them.

Kathy Calvin, president and CEO,
United Nations Foundation

Paul Irving brings together extraordinary thinkers who explain why we must transform our approach to aging from one that assumes dependency and disability to one of engagement, productivity and potential. They make a compelling case that we cannot afford to do otherwise.

Dr. John Beard, director, Department of Ageing
and Life Course, World Health Organization

This is the moment for creating the opportunities of our now-longer lives. This book offers the optimistic and innovative lens and path forward we need, for society, for leaders and for our communities. Brought to us by energized, expert and thoughtful voices, it is a critical conversation changer for our future.

Linda P. Fried, MD, MPH, dean, Mailman School
of Public Health, Columbia University

Edited by

Paul H. Irving

with Rita Beamish

Cover Design: Wiley
Cover Illustration: iStockphoto.com / Kotkoa

Copyright 2014 by the Milken Institute. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.
Published simultaneously in Canada.

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ISBN 978-1-118-69203-5 (Hardcover)
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The economic benefits far outweigh the challenges that come with an aging society. The extension of life, and the extension of healthy life, are positive developments to be celebrated, not feared. Their impact will be an economic boon, not a drag.

What does it mean to be old? We each have our own definition, but we probably agree that the chronological ages that used to define elderly are increasingly irrelevant. Ive had many friends and colleagues who did their most important work in their eighties and nineties. Unfortunately, Ive also lost far too many family members and dear friends to disease before they had a chance to experience full lives.

When my father was diagnosed and treated for melanoma in the mid-1970s, the doctors thought they had caught the cancer before it spread. A few years later, however, the disease recurred, and by the time it was discovered, the prognosis was terminal. I took Dad to cancer centers around the country and consulted with leading physicians and researchers before it became frustratingly clear that medical science didnt have a solution. So I moved my family from the East Coast back to California to give my kids and their grandfather a chance to know each other. Dad passed away 10 months later.

In 1993, I was diagnosed with advanced prostate cancer and given 12 to 18 months to live. It was devastating to think that the family continuity I sought after my fathers diagnosis now seemed impossible. There probably would be no chance to see my kids get married and start families of their own.

But the science had improved by then, and I drew upon the network of cancer researchers the Milken Family Foundation had assembled throughout the 1980s. In addition to standard therapies, I consulted nutritionists, eliminated meat from my diet, consulted Eastern medicine, and practiced yoga. There were a lot more tools to draw upon than when my father was diagnosed.

If my fathers cancer had occurred in 1993, he may have survived. Had I received my diagnosis in 1974, I may not have. The great news for my generation is that medical science advanced remarkably in the interim, and its moving faster today than ever.

Were transforming what it means to be old, in terms not only of how we perceive aging, but also how we experience it. The personal and social benefits of living longer are priceless, and the economic benefits far outweigh the challenges that come with an aging society. The extension of life, and the extension of healthy life, are positive developments to be celebrated, not feared, and their impact will be an economic boon, not a drag.