Paul McIntyre - Use It or Lose It

About the Book

We all want to age well, but what does that really mean? Should we be playing endless Sudoku to stimulate our brains, or power-walking our way to eternal youth?

In Use It Or Lose It Paul McIntyre, host of ABC Radios Medical Matters , sorts the fact from the fiction and reveals the practical measures we can all take to keep our body in good shape and our brain sharp and alert. Because when it comes to positive ageing, our physical and mental health are one and the same. Believe it or not, preventing a disease as serious as dementia is as much about pursuing interests and having a flourishing social life as it is about standard health prescriptions. Good nutrition, regular exercise, relaxation, social interaction and healthy activities are paramount for your body and your brain and your emotional outlook as you get older.

With key advice from experts in diet, nutrition, dementia research and psychology, and lots of activities and suggestions to inspire you, including some delicious health-boosting recipes, Use It Or Lose It is an essential guide to remaining vital through mid-life and beyond.

Ill tell you one thing, says Mum, distracting me as she scoops up the last of the chocolate brownie with vanilla ice cream.

I dont know much about positive ageing, but Im positive I am ageing.

Firstly, never stand between my eighty-four-year-old mother and a shared dessert. Secondly, shes right. Every single one of us is ageing: you, me, work colleagues, neighbours and loved ones all experience the challenges associated with growing older. How to deal with those challenges is up to each one of us.

Positive Ageing and Me

I began to think about the idea of positive ageing following a hip replacement in 2014 when I was only forty-two. My condition didnt come out of the blue because Id been in frog plaster for the first eighteen months of my life due to congenital hip dysplasia. Still, I was surprised when I began to experience difficulties in my early thirties. When I was a child, Id been warned Id suffer hip pain as I got older, but I always imagined that to be sometime after fifty not thirty.

I first became aware I had a problem at a community dance in 2004. My ever-effervescent friend Robyn saw me standing alone to one side and dragged me on to the dance floor. I tried to follow despite a nagging ache in my left hip that had been bothering me all day. I thought it might be a sprained muscle from a session on the exercise bike, but after a minute of dancing sharp pain tore through what felt like every fibre of my being, and I had to excuse myself.

Obviously, this was a bit worrying, but I thought Id give it a few days. Three weeks later, with the pain only intensifying, I dragged myself to the GP for further investigation and, as an afterthought, mentioned my early hip dysplasia. Sure enough, x-rays confirmed deterioration of the joint. To start with, as I was relatively young my surgeon advised me simply to start walking less in order to preserve my hip and prevent an operation. The longer I could keep going without replacing it, the better.

As a non-driver, I walked everywhere, which likely contributed to such severe degeneration at a younger age than Id anticipated. Walking was my major form of exercise so it was a catch-22 situation if I couldnt walk regularly, how would I keep the weight off?

I began swimming at lunchtime and, ironically, although being submerged resulted in me feeling like a fish out of water, I soon learnt to embrace the activity. I felt better for it, both mentally and physically, despite the ever-present hip pain.

One of the worst aspects of the experience was dealing with the unwanted questions from well-meaning friends and strangers: Have you hurt yourself? Why are you limping? My approach was to accept my condition, do what I could to alleviate the constant aching, and busy my mind with other thoughts. But by focusing attention on my physical state, my friends reminded me of the ongoing deterioration. What was meant to be kind only made me depressed. Sometimes in conversation, people would advise against medication because of the possible long-term effects of the anti-inflammatories but for me it was either that or incessant agony.

In August 2013, while I was waiting for a bus, a lightning bolt of pain raged through my entire left leg. I couldnt move. Eventually, the torment passed, and the bus arrived, but the incident left me wondering what might have happened if Id been crossing the road at the time, as there was no longer any rhyme or reason for this sudden flare-up of severe distress. It led me to conclude that, despite my age, it was time to insist on a hip replacement. Fortunately, my surgeon agreed.

Sadly, my vocabulary lacks the range to fully express the joyous feeling of liberation I experienced after the operation as I gradually realised I was pain-free. I could move without fear and I was able to sleep all night without a gnawing ache. However, when I ceased the pain-relief medication, I became aware of a new dull discomfort in my right hip which, presumably, had been masked for the most part by the anti-inflammatories.

Taking the advice of a mate, I paid a visit to a physiotherapist who prescribed a number of exercises to strengthen the muscles and reduce soreness. I was a bit sceptical, but to my great surprise, they worked a treat. My surgeon had suggested my right hip would also need replacing within a few years, but five years on, daily adherence to six muscle-strengthening exercises kept me out of pain. It takes all of about seven minutes each day to complete them, which allows me to have freedom and ease of movement. Im pleased to say I dont currently have any plan to replace my right hip.

After nearly ten years of dealing with pain every single day from the moment I woke up to when I finally slipped into an uncomfortable slumber at night my new hip offered me a second chance. Im grateful to be living in a time when medical science makes this possible. Up until the age of thirty I had taken my mobility for granted, but through my thirties and into my forties I gradually acknowledged Id have to do everything in my power to keep my joints healthy and my weight in check if I was to avoid a second hip replacement. In other words, I came to understand Id have to age positively.

Medical Matters

In 2011, my mum was diagnosed with dementia. As I struggled to accept and understand her illness, I also struggled to understand the attitude of people who wanted to blame her somehow for her condition. Raising awareness of the realities of preventing and living with dementia became a cause dear to my heart.

When I became the presenter of Medical Matters with ABC Radio Hobart in 2015 the year after my hip operation I found whenever I raised the topic, I received an enthusiastic response from an audience eager to learn practical ways to keep their brain as healthy and active as their body. Medical Matters also allowed me to explore my interest more deeply through the exciting and important research being undertaken at the Wicking Dementia Research and Education Centre.

Through my discussions with researchers, doctors and psychologists, I discovered there are many basic measures you can adopt in your daily life to prevent many age-related health problems, including serious conditions like dementia that topic of urgent interest to many people over fifty. These measures allow you to tackle the challenges of growing older and can best be described as positive ageing.