Baby boomers still standing

We're here and we are not going quietly into that good night.

After all, we did invent rock n' roll and the Internet.

In case you haven't guessed, I am talking about the baby boomers, those born between 1946 and 1964. And yes, that does mean that the vanguard of my generation are turning 60 this year.

We always thought we would make a difference. Although it is arguable as to whether we have or not, there is no question that we will as we head for our "senior" years. There are a whopping 76 million of us out there. And we control an even more whopping $3 trillion in assets.

The percentage of Americans age 65 and older has more than tripled in the last 100 years, and now represents 13 percent of the population. And that's only the beginning. You might think it would be a smart move to go out and buy stock in the company that makes Depends. But I wouldn't waste your money. Most of us have no intention of ever being caught with our pants down in those things.

We will be known forever more as the "Me Generation," narcissistic and filled with hubris.

"I'm going to live forever" go the lyrics to one of the many songs we like to sing to our children as they look aghast at us. But that refrain isn't as entirely crazy as it first seems. According to Drs. Wilcox and Suzuki, who have studied the longest-lived people in the world, the Okinawans: "Today's research suggests that while genes contribute to up to one-third of the diseases of premature aging, we are responsible for the other two-thirds." Their research has shown that Okinawans have 80 percent fewer heart attacks (and are more than twice as likely to survive when they do) than Americans. What is most interesting about these findings is how it clarifies the one-third nature versus two-third nurture fact.

Migration studies all point to the same conclusion. When Okinawans are raised in another country and abandon the healthy Okinawan lifestyle, they take on the same arterial disease risk as those in their adopted country. In other words: there is a lot we can do to live longer, healthier lives.

For example, a large-scale 2002 Yale University research study showed how positive self-perceptions of aging impacted longevity.

The group that had positive perceptions lived, on average, 7.5 years longer than the group that didn't. And what's more, these positive self-perceptions of aging had a greater impact on survival rates than did gender, socioeconomic status, loneliness and physical health; even greater than lowered blood pressure or cholesterol, exercise, weight loss or nonsmoking status. So what are the hordes who intend to live forever supposed to do?

Just get a grip on their lousy attitudes about getting older? It's a good start and something you can start working on while you drive to work tomorrow. And it is a lot cheaper than a trip to your plastic surgeon.

Come to think of it, perhaps the song from "Fame" -- the one about living forever -- is more an anthem that underscores the folly of youth. Only from the perspective of a 20-something can such an idea seem both possible and appealing. I think a more appropriate theme song for those of us reaching that "certain age" would be the Elton John song: "I'm still standing/ Better than I've ever been/ Looking like a true survivor/ Feeling like a little kid/ I'm still standing after all this time."

I was born in 1947, more or less at the first big flush of postwar baby making. I am no longer young. But I am not old. I am still working on my attitudes about that.

Dr. Michael O.L. Seabaugh, a Cape Girardeau native, is a clinical psychologist who lives and works in Santa Barbara, Calif. Contact him at mseabaugh@semissourian.com For more on the topics covered in Healthspan, visit his Web site: www.HealthspanWeb.com.