senior exercise | Wellness Secrets of a SuperAger

If the prevalence of disabilities had remained at 2008 levels, an additional 1.27 million older Americans would have had difficulties bathing or dressing and an additional 1.89 million would have serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs by 2017.

The prevalence of disabilities among American adults aged 65 and older is much lower than it was for the same age group a decade earlier, according to a nationally representative study published online in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) .

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The decline in disability among older Americans was substantial. The odds of experiencing limitations in activities of daily living (such as dressing or bathing) and the odds of experiencing functional limitations (such as serious difficulty walking or climbing stairs) declining 18% and 13%, respectively, between 2008 and 2017.

In 2008, 12.1% of older Americans reported limitations in activities of daily living. In 2017, this percentage had declined to 9.6%. To put this into perspective, if the prevalence of limitations in daily living remained at the 2008 levels, an additional 1.27 million older Americans would have ADL limitations in 2017.

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Last year I posted The Ravages of Age which I intended as a kind of joke on the reader as I enumerated the toll that age was taking on my 15-year-old dog, not me. The fact is that I enjoy reasonably good health. I feel well-informed on the subject of health as I read and write about it every day of my life. Nonetheless, one of the distinctive aspects of my age is the loss of a sense of context.

**This is my bike. The black circular item is my bluetooth speaker for my music while riding.**

I hope that isn’t too vague. What I mean is that since I have outlived many of my friends, family and loved ones, I don’t have many contemporary friends. I have lots of friends and acquaintances 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 years younger than I am. But people within a decade of my age are few and far between.

For that reason I often feel out there and alone when it comes to a lot of the nitty-gritty aspects of daily life.

I hope the following example makes this clear.