Older Than 70? This Is the Number You Need to Know
August 26, 2024 | Balance
As an older adult, there is one number that will influence and determine your future well-being, risk for disability, nursing home placement and even how long you’re going to live. That number is your functional age.
Functional age is distinct from chronological age and represents a combination of physiological, psychological, and social age. In children and adolescents, it is primarily based upon cognitive development and social behavior. In older adults, it is determined by physical functioning, social engagement, and personal identity.
Human aging is a unique and individualized process. With only two exceptions, there is no specific diagnosis, test or laboratory value that uniformly changes or deteriorates with time. The exceptions are kidney function and balance. While hearing loss is often associated with aging, the problem with balance is due to a decrease in the number of hair cells in the inner ear that are necessary for equilibrium. This progressive loss is compounded by unnecessary and avoidable sedentary behavior.
Having good balance is essential for daily functioning, independence and even longevity. When walking you spend a proximately 40% of the time on one leg. Not being able to stand on one leg for 10 seconds or more is associated with a twofold rick of death from any cause within 10 years. At the age of 75 normative data indicates an individual should be able to stand for 18 seconds. A single leg stand for only 10 seconds equates with a functional age of 83. Conversely, being able to stand for 30 seconds lowers functional age to 60.
Another quantitative measure of functional age is the number of times a person is able to stand from a seated position in a chair and return to the chair in 30 seconds. This sit-to-stand test yields different results for a male or female. It is a measure of stamina, flexibility and coordination. The norm for a 75-year-old female is 14 repetitions. Being able to do only nine results in a functional age of 85.
Functional age is also determined by the ability to do seemingly simple but everyday tasks called ADLs (activities of daily living). The inability to do personal care, climb stairs, carry groceries, or do house cleaning increases functional age.
The adage “You are as young as you feel” has merit in the determination of function age. A person’s feelings about growing old can predict how much longer and how well they will live. While race and gender are known to produce selfstereotypes, which affect behavior and function, aging and ageism affect older adults in a more insidious and destructive manner. With race and gender, the threat of stereotyping is not internalized but heightens the domains or situations that produce frustration, awareness and responses for self-protection.
Unfortunately, self-stereotypes of aging and old people as a social class are internalized and influence not only their behavior but their bodies.
A negative self-perception of aging becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. The unconscious belief that you are destined to lose your ability to think and function physically results in destructive behaviors like social isolation and being sedentary. Life satisfaction as an older adult is more closely associated with the distance to death than chronological age. Fortunately, positive self-perceptions of aging can increase life expectancy by up to 7.5 years. This is an amazing result when you consider that lifelong medication and treatment of hypertension and cholesterol results in less than 4 years of increased life.
Attitudes and beliefs can and do change in later life. It is possible to increase the length of life and lower functional age by consciously being aware of societal and self-imposed ageism. Unlike chronological age, genetics, or biological age, which is supposedly determined by measuring the tips of your chromosomes, functional age is within our control and can be reduced. The benefits of doing so are particularly significant for those with chronic illnesses such as diabetes, heart disease and hypertension.
The good news is that with practice and something as simple as a walking program and exercise, most of us will improve and lower our functional age. Being aware of and challenging our own and society’s ageist attitudes and perceptions also works to lower functional age. Functional age defines your “health” future and personhood. Fortunately, it is a number you control.
To get a free assessment of your functional age, take the Resilient 80s Functional Age Test.