New Year's resolutions: lessons from anti-aging marketing research

What do you see when you look at this image? The young beauty--or the "feared self" of the future?

Afraid of aging? Most of us are, if we judge by the number of products and ads aimed at helping us avoid the “feared older self” the marketers keep holding before us. (Last week’s blog Princesses and hags addressed attitudes toward aging and how we train ourselves to fear and dislike it.)

Researchers Brett Martin from the University of Bath and Rana Sobh from Qatar University found that when beauty products, diets, Botox, and plastic surgery didn’t seem to be working, women were more likely to keep using them.

That’s right: failure to look younger kept aging anxiety high, and women continued doing more of the same to try to keep the wrinkled old woman at bay.

On the other hand, when the products and interventions seemed to work, women stopped using them. Their anxiety eased, they no longer worried so much about the face of the future.

This research finding in 297 women delivers an odd message to anti-aging manufacturers and providers: if you want people to continue using your product, market with fear (the wrinkled hag of Christmas Future)—and make sure your product doesn’t do the job it promises to do. Because if it works, they’ll stop being so afraid. And they’ll stop coming back to you.

In another study, Martin found a different result with men and women working out in gyms. As they became happier with their bodies, their frame of mind improved. Success—and a positive image of what they might become—were the motivators to keep on going.

When you’re making your New Year’s resolutions, keep these studies in mind. You’re much more likely to succeed—and stick with--changes that improve health, like working out. Even if the goal is cosmetic, the healthy body has a sneaky way of creating a healthy, positive mind.

Have a wonderful New Year! May you walk (run, skip, dance) toward the future in happiness and health.

Please share your New Year's resolutions about aging well in the comments section!

When the reality of aging loved ones hits home

Labyrinth of Hope from Johns Hopkins University Interfaith Council

Almost daily for the past month or so, I’ve gotten an “aging alert” article about using the holidays to check on one’s aging parents. It’s the perfect time, the authors say, to evaluate how well older adults are doing in their current living situations.

This year, the message became more than academic for me. My sister called the day before Christmas Eve to say that Mom, who lives in independent senior apartments, wasn’t doing well. Pain from arthritis in her spine was making it hard for her to walk, and her anxiety was soaring. With those triggers, she was becoming confused.

I drove up a day earlier than planned and stayed a day longer, feeling grateful that my kids were old enough to have their Christmas usurped without feeling resentment.

Trying to get information and make arrangements over the holidays is a nightmare. But because Mom lives in a retirement community with multiple levels of care, we were able to get an assessment for assisted living today. If all goes well, she will move to a place that’s familiar to her and where she’ll feel safer and get the help she needs on Monday.

We are all feeling a little stunned, apprehensive, and relieved right now. The pieces seem to be sliding into place as well as possible.

Some random thoughts:

• We who live in Milwaukee are so fortunate to have sources of information and assistance that aren’t available in smaller communities.
• I’m so grateful to the social workers and home care managers who return calls even on Christmas day. Your service in allaying anxiety and helping people think through next steps is incredibly valuable.
• While many of us hope to see more “catered” home care delivered in people’s homes and independent apartments, the model of senior apartments-assisted living-skilled nursing on one campus still has a tremendous amount to offer.

To all of you who take care of our older adults, creating safe home for them wherever they are, deepest thanks. It truly takes a community to support us throughout our lives.

Princesses and hags: How we train ourselves to look at aging

Images from Rich Gentleman Hide PhotoShop tutorial.Isn't the older woman beautiful before being transformed into America's Next Top Model?

Yesterday, Rush Limbaugh asked, “Does our looks-obsessed culture want to stare at an aging woman?” The woman in question was Hillary Clinton, of course.

“It's like almost an addiction that some people have to what I call the perfection that Hollywood presents of successful, beautiful, fun-loving people. So the question is this: Will this country want to actually watch a woman get older before their eyes on a daily basis?”

He illustrated his point with an exceptionally unflattering photo of the Democratic party presidential candidate next to an exceptionally presidential photo of Mitt Romney, courtesy the Drudge Report. The conclusion? The Republican is much prettier and therefore more electable. In other words, a better presidential candidate.

The same day, 24-year-old Amanda Hinsperger asked: “What is it about anti-aging?. . .Women in particular carry the anti-aging burden, since most anti-aging ads are marketed to women. Are we afraid of aging? Does the natural course of life disturb us? Nobody likes to admit their body is failing. With all the stress this worrying brings on, and with the aging impacts of stress, maybe we'd be doing ourselves a favour by embracing age.”

Offensive as Limbaugh’s screed is, his observations about our culture’s fear, even hatred, of aging, are sound.

I don’t know how to change that, but Gene D. Cohen, MD, PhD, Director of the Center on Aging, Health & Humanities at The George Washington University, believes the negative attitudes about aging get their start in childhood. Think of the fairy tales we read to our impressionable toddlers: they’re full of wicked witches, stepmothers who are ugly inside and out, old women who live in shoes and abuse their too-large broods.

The Center has compiled a list of stories for children of all ages that show older adults as kind, active, humorous, wise, creative, brave—all the rest of the admirable qualities we aspire to at any age.

That is, if we aren't aspiring only to looking good.

Seems we need to start at the beginning. Give a child you know a good book—and some real-life experiences with women--and men--who are older, but not worse for it.

Citizen philanthropy in the Internet age

Image from the Plymouth Intergenerational Center

Milwaukee Aging Consortium member Marsha Vollbrecht, Director, Senior Services, Aurora Senior Health Services, is part of a brave new experiment in charitable giving.

Before I explain, a little background. Getting the margin to support even the most worthy mission is a challenge for nonprofits. Large and well-known organizations vie for big support dollars from big foundations. Meanwhile, small or newer organizations compete to gain enough support to build momentum through charitable donations.

But some believe the Internet might “democratize” charitable giving. Case Foundation co-founder Jean Case thinks that “philanthropy shouldn’t be defined as a bunch of rich people writing big checks. Small amounts of money given by large numbers of individuals can be combined to do great things.”

The more citizens are involved, the idea goes, the more the nonprofit activities can reflect the real needs and desires of the people.

So Case started the "Make It Your Own" grants program, inviting community-based organizations to submit their "citizen-centered civic engagement" programs. From a pool of more than 4,000 programs, a board selected the Top 100 Ideas. The programs are displayed at the website, along with space for comments by the "citizen philanthropists:" you and me.

You can even make a direct contribution to one of the programs from the site.

Vollbrecht’s " Top 100" project with the Plymouth Intergenerational Coalition involves Linking the Generations. It brings together volunteers from the school district, senior center, government, childcare center, finance, healthcare, and more.

Starting today, you and the rest of the world can read about and comment on the grants. A panel of judges will score the proposals, narrowing the field to 20. Each of those will receive a $10,000 grant toward “making their idea a reality.” And in February, we’ll be able vote to select the most worthy project. The top four vote-getters will receive additional $25,000 grants.

If you think Linking the Generations is a worthy idea, why not help make it happen?

And if you think the Milwaukee Aging Consortium is a worthy idea, we'd love to have your support, too, of course.

The Case Foundation site is full of interesting ideas about taking fund raising electronic. Take a little time to browse the ideas at the site. They are new, complex, and layered (and not always clearly described). But it's worth the effort to look around.

What might this brave new world of fund raising mean for your organization? Share your ideas with us here!

“A system begging for transformation” and other important reports

Image from Tokyo Contemporary Art Gallery

From Isolation to Integration: Recommendations to Improve Quality in Long-term Care was released this month by the National Commission for Quality Long-term Care. The report says that “like the health care system, the long-term care system begs for transformation” and recommends bipartisan approaches for national reform.

New population health statistics and trends for older adults are now available through the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention website. The full report, "Health, United States, 2007, With Chart book on Trends in the Health of Americans, " was published by the National Center for Health Statistics Press (December 2007).

Finally, the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College has released a number of fascinating working papers on economic conditions and circumstances relevant to older people:

1. Capital income flows and the relative well-being of America’s aged population
2. Why are companies freezing their pensions?
3. The impact of late-career health and employment shocks on Social Security and other wealth
4. Health insurance and the labor supply decisions of older workers
   
5. The effect of economic conditions on the employment of workers nearing retirement age

Thanks to James Schmidlkoffer, Bureau of Aging and Disability Resources, Office on Aging, Wisconsin DHFS, for this information.