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Breaking the Rules of Aging
America's baby boomers and its mature population are rapidly becoming synonymous. As a group, the boomers have always manifested qualities of independence, curiosity, and strong-mindedness. These may not be the characteristics traditionally associated with old age, but the baby boomers are set to change all that. As they move towards their senior years, they are rejecting terms like "senior" and "elderly," instead seeking out new ways to redefine later life stages.

As its title suggests, Breaking the Rules of Aging is a book completely cognizant of this quest. Author David A. Lipschitz, a geriatric specialist and host of a public television series, "Aging Successfully with Doctor David," takes the view that old age is what you make it. He bases his argument around the belief that "taking it easy" is exactly the wrong way to handle a life stage at which your continued vitality will likely be determined by the extent to which you pursue it. With ample evidence from case studies and his own research, Lipschitz illustrates some of the ways exercise can make an appreciable difference to senior health and cites studies showing that sexually active seniors live longer.

His views, while far from outrageous, certainly break the rules of convention.Dr. Lipschitz believes hard workouts may be a better option even for seniors than light exercise. He champions middle age spread, submitting that moderate body fat is good for longevity. He objects to invasive surgery for most coronary disease, believing that surgery can be detrimental to overall health in cases where no symptoms exist. He questions the value of painful treatments for terminal disease. Dismayed at what he sees as the over-medication of many seniors, he envisions specific ways of reducing a patient's range of medications by paying closer attention to what is prescribed.

"It's nice to hear from a doctor who doesn't chant the party line," said one reader. "Lipschitz is not afraid to criticize common medical mistreatments." His perspective will meet with continuing approval from baby boomers, whose relationships with their physicians, surveys have shown, often falter on the matter of authority. Baby boomers, unlike most seniors of earlier times, don't believe that doctors, or conventional medical wisdom, have all the answers. They welcome challenges to the status quo in matters of health care and prevention.

The book is thus useful not only to baby boomers and seniors who want to take control of their aging, but also to business heads and marketers who understand baby boomers' pro-active, self-determining proclivities. Dr. Lipschitz offers a good picture of the ways the boomer market can be helped to realize a higher level of control over their aging process. Anyone involved in catering to the health, fitness and anti-aging sectors for a mature market will appreciate the insights offered here on overall health-in-aging.

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