International Self-Care Day

1. Take the day. It's on us.

Today, as declared by the World Health Organization, is International Self-Care Day, and also the last day of International Self-Care Month. The WHO defines self-care “as individuals, families and communities’ promoting and maintaining their own health, preventing disease, and coping with illness and disability, with or without the support of a health worker.” So this is a good time to reflect on your own health plan, and perhaps an opportunity to invest in yourself and in better health habits.

But it’s also a time to recognize that many people won’t have that opportunity and are denied access to health care services. Here are some sobering facts and figures from the WHO:

• 4.3 billion people lack adequate access to essential facility-based health services.
• The world is facing an estimated shortage of 10 million health workers, mainly in low-and-middle income countries.
• 1 in 5 of the world’s population live amidst humanitarian crises, during which health systems are particularly challenged to deliver essential services.
• Pandemics, armed conflicts and climate change are disrupting and stretching health services worldwide.

These challenges are omnipresent and not going away, and that rather surprisingly explains the odd timing of this day. We wondered, as you may have too, why International Self-Care Month runs from the 24th to the 24th rather than from the first day of the month to the last, as virtually all “fill in the blank” months do. The answer: July 24 can be written 7-24 (or better yet 24-7 if you are in Europe), reflecting the idea that the need for self-care is a 24/7 requirement.

2. Oh Lord.

You may think that the debate around Joe Biden’s fitness for office has been decidedly ageist and you would be right. We will join many of you in the belief that he was not up to the task of running for office again, and we are relieved that he has stepped aside. But his fitness for office, while no doubt influenced by age, is a function entirely of his personal situation, not of any specific number, a fact lost on most commentators.

It is, sadly, a minority view here and perhaps in the UK as well. According to the Financial Times, the new Labour government is expected to “force peers to retire from the House of Lords at the end of the parliament during which they turn 80.” The new government had originally stated its goal of abolishing hereditary representation in the House of Lords, in favor of a new elected second chamber but it is now steering what it believes to be a more moderate, less controversial course.

We’re good old Americans here at TNSB, which means that we are both generally indifferent to hereditary rights and also a little uncertain about what the heck the House of Lords actually does. Keep it, dump it, we don’t care, but the idea of setting arbitrary age limits would no doubt lead to excluding important (and fully competent) voices from public discourse. And it would only reinforce ageist stereotypes about later life – at a time when we both need and want older adults to be more involved in commerce, community and public life.

?

3. Forget the milkshakes, I'll take a cupcake.

We need to brighten the mood a bit, so let’s check in with Steve Lopez of the LA Times, who recently gave a nod to TNSB in his column and asked his readers to share with him three not so bad things about aging. Steve received lots of memorable responses. Here are three of our favorites:

Aging brings all sorts of privileges. “When I asked for pre-boarding on a flight this month,” said Betty Hechtman, “the airline person didn’t even ask why but just gave it to me.”

Winning gets easier. Mark Haendel has spent more than 50 years running the trails in Will Rogers Park in Los Angeles and competing in races. “As you move into older and older age groups while competing,” Haendel said, “you get a lot of medals.” He is now sometimes, as Steve notes, last in the race and still first in his age group.

And there are secret joys of grandparenting. Mark Slocum has discovered that the joys of grandparenting also comes with the gift of reduced expectations. Keep the kids safe, he says, and he can get away with, “You boys want milkshakes with those breakfasts?” That’s also, we might add, part of the joy of having grandparents. My own grandfather used to sneak me cupcakes, always chocolate with white icing, and half a century on, it remains one of my fondest and most enduring memories of him.

There are plenty of other bright spots contained in Steve’s column, which you can find here (if you can get past the paywall).