Aging with Zest

Curt Schleier recently posted a fascinating article about Carl Reiner on jta.org. Mr. Reiner, who is an actor, writer director and creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” is 95 years old and still going strong with several books about to come out and he’s working on several others. According to the article, “The first thing Carl Reiner does every morning is pick up the paper and read the obituary section to check if he’s named there. ‘If I’m not, I’ll have my breakfast….’” At the suggestion of his nephew, Mr. Reiner set out to find what keeps some old people young. The people he interviewed ranged in age from 92 to 102 and included such notables as Kirk Douglas (100) and Betty White (94). The things these people had in common were the following: they stayed busy, they had a zest for life (one still parachuted while another ran marathons), interacted with others often and they had a funny bone—they found the humor in life and were able to laugh at themselves. This is sound advice from seniors who are thriving. If you would like to read Mr. Schleier’s article in its entirety, click on this link.