Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: I am speaking with Deb Whitman with AArP. She's actually the executive vice president and chief public policy officer there, former staff director for the Senate special Committee on Aging, as well as an author, economist and global aging experts. Deb, thank you so much for spending some time with me. I am looking forward to this conversation.
[00:00:18] Speaker B: Thank you so much for having me today.
[00:00:20] Speaker A: It is a great conversation to have because it's about your new book called the second 50 answers to the seven big questions of midlife and beyond.
This is obviously something that, I mean, you've focused on aging for quite a long time.
Why are you so passionate, really, about helping people through this sort of second half of their life?
[00:00:47] Speaker B: So I've been working on aging for 25 years, and then I was about to hit 50 and realize there was so much that I didn't know that I was curious about and wanted to learn. I looked at my bookshelf and there were things like what to expect when you're expecting, or my kids were about to go to college. So I had tons of book about that. But there was no what to expect when you're aging. And so I wrote down a list of questions that I wanted to know, and those became the chapters of the book.
[00:01:15] Speaker A: Nice. And so talk about those, if you will, and kind of maybe, what are some of those seven big questions that you've kind of ventured to answer here?
[00:01:24] Speaker B: Yes. Some are basic, like, how long will I live? Will it be another 2nd 50? Will I be healthy? I looked at practical questions like, how long am I going to work and will I have enough money? And then I asked some tough questions like, will I lose my memory and how will I die? And I talked to experts all over the country. I did a survey of the american population, and I talked to people and heard their stories. And that's all came together in the book. And I'll say, you know, some of the things I knew, and then when there was a lot that I didn't.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: Yeah, I was going to say, you know, what are maybe some things that, that you discovered in there that surprised you in the, you know, research and, and writing process?
[00:02:09] Speaker B: I think one thing that surprised me was how important our relationships and our mindset are to our health and longevity. So most of us know about the five healthy habits that we should do. Things like eating right and exercising, not smoking, not drinking, maintaining a body weight. That's going to gain you about a decade of life.
But if you don't have relationships and you feel isolated, that's the same as smoking. 15 cigarettes a day. So we need to maintain our relationships. And then even more surprising to me was how important our mindset is to our future aging. So if you view aging as a positive time, if you think about growing older as a time of meaning and purpose and the ability to give back to your family and your community, you live seven and a half years longer, you are more healthy, and even your brain volume is higher. So things like relationships and mindset are just as important as eating right and exercising.
[00:03:20] Speaker A: Wow. And that really is, I think that goes to a lot of what we talk about in a lot of our shows on retirement radio network, and that is stress, particularly because we talk a lot about money and preparing for retirement and all of that stress can really do a number on your health. People say, oh, well, I'm stressed out. It just makes me feel stressed out. It makes me feel bad in the moment, but it can take its toll over time. So I think that that is a great point to bring up here. And obviously something that you've covered in the book.
And I mean, this is such a growing part of our population as well. So I think this is such an important topic to cover in a book like this.
I think it was by 2031, in five americans are going to be 65 or older. Right. So what do you think maybe are some of the most pressing policy issues as this sort of baby boomer generation and then even into Gen X gets into sort of retirement age?
[00:04:26] Speaker B: So you're right. We have a growing aging population, and we need to look at all of our programs like Social Security and Medicare. And even under that, there's a growing need for things like long term care, not just to help older people, but the families that have to take care of them. And we need to make sure that those programs are strong for older people today, but also there for future generations who are going to need them even more.
[00:04:52] Speaker A: Yeah, absolutely right. Well, just about time for us to start wrapping up things here, Deb. But I just want to give you the last word. If there's anything that you wanted to mention that we haven't talked about here that comes to mind or maybe where folks can go and find out more.
[00:05:05] Speaker B: About the book, well, you can find it in your local bookstore or you can go to aarp.org. second 50. And just a point, given your topic of your show, is how important our work is to our later life. We have two times as many people over age 55 who are working today than in the 1990s. So retirement is no longer time without work. It is often a time while you're still working a gig job or a part time job or just a job you love doing.
[00:05:38] Speaker A: Yeah, that's right. I mean, you can retire. You could reinvent yourself. There are so many different things that you can do in those traditional retirement years there. Well, Deb Whitman, AARP's executive vice president, chief public policy officer, and author of the second 50. Thank you so much, Deborah. Really do appreciate your time.
[00:05:59] Speaker B: Thanks for having me today.
