The idea for this week’s essay began with a morning walk with Linda and Teddy. Linda made a negative remark regarding aging that got my attention. She turned to go home and I continued on my trail run. I began thinking more about her comment. As a result,I apply an analogy with Sisyphus and the song “The Point of No Return” from The Phantom of the Opera regarding aging.
Sisyphus was a figure in Homer’s Iliad and subsequently was punished by Zeus because he cheated death. His punishment was to push an immense boulder up the hill, only for it to roll down every time he neared the top. He had to repeat this action for eternity. Symbolically, the boulder represents the internal doubts ,fears and additional obstacles, barriers, challenges and all the stresses that seem to be in the way for goal attainment-reaching the hilltop. The song’s lyrics”: No backward glances Our games of make believe are at an end” suggest the train has left the station and not to return. These two symbols highlight the aging process.
Homo sapiens grow and develop physically until certain physiological occurrences set in. For example, we have what’s called the human growth hormone. HGH is a protein made up of a single chain of 191 amino acids. The primary function of HGH in childhood and young adulthood is to help bones lengthen and expand. By the mid-20s, we are taller, with longer limbs, stronger bones etc. The HGH hormone reaches its peak around the age of 20 and then steadily declines. DHEA is another hormone . It is produced by the adrenal glands and has been called the mother of all hormones because the body uses it to produce male and female sex hormones-testosterone , estrogen, progesterone as well as corticosterone. The body's DHEA levels continue to rise up until roughly the age of 25 and then production drops off. At age 65, Homo sapiens are producing only 10 to 20%% of the DHEA that bodies manufactured at age 20. Also, estrogen is one of the most powerful homes in the human body. Some 300 different tissues are equipped with estrogen and estrogen receptors. This means that estrogen levels in the body can affect a wide number of tissues and organs in the brain, liver, uterus, urinary tract, breast, skin and blood vessels. Estrogen continues to produce well before the onset of menstruation and then begins to fall well before the onset of menopause - earlt 30’s.
Testosterone is the male sex hormone. Testosterone affects sex drive, fatigue, mood, osteoporosis, loss of weight and secondary sex characteristics. After puberty, levels of testosterone drop gradually in men. Further, as many as 20% of men over age 50 have low levels of testosterone. Once again, growth accelerates until a certain point and then begins to decline with gradual and continuous loss of strength, libido, etc.
Athletes are good examples for physical superiority.Consider Tom Brady, George Blanda , Joe Montana, Brett Favre ,Mohammed Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Lebron James, Gordie Howe, Phil Mickelson, Jack Nicholas and Tiger Woods, to name a few.
Brady is a current example. Tom Brady retired for about a month and then announced he was returning to football. Does Brady have enough economic power and prestige at this point? His attractive wife is exceedingly wealthy and he’s been called the goat-greatest of all time. Yes, it’s true that he’s strong and has affiliative ,dominance, play and exhibition needs. Do not overlook his need for competition as they relate to needs of power, prestige, and possession as well.
Competition is a struggle with others that take place in all spheres of life- social relations, play , economics, etc. Everyone is competitive to some level, but Brady is extremely competitive. With competition, one measures self against others, even if there is no reason to do that. Has Brady had enough success and prestige from winning? He has accomplished so much and appears to be unique and exceptional. He may actually believe that he cares more about the team, teammates, etc. not just about his own success. Tom may or may not be aware of this dynamic. However, he has great frustration and sensitivity regarding losing. His last competitive game was against the Rams and he lost. It actually might be more important for him to defeat his rivals than to succeed. Note he retired. while coach Arians was the boss in Tampa Bay. Was it a coincidence that when Arians retired, Brady came back? Perhaps Brady must prove again that he can win with or in spite of his coach. Brady proved that point with former coach Belichick. After Belichick let him go. Brady won the Super Bowl that year with a different team. Further, the other side of competition is fear of failure. Brady’s competitive needs are strong as well as his fear of failure. A few illustrations to combat his fear of failure are as follows: 1. He watches and studies game film compulsively. 2. He treats his body like it’s a precious vessel. He has experts on nutrition, physical therapy, conditioning, etc. 3. He practices his skill repeatedly. Has Brady reached the point of no return?
On the cognitive intellectual level. We also see growth and then decline with words, understanding, intellectual and creativity. Discoveries by Freud ,Einstein , Mme. Curry, Pasteur, Sabin and Lawrence Bragg were youngsters that did not exhibit long white hair , long white beard, or dressed in long robes. What was once believed that scientific discoveries that were not made prior to age 30 will not be made at all. Today’s research found that scientists awarded the Nobel Prize have an average age now of 48. Beethoven became less socially involved around 50 years of age and Mendelssohn’s famous works began when he was 17 and lasted until the age of 37. These famous individuals reached “The point of no return.”
Cognitive memory has a period of growth and then declines as evidenced by findings in the cerebral cortex. The first decline is called normal forgetting. Do not forget the brain reaches maximum size in the teens, and then shrinks in size until about age 28. With brain volume decline, there is continuous loss of neurons, connection with other neurons, reducing blood flow to the brain and then atrophy. After normal forgetting, the next progressive stage is called age associative memory impairment. The next stage or third stage is called mild cognitive impairment and the last is the deadly stage called dementia. Losses are progressive and strongly affected by aging. Yes, we can say that a point of no return becomes established for too many.
Recently Linda and I received our second booster shots for Covid-19. While at the drugstore. I saw a number of cognitive memory supplements for sale regarding improving memory. Unfortunately, the bottles did not describe the variables related to age, length of memory improvement, nor were semantic, declarative, long-term, short-term or other memory deficits mentioned. Also , on the shelf were supplements regarding improving strength. Once again an absence of definition on the bottles nor what variables were going to be improved or how they were measured. Just minor details omitted
With the Sisyphus analogy, I view aging as being affected by genetics, disease, accidents and lifestyle choices. Aside from these givens, we create goals and pursue them based on our needs and character. Regardless of the goals, there are challenges, barriers, roadblocks, interferences from our own thinking mind and from external sources. One challenge might be a bachelor’s degree, Master's degree or a PhD. All types of obstacles and hurdles must be addressed in order to succeed.
While aging the degree of hill slope changes. We don’t have to win or come in first in the trail run. We can come in first in our age division. Bolder dimensions also change. Winning a trailrain depends on age, tremendous mechanics, excellent training, a strong will etc. Age division winner is different and varies a lot. However,a strong will and positive reinforcements along the way are necessary. Thus, the boulder and hills change but expectations and motivation are the main key irrespective.
Tom Brady is not the same physiologically that he was while he was playing for the University of Michigan. Intellectually, there may be a decline but his wisdom and experience regarding the game and conditioning facilitate his effectiveness. Sure, he requires an offensive plan ,lineman ,skill position players, and a good defense as other variables. Obviously he believes that he has not reached the point of no return. He’s not playing for money but for power, possession, prestige, affiliation, play, dominance, exhibition and competition. Being at home with his family was not the same as receiving the adulation from fans, players and coaches–his extended family..
Tom Brady is likely to have difficulty this football year as a result of his ambivalence. He announced his return to the game, suggesting earlier some doubt about his ability to succeed at the highest level- fear of failure. For the past 20 years or so, he accomplished an unbelievable amount of success, thus establishing a strong expectancy or expectation. Then doubt surfaced, and he retired . Shortly after announcing his retirement, he indicated he was coming back to the game.
With ambivalence , mixed feelings or conflict, Brady, in his thinking, has to change the negatives into positives - to undo his thoughts, a reversal from the initial emotional reasons given to retire. In other words, anxiety and stress were created by his reversal. The mind has to be able to control, reduce, and subdue the previous emotional based thoughts in order to bring back harmony or balance. In order to accomplish these cognitive gymnastics, the mind has protective thinking devices at its disposal called defense mechanisms. A combination of defense mechanisms were employed which allowed him to reduce his mixed feelings .His defense mechanisms and dissonance include–repression ,reaction formation, denial, rationalization in order to justify playing again. Hopefully Brady can deal with his emotional conflict. If not, Brady faces another hurdle regarding football. When did Brady seriously ever not want to play quarterback? Tom Brady, your window of opportunity is closing. Another point of view from the brilliant George Bernard Shaw “We don’t stop playing because we grow old, we grow old because we stop playing.”
References
Freud, Anna. The Ego And The Mechanisms Of Defense.
Klatz, Ronald and Goldman, Robert. Stopping The Clock..
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