TEST-TUBE SENIORS : Research Into the Gerontology Set Turns Up Some Upbeat Facts, Figures
Leo Shapiro and friends, most of whom are well past retirement age, don’t have time to grow old gracefully. They’re much too busy putting the final touches on their new campus home at Cal State Fullerton.
The Charles L. and Rachael E. Ruby Gerontology Center, christened in October, is the first of its kind on an Orange County campus. Modeled in part after the Andrus Gerontology Center at USC, it was conceived, planned and almost single-handedly produced by seniors--they even raised the $2.5 million for its construction. As such, it is something of a testament to the often-overlooked potential of the elderly.
About 10 years ago, a group of 29 retired professionals, among them professors, started a modest academic program of courses that were chosen simply because they interested them. The program, called Continuing Learning Experience, was associated with the university; the seniors were allowed to use available classrooms on campus.
But as interest in the program increased, the seniors realized they would eventually outgrow their campus space and decided to build themselves an academic home. Led by Shapiro, 83, a retired vice president of Alpha Beta, a subsidiary of American Stores Co., the seniors ponied up about $700,000 of their own money. (The initial $100,000 was donated by Charles Ruby, who had taught business law for 37 years before his retirement. The center is named after Ruby, a founding member of Continuing Learning Experience, and his wife.)
The elderly group, which today numbers 425, pooled its talents and oversaw construction--as a result, administrative expenses were nil--and eventually raised all the money to build the center. It is the first building on campus not paid for by the state. Classes in the program, which some of the CLE members teach, range from foreign languages to world affairs to perfecting strategies in the game of bridge. The CLE members also occasionally participate in research projects.
The new center, placed under the auspices of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, provides a focus on campus for professors doing research on the elderly--a trickle of information heretofore done independently but expected to grow into an orchestrated steady stream. It also provides classrooms for the college’s gerontology program and lecture halls for conferences and guest speakers.
“Basically, it’s a lab to study aging and how we can lead more productive and richer personal lives,” said Don Schweitzer, dean of humanities and social sciences.
For example:
Old age plays havoc with memory, or so goes the general assumption. But psychologist Patricia Worden of Cal State Fullerton wasn’t so sure and several years ago decided to pit young minds against old in a memory test. Among her subjects were about 40 people from CLE.
The experiment consisted basically of comparing young and old on standard memory tests. The results raised eyebrows among some of Worden’s colleagues, but she wasn’t surprised: old and young scored virtually the same.
“I don’t think it was so unusual. I think the general belief is that memory has to get worse (in old age), but I don’t think that’s the case. I think it has to do with what you do with your mind,” said Worden, chairwoman of Cal State’s psychology department.
And what of the aging process on the body, especially on women, who make up the overwhelming majority of the elderly population? That was the question asked by Roberta Rikli, a professor in Cal State Fullerton’s department of physical education. She knew from her past experiments that women who had exercised regularly during their lives maintained quicker overall reaction times when they reached old age and were stronger and more flexible than women of comparable age who had not. Could women who had never exercised regularly in their youth benefit from it in old age?
Based on an ongoing 3-year study, the answer appears to be yes, Rikli said. Group members, with an average age of 70, are making significant improvements in their cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength and reaction times through a regimen of cycling and fast walking .
“Most of the quality of our life style we can control through exercise and diet, through healthful practices. We have a lot of control over our quality of life as we age,” Rikli observed, adding:
“It’s not unusual to see a 20-year difference between functional age and chronological age” among women who exercise regularly.
Research in gerontology is not new--it dates from the 1920s--but recent findings, such as Worden’s, Rikli’s and others, are serving to debunk the myth that becoming old means becoming useless.
Also, changes in the aging population have spurred a growing interest in gerontology in academic circles. (Eighteen of the 19 campuses in the state university college system today offer some type of gerontology program. Cal State’s undergraduate program was established in 1982, and the school is awaiting approval of a master’s program in gerontology.)
A prime motivator for studying old age is the fact that people are living longer, said Jeffrey Young, a research professor and associate director of the school’s gerontology center. At the turn of the century, the average life expectancy was 50 years. Today, it is in the mid-70s and is expected to break the 80s by the year 2000, Young said. Now, about 13% of Orange County’s population is 60 or older, according to Young, who says that by 1990 that segment of the population should top 20%.
But research on the elderly does more than benefit the aging population. It can also provide important signposts to younger people--especially the current crop of Baby Boomers entering their middle years--on how to live more meaningful lives.
Peter Ebersole, a professor of psychology at Cal State, conducted a study asking a group of seniors something as basic, yet as profound, as the meaning of life. Study in this area is sorely lacking among psychologists, Ebersole noted. In fact, there is a general neglect overall of the elderly in the field of psychology, he said.
Most people in Ebersole’s study group said that relationships with spouse or family members--not religion or a personal philosophy--give their life the most meaning.
Ebersole stresses that the findings, published in the Journal of Psychology, are tentative because more work needs to be done. But he believes that his work indicates that people don’t spend much time thinking about philosophical matters that can enrich a life.
“We as Americans in general have not paid very much attention to thinking about our own personal meanings,” Ebersole surmised.
He plans to continue his research in this area, using the CLE group, and hopes the results will show how developing a deeper personal meaning about life--beyond relationships--can be more fulfilling.
As Cal State Fullerton embarks on its plans to gain new milestones in gerontology research, the UCI Medical Center is on the verge of breaking new ground in medical research.
Carl W. Cotman, a professor of psychobiology and neurology at UCI, has been studying aging and Alzheimer’s disease for 15 years. He recently co-founded a private pharmaceutical firm to develop diagnostic drugs to help victims of the disease. His study shows that the brain, even as it ages, is capable of regrowth and creating new cells to replace the old ones.
But as regrowth continues, the brain tends to get tangled in its own pathology and starts falling apart--which partially leads to memory loss, Cotman said. He compares the process to continued repair of an old car.
“You can keep doing some repairs until ultimately you do some repairs with not-so-perfect parts. You go over bumps and ultimately (the car) falls apart,” he said.
Advances are being made in drugs to retard the effects of Alzheimer’s disease, Cotman said, and some may eventually be used to enhance memory in normal people. But Cotman concurs with psychologist Worden of Cal State Fullerton that intellectual stimulation of the brain--”You either use it or lose it”--rather than artificial means such as drugs, has a more profound effect on retarding loss of memory over time.
Mary M. Watson, administrator of the program in geriatric medicine started about 10 years ago at UCI Medical Center, also oversees a health-assessment program for seniors. Four years in developing, the program uses doctors, social workers, nutritionists and pharmacists to analyze patients’ problems.
Why? Basically because many doctors are just beginning to find that “older people just present illness differently,” Watson said. For instance, blood vessels are more restricted in old age, which means the elderly react differently to viruses.
Watson believes younger generations can only benefit from the wealth of information developing from this relatively recent emphasis on the study of old age.
“Our parents are leaving us a big legacy by living so long. We’re learning lots from them,” she said.
