Saturday I began my second year of the UC Davis School of Medicine’s Mini Med School. Even if I completely retained the entire body of information from last year’s 6 week course (which I guarantee you I did not) I would want to join the weekly class anyway – it’s great to be inspired and informed by top professionals in the medical arena.
Dr. Michael McCloud is the driving force behind the annual series of classes held on consecutive Saturdays in February. The teachers come from U.C. medical school faculty and are often among the top experts in their fields. And, did I mention that the series is entirely free?
This year, nearly 500 people flooded into a lecture hall at UC Davis to take advantage of the opportunity. Yes, I estimate that 95% were over the age of 55 – some, well beyond that youthful mark. With the focus on making the second-half of life as healthy and enjoyable as possible, the appeal to the Baby Boomer population is obvious. We see that we have the promise of longer lives and we want those years to be hail and hearty. Some of us have watched with great concern as our parents slowly declined after “retirement.” Those changes can be very pain for families – and, perhaps unnecessary if we take consciously take control of a healthy future.
Dr. McCloud begins the first hour-long class with a slap in the face about the realities of aging. Yes, your earlobes do get longer and so does your nose (at least more prominent.) Women – we get about 3 inches shorter. Men, you don’t watch your health as well as women do and consequently usually die younger. There are other bodily changes to fret over and the good Doctor does not mince his words. He eschews the idea of “life span” in favor of “health span,” and describes this stage of life as “Not measured in birthdays but in losses and increased vulnerabilities.”
On the other hand, there is a great deal that we can do to steer our own body-vessels around many of the common threats to ‘health and longevity. This is Dr. McCloud’s take-away message and the entire point to Mini-Med School. Among the easiest ways to keep heart, muscle and mind strong is to exercise – don’t be frightened, no one’s talking tri-athalons and bench presses! Simple walking at a reasonable pace for maybe 30 minutes at least three times a week is enough to positively impact our health. A little simple weight resistance that can be done in the comfort of our homes helps to maintain healthy bones and gentle stretching is easy to do with Oprah (or Jim Lehrer) in the background. The courses also cover which supplements do (and don’t) support health, information about how the organs of the body work (and don’t), diet and nutrition (nothing radical here, just common sense) and other topics including a lecture of the beatitudes of beer. Dr. McCloud ‘health span includes years that are, “Free of chronic disease and disability.”
The classes are in no way “dumbed-down” for a lay audience. It’s a real medical education that delivered with humor, intensity and the expectation that the docs who volunteer to lecture really are making a difference in hundreds of lives. U.C. Mini Med School is a community-based program that’s worthy of community and corporate support. According to the folks I’ve spoken with, it’s pretty much one-of-a-kind and Sacramento ought to be proud and aware.
However, I have one observation to offer. The time to educate ourselves and prepare for the inevitability that many of us will be fortunate enough to enjoy "successfully aging," as Dr. McCloud is fond of saying, is not after the train has arrived at the station. I appreciate the preponderance of elders (I mean that term with the greatest respect) who attend the forums. However, I’d like to see at least half the room filled with 40-somethings preparing themselves for longer, better lives as they march to life’s midpoint and beyond. What a great time to absorb information, to create new habits, to get committed to lifetime regimens that could forever change our perceptions of aging.
I find the topic of healthy longevity fascinating – I read voraciously about it and had planned to get a Master’s Degree in a special area of aging (until our system of higher Ed collapsed and sunk the course). Now, it’s up to me to tap resources on my own and, thanks to U.C. Davis School of Medicine I have one of the nation’s top schools available to my inquiring mind – and aging (well) body. Next year, I’ll drag along someone at least a decade younger than me and see what happens when someone gets a healthy head start!
The book: 15 unsolicited queries floating in cyberspace and more to come this week.
Photo: The entertainingly brilliant Dr. Michael McCloud.
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