By the year 2030, 20% of the United States (US) population (representing 71 million people) will be older than 65 years. Similarly, in China, Japan, and Europe, aging populations will begin to overwhelm societies, placing more burden on the younger for their support. There is a prevailing philosophy that all people should become retired in Japan at 60 years of age and in the US at 65 to 70 years. Yet when these ideas occurred, first developed by Bismarck in the late 1800s, no one suspected that people would live that long. Now people are living 20, 30, and 40 years longer than they expected—yet many have retired. For many, there are financial challenges of how they can support themselves for the rest of their life. For others, boredom from lack of any meaningful activity produces depression and changes in the relationship of husband and wife who were used to the husband being the working provider, while after retirement he has become a homebody.
There are predictions that with the amazing advances in medicine and biology people will live until 160 years of age; some predict even longer life spans beginning in the 21st century. Artificial intelligence will allow machines to create new ideas and solve problems now presented to humans for resolving. This change is predicted to occur by 2030 by some futurists. So the rapid changes in scientific advances will come even faster, including a solution to diseases that limit life span.
I have seen colleagues waiting to retire after a life of neurosurgery only to find that they are bored. I have seen other retirees who play golf in the morning, cards in the afternoon, and party at night, but gradually become more involuted and withdrawn, with limited vocabularies because they no longer have exposure to new ideas or brain stimulation. The psychology between husbands and wives undergoes dramatic changes as their lives and life roles change with retirement. People become depressed and critical. To me, this is a clinical syndrome, which will be called retirement. It will be a disease. No animal retires except for humans. There is abundant scientific evidence that brain cells continue to be newly generated until the moment we die. The more you use your brain, the more you challenge your mind and force associative connections between and among neurons through synaptic growth, the more the brain expands its functions. This is known as brain plasticity. Furthermore, there is a large body of scientific evidence that reports that physical exercise can prolong life, and provide a healthier life and happiness. Physical exercise will provide proteins that stimulate brain growth. Physical exercise will also delay the onset of Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and other disorders. Yet, many as they age have little or nothing to do. Although inactivity will lead to mental and physical deterioration in the aging, the obesity and overweight problems that are prevalent in the younger will expose this group of people to earlier death from diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and other diseases.
So what is the message here? Are we self-destructing? Is Darwin's principle of “survival of the fittest” in operation here? The answer is “yes," unless you do something about it personally.
“Use it or lose it” applies to each one of us.
There are many wonderful challenges facing us at all ages. What doctors do not do is plan for what they will do after neurosurgery. What will you do with the rest of your life? Mel Cheatham wrote many papers for Surgical Neurology on “Profiles in Volunteerism,” stories about people who have used their neurosurgical talent to help others in around the world, many in regions of poverty. That is just one idea.
Ask yourself, “What will I do with the rest of my life?” Make a plan regardless of your age and follow that plan just as you have the first part of your life to become a neurosurgeon. You may have a lot more time to develop and use your abilities than you think.
For more information, direct your Internet browser to http://www.theleadinggen.org.
Good luck.
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