AARP Hearing Center
All together now: Age is nothing but a number! You're only as old as you feel! Trust us: We've heard 'em all. And, they're mostly true. Thanks to medical science and the intrepidness of the boomer generation, older Americans really are disrupting the limits of aging in ever more astonishing ways. We asked the experts to tell us what's possible and when to think twice.
Play drums in a rock band
Hazards: Physically Dangerous (PD); Incredibly Expensive (IE); Potentially Embarrassing (PE); Utterly Improbable (UI)
Hitting the skins, says drum teacher Joe Costello, "can be therapeutic at any age." (One of his students is a 68-year-old flight attendant.) Charlie Watts of the Rolling Stones and ex-Beatle Ringo Starr are still keeping time at 74; they're practically kids next to Dick Richards of Bill Haley and His Comets, who's touring at 91. "My legs feel good, my arms feel good — I hope to rock till I drop," Richards says. But drumming is hard on the joints, ears and heart: In 2008, British researchers found that 52-year-old Blondie drummer Clement Burke's heart rate raced to 190 beats per minute during a show. (He also burned 600 calories an hour.) "If you're adding rock drumming to your routine, start out slowly," recommends personal trainer Bob Merz. "Your heart will indeed be challenged."
Go into space
Hazards: PD, IE, PE, UI
Astro-tourism outfit Space Adventures placed seven private citizens on the International Space Station, three of whom were over 50. "There is no upper age limit for any of our programs," says company CEO Tom Shelley. (You do have to be rich: Trips cost $52 million.) John Glenn returned to space aboard a shuttle at 77, and NASA's Story Musgrave flew the last of his six missions at 62. "I got better at it as I went along," he says. "Everyone should have a look at space." If you can ride a roller coaster, you'll probably survive: The stresses during launch and reentry are roughly the same. But the cosmic void isn't friendly to aging bodies — the environment aggravates everything from insomnia to indigestion. Longer off-planet trips could be even more trouble. "Prolonged zero gravity can weaken bones," says Mayo Clinic rheumatologist Shreyasee Amin.
Do your own stunts
Hazards: PD, IE, PE, UI
Too late to be the fall guy? Probably. "I don't like taking anybody more than 35," says Hollywood Stunts NYC owner Bob Cotter of his intensive three-week training program for aspiring stunt performers. Injuries that would be a strain to a 25-year-old break bones at 60. (A safer alternative: $80 will get you a class in falling technique and a chance to leap off a platform onto an air bag.) But then there's legendary brawler "Judo" Gene LeBell, who has hundreds of film and TV credits. He's still taking punches at a jaw-dropping 82. "Every movie star in Hollywood has beaten me up," he says. "I'm trying to retire. I want to start racing motorcycles again."
Go drag racing
Hazards: PD, IE, UI
Known as the First Lady of Funny Cars, Bunny Burkett is 70 and still smoking younger rivals. Fellow savvy veteran John Force, 66, won his 16th National Hot Rod Association championship in 2013. How do they keep up? Force credits an unrelenting practice schedule, while Burkett insists that her reflexes haven't declined with age. She might be right, says Roger Ratcliff of Ohio State University's Cognition and Language Lab. Though the reaction time of older drivers slows, he says "a lot of the slowdown is due to their not wanting to make mistakes." In "one-choice tests" (such as red means "stop," or green means "go"), older drivers can be nearly as fast as 20-year-olds.
Become a doctor
Hazards: IE, UI
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