THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH

Victor Bloom MD

Now, more than ever, people want to live long. And they want to live well, which means to be healthy, vigorous and of course, youthful. There is a new branch of medicine called 'anti-aging medicine.' Their proponents argue that with a combination of vitamins, herbs, hormones and exercise, old people will feel and be young again. It's an appealing message because nobody wants to deteriorate, to get feeble and die. Most everybody remembers their youth as a time of great energy, intense feelings and vivid yearnings. It is also a time of exquisite pain and grim frustration. But as we age, we usually mellow and lose this intensity, and feel we have lost something valuable, irreplaceable. But we can't go home again. And we'll never have another 'first love.'

Nobody wants to die. And yet more and more people are in the aging population, looking wistfully at youthful pastimes and indiscretions. This universal psychology is not lost on Madison Avenue, which caters more and more to the young. The young are 70 million strong and growing, says an article in the New York Times. No wonder the media focuses our attention on them--- experts have predicted that the young will be spending $160 billion this year, a 60% increase over three years ago. "That's a lot of money, and everyone wants a share."

What is interesting about the current culture is that as far as clothes and fashion are concerned, the generation gap is being blurred. Now middle-aged and older people are dressing like kids, with khakis, jeans and sneakers. Older men are working out to show their biceps, pecs and abs, older women are jogging and undergoing cosmetic surgery and breast augmentation or reduction. Liposuction is the latest answer to flabby bellies and thunder thighs.

What is there about flat bellies and full breasts that are so appealing? One expert opines that it is Darwinian. In pre-history men were attracted to the most fecund females, and those were teenagers. Adolescent girls characteristically have flat bellies, and when pregnant develop enlarged breasts. Those were the signs of fecundity and men were neurologically programmed to be visually attracted to them and propagate the species. Alpha males, then as now, were especially attracted to young girls, as they were more driven than the average male to disseminate their superior seed. And so, the fittest survived, the victors got the girls and here we are. Sex and fecundity belonged to the young and strong and few lived past age 30. Youth was all there was and where it was at, with rare exceptions.

No wonder there is a profusion of health clubs and workout centers, as men and women try to maintain the shape and tone of their high school years. Besides rational health reasons, most adults like the idea of remaining sexually attractive and desirable. They want to look good. Why not? This tendency to remain "Forever Young" is not new. Teenagers don't really have to work hard at being sexy. It's a time when hormones are raging and the softer sentiments are in the direction of being romantic and falling in love. Lots of parents think they are too young to handle love relationships, and so they generate restrictions and try to give precautionary lectures. Teenagers laugh about these futile efforts. Remember that popular song of Nat King Cole, "They Try to Tell Us We're Too Young (Too Young to Really Be in Love)? They are not too young. They are of the age of "Romeo and Juliet" and even more so, often blinded and smitten, infatuated with the whole idea of being in love. It is the beginning of the end of their ties to and dependence upon the nuclear families. They are coming of age, in transition, and develop their own values, standards and priorities, a fact not lost on the advertisers and merchants.

For better or for worse, they are at the mercy of the media moguls, who cater to their desire for excitement and impulsivity. The young are, by definition, relatively immature and enjoy breaking rules, generally more prone to taking risks, being impulsive and unconventional. And so they tend to imitate the movie and television stars, being 'cool', driving fast, smoking, drinking, littering, being careless, thoughtless and oblivious. The media in the various venues of rock concerts, video games, music videos and motion pictures encourage them to smoke dope and get drunk, decorate their bodies with various piercings and tattoos and wear wild and extravagant hairdoes and colors. And it has become cool to expose as much skin as possible, bare midriffs and décolletages. Miracle Bras, Wonderbras and breast augmentation have increased the average bust size to 36C. In 1991 the average size was 36B. Before that it was 34B.

Many old folks try very hard to stay young, by looking young, dressing young, acting young and convincing themselves they ARE young! How old are you? "I am 92 years YOUNG!" An wise old philosopher attributed his wisdom and serenity to being free of "the tyranny of sex." In these times of the power of the media, it is increasingly difficult to be free of this tyranny. It's all we can do to stay rational and retain wholesome values, but it is worth the effort.

Dr Bloom is Clinical Associate Professor of Psychiatry, Wayne State University School of Medicine. He is a member of the American Academy of Psychoanalysis and on the editorial board of the Wayne County Medical Society. He welcomes comments at his email address--- vbloom@comcast.net.