I recently came across the story of Richard Morgan, from Ireland. Richard is 93 and is a master indoor rower and four time world champion, winning in 2007, 2017, 2021 and 2022. Prior to the age of 73, Richard did not undertake any structured training or exercise. He was recently the subject of a research study by a team from the Universities of Shannon, Masstricht and Limerick. What’s remarkable about Richard is that researchers found that measures of his heart health, muscle mass, and overall fitness were more comparable to that of a healthy 30 or 40-year-old than that of another nonagenarian.
Imagine if we were able to give - and demonstrate - our metabolic (and mental?) ages, in place of the calendar variety. It might be the equivalent of black box telemetry in car insurance. Suddenly 'old' people look young, and some 'young' ones quite old. Richard would be able to get affordable travel insurance to attend competitions, for instance. Isn't it increasingly out of kilter with society's values that calendar-age-based discrimination is still seen as logical and reasonable?
Imagine if we were able to give - and demonstrate - our metabolic (and mental?) ages, in place of the calendar variety. It might be the equivalent of black box telemetry in car insurance. Suddenly 'old' people look young, and some 'young' ones quite old. Richard would be able to get affordable travel insurance to attend competitions, for instance. Isn't it increasingly out of kilter with society's values that calendar-age-based discrimination is still seen as logical and reasonable?