Silver Shades of Grey

Memos for Successful Ageing in the 21st Century

Kanwaljit Soin

• Publisher: WS PROFESSIONAL
• Year: 2018
• eBook ISBN: 9789813231351
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Gerontology
• Index: Social Sciences

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Are you a young person? Middle-aged? Old? It doesn't really matter. Each of us grows older every second. Most of us age without taking charge of our life course, without a plan for our ageing. This book offers some operating instructions for life, a guide to engaging passionately with age!

Dealing with a plethora of subjects, such as health, happiness, loneliness, dementia, sex, gender, marriage, abuse, respect, wage, wealth, class, and care, the book touches on how ageing affects us as individuals and as a society.

It explores a few of the mysteries and miracles of life, and some of its myths. It encourages us to cope creatively with the mundaneness of our continuing life.

The author invites you to join her as she delves into these questions about life and ageing with curiosity and contemplation, and with a sense of awe and adventure.

--> Contents:

• Body:
  • Age & Replace
  • Age & Pace
  • Age & Real Age
  • Age & Damage
  • Age & Haze
  • Age & Rage
  • Age, Sex & Porn
  • Age & Eternity
  • Age & Frailty
  • Age & Health
• Mind & Spirit:
  • Age & Alone
  • Age & Create
  • Age & Daze
  • Age & Smarts
  • Age & Fear of Crime
  • Age & Haha
• Culture:
  • Age & Wager
  • Age & Face
  • Age & Sage
  • Age & Gender
  • Age in Place
  • Age & Marriage
  • Age & Ageism
  • Age & Abuse
  • Age & Respect
  • Age & Apocalypse
  • Age & Adage
  • Age & Death
• Economy:
  • Age & Wage
  • Age & Next Gen
  • Age & Leverage
  • Age, Wealth & Health
  • Age, Place & Class
  • Age & Care
  • Age & Security
  • Age & Laze
  • Age & Silver Economy

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--> Readership: General Public. -->
Keywords:Ageing;Popular Title;Active AgeingReview:

"Dr Kanwaljit Soin has produced a highly engaging, readable, and informative book on the subject of ageing. It is written for all genders to help the reader understand and embrace the inevitable ageing process. With her medical background, she explains simply and clearly, sometimes with a touch of wit, issues of ageing that have troubled us and have no one to ask. The book is also for researchers in universities and research centres who work on the subject because it is rich in medical information, social analyses and public policy discussion."

Professor Chan Heng Chee
Chairman, Lee Kuan Yew Center for Innovative Cities
Singapore University of Technology and Design

"Dr Soin has given so many golden nuggets of her experiences on healthy living and ageing well. I am sure many will find much truth and emulate and gain confidence in themselves to be able to function well as senior members of society and be a joy to their families and friends"

Dorothy Chan
Executive Director, Far East Organization

"How do we prepare for a life we haven't lived? If indeed forewarned is forearmed, this book is a must read. It's informative, holistic and enlightening. A positive endorsement that 'ageing' can be enjoyable."

Patricia Chan
Swimming's Pioneer Golden Girl and Women's Hall of Fame & Sports Hall of Fame

"Dr Kanwaljit Soin is a Woman for All Ages. She is compassionate, inclusive and clear-eyed about problems that face us; a doer, not an arm-chair theorist; a tireless champion of the underdog. Above all, she celebrates life in all its complexity. Any book by her will be engaging, exhilarating and, above all, life-enhancing."

Dr Geh Min
Environmentalist and former Nominated Member of Parliament (Jan 2005–Apr 2006)

"This book is literally everything you ever wanted to know about growing old. But Dr Soin does not bore you to old age. Her message is optimistic and hopeful: Don't be afraid of growing old, and don't be afraid of other people growing old. But, first, you need to read this book."

Han Fook Kwang
Editor-At-Large, The Straits Times and
Senior Fellow, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies

"This is a highly educational, fun and easy to read book on a subject that affects us all — getting older and ageing. Dr Soin brilliantly reveals the difference between our chronological, biological and psychological age, and how we can modify the ageing process to live in greater fitness and well-being. A must read for all ages and stages of life."

Dr Noeleen Heyzer
member of the United Nations Secretary-General's High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation

"Here is prose chiming with vitality and possibilities, clarity, wit and wisdom; its subject, the very thing that informs its brilliance. Dr Soin, the medical specialist AND activist are both true to form here. Her objective is clear. What is the use of knowledge if not to facilitate new ways of being?"

Dana Lam
author of Days of Being Wild: Walking the Line with the Opposition

"With characteristic flair, Dr Kanwaljit Soin looks at a traditionally sensitive topic, ageing, from the widest possible range of perspectives, including the biological, psychological and sociocultural. To this vastness of scope, she brings an assured tone, moving easily from unflinching admonition to friendly advice, from earnest instruction to warm understanding and humour."

Dr Catherine Lim
writer

"This brilliant, reassuring, simply-written book summarizes, 'all you need to know' about ageing from various perspectives — biological, psychological, medical, financial, individual, societal — drawing from the latest scientific and social-scientific research to suggest practicable actions that individuals, families and governments can take to realize the full potential of ageing populations."

Professor Linda Lim
Professor Emerita of Corporate Strategy and International Business
Stephen M Ross School of Business, University of Michigan

"Dr Soin is not only an expert on medical aspects of ageing, but she is a brilliant writer, whose stories and facts offer inspiration for the critical global issue of growing old. A must-read for old and young alike, since we are all heading in the same direction toward 'seniority'."

Professor Meg Lowman
Director of Global Initiatives
California Academy of Sciences, USA

"Dr Kanwaljit Soin is absolutely right. Ageing is untraveled territory for humanity. For 99.9% of human history, we lived for only 30 to 40 years. Now many of us, if not most, will exceed 65 years. So how do we cope? In a small book filled with uncommon common sense and deep insights of wisdom, she has prepared an indispensable guide. It shines a valuable light on an untraveled path that most of humanity will now walk on. As I turn 70, I will heed her advice. I would strongly encourage you to do so too."

Professor Kishore Mahbubani
National University of Singapore and
the author of Can Asians Think?

"This vitally important and readable book is a timely contribution to issues of ageing. The author, Dr Kanwaljit Soin, examines all the complexities and contradictions of growing old and she does this by deftly blending history, culture, hard data, common sense advice and liberal doses of humour to keep the reader engaged in a subject that is not always entertaining nor appealing. That is a remarkable achievement."

Constance Singam
writer and social activist

" Silver Shades of Grey is an innovative book that addresses the many questions individuals and societies should ask about how we grow old. Dr Kanwaljit Soin nimbly combines scientific information with humanistic wisdom. The book is a lively, informative read that triggers deep reflections on what we can do to embrace our ageing society and harness this as a valuable asset rather than a liability. "

Professor Teo You Yenn
sociologist and author of This is What Inequality Looks Like

"This is a book you dip into. Each dip will reward you with a fistful of facts that are food for thought — about you and your ageing process, and about whether as a society we are doing enough to adjust to the reality of our greater longevity and extended vitality."

Margaret Thomas
writer/editor and lifelong procrastinator who believes we should all procrastinate about ageing

"'We are only old once,' concludes Dr Kanwaljit Soin in this highly readable, informative, entertaining, and inspiring collection of memos on ageing. She describes the art and science of successful ageing, reminding us that, ultimately, ars moriendi (the art of dying) is really ars vivendi (the art of living). Wonderful reading for those who want to celebrate life at any age!"

Dr Astrid Tuminez
Regional Director, Corporate
External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft (Southeast Asia)

"Ageing is a multi-faceted process. This book covers a wide range of topics on ageing as part of an individual's life course and as part of the demographic transition taking place in many populations of the world. Drawing from some recent advancements in biological and medical sciences, social research findings and evidence-based practices of active and healthy ageing, Dr Soin has helped dispel myths and prejudices against ageing, advocated special attention to gender inequalities in ageing, and pointed to how individuals and policy-makers can harness the qualities of ageing for continuous human growth and social development. The text is peppered with wittiness

References &
Further Reading

Preface

xiii	34 countries: Moody’s 2014 announcement, “Aging will reduce economic growth worldwide in the next two decades” and S. O’Connor, “World will have 13 ‘super-aged’ nations by 2020,” Financial Times, 2014.
xiii	over 600 million people: W. He et al., “An aging world: 2015–International population reports,” U.S. Census Bureau, International Population Reports, P95/16-1, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Publishing Office, 2016.
xiv	half a million centenarians: R. Stepler, “World’s centenarian population projected to grow eightfold by 2050” Pew Research Centre, 2016.

BODY

1	99.9% of the time: Chapter 5 (“The Last Chapter: Cell Aging and Death”) in Inside the Cell, an online e-book published by The National Institute of General Medical Sciences (based in the US).

Chapter 1

6	50 million of our cells: The Science Museum in London has a long-standing exhibition, “Who am I?” with a section on “What do your cells do”.
61	200 billion new red blood cells: P. Barnes-Svarney and T. E. Svarney, The Handy Anatomy Answer Book, Visible Ink Press, 2016, page 30.
6	100 trillion cells: “The human body facts and worksheets” by KidsKonnect.
7	30,000–40,000 epidermal cells: “How many skin cells do you shed every day?” by E. Grabianowski for HowStuffWorks.
7	300–500 days: “Life span of human cells defined: most cells are younger than the individual,” by CORDIS (Community Research and Development Information Science). CORDIS is the European Commission’s primary portal for results of EU-funded research projects.
7	7–10 years: Besides CORDIS, the research also made it to the Time Higher Education website with further information from the research presented.
8	shrinkage of chromosomes: R. Williams, “Aging shrinks chromosomes,” TheScientist, 2016. She cites a scientific research paper by S. W. Criscione et al., “Reorganization of chromosome architecture in replicative cellular senescence,” Science Advances, 2: e1500882, 2016.
9	the pancreas and the heart: University of Copenhagen’s Center for Stem Cell Biology (DanStem), “About Stem Cells”.
9	3 mm per month: L. Abdullah and O. Abbas, “Common nail changes and disorders in older people: Diagnosis and management,” Canadian Family Physician, 57(2): 173–181, 2011.

Chapter 2

12	quantification of biological ageing: For the scientific article, see D. W. Belsky et al., “Quantification of biological aging in young adults,” Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 112(30): E4104–E4110, 2015. For the easily-digestible version, there is “Signs of ageing appear in mid-20s” by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation in 2015.
13	fitness age: G Reynolds, “What’s your fitness age?” The New York Times, October 2014.
14	online questionnaire: “How fit are you, really?” at http://www.worldfitnesslevel.org/#/.
14	Researchers: P. W. Kasch et al., “Effect of physical activity and inactivity on aerobic power in older men (a longitudinal study),” Journal of Physician Sports Medicine, 18: 73–83, 1990.
14	35 years of age: H. Tanaka and D. R. Seals, “Endurance exercise performance in Masters athletes: age-associated changes and underlying physiological mechanisms,” The Journal of Physiology, 586(Pt1): 55–63, 2008.
14	After age 30: “Aging changes in organs — tissue — cells” from Penn State Health’s online encyclopaedia.
14	Heart Age* Predictor: “Heart Age* Predictor Using BMI” can be found online at https://www.framinghamheartstudy.org/risk-functions/cardiovascular-disease/general-cvd-risk-prediction-using-bmi.php.
15	telomeres: Learn Genetics (by the University of Utah), “Are telomeres the key to aging and cancer”.
15	risk of ischaemic heart disease: Chapter 1, “Bu...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Halftitle
• Title
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Preface
• Contents
• BODY
• MIND & SPIRIT
• CULTURE
• ECONOMY
• Postface
• References and Further Reading
• About the Author