Extra Time: 10 Lessons for an Ageing Society - How to Live Longer and Live Better
From award-winning journalist, Camilla Cavendish, comes a profound analysis of one of the biggest challenges facing the human population today.The Western world is undergoing a dramatic demographic shift. By 2050, for the first time in history, the number of people aged 65 and over will outnumber children aged five and under. But our systems are lagging woefully behind this new reality. In Extra Time, Camilla Cavendish embarks on a journey to understand how different countries are responding to these unprecedented challenges.Travelling across the world in a deeply researched and entirely human investigation, Camilla contests many of the taboos around ageing, and sparks a debate about how governments, employers, the media and each one of us should handle the final few decades of life. In this manifesto for change, she argues that if we take a more positive approach, we should be able to reap the benefits of a prolonged life, and help the elderly to play a fuller part in society. But that will mean a revolution: in work, in education, in housing, in medicine – and in our attitudes.An intricate exploration of immediate, human issues, Extra Time features memorable stories certain to leave a lasting impact on all its readers.
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First published by HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
FIRST EDITION
Text © Camilla Cavendish 2019
Illustrations © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
Cover design by Steve Leard © HarperCollinsPublishers 2019
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Source ISBN: 9780008295158
Ebook Edition © May 2019 ISBN: 9780008295189
Version 2019-04-25
Contents
Demography tips the balance of power
The stages of life are changing
If exercise and diet was a pill, we’d all be taking it
Old brains can learn new tricks – and they must, to keep in shape
Immortality isn’t here yet, but anti-ageing drugs are on the way
Everyone needs a neighbourhood
Robots care for you, humans care about you
About the Publisher
The New World of Extra Time
IN 2018, A DUTCHMAN began a court battle to make himself legally 20 years younger. Emile Ratelband, 69, told a court in Arnhem in the Netherlands that he did not feel ‘comfortable’ with his official chronological age, which did not reflect his emotional state – and was preventing him from finding work, or love online. He wanted to change his date of birth from 11 March 1949 to 11 March 1969.
Doctors had told him that his body was that of a 45-year-old, Ratelband argued. ‘When I’m 69,’ he said, ‘I am limited. If I’m 49, I can take up more work. When I’m on Tinder and it says I’m 69, I’m outdated.’ His friends had urged him to lie, he claimed, but ‘if you lie, you have to remember everything you say’.
Ratelband compared his quest to be identified as younger with that of people who wish to be identified as transgender – implying that age should be fluid. He said his parents were dead, so could not be upset by his desire to turn back the clock. He even offered to waive his right to a pension.
Ratelband, a ‘positivity coach’, is a provocateur who enjoys attention. The court turned him down, ruling that an age change would have ‘undesirable implications’ for legal rights, such as the right to vote. But this seemingly frivolous case actually illustrates something profound: we are on the cusp of an entirely new period in our history, which is coming at us fast.
This is the advent of Extra Time.
If you are in your fifties or sixties today, you have a very good chance of living into your nineties. If you play your cards right and have luck on your side, many of those years could be healthy and productive. Our chronological age is becoming decoupled from our biological capabilities.
In football, ‘extra time’ is the period when there’s everything still to play for. That will be true for many of us. Droves of people are ‘unretiring’ and going back to work. Advances in biology and neuroscience will help us stay younger longer. But our institutions, and our societies, have not caught up. Ratelband’s looks, his physical strength, his ambitions are out of kilter with what we traditionally associate with being 69. He feels compelled to go to the extreme lengths of changing his birth date. Why can’t we, instead, just change our view of what it means to be 69?
The Fierce Urgency of 100
In 1917, King George V of England sent the first ever telegram to a centenarian. It was handwritten, and delivered by bicycle. In 2017, Queen Elizabeth II sent out thousands of 100th birthday cards, with a team of seven employed to administer them all.>1
The era of Extra Time will see a growing number of centenarians. The Office for National Statistics estimates that one in three babies born in Britain today will live to 100. Some scientists even think we could live to 150 (as we will see in Chapter 6).
This should be a fairy tale. Instead, there are widespread fears that we are sitting on a ‘demographic time bomb’, with droves of elderly people about to bankrupt governments and hurt GDP. If people get less creative as they age, and stop work around 60, economies could slump and younger generations could face crippling taxes.
