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Let's see. Take two people. One gives care. The other doesn't. Which lives longest.
Which wishes he or she were dead first.
Just teasing you, but how could we ever know?
At the end of their lives, my Mom in her late 80s seemed to me to be failing, and my Dad, in his mid 90s strong. Then my dad weakened and my Mom stepped up to care for him, and for those two or three years she became so vibrant, so strong. She seemed to thrive. He didn't have dementia, and I think the toll of that is more than almost anyone can bear, as you are caring for someone you cannot recognize and who cannot recognize you.
I think it is more our own personalities that take years off our lives.
I can become so anxious when order slips. My OCD kicks in and I become almost paralyzed by the physical reaction of the anxiety. You know the drill if you get it--slamming heart, confusion, almost a loss of hearing. I think that has to not be good for the body, given that cortisol levels seem implicated in cancers and so on. It has to be hard on both our bodies and our minds, I think.
But there won't be a way of measuring it unless we can do another identical twins study.
Let's see. One twin gets the parents. The other gets cruise trips and dinners out.
My parents had a fun filled wonderful retirement and they lived into their mid-to-late 90's. Will I? I doubt it :(
My bucket list is now a thimble list.... [sigh]
Double whammy if you see what I mean.
My grandmother cared for my grandfather for about a decade, in my memory he was always frail and by the end he was mostly confused and bed bound (and keep in mind we didn't have any of the conveniences and supports that are available today). My grandmother died some 15 years later in her 91st year - do you suppose she may have lived longer if she hadn't been a caregiver?
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