When age is associated with poor health and degeneration, I take offense. For me, it is more of a judgment than factual call from younger people who would not know the difference. Maybe, and that is just maybe, if some senior will actually tell me these myths are true then I would consider but right now, there are all myths and they have been busted!

1. Lose weight for longer life. Who ever told senior ladies should look like stick-thin models? This is the craziest I have heard, in fact. It seems that starting from age 10, young girls are reprimanded to lose weight for varying reasons which are sometimes incomprehensible, and now even senior ladies try hard to lose weight just because someone said so. Watching your weight and doing moderately intense exercises are good just because you are trying to maintain your ideal weight but starving yourself while aging is not a good idea, really. Seniors need to absorb all the nutrients from the food they eat and depriving yourself will only make your body weak. Unless you suffer obesity, there is no need to lose weight and it will not affect your health one way or another.
2. Age is equal to hearing loss. This is not an effect of natural aging process. Although there are relatively high numbers of seniors suffering hearing loss plus there is actually a little known science-based fact behind this allegation, aging is not the primary cause for this health problem. This is a gradual process that starts way back before you reach your golden age. Commonly, the causes are hereditary tendencies, ear trauma and inner ear malfunctions.
3. There are personality changes. Personalities never change whether in time or by force. You can never change a person just because he’s old. A kid’s sunny disposition will still remain sunny in his teenage years, adult years and senior years. It will not make any difference whatsoever. If you catch a senior sulking or withdrawn, he is having some problems either emotionally or physically, a common reaction even for adults.
4. Senility. Seniors do get dementia and Alzheimer’s but it’s quite unfair to be called senile just because we are old. Sure, seniors sometimes act foolishly or they can react impulsively to a certain situation but we know what we are doing and we are aware of the consequences of our actions.
5. Do not exercise when you reach 80. Of course, seniors can! They just have to be careful in breaking bones since at this age, it won’t grow back so moderately-intense exercise is the farthest they can go especially if they started working out at a later age. But for those well-built seniors, they can still maintain or even improve their bodies’ state as long as they can.
6. Seniors depend on other’s mercy. Physically, seniors today live independently and quite happily at that. Financial wise, seniors have money to tide them over so helplessness and dependency are not due to old age.
7. Large doses of multivitamins will extend a seniors life. Definitely not! Multivitamins are just supplements, essential to help you maintain your expected vigor and energy but this is not done to extend life. There is no known supplement proven to stop the aging process. Aging is inevitable. There’s no going around it.
8. Seniors are emotionally vulnerable. There are three main causes for an emotionally vulnerable senior. One is health, second is financial status and third is his social life. Their concerns are more or less comparable to younger adults so age is definitely not the issue here.
9. Stress is bad for seniors. Yes, of course, as it is bad for all of us. Who needs stress anyway? Stressful life does not benefit mankind of all ages. While others prefer to have some minor stresses in life, they just needed to feel alive that’s why.
10. It is not wise to hire a senior. I have heard this somewhere, that seniors are more of a liability than an asset to employers and some of them, after 15 years or so of service got fired just because they are old. You know, performance wise, seniors are more dependable than younger employees since we know the rules by heart, especially if the job requires mental and perceptual skills. Aside from education, seniors have life experiences under their belts, something that cannot be taught in school. The truth is, some employers dodge high payments required by the law for senior employees.

Basically, these myths were broken if the question lies in the natural process of aging alone. In reality, diseases commonly found in seniors are the ones making them weak and frail, unable to cope with their daily living demands. But, if a senior is fairly healthy, there is no reason for him not to live longer and live life to the fullest just like any other living adults.