I Should Start Thinking About My Healthy Life Expectancy, Too

As I approach my mid-sixties, the idea of “healthy life expectancy” is beginning to feel much more personal. Japan is rapidly becoming an aging society, and I will soon officially join its elderly population. I cannot stop myself from getting older, but I can at least think about how I want to age. For now, my most immediate goal is very simple: lose five kilograms.

A typhoon is approaching, and I have a headache.

According to the noon news, it is a large and powerful typhoon with a central pressure of 960 hPa.

My headache is getting worse, and my joints are aching as well.

Anne also seems listless. I wonder if she is feeling under the weather, too.

Today is Respect for the Aged Day in Japan.

On NHK, cooking expert Remi Hirano blurted out, “Today is Old People’s Day,” and was quickly corrected by the announcer. But she is 79 herself, so perhaps she said it with a touch of self-deprecating humor.

Nearly 30 percent of Japan’s population is now aged 65 or older.

I will soon be 63 myself. In about two years, I too will officially join the ranks of the elderly.

I sometimes wonder what people in their sixties looked like to me when I was a child. But times have changed so much that such comparisons probably do not mean very much.

As someone who will soon be joining the elderly population, one thing I should keep in mind is to stay as healthy as possible and keep the period of my life when I need medical care as short as possible.

For me, extending my healthy life expectancy is more important than anything else.

And to do that, I would first like to lose five kilograms and get myself out of my somewhat metabolic-syndrome-prone state.

The fact that I cannot seem to manage even that is probably my biggest concern at the moment.

Growing older is inevitable, but how I grow older is something I can still work on.

Vocabulary for Learners

healthy life expectancy — 健康寿命。健康上の制限なく生活できる期間。

listless — 元気がない、だるそうな。人にも動物にも使える表現。

feel under the weather — 体調がすぐれない、気分が悪い。口語的な表現。

self-deprecating humor — 自分自身を少しからかうような、自嘲的なユーモア。

join the ranks of ... — 「〜の仲間入りをする」。ややユーモラスにも使える表現。

keep in mind — 心に留めておく、意識しておく。

inevitable — 避けられない、必然的な。

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