The numbers game

A few days ago, I caught an episode of the Today Show with Kathie Lee and Hoda on cable TV, called “You Are Not Your Number.”  The premise of the episode was the standard cliché, “Age is just a number,” albeit expanded for their purposes to include a person’s weight values as well. Predictably, the insight was that age and weight should have no bearing on one’s wellbeing; they are, simply, numbers.

But are they really just numbers or are they crucial signifiers in a person’s life? Doesn’t age assign an individual to a specific generation, which defines every aspect of how he grows up and how he turns out to be as an adult? Doesn’t age signify maturity or the lack of it? Doesn’t age establish an approximate sum total of one’s experiences at any given point in his life? Doesn’t advancing age bring forth milestones that we use as signposts by which we check how our life is unfolding compared to our peers? 

And what of our looks? Doesn’t age provide the benchmark for how well or how badly we have taken care of ourselves? Isn’t looking young one of the more powerful reasons why one commits to a healthy lifestyle? 

There also is the issue of weight. Not to obsess about it, but aren’t these weighing scale values sound indicators of how each of us is doing in terms of lifestyle choices? Some may prefer to overindulge, while others are vigilant in keeping their numbers down for health and aesthetic considerations. 

Whatever the reason, age and weight, along with a multitude of other numerical values in our lives, are important. Yes, they may be just numbers, but behind them are truths: facts that make up our personal histories. And although men and women differ in how they view such numbers, their degree of importance in everyone’s lives should be the same. 

So how do men regard all this number crunching? If the primary concern of women and numbers is physical manifestations of aging and how it affects their attractiveness, for men it’s their sexual viability/performance.

According to the website, wisegeek.com, 45 is the age when men should have their first prostate exam and annually thereafter. For women, 45 is the age they should have their first mammogram and yearly onward.

Starting at 55 years old, a man’s testosterone levels decrease as he ages and with this comes a multitude of concerns involving sexual dysfunction: lower sperm count; erections taking longer to occur; erections not being as hard; “recovery time” (between erections) increasing to 12 to 24 hours; force of ejaculation decreasing; sexual desire decreasing due to mounting health concerns and emotional problems. But don’t be too alarmed: these problems stabilize at around age 60.

As to hair loss, www.modern.info says that by the age of 35, two thirds of men will experience some degree of appreciable hair loss and at the age of 50, approximately 85 percent of men have significantly thinning hair.

Numbers, numbers, numbers. There’s no escaping them.

Just as running has turned into a trendy sport in the Philippines, a Berkeley lab study discusses weight gain among 4,769 serious runners between the ages of 18 and 50. It reports that weight gain occurred at the same rate regardless of the number of miles run per week. Per decade, the average six-foot-tall American male gained 3.3 pounds and about three fourths of an inch around the waist. Over the years, the weight gain adds up. Among the under-30 age group of runners in the study, 21 percent were moderately overweight. In the 45 to 49 age group, 30 percent were overweight. One can only imagine what the figures are for sedentary individuals. 

Concerning heart matters, men over age 45 and women over age 55 start becoming at risk for heart disease, as they get older. This is where the issue of blood pressure comes up. High blood pressure means that the heart exerts more force to pump the same quantity of blood within the same time. 

According to www.medindia.net, normal blood pressure levels are in the range of 120/80. High blood pressure ranges from 140/90 to higher. Mild hypertension levels are from 140 to 160/ 90-100. Moderate hypertension is from 166 to 200/ 100 to 120.  Severe hypertension is above 200/above 120. 

Had enough math? Sorry: cholesterol levels must be monitored periodically as well. Cholesterol is fat built up inside the walls of arteries that can increase the chances of heart failure. Optimal cholesterol levels are 120 to 129 milligrams per deciliter of blood. Borderline high levels are from 130 to 159 mg/dl. High-risk cholesterol levels are 160-189 mg/dl. Very high-risk levels are from 190 and above mg/dl.  Triglycerides are the main form of fat in the blood. Levels of these are indicators as well of those at risk for heart disease. Normal levels are less than 150 mg/dl. High levels are from 200 to 499 mg/dl. Very high-risk levels are 500 mg/dl and higher. 

Here’s where it hits home for men 40 and above.

These numbers are serious for males because maintenance medication at the onset of heart disease, diabetes and cholesterol and triglyceride problems may cause erectile dysfunction. If you have your numbers somewhere in these indices, a lifestyle change may be your only recourse. Vigilance is a must in keeping tabs on blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Exercise regular-ly. Don’t smoke. Get tested for diabe-tes. Eat healthy. Sleep well. 

Now that we’ve looked inside men, how about outside? Fewer men than women will turn to invasive procedures to preserve a youthful appearance. But nowadays, with the proliferation of world-class cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists, the big number question is no longer how old a woman is, but how much she has spent on cosmetic procedures such as implants, nips and tucks, liposuctions, Botox, fillers, diet pills, L-Carnitine injections, gym and personal trainer fees. I have a nagging suspicion that the amount she has spent on all these is directly proportional to her age as much as it is inversely proportional to her self-esteem. Nothing wrong with that, I suppose, if one has the means to finance such beautification projects. As long as she is willing to endure — and pay for — all that extra reconstruction work, why not?

On the subject of attractiveness, www.wikipedia.com offers some more numbers: the waist-to-hip ratio index is calculated by measuring the smallest circumference of the waist, just above the belly button, and dividing it by hip circumference at its widest part on the buttocks. For women, a dividend of 0.7 is ideal; for men, it is 0.9. The closer the numbers are to the ideal for both genders, the theory goes, the higher their rate of attractiveness.

One girlfriend who just recently been through an acrimonious annulment said these days it isn’t about how attractive a man is, or how old, not even how physically fit he is that counts. The moment you calculate how many wives/girlfriends/mistresses he actually has, you will have a clearer picture of how much he is worth — financially, at least — because it is an indicator of how much disposable income he has to support such dalliances. Net worth, regrettably, seems to have displaced age along with other character traits as the deal breaker in the desirability factor for men in the 40 and above age range, at least. 

Sad.

More than the physiological factors that numbers measure, shouldn’t we bother ourselves with numbers that tell us about the quality of life we have on a deeper, less superficial level?  Shouldn’t we be more conscious of how many real friends we have, how many people we have wronged, how many family members we remain on good terms with, how much time we spend with our children, how many people we have helped and made happy, how many lives we have touched and eased, how many dreams we have and how many of them we have achieved?

Maybe. But in the real world, such numbers often don’t compute.

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Thank you for your letters. You may reach me at cecilelilles@yahoo.com.