I have a feeling that due to this tremendous amount of heat that were going through here on the plateau that we won’t be on the porch here very long. Well I came across a headline in a newsfeed that really sent me to pondering.  “Old People Smell.” Let me repeat that… “Old People Smell.” OK I pondered on that and I thought well it could be personal hygiene, maybe some health issues, or maybe because we’re such an odd lot It might be the things we like to eat. Now, sometimes we can even smell like the food that we eat if we eat enough of it.  After some research I was educated to the fact that it is not a sign of hygiene, it most likely is because of our age and it’s influenced by factors like that health conditions and medication. This age thing could get to the point where it’s quite a burden for us older folks to carry. Not only can we not see well, but we can’t drive well either or hear and we take too much time to make up our minds in lines at a takeout like McDonald’s or Arby’s any place like that you know people say we’re too slow. I couldn’t just put this aside so I did a little more research and tried gathereing some facts, to defend us in some instances. It is believed by our friends and the scientific and medical community that there is a compound that is a primary culprit and it’s a byproduct of the breakdown of omega seven fatty acids on the skin surface. As we age our skins natural antitoxic defenses declined leading to an increased oxidation of skin lipids. There’s also some changes to take place in our sweat glands. These glands produce a sweat and when we sweat it may become less active with age, so I’m reading all this and it just seems to keep coming other factors like diet, health conditions like diabetes or kidney disease. The medication we take, lifestyle choices can also affect our body smell. But here’s the kicker, research, suggest that while people recognize a different scent of older adults it’s not necessarily perceived as unpleasant, well, thank you for that! And then, as I kept reading, it gets even funnier to me. Some studies have shown that volunteers rated the smell of older, elderly people as less intense and unpleasant than those of younger or middle-age people according to the scientific American. So if you’re out in public and somebody just walks up out of nowhere, it starts sniffing at you don’t be too quick to be offended. They’re probably conducting a very important scientific study. That smell has often been described as musty, grassy or greasy. I seem to remember back in the day and for me that’s way back, we used to have a saying when somebody got upset or irritated simply “easy greasy.” Now, with all that having been said, the article that I was reading gave some tips on how to manage this old people smell, you need to have a diet that treats those causes and various antitoxins, fruits vegetables can help combat with lipid oxidation. They recommend that we stay hydrated. Skin care is very important hygiene regular bathing, and washing of clothes and bedding can help and we need to be aware of underlying health problems we may have that’s causing this. Now I have often heard it said that us older folks can be an aggravation we get in the way and some of the other things I listed. We’re too slow. We don’t hear well we don’t see well and now we stink, which brings me to simply asking you to consider…Pondering This! Us older folks Stink!

Consider This… On amazon.com there is a 6 count of Febreze Air Mist for $23

Kurt