AGNES Suit And Aging Simulation On 'The Doctors'

Ever wish you could convey to your kids and grandkids what it feels like to get older: the aches, the stiffness, the difficulty moving? Joyce, who has had trouble keeping up with her daughter Gabby now that she's older, went beyond trying to explain aging and instead challenged Gabby to feel it for herself, courtesy of "The Doctors."

Watch the above clip to see "The Doctors" co-host Travis Stork and Gabby try out the AGNES suit from MIT AgeLab, which simulates certain physical problems of old age.

Comments

[MikeDu]

04:31 PM on 03/03/2012

Really, the only thing I would think to do to recreate aging is to place headphones on someone which broadcasts a constant ringing, give them a pill that makes pizza upset their stomach, then give them a hard kidney punch so they'll be in pain and pee blood. Ah, the indignity of growing old

[simian sez]

02:03 PM on 03/03/2012

The lady is right. "Slow down and appreciate what you are doing!"

[SaddleBum]

01:40 PM on 03/03/2012

MIT actually studied many hours of footage of the US senate to build AGNES

[img005]

01:26 PM on 03/03/2012

What is great about youngicity is precisely its mindless energy and clueless enthusiasm. In other words, the driving force of youth is endearing stupidity and obliviousness to reality. Why should we put bounds on this energy by reminding it of the inevitable future awaiting it?

[Denis Urbanczik]

01:23 PM on 03/03/2012

Old age need not mean suffering will come! It can become the most beautiful part of life, the experience of whole life is behind you, you are not chasing anything anymore, you are simply looking, once again child like. "If only the body wasn't giving me a hard time"
Body can be pleasant even at 90, are you taking the necessary care? Unfortunately that's rare, and for many old age means struggle. The situation is definitely improving, but still for so many people unless something goes wrong, they will not even notice that they actually have a body.
We are too busy with other "important" stuff, that we simply forget about our selves. It's always about tomorrow. Quality of our tomorrow's health is based on what you do today, not the other way around. I have seen 80, 90 years old people being in a great shape just by daily practice of very simple yoga, see for your self: http://www.stillischill.com/2011/12/92-year-old-yogi-tao-porchon-lynch-im.html

[Tim Johnson]

01:20 PM on 03/03/2012

I have literally stopped all contact with certain people when I saw how badly they treated their older parents...please watch this and have some compassion for our seniors.

[joebtfsplk]

12:56 PM on 03/03/2012

As Satchel Paige once said, “Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter.”

It’s good advice as long as you ignore the chronic, untreatable pain, loss of vision and hearing and the gradual deterioration of thought processes that began at retirement and has been proceeding unchecked for the past 20 years.

But there’s no substitute for a positive attitude and having something to do to keep physically active every day. My wife lately has been taking on longer and longer projects. I suspect it keeps her from thinking about the inevitable, and I enjoy having her around.

[AVoiceInThe Darkness]

12:24 PM on 03/03/2012

What schtick. It isn't until the end where the reporter (cum doctor) actually states that you can stave it off, but he never clarifies that if you live long enough it will happen. Everybody ages differently and that is the real point I'm making. Coming up: Why you should never hold urine.

[ripples]

11:50 AM on 03/03/2012

Ahhh yes the 'golden years' - well I'm in my 70s and let me tell ya the 'golden years' ain't 'golden' and the phrase was probably someones idea of sarcasm. My only advice is to enjoy your younger years, it doesn't get any better.

[MikeDu]

04:35 PM on 03/03/2012

I've often joked that almost every author of a 'stay young forever' article seems to be 49 years old. Just the age where you can still imagine you've magically beaten the odds, and only a couple year away from when the realities about aging start to set in.

[MJS]

11:38 AM on 03/03/2012

Getting old ain't for sissies.
~Bette Davis

[alyseven]

11:35 AM on 03/03/2012

I will kill myself before I get too old. I'd rather live fast and die young. There is nothing positive to look forward to about aging. I don't fear death- I fear living in pain, frustration and being dismissed by society. I won't get to that point.

[MikeDu]

04:42 PM on 03/03/2012

The 1960s hippies who coined the phrase "never trust anyone over 30" are now reaching 70. The analogy of the frog in the pot of water applies to aging. You don't simply switch from young to old. The frog placidly sits there as the heat slowly gets turned up and it simply doesn't notice that its the process of getting cooked. As for being dismissed by society, welcome to the 99%.

[alyseven]

09:36 PM on 03/03/2012

Oh, I know I'm getting old. Already, I can feel it. I can see it. I am uniquely lucky in that I have always looked much younger than I am. When I was a student at NYU, I had a woman approach me in Washington Sq Park and ask what I was doing there by myself. I told her I was a student at NYU and she literally gasped (which is something that rarely happens unless startled). She told me she thought I was 11. I was cast in numerous plays as a pre-teen or young teen while in college (although I wasn't in Tisch and was not enrolled in any acting classes.) That was nearly 10 years ago and I've been told by everyone, including multiple doctors and medical professionals, that they thought I was 10 years younger when they found out my real age. I don't tell people how old I am because I don't want to be my age. Every day I know it's the youngest I'll ever be, but I also know I only have about 10 more years before I start considering taking my own life.

[Acharn]

08:18 AM on 03/05/2012

Oh, dear, you're sounding like Jinny Dean, "Rebel Wighout A Cause," but that's from my generation. When I was younger I kind of felt the same way, but when I was 39 my boss staged an intervention and I went through alcohol rehab. I was lucky with my AA groups, and even though I'm a loner new and can't get to meetings I haven't needed a drink for 36 years and life has been wonderful. I realize it's likely to be all downhill from here, but at 75 I'm still blessed with good health and a loving (second) wife. One thing I learned was to pay attention during the day for anything good that happned, so that at night, before going to sleep, I could thank my higher power for that good thing. And after several years of doing that, I found all I had to do was be thankful for being sober, because all the rest flows from that. Sorry if I sound preachy; hope you're not offended. I'm not suggesting you quit drinking, but start thanking the Goddess or whoever (I'm an agnostic, myself, so I have lots of choices which may or may not exist). And if nothing good happens all day long, you can thank Chthulhu that the fscking day is over (note: fsck is the Unix file system checking tool).

[alyseven]

11:49 AM on 03/05/2012

Sorry. I am not sure I should use the internet after drinking, lol! I don't even drink, really. Maybe 3-4 times a year and I only ever drink enough to get a buzz going maybe twice a year, if that. I'm always happy for the things to be happy about and I savor those moments, but it is just frustrating when there are less and less of those moments. I am grateful for a lot of things in life, but gratitude is not happiness or even satisfaction, and it does not cancel out the bad. I can be both grateful and depressed since one has nothing to do with the other. I just need a little more happiness in my life. I'm not looking to have every moment filled with joy- just more things to laugh, smile and feel good about. It seems that as I get older, those things become more and more infrequent.

[hugatree]

11:24 AM on 03/03/2012

Absolutely take care of your body. But the message here is a little off. Taking care of your body doesn't guarantee that you won't age and won't feel its natural effects. I am 63 and live in an over 55 apartment complex. Even the most physically fit individuals who still work out and always eat properly exhibit the effects of aging to some extent. We all get old, and it's about time that our culture recognizes that fact.

[Ernst Angst]

11:17 AM on 03/03/2012

Old Age Comes at a Very Bad time.
--Bumper Sticker in Sacramento, Ca.

[ElAnthony]

10:49 AM on 03/03/2012

Wow. Saying "come on mom" and shaking your head at your mom while she TAKES YOUR DISHES OUT OF THE WASHING MACHINE. That's an absolutely horrible child.

[tresbonbon]

10:38 AM on 03/03/2012

Wow! At 72, I can tell you, that suit looks like what getting old really feels like. Your mind thinks you can do things but your body doesn't let you. I felt pretty good until around age 70. Then I really started to notice my limitations. It stinks. It also doesn't help when all your friends and relatives start dying all around you. You know that any day it can be you. Something you just can't plan for.