How does it feel, when can’t move your body as fast and flexible as you would want it to? When your vision is blurred, your hands slightly shaking, and you can’t hear so well? For most young people, this is hard to imagine. Ishani Mukerji, a 24-year old creative assistant at Aegon, decided to accept the challenge and try on Leyden Academy’s old age suit. It turned out to be quite an experience for Ishani: “The suit is putting my life into perspective.” Watch the video here.
Making smart, healthier choices at work
The good news is that many of the ‘diseases of old age’ that the suit simulates, can be postponed or even prevented by a healthier life style. As explained by David van Bodegom and professor Rudi Westendorp in their recent book A Guide for Growing Older, your environment plays a key role in unconsciously making healthier choices. At home, in the neighborhood, and also at work where we spend many hours every week. In a second video, Ishani showed David around the Aegon head office in The Hague, to see what practical steps she can take in her workplace to make the easy choice the healthier choice. Watch the video here.
New report: The New Flexible Retirement
The videos are a combined initiative of Leyden Academy on Vitality and Ageing and the Aegon Center for Longevity and Retirement, and were launched together with the new report The New Flexible Retirement. The report shows that the concept of retirement is changing rapidly. As people live longer, retirement will become a more active life stage, with more people looking to blend work and leisure. Today’s workers are expecting to gradually transition into retirement, but a significant obstacle is that only few employers offer employment practices to support this. But maintaining a healthy body and mind are also key, which Ishani demonstrated vividly in the videos.