Francis Brennan brings philosophy for ageing gracefully to upcoming RCPI Conference
As hotelier Francis Brennan turned 70, he reflected on how there’s no real manual for ageing.
In search of practical guidance, he wrote Age is Just a Number – a guide combining advice by professionals with Brennan’s own philosophy on living comfortably and leisurely, encouraging people to adapt to retirement with dignity and grace. Brennan will appear at the Public Meeting on 15 October, as part of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland’s Conference, to discuss the topic: “Living Well, Living Long.”
The meeting, featuring contributions from Brennan and Prof Rose Anne Kenny (Medical Gerontology TCD, and lead investigator of the TILDA Irish Longitudinal study on Ageing), will share informed advice in an age of misinformation and wellness influencers.
Before Brennan himself could plan to retire, his life changed unexpectedly. He was about to turn 60 when RTÉ approached him and his brother John – both co-owners of the Park Hotel Kenmare – to make At Your Service, a television makeover show where they help B&B guesthouse and hotel owners re-energise their business (often with the expectation of meeting Brennan’s immaculately high standards).
In Age Is Just a Number, Brennan is naturally intrigued by the Counterclockwise experiment – an observational study from 1979, wherein a New Hampshire hotel was transformed into a 1950s boarding house, to allow five older men to re-live their 20s. After a few days, tests showed the participants displaying greater manual dexterity and improved flexibility. The psychologist behind the experiment, Dr Ellen Langer, once said: “Wherever you put the mind, the body will follow.”
Amongst the positive messages in the book, Brennan asks a GP, Dr Mark Rowe, about neuroplasticity – the ability of neural networks in the brain to change through growth and reorganisation. “We were always told that our brain cells died off as we got older, but now we know that there’s this thing called neuroplasticity, which means that we can improve our brain’s flexibility throughout our life,” says Dr Rowe.
“Learning a new skill can really keep our brains flexible as we age,” writes Brennan. “According to the Scientific American, it’s not good enough to simply maintain our mental agility as we age, something we are all encouraged to do; It’s the growing that counts,” he says.
Brennan will share more pearls of wisdom from his book and lived experience at this free event at No. 6 Kildare Street, Dublin.
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