Gerontologist Coins New Term, "ZOOMER" Awesomely Ageless Boomers Dr. David J. Demko, professor of gerontology and editor AgeVenture News Service 04-10-1998 There's a totally new a kind of Boomer. One who breaks retirement tradition. Increased life-expectancy has transformed "Yesterday's Yuppie" into Today's "ZOOMER". These new boomers are coloring outside the lines, zig-zaging and zoooooming toward a bright new horizon chock-full of possibilities for reinventing retirement and redefining what it means to be a mature adult in the new millennium. Are you a BOOMER? You are if your birthday falls between 1946 and 1964. That birth period defines you as one America's the Post-World-War-II Baby Boomers. However, birth dates alone don't tell you much about how a person thinks or acts. Not all Boomers think and act the same. Some Boomers are breaking new ground, re-defining aging and re-inventing retirement. That's why I coined the term ZOOMER to identify this trend-setting group of Boomers. Are you a ZOOMER? The answer is "yes", if you have achieved the nine longevity lifestyle traits in the operational definition below. Dr. Demko's latest ZOOMER™ book (2009), 4th in a series, reports on decade-long (1998-2008) research producing the Longevity Personality, traits that transform a Boomer into the author's trademark personality type, a ZOOMER™. On his 50th birthday, Professor Demko decided to brighten his prospects for aging and retirement. He reinvented what it meant to be a Boomer, especially one who capable of living 120 years (maximum life expectancy). He created a new demographic called ZOOMER™. The ZOOMER™ longevity traits consist of all the known life expectancy boosters, a set of what the professor calls Longevity Personality Traits. For the next ten years, Professor Demko set out to transform himself into a ZOOMER by applying to his personal life all he had learned about aging since his career began in 1974. He kept a journal of his lifestyle changes, monitored his progress, and identified what did and did not aid his journey toward a 12-decade life. Now a decade later, Dr. Demko reports that the proverbial Fountain of Youth is not a place, but a personality type called ZOOMER™. Again, are you a BOOMER or are you a ZOOMER™? You are a BOOMER if your birthday falls between 1946 and 1964. No other qualifications necessary. ZOOMER™ status must is achieved by adopting what the author calls the traits of a ZOOMER™ lifestyle. Join the Retirement Renaissance ... a bold, new brand of maturity ... advocating spirited, AgeVenturous lifestyles. AgeVenture's pre-publication promotional book tour began in August 2008 with a November engagement at the Miami International Book Fair where Dr. Demko's ZOOMER™ received rave reviews from book fair visitors. To arrange a public speaking engagement, contact the author at: 561-866-8251, demko@demko.com Photo credit: AgeVenture Press, Boca Raton, Florida. BACK TO TOP