There was a time where tackle boxes were used to hold fishing gear. Bobbers, hooks and perhaps your favorite lures all found a home in one of many varying sized, slotted compartments. Now those boxes are used to hold the multitude of drugs so many seniors are prescribed.

According to a recent analysis by the IMS Institute for Healthcare Informatics, people aged 65-79 receive more than 27 prescriptions for new drugs per year. It doesn’t start off that high. One prescription most likely created a side effect which begat the need for another, which begat the need for another, which begat yet another, so on and so for – like a bad, chemical ancestral lineage. Until one day, only a tackle box can ‘tackle’ the volume of meds needed every day.

Still, there ARE senior citizens who need little to no prescriptions – they’re vibrant, alert, active and full of Life. It makes you wonder what they did during their lifetime to reap such healthy rewards late in life – most likely they spent more time at their favorite fishing hole, than at their favorite doctor’s office.