You are likely to find this chapter helpful if you recognize yourself, or someone you care for, in some of the following statements. Because many frail people have some dementia and are no longer making their own medical decisions, I am addressing this chapter not only to people in this stage, but to their caregivers.

• You have (or someone you love has) “the dwindles”: zest for living is melting away, along with appetite, energy, and investment in relationships.

• It takes you more than twenty seconds to rise from a chair, walk ten feet at a normal pace, turn around, walk back, and sit down. (This alone is a classic indicator of frailty: try it with a timer.)

• You’ve lost ten pounds, or 10 percent of body weight, within the past year.

• You can’t walk half a mile unaided, unscrew a jar, or pick up a dining room chair.

• To get up, you push up with both hands.

• You fall frequently, have “graduated” to a walker or a wheelchair, or use tabletops and counters for balance.

• You spend ten hours or more a day sleeping.

• You need help from hired caregivers, or you live in a nursing home, in assisted living, or with relatives.

• You’ve gone to the emergency room at least once in the past year, and come back worse, not better.

• You have progressed from forgetting names to forgetting the way home.