The Future of Retirement

By Flora Davis
Someday, Americans may recall the 20th century as the heyday of retirement, when individuals left the workforce in their 60s with decades ahead in which their time would be their own. Life’s later years are apt to be very different in the future—for better or worse. A quick look at the past suggests why that’s so and what may be in store for us.  Read more...
 

What Is Old Age For?

By William Thomas, MD
Old age is humanity's greatest invention, and on an even deeper level, it invented us. Old age transformed the way our most distant ancestors gave birth, reared their young, lived together, and fed themselves. Later it propelled the development of culture, language, and society.  Read more...
 

It’s Never Too Late to Exercise—but Starting by Midlife Is Best

By Leigh Ann Hubbard
Harrison Caldwell had a good excuse for not being athletic: one of his legs was about a quarter inch shorter than the other, thanks to a childhood bout with polio. Plus, his feet were so flat that the Army turned him down at the height of the Vietnam War.  Read more...
 

How to Keep Driving (Safely) in Your Later Years

By Flora Davis
Americans outlive their ability to drive by an average of six to ten years. If you’re like most people, you can’t imagine how you would manage without a car. Fortunately, there are ways to extend your time behind the wheel and simultaneously become safer on the road.  Read more...
 

The Consoling Power of Art

July 31, 2014 By Alix Kates Shulman
There are an estimated 42 million unpaid family caregivers in this country (including me), not counting the millions more caring for chronically ill or disabled children, so it’s a shock to learn that the first anthology of poems and short stories about caregiving has just been published in the United States. Not that there aren’t hundreds of helpful nonfiction books, journals, newsletters, websites, blogs, as well as memoirs and novels on the subject, covering every category of patient or need. But a single-volume collection of outstanding short fiction and poetry, reflecting many different takes on this widespread, life-altering experience, has until now been missing, leaving an empty space in our hungry consciousness. Living in the Land of Limbo: Fiction and Poetry about Family Caregiving (Vanderbilt, 2014), Carol Levine’s selection of fiction and poetry about caregiving by some of the most accomplished writers of our time, is an excellent start to filling it.  Read more...
 

Emergency Rooms Get a Face Lift

July 29, 2014 By Pepper Evans
According to a story on National Public Radio, people 65 and older are more likely to go to the ER than any other age group except babies. It may be time for hospitals to consider changing to accommodate the people they serve.  Read more...