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10 Vital Truths about Aging and Health June 26, 2017 by Ashton Applewhite - The World Health Organization (WHO) is in the public health business, and no organization has done more to raise awareness of ageism—the biggest obstacle to meeting the challenges of population aging.
Weighty Issue June 16, 2017 by Pepper Evans - Are we teaching our children today what they need to know to assure good health beyond childhood and throughout their lives? Confuse Hamlet with Macbeth and you may not graduate from high school. Forget that pi is 3.141592 and it’s…
What Good Are Support Groups? June 12, 2017 by Maggie Sullivan - This was Chester’s first time at our caregiver support group. A man in his 70s, he told us about his wife who has Alzheimer’s disease and has become anxious whenever he is out of sight.
What Does ‘Old’ Look Like to Millennials—and to AARP? May 19, 2017 by Ashton Applewhite - AARP’s #DisruptAging site has some commendable goals: to “hold a mirror up to the ageist beliefs around us,” and “change the stories we tell ourselves about aging.” In other words, as they put it, to “disrupt aging”—which also just happens to…
The Happiness Check May 15, 2017 by Pepper Evans - I received a milestone-birthday gift from a dear, longtime friend. It was a generous monetary gift that came with a caveat: I must spend it on myself. No college tuition help, no car repair, no electric bill—I had to spend…
The Violence of Ageism May 12, 2017 by Margaret Morganroth Gullette - As the entire world now knows, Dr. David Dao is the passenger who was dragged off a United Airlines flight on April 9th (2017) by Chicago police, who broke his nose, gave him a concussion and smashed two of his teeth.
Young Blood May 10, 2017 by Flora Davis - If you were offered a way to feel healthier and even look younger, would you take it? What if it required you to have repeated transfusions with the blood of teenagers or 20-somethings? This is not vampire fiction. A private…
Mind Your Qs, Help Your Diet April 26, 2017 by Pepper Evans - Is your midlife palate bored to ambivalence about mealtime? Often I lament the ho-hum of my menu repertoire, but I still go back to the tried and true in every food group. But recently, in an unlikely coincidence, I tried…
19, Going on 90 April 24, 2017 by Ashton Applewhite - Here’s a note that came to me recently from a reader of my Q&A blog, Yo, Is This Ageist? She wrote that:
Now Hear This April 12, 2017 by Pepper Evans - I love to feel connected and informed—both, keys to successful aging. I no longer get a newspaper and don’t watch much television. I live between New York City and Philadelphia, where there’s no shortage of media outlets, but I get…
No More Old Cats? April 6, 2017 by Flora Davis - The other day, I was hunting online for new canned foods to try out on my unbelievably picky cat, and I couldn’t help noticing all the options for “senior cats.” There didn’t seem to be anything at all for “old…
Whose Vision Problem Is It? March 27, 2017 by Pepper Evans - I recently saw a feature in a magazine about an item so intriguing that I was compelled to investigate the retailer’s website. I left my comfy reading chair to go to the computer with the intention of making a purchase.…
Let’s Put Films to the Applewhite Test March 24, 2017 by Ashton Applewhite - Invented by the sharp American cartoonist Alison Bechdel, a movie passes the Bechdel test if at least two women talk to each other about something other than a man. Low bar, right? Yet surprisingly few movies pass it. I propose the…
Accepting Losses, Discovering Gains March 22, 2017 by Maggie Sullivan - After my mother came to live with me, I gradually took on more and more of her care. By the end of the first year I was doing what any Alzheimer’s caregiver does. I bathed her, helped her dress, handled…
A Good Death March 9, 2017 by Flora Davis - While I was trawling the Internet one day, I came across this comment on the blog of a jazz musician: “I’ve often joked that every musician’s secret fantasy is to die on the bandstand, at a ripe old age and…
Save the Planet, Harm your Family? March 2, 2017 by Pepper Evans - I like to think of myself as being more open to new ideas at midlife, willing to change some practices in the name of progress. I have, for example, taken greater personal responsibility in the reduce, reuse, recycle realm. A…
Where Medicare Fails February 20, 2017 by Flora Davis - A friend of mine was hospitalized recently. What really worried her, she told me the day before she went in, was not the procedure she was about to have but her medical bills if the hospital decided not to admit…
In the Fight against Bigotry, Where Does Ageism Fit In? February 15, 2017 by Ashton Applewhite - I wake these days remembering that something awful has happened. Reality assembles itself, and I feel worse. The multicultural, egalitarian, globalized society I hope to inhabit is under assault. Bigotry is ascendant. Racism, sexism, homophobia, religious intolerance—pick your prejudice!—are sanctioned,…
Mom’s Bridge Club February 1, 2017 by Pepper Evans - Lately I'm reading a surprising number of memoirs written by adult children about their experiences with their parent(s) as they age. I find myself identifying so often with the authors' stories.
Preserving Autonomy against the Odds January 27, 2017 by Maggie Sullivan - When the doctor diagnosed my mother with probable Alzheimer’s, he also told her, “I want you to stop driving.” He said her reflexes and judgment weren’t good enough. By that point in her disease, my mother had trouble following conversations,…
Know Your Numbers - Every year, millions of older adults roll up their sleeves for an annual physical. Blood is drawn, a cuff tightens around the arm, and a stethoscope taps against the chest. A few days later, a patient portal pings with test…
Dementia: The Numbers Are Climbing but the Risk Is Not - I’ve said it before, and I’ll keep saying it: dementia rates are dropping. There are more cases because there are more older people as a percentage of the population, and age is the biggest risk factor. But your risk is lower…