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Paper Books, E-books, Audiobooks—It Really Doesn’t Matter Which, Just Read October 7, 2022 by Pepper Evans - MRIs show what we have learned over the millennia—reading has a positive impact on brain health. The National Institute on Aging recommends reading books and magazines to keep your mind engaged as you grow older. Good news for me—I’m a…
‘Age Against the Machine—Ending Ageism in the Workplace’ September 23, 2022 by Ashton Applewhite - That’s the kickass-if-I-say-so-myself title of my new talk, which debuted earlier this month, in real life, at the annual conference of the Financial Planners Association. The catalyst was my pre-event call with the organizers. “There’s grousing from our older members,…
Confessions of a Worrywart September 21, 2022 by Flora Davis - My mother used to do what I call “prophylactic worrying.” In the late afternoon every weekday, she’d worry about my father, who was driving home on a busy highway where there were lots of car accidents. She once admitted she…
Old Is Beautiful September 9, 2022 by Marc Blesoff - Last month, Joni Mitchell performed a 13-song set at the Newport Folk Festival. It was her first time back to Newport in 53 years. It was her first, full-length, live set in over 20 years. It was her first public…
Keep Up! August 12, 2022 by Pepper Evans - When chatting with others, do you ever struggle to feel “in the know”? This is how I’ve been feeling about my place in society lately. The world is changing, and I don’t want to be left behind. My daughters do…
Ageism Affects Us, Both Physically and Mentally August 8, 2022 by Ashton Applewhite - Ageism affects how our minds and bodies function, and not in a good way. We’ve known that for a while, thanks in large part to the work of Yale’s Becca Levy, PhD, whose groundbreaking work, Breaking the Age Code: How…
Cool It July 16, 2022 by Pepper Evans - I don’t like summer. There. I’ve said it. Seaside, poolside, outdoor activities—not my thing. I hibernate in the summer. An unseasonably hot day in May caused me to miss out on a community Spring Fling arts-and-crafts event I looked forward…
Just the Facts July 12, 2022 by Flora Davis - In this age of online falsehoods and conspiracy theories, it’s sometimes hard to figure out what’s true and what’s not, so I was fascinated when I read about a study done early in the pandemic. It set out to determine…
Percolating Conversations June 21, 2022 by Marc Blesoff - One of the ongoing workshops that I facilitate is an all-men’s group. For the last several years, once a month, eight of us get together. Camaraderie, angst, disagreement and humor circulate around the general topic of aging. It is a…
The Paradoxes of Aging June 17, 2022 by Ashton Applewhite - I recently came across a passage about contemporary aging so concise and insightful that I had to post it. It’s from a review by eminent gerontologist Thomas Cole of Aging and the Art of Living (2012) by Jan Baars. We…
Overdosing on Sleep June 10, 2022 by Flora Davis - I used to worry about my late husband because he spent so much time sleeping. Sometimes he’d log a solid eight hours overnight and then refuse to get up in the morning, dozing on until early afternoon. I assumed, as…
Bathing Demystified: Finding a Better Way June 2, 2022 by Maggie Sullivan - This is the third of three blogs about dementia and bathing. You’ll find part 1 here, and part 2 here. People with dementia may not be able to tell you why they don’t want to bathe. But the more you…
Escaping Our Same-Age Silos May 18, 2022 by Ashton Applewhite - I often point out that age has far less to do with compatibility than we think it does. There are exceptions, of course: reproduction is largely a young person’s game, along with extreme sports. Age differences can’t be wished away,…
Bathing Demystified: What’s Going On? May 4, 2022 by Maggie Sullivan - This is the second of three blogs about dementia and bathing. You’ll find part 1 here and part 3 here. Resistance to bathing is common in people with dementia. But it often blindsides the family caregiver because it seems out of character for…
Aging behind Bars April 26, 2022 by Marc Blesoff - The United States has the largest prison population in the world. What’s that got to do with aging? you may ask. Well, people 50 and older are the fastest-growing segment of the US prison population, increasing 25 percent from 2009 to…
Aging, Fast or Slow April 19, 2022 by Flora Davis - When my daughter became pregnant for the first time at 45—with no help from modern medicine—she was told she was probably aging slowly, since it’s rare for women to conceive at that age. She might even be a future centenarian. …
Bathing Demystified: The Person Comes First April 6, 2022 by Maggie Sullivan - This is the first of three blogs about dementia and bathing. You’ll find part 2 here, and part 3 here. I didn’t know enough. I knew that people with Alzheimer’s and other dementias are sensitive to temperature, so I heated the bathroom…
Confessions of a Night Owl March 22, 2022 by Flora Davis - Sometimes after midnight, as I start for bed, I look out my bedroom window and feel a pang of loneliness. I live in a retirement community, and in the many windows of the apartment building across the way, only a…
We Can Teach This Old Dog New Tricks March 11, 2022 by Marc Blesoff - Over the past several months, I’ve had some tight, lower-back pain that has limited my mobility. Even after consulting my doctor and stretching, I just couldn’t shake it, so I decided to try something new for me. I’ve started to…
Setting the Table March 8, 2022 by Pepper Evans - As the eldest daughter in a big family, it fell to me to set the table as my mother prepared dinner each night. Once my father arrived home from work, all seven of us ate together. I grew up with…
Looking for Work after 50? Are You Also Out of Luck? - At one point in her career, Amy Anderson supervised more than 50 people and managed a multimillion dollar budget for a Fortune 500 company. But after losing what she calls her “last good job” in 2013, she had no luck…
Can You Afford to Die? - My two sisters, two brothers and I knew our mother’s condition was terminal. Together with her, we gathered to have a painful conversation about her final wishes. Grieving for a loved one is acutely hard enough; the last thing anyone…