How much TV do you watch in a typical week? According to Nielsen, the average American watches more than 5 hours of television a day. That’s a lot of time spent just sitting, and people 65 to 85 years of age watch even more. Like many in my generation, I grew up on TV. From the wood-cased behemoths of furniture that …
Never mind how many years you have been alive. Forget about what you did yesterday. The past has no power over you, unless you allow it. You don’t have to be restricted by what you have done before. You are not defined by who you used to be. Stop worrying about your future. Drop the habit of imagining possible horrors or …
A report came out last week from the JAMA Internal Medicine, a highly respected medical journal. The report was about a link between heart disease and sugar that was discovered back in the 1950s. While research in the 1960s increasingly confirmed the role of diet in general and of sugar in particular, soon studies began to focus on saturated fat and …
It can be scary to grow old when you have depression. Being susceptible to sudden bouts of sadness or hopelessness is hard enough at any age. But when they occur alongside deteriorating health and concerns about an uncertain future, the combination can be crippling. Research shows that in general, older adults are happier than young adults. The lifelong prevalence of good …
Between 2010 and 2011, I interviewed women over 60 to understand their experience of aging and the impact their religious beliefs had on how well they aged. It was a study conducted for my doctoral dissertation on spirituality and aging. I wanted to understand how someone’s faith impacted their experience as they aged. The results were amazing. I conducted in-depth interviews …
Preserving cognitive capability is something I am very interested in. I would like to avoid mental decline or delay it for as long as possible. A number of things have been found to help keep the brain fit, including being engaged in challenging and stimulating activities on a regular basis. That’s how I ended up with a group of fascinating women …
She dares to do stuff that people tell her she shouldn’t. She doesn’t know the meaning of old. Do you know a woman like that? In a recent documentary, actress Virginia Madsen and her Emmy Award-winning mother Elaine interviewed 17 women, ages 64 to 95. They recorded the insights and perspectives and pearls of wisdom shared by people continuing to live …
I like the streaming Netflix service. It allows me to enjoy such programs as “Orange is the New Black” and “House of Cards.” Last night I watched an episode of “Grace and Frankie” which stars Jane Fonda and Lily Tomlin in the title roles. The show is in its second season and I absolutely love the way it explores the realities …
Back in 1989, I quit smoking. It wasn’t the first time I tried, but it turned out to be the last. What helped was a really bad cough that led to a hairline fracture in a rib. That pain was the motivation I needed to finally quit for good. While there were obvious health benefits to ending my pack-a-day habit, there …
My godson’s daughter went to her prom last week. As I look over the photos of her standing in her lovely pink gown in front of the house, I’m amazed. It seems like just yesterday that she was riding her tricycle in the same spot. When I think about my own senior prom, I don’t remember being at all like the …
