The Ultimate Aging Flex
Exercise has long been acknowledged as critical to healthy aging. However, older adults, especially those in their mid-60s and beyond, should refocus their routines to emphasize three key functions: balance, flexibility, and strength. The latter is perhaps most important as muscle mass starts to decline around age 50. Experts also advise that older adults need to exercise more frequently to see the same benefits as those realized by younger adults. Read more about how to switch up your workouts as you age, and why it’s never too late to start.
Going Deep
The documentary, “The Last of the Sea Women” explores the lives of haenyeos, the mostly older women (typically in their 70s), who sustain the ancient, yet dying, practice of gathering seafood from the reefs and sea floor surrounding their home off the coast of South Korea. They make between 100 and 300 dives per day, often in cold and challenging conditions. While the work is tough, the women are well respected and admired, and enjoy a position of distinction in local society—an anomaly in our #ageist world. Streaming on Apple TV+.
The Vitalizing Effects of Volunteering
In addition to serving your community, new research found that volunteering can serve you, as well! Even giving your time for just one hour a week can contribute to a longer, healthier life. Experts noted that volunteering supports physical, social, and psychological benefits, resulting in a positive impact on biological aging. Follow the link below to Health.com to read more about the benefits of helping others.
The Science and Impact of Aging Ovaries
Join the Buck Institute–in person or via Zoom–on February 5th as Dr. Jennifer Garrison, PhD delves into the how and why of human ovaries, which age faster than other organs in women’s bodies and are key to lifelong health. Follow the link below to register for the event at the Buck Institute.
Can Do at 102
We recently had the privilege of visiting Rancho La Puerta in Baja California, MX, and attended a Q&A with its 102-year-old founder, Deborah Szekely. What an amazing life she’s led, from founding the wellness retreat and spa in 1940, to establishing San Diego’s New Americans Museum and Immigration Learning Center at age 80. Her advice for staying healthy and engaged? Maintain an active social network, be positive, and just move (she still walks one mile every day)! Read more about Deborah’s remarkable story in this Fortune interview.
Meet Beatriz Coll
Once an avant-garde punk rocker in London, then a commercial architectural photographer, and later a pediatric nurse. Bea Coll lived a lot of life before retiring to Asheville, North Carolina where she now focuses on her art, quantum physics, and becoming a death doula.
What We’re Reading this Week: “The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond”
Author Debra Whitman, an economist and aging expert, offers a roadmap for living a healthier and more meaningful second half of life. Two key insights:
Mind Over Matter – Yes, healthy habits are critical to longevity, but mindset has a significant impact as well. Researchers found that those with positive attitudes of aging can live more than seven years longer than cohorts with negative outlooks.
Older Workers Are a Force – More older Americans are working than ever before, and contrary to what many believe, studies show they are a benefit to the economy and to their employers, activating both productivity and innovation.
Rebranding the Senior Center
Think senior centers are all about bingo, bland food, and boring TV? Well, think again. Galvanized by a demographic evolution—specifically, a large swath of adults living longer, more active lives, today’s senior centers are dropping the word “senior” from their names, and offering pickleball, tech labs, speed dating, and more.
Getting a Leg up on Aging
It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.
Don’t worry about sounding professional. Sound like you. There are over 1.5 billion websites out there, but your story is what’s going to separate this one from the rest. If you read the words back and don’t hear your own voice in your head, that’s a good sign you still have more work to do.
Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.
Is There a Cure for Loneliness?
In Season 6 of the Stanford Center on Longevity’s podcast, “Century Lives,” host Ken Stern explores “The Century Club,” a collective of nations focused on societal solutions to aging and longevity, particularly those addressing loneliness. Traveling the world, Ken learns how other countries are confronting social isolation, perhaps the number one detriment to healthy aging, and an issue largely ignored in the U.S. Subscribe and/or follow the link below.
It’s Not Just the Quantity, It’s the Quality
A recent study reveals that while life expectancy has increased–thanks in large part to medical advances–it is reaching its limit. Researchers suggest shifting the focus from lifespan to healthspan, with a sharper focus on the biology of aging.
Take a Vacation from Aging? Not Really.
According to new research, travel can provide numerous health benefits, including alleviating chronic stress, and boosting physical exertion and mental engagement. And we’re not talking about time travel! Experts posit that engaging both mind and body is critical to healthy aging and, potentially, delaying age-related decline.
Better Living Through Chemistry
Can a magic pill render age and aging irrelevant? The New York Times reports that Rapamycin, prescribed to organ transplant patients to suppress their immune systems, is now being explored by a much broader group for the purpose of extending healthy years and delaying age-related diseases. Health advocate and anti-aging influencer Dr. Peter Attia is one of the champions for the substance being hailed as the “gold standard” for extending life.
These Aren’t Your Father’s Grandparents
Forget babysitting or spoiling the grandkids, today’s grandmas and grandpas are forging a different path: joining their young descendants in embracing adventure travel. As older adults are increasingly fitter, and for longer periods of time, they’re bonding with their grandchildren while trekking, hiking, and scuba diving.
Eat Your Way to Extra Years
Buck your preconceived notions of aging with the Buck Institute’s Live Better Longer Community Seminar Series. The monthly conversations with geroscience experts examine the innovations and interventions extending human healthspan. Next up: Eat Your Way to Extra Years: Nutrition and Healthy Aging, September 4.
A Call for Grant Applicants
The BrightFocus Foundation- funding bold ideas for a brighter future- is accepting grant applications for its Alzheimer’s Disease Research Program. The foundation will award significant funds to established researchers in the field, as well as to postdoctoral students in the final stages of mentored training. Letters of intent are due August 2, 2024.
When it Comes to Aging Well, It’s About More than Keeping Your Head Above Water
In a new film about endurance swimmer Diana Nyad, we meet a woman who sees the last half of her life looming large and vows to reject all the customary beliefs and limitations. As The San Francisco Chronicle reports, “…This movie is very much and quite consciously about something more universal, namely what it’s like to be in one’s 60s. It’s a weird time of life: You feel good. You feel like your old self, but you know that something could easily go wrong…”