Fitness Matters More than Weight
It’s crucial that we stay active, especially as we get older. Being physically fit is associated with longevity as well as social, emotional and cognitive health, but keep in mind…
How to Develop Your Joyspan
I was surprised to realize recently that it’s been 10 years this month since I published Optimistic Aging: from Midlife to the Good Life. It’s been a delight to connect…
The Paradox of Aging: the Happiness U-Curve
When imagining aging, most middle-aged people look ahead with trepidation. But take heart: the best is likely yet to come! Satisfaction surveys have found that happiness increases after middle age,…
Depression: Cancer of the Spirit
Clinical depression is categorically different from the common experience of having the blues for a few hours or days. Depression is a lasting, pervasive, and overwhelming feeling of deep sadness,…
Choose Your Family
If you could hand-pick your family, whom would you include? Would your birth family make the cut? If the answer is yes, cherish these relationships. Having kind parents, siblings and…
Savor Love
Humans are pack animals. We are biologically designed to connect with each other and generally have longer and healthier lives when we are social. The benefits of relationships are further…
Waypower versus Willpower
Optimistic Aging requires us to rally willpower to make healthy choices, but of course this is much easier when we have clear pathways to invigorating options—“waypower”—compared to when we face…
Brighten Your Aging Filter
Your perceptions of aging impact your long-term outcome. The World Health Organization identified ageism as a “prevalent and insidious” health threat based on research demonstrating how negative expectations about aging…
Creature Comforts: The Health Benefits of Pets
It was “total pandemonium” when Dr. Bill Thomas released one hundred parakeets into the beauty salon of the nursing home because his order of birdcages was delayed. But he was…
Hope: the Ultimate Superfood
You already know that it’s important to eat your leafy veggies and blueberries, rich in antioxidants. But did you know that hope is the ultimate superfood? A superfood is defined…