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…
Take the Rocky Path for Longterm Mobility
One of your most important senses is one you’ve probably never heard of: proprioception. You can experience your proprioception by closing your eyes and trying to stand balanced on one…
Dementia of the Preoccupied
By the time you walk from one room to the next, you’ve forgotten what you intended to do once you got there. You meet someone new and have lost track…
Seek Joyful Movement
Make exercise as enjoyable as possible so that it becomes a lifelong habit. Some people naturally like exercising and savor the experience itself. However, for most people, including me, working…
Develop Your Optimistic Aging Mindset
When you imagine the possibility of living to the age of 100, do you feel dread or excitement? Most people shutter at the thought of living past 90, because we…
Eating for Longevity
What should we eat to cultivate longterm health and well-being? Well, one research-supported answer is: not much. Severe calorie restriction has been shown to increase longevity and vitality since it was first tried in…