Health
/ArcaMax
Positive Aging: 90-Year-Old Newlyweds
Here's a story to help you feel young at heart no matter how old you happen to be.
While paging through The New York Times a few years ago, an article by Vincent M. Mallozzi really impressed me. It was about an elderly man and woman who had fallen in love and decided to get married. You may find this hard to believe, but the bride was 98 years ...Read more
Positive Aging: The Silver Tsunami
Some population experts have referred to the increasing numbers of aging baby boomers as the "silver tsunami." Longer life spans combined with an unusually large over-60 population segment could be seen as a major problem for both our economy and health care system. But this is not merely a problem here in the U.S. In fact, Japan appears to be ...Read more

Positive Aging: LGBTQ Baby Boomers
Did you know that LGBTQ individuals in America represent approximately 4% of the population as of 2016? Older adults who identify with this group face unique challenges on every level. Unfortunately, being such a small percentage means that their complications, issues or problems are all too often ignored or unacknowledged. According to a 2017 ...Read more
Positive Aging: Caregiver Survival Guide
Full disclosure: Even though I've been obsessed with health issues my entire life, I've never been interested in working in the medical field. Most of my classmates from my all-girls high school chose nursing as a career, but I was so freaked out by hospitals and illness that I was the only teenager in my class to actively boycott working as a ...Read more
Positive Aging: Blue Zones - Part 2
Last week, we talked about Dan Buettner's research on the Blue Zones, the five places in the world where people are the healthiest and live the longest. It's important to remember that our genes dictate 10% of our longevity and lifestyle controls the rest. You may have already read Buettner's bestselling books "The Blue Zones: Lessons for Living...Read more
Positive Aging: Blue Zones - Part I
It's no secret that I've been labeled an alternative health advocate for most of my adult life. There's something undeniably seductive about the idea of trying to be the captain of your fate when it comes to taking care of your body. For that reason, I've been a huge fan of Dan Buettner, the National Geographic fellow and New York Times best-...Read more
Positive Aging: Meet With a CAPS Professional Now
The number of people in America who are over the age of 65 is expected to double during the next 25 years. Some major readjustments need to be made regarding how and where seniors live (and, as your peer, I'm speaking to you, baby boomers). A 2010 AARP survey found that almost 90% of respondents over the age of 65 said they want to stay in their...Read more
Positive Aging: Meet Brenda Milner
If you're like me, you probably experience plenty of days when you feel as if you are simply too old or too tired for whatever happens to be annoying you at the time. After all, we've weathered more than our share of challenges in the past decades, and the idea of lounging on a tropical beach or simply taking an extended break from our normal ...Read more
Positive Aging: How To Have a Great Smile
When I share my thoughts on growing older gracefully with my readers, it's important for everyone to know that, as in so many areas of life, I bring more enthusiasm to my activities than expertise. Fortunately, curiosity and enthusiasm often compensate for brilliance or a list of college degrees. Having said that, I'm going to go on the record ...Read more
Positive Aging: Findings are really someting to smile about
Sixty-five years ago, Dr. Norman Vincent Peale revolutionized the publishing world with his enormously popular book "The Power of Positive Thinking." Fifty-one years later, the equally popular book and video "The Secret" proposed the same argument: that focusing on the things that we want (i.e., being positive or optimistic) can pay big ...Read more
Positive Aging: Are You a Grandparent?
If you are a baby boomer, chances are you are also a grandparent. And the reason I'm so sure about that statement is I just learned from a Pew Research Center study that 83% of Americans over the age of 65 have grandchildren. What this means is that 37% of households nationwide are headed by grandparents, and the number of homes that include ...Read more
Positive Aging: Do You Have a Donor Card?
When I was a young adult driving in California, I rarely gave my donor card a thought. Back then, it was just another small piece of paper in my wallet. In those days, the confidence and optimism of youth crowded out any serious thoughts about real-life accidents, illness or disease.
But now, decades (and decades and decades and decades) later,...Read more
Positive Aging: How to Be a Superager
When I first learned that most people begin to experience a subtle but measurable decline in memory in their 50s, I was not a happy camper. As a baby boomer, I simply couldn't understand why we can't somehow manage to stay forever young in spite of the passing years.
Then I learned about the important work being conducted by esteemed ...Read more