Escape Artist: How to Safely Evacuate Your Home During Fire, Storm or Natural Disaster

Escape Artist: How to Safely Evacuate Your Home During Fire, Storm or Natural Disaster

Last month, I vacationed in Paso Robles, California’s West Coast wine region. I was with my husband, children and grandchild for a long awaited, idyllic escape from their COVID concerns in Los Angeles. My husband, Stuart, and I took a COVID test…then flew across the ...
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Five Things that Are Surprisingly Better After 70

Five Things that Are Surprisingly Better After 70

Certainly, there are a variety of good things that older age brings, many of them discussed and explained by developmental scientists. For example, we are supposed to become more transcendent of the world around us, less ego-driven and more focused on our legacy. At least ...
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How to Accomplish Anything You Want

How to Accomplish Anything You Want

I am the “Queen of Productivity.” To paraphrase the Lady Gaga lyric, “I was born that way.” And according to my mother, I will die that way, too. When I was nine years old, my mom and I sat on our plastic-covered dark-green couch with ...
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Careful Travel: Will Accessible Tourism Set the Post COVID-19 Standard?

Careful Travel: Will Accessible Tourism Set the Post COVID-19 Standard?

I traveled by airplane for the first time in months. Here is a photo of me in near-hazmat gear to ensure that I was as safe as possible. Even through my paraphernalia I could observe other passengers from the security line to the moment we ...
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Age Does Not Bring Wisdom…and If It Does, Who Cares?

Age Does Not Bring Wisdom…and If It Does, Who Cares?

Personally, I am not a fan of wisdom. I see it as a ploy to give us older folks a job in society without having to pay us. I searched Google and LinkedIn for an hour and found Chief Innovation, Chief Inspiration, Chief Impact and ...
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Don’t Ditch Your Toxic Friends…They Might Change

Don’t Ditch Your Toxic Friends…They Might Change

About a dozen years ago, my friend Kathy (name changed) told me that she had dumped all of her “toxic” friends and felt much better. I was dubious. Was a friend exorcism the way to go when friendship is so hard to come by? There’s ...
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10 (Mostly Free) Splurges That You Deserve After 50

10 (Mostly Free) Splurges That You Deserve After 50

I can hear my mother’s voice ringing in my ears saying, You deserve it. She was referring to her belief that a little indulgence is essential to happiness and that I—and everyone—should take the time (and expense) to go after our wants and wishes and the things ...
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I Know My Feet Are There—I Just Can’t See Them: My Flat-Belly Quest

I Know My Feet Are There—I Just Can’t See Them: My Flat-Belly Quest

I am at my perfect body weight, but I am not happy. You would think that I would be ecstatic. My weight is just where I have wanted it to be for most of my adult life. So why am I so unhappy? Last week, ...
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Stand Up: An Easy Way to Live Longer and Be More Fit in a Sedentary World

Stand Up: An Easy Way to Live Longer and Be More Fit in a Sedentary World

I probably don’t have to convince you that prolonged sitting is not healthy, but I do want you to be aware of how bad it truly is and why. People who sit for prolonged periods increase their risk for premature death caused by resultant poor circulation ...
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Longevity and Medicare: Not Perfect Together

Longevity and Medicare: Not Perfect Together

This week, two high school seniors from Hunterdon County, New Jersey, received an award from the Family Career and Community Leaders of America (FCCLA) that most of our health-care policymakers could never win. Catherine Owens and Kate Murray of the Polytech Career and Technical High ...
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Was It Jerry? Why Animals Help Us Age Better

Was It Jerry? Why Animals Help Us Age Better

Every Thanksgiving, the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City presents its Feast with the Beast festival. In the morning, before folks sit down to their dinner and football rituals, the zookeepers serve pumpkins and other delicacies to the elephants, large cats, bears and other mammals ...
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Fasting Is Trending. Is It Right for You?

Fasting Is Trending. Is It Right for You?

In my latest blog on biohacking, I admit that I hang out with top geroscientists, partly to observe what they do to live longer in good health. Many of them intervene in their natural biology with extreme exercise, fastidious nutritional habits and mega supplements of ...
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ZZZ Warning—This Article Could Put You to Sleep (That’s a Good Thing!)

ZZZ Warning—This Article Could Put You to Sleep (That’s a Good Thing!)

I received a Garmin watch for Mother’s Day. It is my first smartwatch. Frankly, I selected it because I get lost a lot on my long-distance walks and figured Garmin had the best GPS. But I refused to buy a watch if it did not ...
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When Family Gets on Your Nerves

When Family Gets on Your Nerves

Most of us have been sequestered 24/7 for almost eight weeks with our spouses and our children. Some of us are experiencing the essence of the “sandwich generation,” living with our elderly parents as well. No private space…no alone time. It’s no wonder that most ...
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Aging is Something to Sing About

Aging is Something to Sing About

There are hundreds of songs, from Operetta to Country Music, written about growing older. They touch hearts, tell stories and inspire. Your favorite song about aging says a lot about you; how you feel about growing older. Make your listening of these songs a journey ...
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Disrupt Aging--How Science Is Making 60 the New 30

Disrupt Aging–How Science Is Making 60 the New 30

I am sure you have heard the catchphrase, 60 is the new 30. This boomer manifesto asserts that we feel and act younger than our chronologic years. Perhaps as the songs goes, we are the generation that’s “gonna live forever and learn how to fly.” And then ...
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Aging Researchers Talk Candidly About Alzheimer’s Research

Aging Researchers Talk Candidly About Alzheimer’s Research

The following is an interview I was fortunate enough to have with leading neuroscientists from the National Institute on Aging (NIA) at the National Institutes of Health (NIH)—Dr. Suzana Petanceska, Director for Strategic Development and Partnerships and Dr. Lorenzo Refolo, Director for Alzheimer’s Disease, Drug Development in ...
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Biohacking for Tummies: How Your Vanity Can Increase Your Longevity

Biohacking for Tummies: How Your Vanity Can Increase Your Longevity

Biohacking is the pursuit of changing our biochemistry, cell structure and even the way our genes express themselves (react to stimuli in the environment) so that we can live longer and healthier lives. Many biohackers foresee living at least to the biblical age of 120 ...
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I’m So Ashamed. A Day in the Life of a Coronavirus Slob

I’m So Ashamed. A Day in the Life of a Coronavirus Slob

I know you won’t believe this, but before the coronavirus hit, I didn’t own a vegetable brush. Not only did I not scrub my produce, but on more than one occasion, I ate the label on the apple. I believe that my large intestines sport ...
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My Uncle Julie—Every Family Has a Black Sheep. Can They Change with Age?

My Uncle Julie—Every Family Has a Black Sheep. Can They Change with Age?

My mother’s favorite sibling was her eldest brother Julie. I believe even at age 90, Mom still had a younger sister’s crush on him. Julie outlived every one of his five brothers and sisters except my Mom, who was 20 years his junior. You could ...
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Piggy-Back PR: How Marketers Are Capitalizing on Coronavirus

Piggy-Back PR: How Marketers Are Capitalizing on Coronavirus

I recently updated a novella I wrote for a class at University of Southern California at Davis School of Gerontology. I was invited to be a guest lecturer on the topic of marketing to boomers and seniors. Instead of a textbook for the students, I ...
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Curtain Down, Chin Up: How and Why You Must Save Live Theatre Right Now

Curtain Down, Chin Up: How and Why You Must Save Live Theatre Right Now

It is with a heavy heart that I write today. One of America’s greatest playwrights, Terrance McNally, died of complications from the coronavirus on March 24. Ordinarily, there would be a spate of revivals of his many award-winning plays, such as the hilarious The Ritz, adapted ...
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The Happy Prisoner: The Ultimate Secret of Enjoying Sequestration

The Happy Prisoner: The Ultimate Secret of Enjoying Sequestration

Since I’ve been sequestered because of COVID-19, I have reached a heady level of productivity and, dare I say, happiness. I know that you have been inundated with sound advice and how-tos. Inevitably, wash your hands, take an online course in Swahili and clean out ...
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Why Are Grandma and Grandpa Wearing Masks?

Why Are Grandma and Grandpa Wearing Masks?

There is conflicting information about how important it is to wear a protective mask and whether they do any good against coronavirus. It seems masks are most valuable to protect others from you if you have a bug. But, especially if you are an older ...
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I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Mace: How to Get Out of Your Exercise Rut

I’ve Grown Accustomed to Your Mace: How to Get Out of Your Exercise Rut

I’m getting bored by my exercise routine. Considering how often I got detention for cutting gym in Samuel Tilden High, it’s amazing that I have an exercise routine at all, boring or otherwise. Still, after 10 years at the same treadmill…countless squats and lifts…and classes, ...
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How Coronavirus Might Save Your Life

How Coronavirus Might Save Your Life

Over the past two weeks, I have changed my status from “old lady” to a member of a “vulnerable population.” But I don’t mind it at all. The new branding just may save my life. Before I explain, let me turn your attention to a ...
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What’s On Your Second Bucket List?

What’s On Your Second Bucket List?

I am sitting in the Silvio Pettirossi International Airport in Asuncion, Paraguay, having a transformational moment. After having visited 90 countries, all 50 states and almost all of the major US national parks, many of these more than once (London 22 times!), I am tearing ...
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OK Boomer: Have the Age Wars Begun?

OK Boomer: Have the Age Wars Begun?

In the 20 years during which I have been studying aging, I have run across many warnings from social and political commentators of the so-called coming “Age Wars.” This usually comes in the form of apocalyptic predictions of a conflict between a growing older population enjoying robust ...
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Food for Skippy: Doggie Bags Boomer Style

Food for Skippy: Doggie Bags Boomer Style

My friend leaned over the table as if to impart a great secret. “Do you think the waiter will believe that I am taking the pastrami home for a raccoon?” She spoke in a conspiratorial whisper. And indeed, she was revealing a deep dark secret ...
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Dental Tourism: The Good, the Bad and the Molar

Dental Tourism: The Good, the Bad and the Molar

Let’s face it. The sad fact is that your teeth will likely wear out before you do. That can mean a substantial financial outlay not covered by Medicare or private insurance. When my husband, Stu, was faced with the cost of extensive dentistry, we actually ...
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