Statistics on the burgeoning growth of the population of older people and their likely need for future care are frequently trumpeted. The Census Bureau estimates that 59.2 million Americans were age 65 or older in 2023, a 9% increase since the 2020 census. By 2060, the number of Americans in that age range is projected to […]
In simpler times, there was simpler advice for staying healthy: “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” The proverb can be traced back more than 150 years, when Notes and Queries, a noted academic correspondence magazine, first published a wordier rhyming version in its February 1866 issue: “Eat an apple on going to bed, […]
Of all the unexpected changes, diminutions, and just plain annoyances that aging inevitably brings with it, those in the know agree that the hardest is losing what they’ve come to cherish most: their independence. Perhaps independence is so hard to give up because it’s so hard-won. Most people spend their youthful years longing for the […]
My glamorous friend’s glamorous mother died recently at age 90. She was known, among other things, for her youthful appearance, which allowed her to bluff about the true number of years she’d lived, even to herself, for her entire lifetime. Her secret, which she revealed to her daughter only on her deathbed: “Whatever you do […]
Updated June 2025 Communities craving ways to keep their senior residents — and to keep them engaged and engaging — could learn a lesson from Oak Park, Illinois, a village with a population of 52,000 just west of Chicago. Boosters on its website claim that Oak Park “boasts excellent schools, world class architecture, shopping, dining, […]
Beginning at a tender age, one of the most difficult feelings to contend with is the nebulous one of being left out of the mainstream. And the cut seems unkindest of all when it happens to older people who by dint of design or sometimes their own mounting challenges in seeing, hearing, and getting around […]
Updated June 2025 In American society, which seems hellbent on shunning the reality that aging is a natural part of living, the idea of seniors having sex suffers from double taboos. And yet, they persist. Perhaps the current deluge of television ads for various drugs that purport to make it easy and fun for older […]
It’s often called the Silent Epidemic — the various scams and schemes used to bilk seniors out of their money and valuables. “Silent” because the victims, often frail and vulnerable older people, are more often than not too frightened, too embarrassed or too ashamed to tell anyone — including family members and friends — that […]
Updated June 2025 For many people, retirement marks one of the most profound changes in their lives and lifestyles. Those who have defined themselves by and through their work suddenly feel unmoored or adrift, with no easy way to answer the common question: “So what do you do?” To further complicate the picture, the persistent […]
