Category Archives: Aging

Some reflections on aging, writing and memory

Does this ever happen to you? Lately I’ve noticed that I’m having difficulty retrieving words. Not always, but often enough to be aware of it. It happened just the other day, when I saw the word “ribald” in something I was reading. I know what the word means, but I couldn’t think of synonyms to […]

8 ways men and women age differently

The existence of fart jokes, belching contests and bra-snapping would appear proof-positive that boys are less mature than girls during childhood and adolescence. Now science validates it, with UK researchers discovering that girls tend to optimize brain connections earlier, so they generally mature faster than boys in certain cognitive and emotional areas. But while women […]

When the universe slaps you upside the head

A couple of months ago, I received an email from a friend. In it, she revealed that she has been diagnosed with glioblastoma, a particularly aggressive type of brain tumor. After discussing her situation with her doctors and her husband, she said she’d decided against surgery. Instead, she planned to take steroids to reduce the […]

Baby boomer brains benefit from sex, maple syrup and extra weight

Raise your hand if you worry about getting dementia. Yeah, me, too. And we’re not alone. A recent U.K. study says more people are scared of getting neurological disorders like dementia than cancer (45% vs. 35%). Apparently, the people polled would rather endure physical pain and die quicker than have a condition like dementia. There’s […]

Do you suffer from age-related a**hat allergy syndrome?

I appear to have developed some later-in-life allergies. These aren’t the typical allergic reactions—like sneezing and itchy eyes—to things like pollen, dust or animal dander. Instead, I’m having reactions to a variety of behaviors I encounter. It’s a condition I’ve dubbed age-related asshat allergy syndrome, or AAAS. We can acquire new allergies as we age; […]

Want to live longer? Read this.

Hardly a day goes by that we aren’t confronted by the fact that we’re getting older. From the barrage of ads for anti-aging products, to the weird snap, crackle and pop noises our bodies start making, to that older-looking person staring back at us in the mirror—the passage of time is impossible to ignore. And […]

Got pot? Baby boomers, bongs and bones

Now that the recreational use of marijuana is legal here in Maine (or will be once the newly passed law takes effect), fess up, fellow baby boomers: Did you smoke pot in high school? Do you still partake? I’ll confess: I smoked occasionally in high school and college (yes, I inhaled); I even bought my […]

Songs you might not want to hear at the doctor’s

Picture this (well, you ladies of a certain age, anyway): you’re having your annual mammogram. You’re standing there half naked, with one of your boobs squished flat, holding your breath while the tech zaps it with radiation. Then, the piped-in music—part of the imaging facility’s efforts to enhance the patient experience—begins to play Firefall’s 1976 […]

Overheard at my 45th high school reunion

I had the pleasure of attending—and helping to organize—my 45th high school reunion this past summer. It was a blast to reconnect, reminisce and catch up on what and how classmates from the Brunswick Class of 1971 are doing. As someone remarked, when we were in high school there were various cliques—like the jocks, the […]