Life Done Right™

Ready for some depressing news: “A bout of depression may raise the risks of developing dementia later in life.” That’s right. Researchers have found a link between the chemistry produced by depression and its effect on our brains later in life. It’s astounding that the mind remembers what the memory forgets. Keep moving, man, otherwise [...]

You may think the whole notion of the seven-year itch exists only in the movies that star voluptuous blond bombshells like Marilyn Monroe, but new research suggests that couples fall into two categories: those who divorce after three years and those who hang on till seven years before pulling the pre-nup plug.
The seduction of [...]

Feeling like a Hell’s Angel this summer? Ready to plunk down the big dough on a real Harley Davidson so you can ride with the boys and slam a few beers after to brag about how you throttled that puppy on the open highway. Well, consider this my leather clad friend: “Deaths among motorcycle operators [...]

It’s always nice to see scientists reach that ah-ha moment and make a significant discovery that changes all of humankind. A new Alzheimer’s Disease drug dubbed CAD106 is being touted as a real breakthrough drug that just might stop the disease. Great news that can’t come soon enough!
A jab to halt Alzheimer’s could be available [...]

There’s a new drug in town to battle Alzheimer’s Disease. It goes by the name, Dimebon, an old antihistamine drug that has shown promising results in treating the symptoms of Alzheimer’s Disease. Wyeth must be envious of Medivation for scooping their research thunder. This is a rare instance where the rush to find a drug [...]

It’s nice to read that Wyeth is spending some serious cash on research to discover a cure for Alzheimer’s Disease. Of course, the patent on the drug that may result gives them the victor’s spoils in terms of setting the price for the pills. And who knows how much Federal money they’ve received for this [...]

One thing is for sure: globalization is lowering the standard of living for younger men in the United States, according recent research. The whole notion of the next generation doing better financially than the previous generation is no longer a gimme. So for all you grandparents out there, brace yourself, the “requests” for a helping [...]

Source: Valleywag
Hopefully you woke up on the wrong side of the bed this morning. If you did, haul your ass-mind over to A VC and plunge into the debate about whether anyone over 30 doesn’t qualify as an entrepreneur, at least in Silicon Valley. Is there some mental barrier that prevents “older” people from starting [...]

Your head may have as many as 100,000 hair follicles. Scientists have discovered a wound healing gene named wnt controls the production of these hair follicles, so it may just be a matter of time before you visit the barber shop in order to have the barber trim your genes to stimulate growth.
Gene find triggers [...]

The will to embrace new technology usually belongs to those who never experienced the “old way” doing things. Take phones. How many kids under 30 remember sticking their index finger into a round hole and rotating it in a clockwise direction seven times in order to place a call to their friends? Probably none. The [...]

Last Sunday’s New York Times Magazine has a great selection of articles about aging. It covers everything from Boomer Babes to extending life through prescription drugs.
The Older–and–Wiser Hypothesis
By STEPHEN S. HALL
Wisdom, long a subject for philosophers, is now being scrutinized by a cadre of scientific researchers. The trick lies not just in measuring something so [...]

You know how you can tell when a rainstorm is coming. Well, researchers with a little time on their hands are predicting demographic storm clouds are going to produce a labor shortage as more Baby Boomers retire from the workforce. You can read the writing on the decrepit wall, but unless social policies start anticipating [...]

A family friend recently died. For the funeral, the family requested a song by Joe Wise called “I Believe.” I went to iTunes figuring at this point in the game every major music catalog owner must have taken the time to digitize their songs and put them online. Not so. Not only was the song [...]

With the genome pretty much figured out, the race to find connections between genes and health conditions is underway. For example, we learned the other day that longevity is tied to the pha-4 gene. Now researchers have found a genetic link to heart disease. Please note: they did not find any connection between a broken [...]

One way to live longer is to starve yourself. If that doesn’t appeal to you, then maybe you should buddy up to a researcher working with the pha-4 gene. The presence or absence of this gene appears to influence longevity, at least in nematodes. Hey, anyone want to try out for my new reality TV [...]

If you’re a postmenopausal woman looking to avoid pesky bone fractures, then pharmaceutical help is intervenously on its way. Fosomax pill poppers, apparently, fail to keep up their drug regimen. An annual dose of zoledronic acid over three years dropped spine fractures by 70%; the risk of hip fractures dropped 41%.
So stop looking at [...]

We love data research porn. This is information that outlines a market or provides a series of insights into consumer behavior that creates major business opportunities. Elizabeth Pope dug up some facts that show seniors are the key demographic for health clubs. Forget those twenty-something hard bodies! Embrace the soiled underwear crowd driving Ferrari’s and [...]

Good news for those of you who are bald, have wrinkles, or a head of gray hair. These are not signs that your body is en route to a rapid decline and early death. Time to come up with some other excuse for not getting your lazy ass off the couch and exercising.
Baldness and Longevity

The Doctor’s Dream, Ackermann aquatint, 1813
Dr. Atul Gawande offers a glimpse into the world of geriatric medicine in his recent article for the New Yorker. Geriatric medicine, it turns out, is not such a hot choice of profession for most doctors. The field, in fact, has declining enrollment. Dr. Gawande reports, “Despite a rapidly growing [...]

Deloitte offers “insight podcasts” on a variety of industries. It’s a little like paying twenty bucks to have your palm read. Some, of course, are better at reading the future than others. Paul Prescott thinks he knows a little something about the real estate market when it comes to Baby Boomers. If real estate is [...]