-Have A Seat: You Need To Learn How To Sit In Order To Save Your Back

-Calculate Your Risk: The Benefits And Burdens Of Genetic Tests

-Final Acts: Planning Your Own Funeral

–Take A Hike: What Every Senior Hiker Should Know

-Fatal Attraction: Glenn Close Is The Wife

-The Last Word

Full Throttle Ahead: Travel With A Purpose: Whether for pleasure or purpose, many of us look forward to traveling in our later years. For some, it’s visiting places on the bucket list or reconnecting with family, and for others, it’s finding meaning or giving back through exploration of other cultures. Either way, travel usually requires some planning, so here are a few resources you might want to consider.

First, do you want to combine travel with the opportunity to reset or repurpose your life? Then you may want to find out about the new Modern Elder Academy, the brainchild of hotelier and author Chip Conley, who is reimagining his next stage of life, and ours, with the concept of “transformative travel.” With his about-to-be-published book, Wisdom @ Work: The Making of a Modern Elder, Conley is planning to disrupt old notions of retirement the way he did in the hotel industry- and his first stop is a retreat in the beautiful Baja region of Mexico. Read more about his plan to help you restore and reset Here.

For those who want a more traditional path of purpose in retirement, have you considered the Peace Corps? It turns out there’s no upper age limit as to who can join and there are plenty of retired volunteers participating around the world. For some insight into one couple’s fulfilling Peace Corps stint, Click Here.

Finally, for those of us a little less adventurous, or perhaps just physically unable to journey on our own, did you know that travel companion help is available? It turns out there are many companies in the marketplace that can assist with negotiating security and airports, transporting you once you reach your destination or even accompanying you during your trip to ensure a safe and medically supported travel experience. To find out more, dig out that bucket list and Read Here.

Have A Seat: You Need To Learn How To Sit In Order To Save Your Back: You already know that sitting is considered “the new smoking,” i.e., harmful to your health and something you need to avoid doing. But it’s not just how long you sit that’s the problem. It turns out it’s the way that you sit that may be causing your back or neck pain. Your posture, your rounded back, your hunched shoulders all contribute to pressure on your spinal discs and may be the source of your discomfort and long-term damage. Instead, you’ve got to pay attention to the position of your derriere and the motion of your hips when you sit. So sit up tall and listen to the advice from this recent NPR story Here.

Of course, it’s also valuable to get some exercise suggestions or product support when you’re worried about your back and posture, especially if you spend long periods of time sitting in front of your computer. So, for some good advice about how to position yourself at your desk, and what products may help, take a look Here. For some additional posture-correcting products, check out this recent New York Magazine piece. If you want some visual demonstrations of good posture-supporting exercises, stretch out your arms and Click Here. Finally, if you’ve been wondering if it’s time to see a chiropractor for that back pain, you may be interested to read a recent study published in JAMA about the added value of chiropractic care for lower back pain.

Calculate Your Risk: The Benefits And Burdens Of Genetic Tests: There’s no doubt we’re living in an age when DNA testing is alluring. With such commercial entities as 23andme or Ancestry.com, if you can spit into a tube then you can find out all kinds of info on your background, your heritage or even your risk of being diagnosed with certain diseases or afflictions. But is this knowledge a good thing?

A new article in The New York Times makes clear we’re on the verge of taking personal DNA info and determining one’s individual risk of being afflicted with 5 serious diseases, including heart disease, Type 2 diabetes, and breast cancer. With a low cost and high predictive value, this new test will be able to alert you to a high risk, so that you can start preventive measures or lifestyle changes, or a low risk, which should allay some fears and give you time to determine what’s best.

For both men and women, including older adults, professionals often advise genetic testing, especially for breast cancer. A recent article in Next Avenuemakes clear that older women diagnosed with breast cancer are often not informed of the availability of genetic testing, and thus miss out on an opportunity to fully understand their situation and make decisions accordingly. In fact, there’s even a campaign that’s been launched – No Matter My Age– to inform older women of the benefits of genetic testing for breast cancer. And for men, who may also carry the genetic risk for certain cancers and can pass that risk on to children, there’s an increased effort to educate them about the benefits of this testing.

Is there a downside to genetic testing? To the extent you learn about risks for diseases or ailments about which you can do little, the testing may cause heightened anxiety. And while genetic test results cannot be used to deny you health insurance (you should know about the federal Genetic Information Non-Discrimination Act), they could possibly be used to limit your access to long-term care insurance or life-insurance, depending on the state you live in and the insurer you use. Alternatively, if your risk for a disease is assessed to be low, or the genetic info you receive allows you to make significant lifestyle changes to lessen your risk, an insurer might take that into account. The bottom line? Genetic testing is never something to do casually or impulsively. So before you take the plunge, inform yourself – and read more about what you should consider Here.
 

Final Acts: Planning Your Own Funeral: It’s hard enough getting older, but do we also have to contemplate our own funeral? Some of us have the irrational fear that if we make funeral plans it will hasten our demise. Others of us just can’t wrap our heads around the prospect of arranging for our own funeral, even if we know rationally it makes sense for us to be involved. Yet some of us have strong feelings about the matter and are more than happy to take charge.

In which camp do you fall? Well, take some advice and consider some advance planning. Not only will your loved ones appreciate the forethought during their time of grief but they will have the comfort of knowing that the arrangements are in accordance with what you wanted. And from an economic standpoint? Grieving relatives often make irrational- and costly- decisions. So pull yourself together and make some plans by Reading Here.

And some of us are so specific about what we want that we even plan the ultimate event- a Destination Funeral! Did you know this was a thing? If you want loved ones to travel far and wide in memory and celebration of your life, then you’ve got to plan ahead- and perhaps even leave some money in your estate to cover the costs. For more details on how to make such plans, Click Here.

And if you’re wondering what funerals of the future are going to look like, then read about the latest architectural innovations for funeral homes. Specifically, one group of architects has re-envisioned the whole funeral parlor setting, designing an uplifting rather than depressing environment, and allowing digital technology to be integrated into the mourning process. To step into the future of funeral homes, contemplate some beloved memories and Take a look Here.

Take A Hike: What Every Senior Hiker Should Know: As the end of the summer approaches, some of us may be planning fall hiking trips, especially if we want a first-hand look at the fall leaves and autumn colors. Whether you’re a novice at hiking or have walked the trails for decades, it’s always useful to get advice from older, experienced hikers. Start by reading the suggestions of Donna Hull of My Itchy Travel Feet. Donna and her husband Alan are intrepid world travelers and have advice from A-Z about all aspects of traveling as you grow older. They have a comprehensive guide for everything you need to know about hitting the trails- from online resources and apps to guidebooks and gear. So lace up your hiking boots and check out their recommendations Here.

And if you’re not a subscriber, you may want to check out some of the latest featured articles in Senior Hiker Magazine. If you’re planning that late summer/early fall trek, you also need to make sure you’re attuned to potential weather changes or other conditions that may leave you more vulnerable than you realize. For some valuable advice on these challenges, pick up your poles and take a glance Here.

Fatal Attraction: Glenn Close Is The Wife: It’s an all too familiar story for women of a certain age: A decades-long marriage in which the wife sublimates her ambitions and talents to support the husband as he prospers and succeeds. For some couples, this arrangement works- for others, the combination of inflated egos and lost opportunities becomes too much to bear. It can be high drama and now, in a new film, Glenn Close brings this tale to life in the about-to-be-released The Wife.

Adapted from the 2004 Meg Wolitzer book of the same name, this film may finally result in an Oscar for Glenn Close, who in her decades of movie acting, has been nominated 6 times but has never won. The 71-year-old actress has received numerous accolades throughout her life, including 3 Tony Awards and 3 Emmy Awards. Her performance in The Wife is richly nuanced and made all the more special as her own real-life daughter, Annie Stark, portrays the Glenn Close character at a younger age. So grab your popcorn and watch Close, along with co-star Jonathan Pryce, discuss her career and this movie with CNN’s Christiane Amanpour Here.

“THE LAST WORD: “I read so that I can live more than one life in more than one place.” Anne Tyler