• Happy Meal: Is It Time To Switch Back To Whole Milk And Real Eggs?
• Instead Of Your Lifespan, Focus On Your Healthspan
• Take Two Aspirin- Or Maybe Don’t
• Working Late: Challenges Faced By Older Workers
• Your Face: Inevitable Changes And How To Respond
• Make It A Movie Night With “The Last Suit”
• The Last Word

Happy Meal: Is It Time To Switch Back To Whole Milk And Real Eggs?: While some of us never abandoned our childhood meals, many have silently suffered at breakfast with skim milk and egg whites for way too many years. We’ve been told these dietary changes are necessary for a healthier way of life- yet somehow, we still pine away for that creamy whole milk. Well, some new evidence has just arrived that may bolster your drive to return to the days of yore. New research just published in The Lancet provides an intriguing association between dairy intake and lower risk of cardiovascular disease and mortality in 21 countries. The study provides a more complex picture of the potential health benefits of whole-fat dairy, including milk and yogurt. And while this doesn’t give you permission to run out and indulge in a pint of premium high-fat ice cream, it does provide encouraging evidence that there very well may be a role for whole-fat dairy products in your daily diet. So reach for the creamer and take a look here. And as for whether whole eggs are healthy for you? It’s a battle of the experts on that score. Pick your side and gather your evidence from this recent Wall Street Journal article Here(paywall).

Instead Of Your Lifespan, Focus On Your Healthspan: The statistics are dazzling: In the past 100 years, there’s been a 30-year increase in life expectancy. That’s amazing, and significantly attributable to advances in hygiene and public health, as well as medical advances. But, as University of Illinois epidemiologist S. Jay Olshansky writes in a recent article in the Journal of the American Medical Association, we’ve likely reached the limit of maximum human lifespan. What we haven’t done, however, is focus sufficiently on the realm of maximum human healthspan, i.e., the number of our healthy years. Olshansky believes it makes no sense for researchers to pursue further life extension, especially if those final years are lived in pain or sickness. What Olshansky and others want us now to pursue is a compression of “the red zone,” that is, years at the end of life which are often characterized by frailty, disease, and disability. By doing so we can then extend the number of our healthy years. Read more about the thinking of Dr. Olshanksy here and check out the Silicon Valley entrepreneurs who are already busily investing in “healthspan” research here.

Take Two Aspirin- Or Maybe Don’t: Aspirin, or its earlier incarnations, has been around for thousands of years as an effective pain management remedy. And it’s been prescribed in a low-dose baby aspirin formula for decades as an effective preventive strategy for people who are at risk for a 2nd heart attack or stroke, or for people at high risk for a heart attack. But what about taking aspirin if you’re healthy with a low risk of a heart attack? Wouldn’t it make sense for you to take a baby aspirin as well, to ward off a potential heart attack? What would be the harm? According to a new study published in the New England Journal of Medicine, for people with low risk, low-dose daily aspirin does not appear to lessen the risk of a cardiovascular event, nor does it extend periods of health or lower your risk of dying. What it does seem to do, however, is increase your risk of a serious bleed such as a gastrointestinal bleed or brain hemorrhage. So, while always consulting with your physician, you may want to take the advice of noted geriatrician Dr.Muriel Gillick and stop taking that daily baby aspirin if you are at low risk for a heart attack.

Working Late: Challenges Faced By Older Workers: For many of us entering our 60s and beyond, the concept of retirement holds no appeal. For us, work may be fulfilling, fun or even financially necessary and we can’t fathom what we’d do if we were sitting at home. Or, if we’ve recently left a long-time position we may be up for the challenge of a new opportunity. The question is, does the modern workplace welcome us?

First, you may confront some of the inevitable myths that shadow older workers: Employers may worry that you’ll be less productive than younger colleagues or perhaps start taking a lot of sick time. There are no data to support these myths but it can require persistence to combat their nefarious effects. For more insights into the myths, and the realities, of older workers, pull out your briefcase and read here. And click here to read the unfortunate story of one older worker who was forced to leave her job well before it was necessary because she revealed a newly discovered diagnosis.

With the growing number of older workers in the workforce, the scourge of age discrimination and efforts to combat it are ever increasing. The EEOC is the federal agency tasked with investigating and sometimes litigating acts of age discrimination in the workplace. Read a recent interview with EEOC Acting Head Victoria Lipnic about her agency’s aggressive stance against age discrimination in the workplace. And for those of you out there looking for your next gig, take a look at this recent CNBC piece on how to answer those prickly interview questions that might be trying (illegally) to find out your age.

Your Face: Inevitable Changes And How To Respond: Whether you accept or deny it, none of us escapes the inevitable forces of mother nature that make our faces and skin reflect our aging. As gravity pulls, cartilage weakens and collagen disappears, you will likely see shifts and lumps and bags and lines in places previously smooth and silky. For a candid description of what will happen, and how you can respond, check out this post from the Harvard Healthbeat here.

Beauty product manufacturers are keenly aware that “embracing aging” is in the zeitgeist and that more and more of us don’t want to be sucked into the anti-aging war by being told that older faces are “bad” and need to be fought with “anti-aging” products. In a recent and enlightening piece in Vox, you can read how these companies are switching their vocabulary to less ageist product promotions, promising “glowing” or “radiant” skin rather than making us feel bad about our wrinkles or age spots. The bottom line is that there are some products and skincare routines that are valuable as you get older, less because you want to maintain your youthful face and more because skin does get more dry and fragile as you age, and it’s as important for your health, as well as your appearance, to take good care of the skin that covers your face and body. For some practical advice about how to respond to the facial and skin changes that inevitably accompany aging, pull out your Vaseline and read this piece from Consumer Reports.

Make It A Movie Night With “The Last Suit”: While it’s a well-known fact that Jews fleeing the Holocaust settled in all corners of the globe, less well known is what’s happened to these survivors as they’ve grown old in foreign lands. Many survivors fled to Latin America, and it’s the story of one such survivor that’s the focus of a new and award-winning film, The Last Suit. Starring 69-year-old Argentinian actor Miguel Angel Sola as the fictional Abraham Burzstein, the story of The Last Suit centers on retired tailor Burzstein, a Holocaust survivor in Buenos Aires, whose family sold his home in order to move him into a retirement home. Resisting this move, Abraham instead secretly embarks on a long road trip to go back to Poland and find the Christian friend who saved his life. Described as both comedic and poignant, it’s a late-in-life journey filled with its own twists and turns as Abraham attempts to recapture a long-lost life and memories. Read more about this sweet tear-jerker here and check out dates here for when it will arrive in theaters near you.

“THE LAST WORD: “I don’t ask myself what did I live for…That’s a man’s question. I ask whom did I live for.” Zadie Smith