After all, what’s the point? Once you’ve passed your genes on to the next generation, why stick around? Why take up space and use food and other scarce resources? It’s the young who need those things to live to reproductive age. So why do old animals even exist? Or old people?
Finally, a study older folks can be happy about
Good news, folks! Some things actually get better with age, and I’m happy to say that emotional stability is one of them. It says so right in the authoritative Journal of Neuroscience.
‘I . . . feel like a man again’
Testosterone was once off limits for men with prostate cancer. Things are changing.
Manny Hamelburg, 68, a retired businessman from Holbrook, had fought prostate cancer for years. First he tried radiation, then a drug with side effects that nearly killed him, and finally Lupron, a drug that blocks production of testosterone, the hormone that can fuel prostate cancer.
The Lesson Of Old Geniuses
Grandma Moses first picked up a paintbrush at 78, reportedly after arthritis forced her to give up the embroidery for which she was already well-known. She went on to paint for more than 20 years, finishing her last big canvas at 101.
Men Have A Biological Clock, Too
For years, many prospective parents – and doctors as well – have blithely assumed that, if an older couple’s baby has birth defects, it’s most likely because of the woman’s advancing age.
A ‘Cure’ For Osteoporosis May Be Near
Scientists who normally shy away from words like “cure” or “breakthrough” say researchers are on the verge of what could be a revolution in the treatment of osteoporosis, the dangerous bone-thinning condition that is responsible for 1.5 million fractures in the United States each year.
A New Weapon Against Memory Loss?
After creeping corpulence, perhaps the most common complaint people have about growing older is what the experts politely call “benign” memory loss and the rest of us, less politely, sometimes call CRS, for Can’t Remember You-Know-What.
Americans Strive To Live With Chronic Illnesses
At 68, Helen Freeman of Seattle has more chronic diseases than many of us will face in a lifetime. First, there’s her labored breathing because of extensive scarring from years of lung infections.
Then there’s the diabetes, for which she needs daily medication. The glaucoma is no picnic, either – she’s almost blind in one eye. She’s also had melanoma and breast cancer.
Getting your shots is not kid stuff
“Here’s what got me thinking,” says Anne White of Lexington, who is 63.
“I’ve reached the age where I turn to the obits first. And I keep seeing articles about people who die unexpectedly in the hospital.”
Caregiving from afar is not easy
For the last five years, Joyce Antler, a Brandeis University historian in her early 50s, has been living what she calls “a terrible nightmare.”