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February 15, 2009

ChangingAging.org Redesign -- Please Bookmark!

Attention Readers! We are launching a new design for the blog that will be hosted directly at the URL www.changingaging.org. Please navigate to www.changingaging.org and reset your bookmarks and sign up for our new RSS Feed. In the coming days we will set up an automatic redirect to the new hosting site. See you there!

Web Master

Posted by Kavan Peterson on February 15, 2009 8:00 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 6, 2009

Dorothea Johnson Responds...

Dorothea writes in response to Al Power...

Another interesting book that recently came out and addresses similar issues is called Blue Zones. It is a result of a NIH funded study of centenarians among various cultures throughout the world. The author found pockets of cultures that he referred to as "blue zones" where people lived incredibly long and healthy lives in spite of seemingly harsh environments - Costa Rica, Okinawa, Sardinia...
Anyway, the book goes out of its way to figure out common patterns in diet and activities but somehow fails to be convincing. It seemed like, if anything, some of these lifestyles were almost contradictory to each other. The only common theme that emerged out of these far corners of the world had to do with two things - having a purpose in life (a reason to get up in the morning) and strong connection to family, friends and community. While you can't really create a recipe book out of those conclusions (as Dr. Mehmed Oz tried to do), you can certainly adopt these principles in day-to-day living.
I would tell you more except that I just got this overwhelming urge to shut off the computer and join my son for a game of soccer. It's a beautiful Saturday here in Virginia!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 6, 2009 9:47 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 25, 2008

I'm Talking Old

Well-being-- it is what we all want-- young and old alike.

TOKYO - The world's oldest man celebrated his 113th birthday on Thursday, telling reporters at his home in southern Japan about his joyful life and healthy appetite.

"I'm happy," said Tomoji Tanabe as the local mayor presented him with flowers and a giant tea cup glazed with his name and date of birth. "I'm well. I eat a lot," he added.

Tanabe, recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records as the oldest living male last year, eats mostly vegetables and believes the key to longevity is not drinking alcohol.

More Here

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 25, 2008 6:34 AM |Permalink |Comments (7)

September 23, 2008

The Power of Community

"Having close friends and staying in contact with family members offers a protective effect against the damaging effects of Alzheimer’s disease according to research by physicians at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago. The study, which is currently posted online in The Lancet Neurology, will be published in the May print edition of the journal."

Community is essential to well being and this is especially true for elders. That said, we are sailing into a historical aberration. In the decades to come, more and more elders will spend more and more time separated from family, friends and neighbors. This is a path that leads to great suffering and it must be undone.

Click here for a handy list of Nine things you can do to prevent Alzheimers.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 23, 2008 6:24 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

July 10, 2008

McCain's Not So--- Social Security

McCain is against social insurance programs. He thinks that the way Social Security was designed to operate and has operated since its creation is a "disgrace."

At a town hall meeting on Monday, McCain said:

Americans have got to understand that we are paying present-day retirees with the taxes paid by young workers in America today. And that's a disgrace. It's an absolute disgrace, and it's got to be fixed.

Steven Benen writes

OK, let’s take a deep breath here. Social Security is a pay-as-you-go system. Current workers pay into the system to provide benefits for retirees, and when those workers retire, the next generation will pay their benefits. That’s what Social Security is. That’s how it works. That’s how it’s always worked.

If McCain wants to argue that privatization is a good idea, fine. He’s wrong, but we can have the debate (again). But it appears that McCain is desperately in need of some kind of remedial Government 101 education, because he literally described the Social Security system as a “total disgrace.”

At this point, John McCain is starting to make George W. Bush look like a sophisticated policy wonk.

Now, I know what you’re thinking. Maybe McCain just slipped up. He was tired and said something he didn’t mean to say. This couldn’t possibly reflect his feelings on the Social Security system. He knows he’d lose Florida if it got out that he considers the system a “total disgrace.”

But it’s true. Here’s how he talked about Social Security on CNN yesterday morning:

“On the privatization of accounts, which you just mentioned, I would like to respond to that. I want young workers to be able to, if they choose, to take part of their own money which is their taxes and put it in an account which has their name on it. Now, that’s a voluntary thing, it’s for younger people, it would not affect any present-day retirees or the system as necessary. So let’s describe it for what it is. They pay their taxes and right now their taxes are going to pay the retirement of present-day retirees. That’s why it’s broken, that’s why we can fix it.” [emphasis added]

It’s literally breathtaking. As Nick Baumann put it, “McCain is saying, again, that the problem with Social Security is that Social Security is Social Security, instead of something else.”

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on July 10, 2008 6:42 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

March 27, 2008

The ProAging Network

Last week the Erickson School hosted a ProAging Network event for aging services workers in MD, PA, VA and DC. I shared some thoughts on my philosophy of Developmental Aging. Take a look:

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on March 27, 2008 10:21 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

January 30, 2008

The Genius of Aging Campaign

[Guest post from Kavan at UMBC]

Earlier this month I highlighted Colorado's innovative strategic plan for aging, Silverprint Colorado. The mission behind this initiative is to "establish a culture for positive aging addressing the needs, contributions and opportunities" for all residents age 60 and up.

Today I want to highlight efforts in another state to put issues of aging and elderhood at the forefront of public discourse. Hawai'i's population of elders is growing more rapidly than anywhere else in the United States. In other words, Hawaii leads the nation in longevity. Hawai'i's CBS TV affiliate, KGMB9, has partnered with Dr. Bill Thomas to produce a ground-breaking, year-long campaign focused on addressing all the issues of aging and caregiving in the state. In "The Genius of Aging Campaign, Honoring Hawai'i's Kupuna," KGMB9 will partner with business, non-profit, government, grass roots, and education to cover related stories about aging, provide information and resources on air and the web.

Click here here to watch an introductory video.

Dr. Thomas kicked-off the campaign with this letter to Hawaiians:

Once upon a time, youth was everything. To be young was to be beautiful, strong, adventurous and good. That was the story we were told. Fortunately, we know that America is beginning to search for the wisdom that lies beyond youth. There is a growing awareness that aging and longevity have beauty and purpose of their own. Nowhere in America is this better understood than in the Fiftieth State.
The people of Hawaii have long appreciated and honored their kupuna. The tradition of respecting one’s elders has shaped the legacy, the legends, the culture, the very people of Hawaii. The time has come to publicly honor that history and to use it as a platform for exploring the new old age that is taking root in Hawaii.

This is what KGMB9's new campaign, "The Genius of Aging: Honoring Hawaii's Kupuna" is all about. KGMB9 is going to peer into and seek to understand how genuine respect for kupuna helped create the society in which we now live. Together, we will look at the present and examine the myriad of creative, exciting innovations that are remaking old age today. Finally, we will seek to understand the future. How will our changing understanding of aging --- change us.

The series is called "The Genius of Aging" because, when you think about it, aging is perhaps the greatest of all human inventions. After all, longevity is what makes grand-parenting possible, it blesses us with kupuna. We live in a busy world (and it seems to be getting busier) but all around us are wise elders, ready to share with us the lessons of lives well-lived. All we have to do is stop, listen and learn.

In the end, that is what this campaign is all about. I am grateful to Channel 9 for their enthusiasm and for bringing these stories to the public, and I value the campaign’s sponsors for their generous support. So, welcome to this fantastic journey.

Together, we can all, truly, honor the real geniuses of aging, Hawaii’s kupuna.

Dr. Bill Thomas

Click here to learn more about Hawai'i's kupuna.

Posted by Kavan Peterson on January 30, 2008 9:12 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 17, 2007

Ontogeny and Neoteny

I have been looking at human development from the point of view of evolutionary biology and have found a theory that I think might help us understand our relationship to the rest of the primate family...

Here's the heavy stuff...

"To support the argument that we evolved by retaining juvenile features of our ancestors, Bolk provided lists of similarities between adult humans and juvenile apes:

"Our essential somatic properties, i.e. those which distinguish the human body form from that of other Primates, have all one feature in common, viz they are fetal conditions that have become permanent.

What is a transitional stage in the ontogensis [embryonic development] of other Primates has become a terminal stage in man" (1926a, p. 468).

Bolk (1926c, p. 6) provide[s] an abbreviated list in the following order:

1. Our "flat faced" orthognathy.
2. Reduction of lack of body hair.
3. Loss of pigmentation in skin, eyes, and hair.
4. The form of the external ear.
5. The epicanthic eyefold.
6. The central position of the foramen magnum (it migrates backward during the ontogeny of primates).
7. High relative brain weight.
8. Persistence of the cranial sutures to an advanced age.
9. The labia majora of women.
10. The structure of the hand and foot.
11. The form of the pelvis.
12. The ventrally directed position of the sexual canal in women.
13. Certain variations of the tooth row and cranial sutures.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 17, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

James Dean James Dean

Frank Greeve at McClatchy has a nice piece on what fancy-pants experts call...

"the compression of morbidity"

This means more life and living with less illness and disability. The idea is not that people get a greater lifespan (the top end remains about 110 years) but rather that more and more people are blessed with a greater healthspan.

Most people hope for healthspan to equal their lifespan. The actor James Dean accomplished this with the only problem being that he wrecked his car and was killed when he was still in his early twenties. Not sick a day in his life though.

More attractive is the option of achieving both longevity and a generous healthspan. This dream seems to be coming true for more and more people. The full article is here.

WASHINGTON — The remarkable thing about National Public Radio senior news analyst Daniel Schorr, 91, who only recently gave up tennis, and Landrum Bolling, 94, the globe-trotting director at large for the relief agency Mercy Corps, is the same: They aren't.
A surprising decline in disability rates among older Americans since the 1980s is enabling millions more to lead longer, richer, spryer lives.

[snip]

"This is a very important positive outcome," said Dr. Richard Suzman, the director of the behavioral and social research program at the National Institute on Aging...

[snip]

Already, the decline has put to rest fears that greater longevity would mean only more years in pain. A National Center for Health Statistics study published in August found the opposite: that older Americans typically are disability-free for the roughly 10 months of life expectancy that were added from 1992 to 2003.

(H/T Alex M)

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 9:44 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 10, 2007

Sunshine Down Under

Similar studies show the same results in the U.S. -- the older we are the less likely we are to be depressed, stressed and anxious:

Middle-aged 'more anxious than elderly'
Elderly Australians are less anxious and depressed than those in middle-age, according to a new study which paints a refreshingly bright picture of growing old.

A major survey of 5,000 people over 45 has found that baby boomers have significantly higher rates of psychiatric and anxiety disorders than those in their twilight years.

"This is a new and very positive view of ageing," said psychiatrist and co-investigator Dr Julian Trollor, from the University of New South Wales.

"The general perception out there is that disease and burden is what you've got to look forward to as you age, but we can be much more positive than that."

Read more in the Sydney Morning Herald.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:48 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 6, 2007

Posted Without Comment

How to Get the Sexy, Sleek, Attractive Look You’ve Always Dreamed Of

Part 1 –Turn Back the Clock Anti-Aging Fitness Program
Part 2 – Unleash the Power of Your Mind
Part 3 – Nourish Your Body to Get Young
Part 4 – Spice Up Life with Supplements
Part 5 – Get Fit and Beat Your Body's Aging
Part 6 - Put it All Together

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 6, 2007 6:21 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 5, 2007

Wealth and Age: King Lear

The one unalterable fact with which aging related public policy must contend is that...

"You can't take it with you."

Financial capital is no good to the dead. Social capital matters only to the living.

Society must therefore find effective and just means for transmitting wealth across the generations. It must.

Just think of Shakespeare's Lear. An aging monarch, convinced of his own decrepitude, whose intention is " To shake all cares and business from our age, / Conferring them on younger strengths, while we / Unburden'd crawl toward death."

How did it work out? Well, the play is among the Bard's greatest tragedies and nearly all of the main characters are dead before the closing curtain so let's just say that Lear does not offer a firm footing for thought in this area.

Lear transfers his financial capital en bloc to his two older daughters and thereby makes himself into a pauper. He banishes his youngest and most beloved daughter and thereby squanders the greatest part of his social capital.

EdwinAustinAbbey-King%20Lear-CordeliasFarewellLarge.jpg

Following this act of unparalleled folly, the King still expects to retain the full measure of his status and authority. The fool is right when he names the King the greatest fool of all. "Thou shouldst not have been old, till thou hadst been wise. ....."

There is a nexus, a dynamic interplay between social and financial capital which the fool understands but the King does not.

Fathers that wear rags
Do make their children blind,
But fathers that bear bags
Shall see their children kind.

This is the essence of the problem with which public policy and its bigger stronger cousin, human culture, must forever struggle.

How shall the transmission of wealth across the generations be meshed with the intergenerational social obligation?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 5:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Its the Race We Run-- Not the Destination

Young. Old. Doesn't matter. It's about change, growth and development in whatever form speaks to the individual...

Fitness does not belong to the young-- or to the old-- fitness means being well-suited to the life we choose to live. To live. Ultra-Marathons are great if that's your thing. If not, find your thing.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 6:27 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 1, 2007

Nest Egg: How Much is Enough?

The financial section of the msnbc.com website has posted a range of amusing and alarming answers to the question: "How big should your retirement nest egg be?"

An individual net worth of $3 million or $4 to $5 million as part of a couple. This assumes a pleasant residence in the Bay Area (where I currently live and plan to retire), which is paid off and a second rental home paid off, which provides cash flow. This may still be too modest since I plan to retire in 20 years. Also assumes the potential to live until 90 and not working at all for the 30 years between 60 and 90.
- Barbara, Fremont, Calif.

Unless my six numbers come up, I'm screwed.
- Daniel C., Albany, N.Y.

I believe that most people ready to retire are more worried than they need to be about their financial situation. What counts is not how much of a nest egg you have accumulated or even how much your pension is, but how well you can adjust to less money coming in. In other words, it's not how much you make but how much you spend that matters. I have been retired for 12 years and find that my expenses are less than I had planned for. So, forget the gloomy forecasts and enjoy your retirement!
- Serge P., Albany, N.Y.

The concept of retirement is a relatively new one in the history of man, an invention spawned pretty much by big companies trying to retain loyal employees. Not that the idea was a bad one, but the idea has come and gone. I plan to "work" in some fashion until I can physically no longer do so. By "work" I mean generate some type of income. However, if I HAD to name a figure for retirement, I would have to say $1 million might do it, as that would generate an income of about 50K a year, and I could live frugally on that amount.
- Greg, Houston.

Much, much more here...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 1, 2007 7:18 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 30, 2007

It's (Not) Your 401k

From MSNBC

WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court struggled with the changed world of retirement plans Monday, trying to decide whether a worker has a right to sue to recover losses when his instructions on where to invest his retirement money are disregarded.

The justices debated the case of James LaRue, who says he lost $150,000 in a market downturn when administrators at his 401(k) retirement plan twice failed to carry out his requests to sell stocks and move his money into safer investments.

Allowing LaRue to seek recovery of the money under a federal pension reform law would result in "no end to the kind of claims one could imagine," Washington attorney Thomas Gies told the justices. "We think Congress did not want those kinds of claims."

[snip]

Justices Stephen Breyer, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and David Souter seemed sympathetic to LaRue's argument that the Employee Retirement Income Security Act enables him to seek recovery of his alleged losses through the federal courts.

Gies suggested that LaRue "could have picked up the phone" or sought a court order directing that his instruction be carried out.

Ginsburg pointed to LaRue's argument that many months passed before he became aware plan administrators had twice not carried out his investment instructions.

By the time LaRue realized what had happened, "it's over and done with," Ginsburg said.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 30, 2007 6:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 26, 2007

Destinations Known and Unknown

The Times offers an unconventional look at where "retirement housing" might be headed.

Consider the lede paragraph...

WHEN Gayla Groom scoots the cats from her bed and walks outside to check on the yard, the neighbors don’t care if she is minus her clothing. Nor do they mind living next to her 20-by-20-foot slab-wood cabin that cost $14,000 to build. It is also perfectly normal for one elderly neighbor to call her each morning, as a courtesy, to say she has not died.

If you have a few minutes to spare, consider watching the "Retiring at Rainbow Vision" audio slide show...

H/T Krissy Heitkamp in the comments...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 6:07 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 21, 2007

Deep Knowledge

In the comments, Judith goes deep into what it means to be alive--- not to be missed

I have a friend who at 63 was diagnosed with terminal lymphoma and given six months to live. By her own description, she looked at her husband of thirty-some years lounging on the couch and decided to leave him. As she explained it to me, after all the years of thinking about ending her marriage, she wasn’t about to spend her precious last six months confined by it. I remember marveling at her courage, her conviction, her what I now figure must have been the ultimate “If-not-now-when?" moment. I simply couldn’t imagine ever feeling that way. Who would hold her hand when she was ill; when she cried; when she died? I was 49, with a husband and two daughters ages eight and eleven, and the notion of doing anything drastic, making changes, going off on my own, was inconceivable. As it turns out, (true story) my friend’s diagnosis was incorrect. She remarried, moved to Florida, opened a gallery, has since moved to Colorado to be near her children and grandchildren.

Why does this come to mind in response to reading irishwitch’s diary? What strikes me about her thoughtful, open, sharing description of herself and turning 58, changes, thoughts on aging, etc., is a seeming lack of a need for any big deal “If not now, when?”. I envy what appears to be her contentment with her past, present and future. I’m 57 and I sometimes feel awash in “If not now, when?”, making big and little changes; contemplating others; measuring my time and considering possibilities; at the same time trying to stay the course and be clear on holding on to what is right and good.

In 1974, I started Transcendental Meditation. (It was the rage.) As part of the ceremony to teach me how to do it, in which I was to bring a fruit, a flower and a cloth to place on an alter, I was given my own special, secret mantra. (It turns out we all got the same mantra that day, but what of that.) I’ve used that mantra to meditate all these many years. It appears that it’s time for a change. Looks like I’ll be using “If not now, when?“ for a while.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 21, 2007 7:03 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

Art and Love

Beauty reveals itself slowly and, sometimes, not at all. There are those, however, who seem to have an eye, an ear or a touch that senses the deeper beauty that is hidden behind the mundane nature of everyday life. Lawrence Schneider is one of those people. He says...

"In addition to a poignant message, it is essential that my sculptures provide imaginative design, striking aesthetics and quality workmanship. My greatest joy is to see viewers receive insight and pleasure from my work.”

This is my favorite image from Mr. Schneider's online gallery, it's titled, "Mother and Child."

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 20, 2007 5:10 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 15, 2007

Never Too Old for the Tooth Fairy

A guest-post from the UMBC’s Kavan Peterson:

The closest thing China has to a tooth fairy might be Dwayne Arola, an engineering professor from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County who has a thing for Asian choppers.

Prof. Arola is an innovative engineer here at UMBC who may be the Baby Boom generation’s best hope for maintaining a healthy set of teeth into later life. The Baltimore Sun’s Chris Emery explains in a news story today:

Not long ago, Arola returned from a trip to Shanghai with a plastic lunch box containing a dozen prime specimens from Chinese dental patients - large, cavity-free wisdom teeth - destined to endure a regimen of abuse that he once reserved for aircraft parts.

How the Chinese molars hold up under Arola's stress tests may explain why Chinese teeth are more brittle than American teeth. Ultimately, that knowledge might lead to a dental Fountain of Youth: a high-tech process to make old teeth young again, and less prone to cracking under pressure.

"We are trying to figure out how fast cracks grow and why they grow faster in older people," said Arola, 41. "Ultimately, we'd like to figure out how to arrest those cracks."

Bravo Prof. Arola! While exploitative anti-aging industries are making billions of dollars peddling farcical fountain of youth products that often harm people, it’s refreshing to see someone genuinely working to improve the quality of life for older adults.

Read more here about what inspired Prof. Arola -- an aerospace engineer by training – to tackle one of the brittlest facts of aging – teeth.

Posted by Kavan Peterson on November 15, 2007 10:58 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

A Series of Tubes

The Latin root of the word "Senator" is "sennex," which means "old man." The United States Senate is clearly a case in etymological point. ("Senior" is also from the same root.) We like to believe that old people are likely be upright, honest, unlikely to cheat others and wise in some fashion or the other.

That's what we like to believe but is it true?

Let's consider the recent conduct of Alaska's senior Senator. Ted Stevens is 84 years old ( nine years younger that the table tennis athlete from yesterday's post) and he is running into a buzz saw of speculation about and investigation of his conduct in office. Older, it seems, does not necessarily mean more ethical.

Readers of this blog will, I think, also be interested in Senator Stevens' understanding of the Internet and its uses. He famously gave a speech comparing the Internet to a "series of tubes."

Now here's something that I love about the Internet. Youtube has a video that offers a hilarious send-up of the Senator's, shall we say, limited understanding of the Internet.

So, not only are there questions about the Senator's ethics, but we also have ample evidence that Changing Aging.org readers are very far ahead of one Senator's understanding of this crazy thing we like to call-- the Internet.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 14, 2007 6:10 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 13, 2007

King Pong

USATT Magazine reports...

On any Monday or Friday evening at the Tidewater Table Tennis Club in the Kempsville Recreation Center in Virginia Beach you’ll find Ulpiano Santo playing challenge matches. After a match or two, “Mr. Santo,” as he’s respectfully referred to at the club, will match wits with Celus Weeks, at checkers. Nothing unusual, except for the fact that Mr. Santo was 98 years young on April 3.

Not only has Mr. Santo been blessed with a long and fruitful life, but he has had a long and distinguished career in table tennis; he has won 11 U.S. National titles – three times in the over 70 event, three times in the over 75 and five times in the over 80. In every event he played, he was, in his words “always the oldest.” He played in the over 80s for 11 years. Since no event existed for players age 90 and over, he retired from active U.S. National play since, in his words, he “could no longer compete with the youngsters.” He still maintains a 1300+ rating.

In addition to playing U.S. National events, Mr. Santo competed in the U.S. Senior Olympics and in the World Senior Championships – in 1990 in Baltimore, where he and his partner won the over 80 doubles; 1992 in Dublin, Ireland where he won a silver medal in the over 80 singles and in 1994 in Melbourne, Australia where he and his partner won the consolations in the over 80 doubles.

Born in Leyte in the Philippines, Mr. Santo’s career in table tennis began during his service in the U.S. Navy, which he joined in 1929. For the most part, the game was a hobby for him and he only played while his ship was in port. Following his retirement from the Navy in 1956, he took up the sport in earnest and began competing in tournaments.

During his career, Mr. Santo met and competed against some of the legends of table tennis, such as Lazlo Bellak, Sol Schiff and Jimmy McClure.

When asked about the contribution table tennis has made to his longevity and good health he said, “Table tennis has been good for me, especially for my legs, arms, reflexes, hand-eye coordination and eye peripheral vision which is why I’m still able to drive my car at age 98.”

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 13, 2007 6:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 8, 2007

Sticks and Stones

Let's put first things first. The research on which the osteoporosis article I am blogging about was funded by Merck & Co. Inc. Merck also, by the way, manufactures and sells an anti-osteoporosis drug called FOSOMAX.

Got that?

The fact that the company funded the research doesn't automatically mean that the results are biased but it is important to know where the money came from and be alert to the possibility the source of the funding influenced the outcomes.

Now what about the research itself?

It turns out that communication is good medicine. Doctors and nurses have known that for a long time but here is some proof. When e-mail messages, letters and phone calls are directed to patients and their primary care providers after a bone fracture, the information provided can dramatically improve the diagnosis and management of the patients' osteoporosis. This is the largest study to
show that electronic medical records improve the continuity of care for
osteoporosis, according to a Kaiser Permanente study in the September issue of the
Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.

"Often when a patient sustains a fracture, there is a disconnect between the treating orthopedist and the patient's primary care physician. With Kaiser Permanente's computerized database and integrated care delivery system, we can closely monitor and follow patients with fractures and prevent that disconnect," said Adrianne Feldstein, MD, MS, an investigator at the Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research (CHR) in Portland and the lead author of the study. "This intervention has broad applicability to a large group of health care providers - from local health departments to HMOs to PPOs - with access to electronic billing or clinical data. Armed with that data, these health organizations can make sure their patients with fractures get appropriate bone density screening follow up."

Does it matter? Heck yeah...

"Osteoporosis now causes more deaths annually than breast cancer and ovarian cancer combined," said Dr. Feldstein "This study shows that we can cost-effectively improve management with interventions as simple as e-mails, letters and phone calls. That in turn should reduce fractures and mortality, and improve quality of life."

Here is the thing, despite what their advertising agencies would have you believe, not every medical breakthrough is the product of a drug company laboratory. In fact many of the most important discoveries involve learning more about the safe and effective use of the medications and treatments we already have.

Want to learn more about x-rays of the hip? Click here. It just takes practice!

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 8, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 3, 2007

Otis Skinner and Jenny Joseph

He says:

There are compensations for growing older. One is the realization that to be sporting isn't at all necessary. It is a great relief to reach this stage of wisdom.

She says:

“When I am an old woman I shall wear purple With a red hat that doesn't go and doesn't suit me."

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 3, 2007 8:47 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

October 31, 2007

Happy? Halloween

Wow, another deep, thoughtful comment that really gets at the key issues. I am humbled.

Does everyone eventually reach gerotranscendence?

The answer is no. There are three points to be made here.

1) Many people die too young to have experienced this kind of mental development.

2) Many people live to an advanced age but never to learn go of the fevered pre-occupations of youth and adulthood. In a sense, they are developmentally disabled, stuck in adulthood, they are unable to break the grip that the memory of youth holds on their minds.

3) Many people live in societies that pave the way into elderhood and the transition from adult to elder is well understood and well trod. They may experience many of the changes associated with the fullness of elderhood but do not feel the change because it was always normal and expected.

At about what age? I'll be 66 next month and I definitely am not gerotransendent.

You are young and that may be part of the problem. Do you look forward to growing older? The automatic answer to that question in our society is, "Heavens No!" Could you look forward to outgrowing the stage of life you find yourself in today? Yes you could, if you chose to do so. This is what makes the jump into elderhood to difficult in American society. Their is no clear path, no clear leader, and few role models.

To the contrary, I'm feeling very vulnerable at this age, especially when former classmates have either recently died or have cancer. It's kind of like I suddenly came to the tack-sharp realization that, yes, I, too, am going to die.

Yes you are going to die. I am going to die. Everyone I love is going to die. Nothing can change that fact. The "sharp-tack" feeling is a nudge from your "inner elder" to come to grips with this morality and move ahead.

And I'm scared. Not of being dead. But of the vast unknown that surrounds the dying process itself. And the possibility of intractable pain, or dying in some other horrible way. My grandmother died in her sleep; that's a good death. My mother is 91; she doesn't seem scared of what is to come.

If your mother can do it, so can you! Embrace the truth of your own mortality. Obtain or update your health care proxy or durable power of attorney. Doing so will improve your quality of life by reducing your fear.

My husband, 20 years older than I, is in the severe stage of Alzheimer's. Sometimes he'll look at me and tell me I'm dead, which is creepy. He often says he's dead. Maybe these are reasons why death is scaring me right now.

Your experience reminds us that most of the suffering associated with Alzheimer's Disease is borne by loved ones. You are losing your mate, you feel him slipping away from you and he probably feels something similar. Your distress is 100% understandable. It is also true that there is nothing you can do to cure him.

So, what I am about to suggest is difficult but potentially rewarding. It is possible to put your husband's comments into a new, more philosophical context. When he tells you that you are dead you can be reminded that life is precious and tenuous at best. He is a sage, helping you remember to value each and every moment. When he says that he is dead. You can remember that everyone around you is only minutes from death every day and act to repair and strengthen relationships with the people you love.

This is not easy to do but it yields deep and lasting benefits.

Well, it IS Halloween today, so I guess Death is saying BOO and scaring the spooks right of me.

In this case, the joke's on--- Death. Hah!

BTW, congratulations on your blog. I think it's going to be a big help to those of us who are - gasp - rapidly heading toward elderhood and wondering how the heck we got here so dang fast.

You are my elder and I am glad you are out there exploring this undiscovered country we call elderhood.

I love this artist.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 31, 2007 4:50 PM |Permalink |Comments (7)

October 30, 2007

The Power of Influence

Ummm, Naomi Dagen Bloom wrecks house.

I bumped this up from the comments.

your responses today at TGB particularly resonated for me, "let go of youth...embrace..." old age. many of my peers are emotionally challenged by that important notion. sometimes, as an active elder among younger people, i have to remind myself about that also.
could i suggest an area of investigation for your blog? it would be the role of social action in the lives of those beyond retirement. in the current focus on volunteering as an important activity for elders--and it is--i believe it has great value to ourselves as well as our society. for some it means risk-taking that was desired but avoided due to employment constraints.

NDB,

A key transformation wrought by our longevity involves the purposeful surrender of POWER.

(By power I mean the ability to force or coerce others to take or refrain from actions they would otherwise prefer.)

In its place, INFLUENCE becomes a most useful instrument which can, when grasped firmly, be wielded with great skill.

(By influence I mean the ability to lead others to new and unique conclusions about the course of action they choose for themselves. Influence is, by definition, free from coercion.)

I went out onto the World Wide Web looking for an example of what I mean and I found this.

One final note. Any person who can not see the deep relationships that unite "peace, politics and yarnlife after 60"--- doesn't understand life. (smile)

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 30, 2007 9:58 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

October 11, 2007

McArdle Care

Megan McArdle--currently blogging at the Atlantic-- continues to defend a post, which she initially posted at her previous bloggy home.

...as a class, the old and sick have some culpability in their ill health. They didn't eat right or excercise; they smoked; they didn't go to the doctor as often as they ought; they drank to much, or took drugs, or sped, or engaged in dangerous sports. Again, in individual cases this will not be true; but as a class, the old and sick bear some of the responsibility for their own ill health, while younger, healthier people have almost no causal role in the ill-health of others.
Perhaps they deserve it by virtue of suffering? But again, most of them are suffering because they have gotten old, often in high style. The young of today have two possible outcomes:

1) They will be old and sick too, in which case they are no less deserving of our concern than today's old and sick

2) They won't ever get to be old and sick, which is even worse than being old and sick.

As a class, the old and sick are already luckier than the young and healthy. Again, for individuals within that class--those with desperate congenital conditions, for example--this is not the case. But I'm not sure it's terribly compelling to argue that we should massively disadvantage a large group of people in order to massively advantage another, equally large group of people, all to help out the few who are needy, or deserving, or unlucky.

Emphasis added.

Translation: The old and sick are mostly to blame for their oldness and sickness so why should the young and healthy have to carry their burden when they are not to blame?

Left unasked (and unanswered) is the question, "Who helped the youth and healthy grow up young and healthy? Or did they simply spring from the Earth with no help from any other living beings?

Can anyone guess Ms. McArdle's age? Maybe this photo will help.

Will we still need her? Will we still feed her, when she's 64?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 11, 2007 8:12 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

October 8, 2007

Running Out of Time

This is a very sad story from the 2007 Chicago Marathon.
The temperature hit 92 degrees on the UMBC/Erickson School campus today and the date is October 8! Strange, very strange.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 8, 2007 4:27 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

October 5, 2007

(Not) Bowling Alone

OK so it has been pointed out to me that there are things in life much more important than art. One thing mainly-- and that would be...

Sports

Namely

Bowling

In particular...

Wii Bowling Championship Fever

You can. Be. There. Now.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 5, 2007 3:37 PM |Permalink |Comments (2)

October 4, 2007

Stayin' Alive

As he approached the century mark, entertainer Bob Hope was known to use this little joke...

"Who wants to live to be a hundred?!?" Pause for a beat. "A ninety-nine year-old man!" Ba Da Boom.

That's really the point isn't it. Except in the most extreme and distressing situations, people want, very much, to stay alive.

So it is in that spirit that I bring you this delightful and wonderfully subversive YouTube video clip:

I love the solo at 01:12.

Here is Barry Gibb today*

* Would also like that thank Mr. Gibb for his robust endorsement of the "aging is for everyone" philosophy.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on October 4, 2007 1:19 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 30, 2007

The Power of Community

Click here for a handy list of Nine things you can do to prevent Alzheimers.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 30, 2007 4:25 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 22, 2007

Pro-Aging

The opposite of aging is, I guess, anti-aging. The opposite of anti-aging is, I suppose, anti-anti-aging. Offering double negatives hasn't ever (not?) been the best way to communicate. So let's just say that I am pro-aging. I think longevity is integral to human development, much feared, little understood and a sign of success not failure.

More to the point-- every morning those of us who wake up do so one day older than we were the day before. Fine then. Let's explore this new terrain.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 22, 2007 3:06 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 18, 2007

New Life for Old Bones

USA Today has a nice write up on some good news for people living with osteoporsis.

"A new once-a-year intravenous osteoporosis treatment significantly reduced the risk of additional fractures and death in men and women who had broken a hip, researchers reported Monday."

An estimated 10 million Americans have osteoporosis — 20% of them men — and each year more than 300,000 of them suffer a hip fracture, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. This is actually a matter of life and death because...

"Older adults who break a hip are more likely to die in the following year and 2½ times more likely to suffer another osteoporosis-related fracture than people the same age, the study's authors write in this week's New England Journal of Medicine."

"Roughly half the people who can live independently before a hip fracture are not able to live independently after a hip fracture," says Dr. [Dennis] Black, an epidemiology professor at University of California, San Francisco.

The issue is important and the study seems, to me, to be very well done. I count this as a useful addition to evidence-based medicine. and that means a better use of resources along with better outcomes for patients.

Still, let's not forget that lifestyle changes can play a role that is as big, or bigger, than medications when it comes to the prevention of osteoporosis.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 18, 2007 10:18 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 17, 2007

There's No Blogger Like and Old Blogger

"Her readers call her "the little granny," and for eight months she has engrossed them with her ruminations on the present and her recollections of the past. Since her debut in cyberspace in December, María Amelia López, 95, has drawn thousands of readers from across the globe with an incisive blog."

Read the rest of the article here.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 17, 2007 3:51 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

Good Old Medicines

Opened my mailbox today (the real metal kind of mailbox at the end of the driveway) and found an interesting article in the most recent edition of the AMA News. "Trials of Treating the Elderly" offers a nice introduction to the risks new drugs pose to older patients.

The Money Quote:

"Older participants are not usually recruited for clinical trials, leaving the path to proven treatments littered with uncertainty."

New drugs are tested on sample populations that consist-- mostly-- of younger people. So when the drug is approved and comes to market (and the advertisements hit the airwaves) the older people who are the first to use that new drug are, in a frighteningly real way, to much larger risks with much less information than younger patients.

When it comes to prescription drugs newer is not always better. The "seven-year rule" suggests that (except in extraordinary circumstances) older patients should avoid medications that have been on the market for less than seven years.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 17, 2007 2:44 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 10, 2007

Time Gets it Wrong

A report on national service by one of our national news magazines is a good thing but what message do Time's editors choose to emphasize with the cover art?

National Service is, or could be, a good thing. (Full disclosure, I never served in the military, Peace Corp, Vista or any other kind of National Service myself.) The problem is that the magazine slants its National Service coverage toward the issue of youth and service and away from what elders are already doing to advance the common good. This framing is consistent with the dominant cultural theme which says: "Old Age Equals Decline." If that was true (and it is not) then the only hope for our society would lie with the young. In fact, we live in a time when there is an unprecedented opportunity for young and old to be together, work together and make change together.

The model who sat as Rockwell's model is now an 83 year old grandmother. The iconic image of the original "Rosie the Riveter" remains powerful image because, even six decades after it was made, it retains the capacity to remind us that some things are worth struggling for and sometimes the struggle for the good can be found close to home-- in our own neighborhoods and communities.

So- in the spirit of Time's Rosie Remix, I have a challenge for UMBC's Visual Arts/Graphics Majors--- Make me a remix of the Time cover that gives that poor woman on the cover a mighty mane of Gray Hair and some wrinkles. Send your Remixes to me at wthomas@umbc.edu and be sure to put "Remix" in the Subject line. I will post the best of them on this blog.

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 10, 2007 9:13 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

August 30, 2007

Who is Dr. Bill Thomas?

Dr. Bill Thomas is an international authority on geriatric medicine and eldercare. He is a professor at the Erickson School at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and has been heavily involved in the culture change movement to promote elderhood as an honorable and valuable position in our society. Click here to read more.
Eldertopia and the New Old Age

Dr. Bill Thomas: Eldercare, aging and us

Dr. Bill Thomas speaking at the 2007 Pioneer Conference, Part 1:

Dr. Bill Thomas at the 2007 Pioneer Conference Part 2:

What Is Old Age For?
by William Thomas

Old age is humanity's greatest invention, and on an even deeper level, it invented us. Old age transformed the way our most distant ancestors gave birth, reared their young, lived together, and fed themselves. Later it propelled the development of culture, language, and society.

Humans are primates, and among all primates we are most closely related to chimpanzees. We hold 98 percent of our genetic code in common with them. Yet a comparison of human and chimp life cycles reveals some unexpected differences.

Human beings can live twice as long as our nearest relatives—surprising in itself. Astonishing, however, is that all of this additional longevity follows the loss of fertility. Chimp and human females become fertile at nearly the same age and remain fertile for about four decades. For the aging chimpanzee, death follows hard on the heels of the loss of fertility. The human female possesses a nearly 50-year longevity bonus that follows the end of fertility. Our post-reproductive longevity exists because it affords our species a unique and powerful competitive advantage. Hidden within this extraordinary elongation of life is the story of who we are and how we came to be.

The first grandmother
One million years ago on the plains of Africa, a hominid child cries out from hunger. Her mother has recently given birth and is distracted by the needs of her helpless infant. The delivery was long and difficult and much blood was lost. The mother barely has the strength to nurse her infant. She can neither feed nor care for her older child. The mother of the new mother, the grandmother of the crying child, is moved to act. Thus was the first tentative step taken down the long road that led to the development of the modern human being. The deliberate enlistment of grandparents into the work of rearing the young stands as a defining characteristic of Homo sapiens.

Substantial advantages accrue to offspring who can be cared for by two generations of adults. The extra food and attention significantly improve survival rates. University College researchers in London found that in Gambia, infant mortality rates dropped by 50 percent if the maternal grandmother was present in the household (interestingly, no benefit was found when the paternal grandmother was in residence). Ruth Mace, one of the researchers, noted that the presence or absence of the father had no bearing on infant survival: “If the grandmother dies, you notice it; if the father does, you don't.”

Research in India has found similar results. Surely the grandmothers' contributions of time, energy, and material resources across generational lines are important, but that is not all there is to it. Humans, in particular humans living in active multigenerational families and communities, benefit from intergenerational affection.

The genius of human longevity
The development of menopause and the refinement of grandparenting played a critical role in the physical evolution of the modern human, but the story does not stop there. About 40,000 years ago, another remarkable round of adaptations changed how people lived. Homo sapiens generalized the benefits of grandparenthood by linking old age to the work of social evolution. The development of human culture—its refinement, storage, and transmission—was woven into the fabric of old age.

An African proverb says, “The death of an old person is like the loss of a library.” In these words are embedded the important role given to older adults in many African cultures. After a person has productively lived his or her life as an adult in the community, he or she is honored by initiation into the elder circle. This usually happens around the age of 65.

These elders, now masters of the school of life, have the responsibility for facilitating the transition from childhood to adulthood of new generations. They are responsible for and oversee the process of initiation. The idea of elders as “library” also reveals the fact that only the elders have full access to the tribe's knowledge base. The elders safeguard the highest secrets of the tribe and protect its medicine and inner technologies. They incarnate the wisdom of the society, which they happily share, often in the form of storytelling.

Anyone in the last half of life can attest to the difficulties, the aching joints, the fading eyesight. What is open to interpretation is the meaning of these changes. What if they are understood as a form of preparation (not unlike adolescence) for a new life as an elder of the community?

The physical decline that comes with aging actually cements the relationship between old and young. Indeed, an old man still capable of stalking, killing, and butchering a mastodon would have little inclination to spend hours doting on grandchildren, telling them stories, and instructing them in the ways of their people. An old woman still capable of producing young of her own would hardly be inclined to pour time, love, and attention into the lives of her grandchildren. The physiological changes that accompany old age, and upon which contemporary society heaps unlimited scorn, are actually essential preconditions for a socially productive old age.

Human elders have long been known as peacemakers, and for good reason. The physical changes that accompany advancing age make conflict, armed and otherwise, worthless to the old. Like statesmen serving their final terms in office, elders are freed from the tactical maneuvering that defines the struggle for adult rank and prestige. It is this freedom that allows them to put forth unique interpretations of the problems faced by their families and communities. The awareness of one's mortality that normally arises in late life—and so terrifies adults—opens new perspectives for elders on the world in which they live.

Being an elder
The promises of the current anti-aging fad perpetuate an illusion of unlimited longevity. This strengthens the characteristic adult devotion to doing, having, and getting. The result is an underdeveloped, increasingly dysfunctional population of developmentally delayed adults who are prone to catastrophic errors of judgment. The mania for
having and getting diminishes the value of stewardship in our culture. The preservation of resources for the benefit of those yet to be born, or even for the common good of those living now, is airily dismissed as simple-minded idealism. At the root of it all is the adult fantasy of unlimited time, unlimited wealth, unlimited resources, and unlimited information.

Adulthood itself is a right and fine thing. I am an adult. I love adulthood. I find daily pleasure in living as an adult and have no interest in returning to the childhood I have outgrown. Nor am I ready to enter into an elderhood that requires perspective, experience, and judgment that I do not yet possess. Adulthood, rightly understood, provides us with a productive, potentially glorious interlude between youth and old age. The problems begin when we conceive of it as a permanent necessity, an apex of human experience that must be defended and enlarged no matter what the cost.

Adulthood is chained to the rock of doing. When two adults meet, it is rare for more than a minute to pass before one of them pops the question, “What do you do?” Adults inhabit a world of tasks and schedules, payments, obligations, and jobs that need to be done. Yet in all this busy doing, they may ignore deeper questions of whether those tasks are worth doing and whether they foster meaningful relationships. These are questions not of doing but of being.

Doing and being are best thought of as two sides of one coin. As humans age, the action-oriented strategies of DOING-being give way to the indirect and subtle influence of BEING-doing.

Consider how adults and elders bake cookies. The adult tends to approach cookie baking as one more item on a long list of things to do. The children are either banished from the proceedings or—if the adult is feeling particularly guilty about a perceived deficit in the “quality time with the children” account—the children will be included, with some apprehension. The cookies are baked with dispatch, and dire warnings about eating raw cookie dough (possibly salmonella) are issued along with lessons about the virtue of cleaning up as you go.

The elder is much more likely to want to bake cookies than to have to bake cookies. As a result, children are more than welcome. Eating raw cookie dough? “Never mind what your mother says; go right ahead.” Flour, sugar, and eggs are used with abandon. Bizarre and experimental cookie shapes are welcomed. The crucial difference between the adult and the elder is that the former is fixated on the doing while the latter seeks the being. The adult cares about the cookies and is happy to log some quality time if possible. The elder cares about the relationship and is content with the cookies no matter how they turn out.

The central social and cultural challenges of our time revolve around the malignant enlargement of adulthood and the adult obsession with DOING-being. Adulthood, intoxicated by its own might, is intent on remaking youth and old age in its image. It has already defined the best child as the most precocious child. The wunderkind mimics adult behaviors and styles of work and learning. Likewise, adulthood demands that those who would remain worthy defy their age and continue to think, walk, talk, look, and work like adults.

Liberating elders
In 21st century America, only two categories of people still face routine and even permanent institutionalization—criminals and the elderly. In the last half of the 20th century, prisons and nursing homes both experienced a steady rise in the number of inmates. The true nature of the nursing home is especially obvious to those schooled in the ways of institutions. One prisoner wrote to tell me how much the nursing homes where he visited his grandmother reminded him of prison, and I have received many communications like this one from a former nursing home resident:

I have recently returned from “rehabilitation care” in a nursing home. I have pretty severe cerebral palsy and had breast cancer surgery. The nursing home environment did more to slow the healing process than help. I got a terrifying glimpse into a future in such facilities. I would rather die than have to exist in such a place where residents are neglected, ignored, patronized, infantilized, demeaned, where the environment is chaotic, noisy, cold, clinical, even psychotic.

Early advocates for the aged understandably concentrated their efforts on eradicating the mistreatment of the old. They were among the first to speak openly against the agism and overt bigotry practiced toward the aged. The much broader effort to liberate elders and elderhood, however, has yet to be truly begun. Such a crusade is necessary not because it can right wrongs that are visited on older people (although it can) but because it is the essential precondition for a new culture committed to a better quality of life for people of all ages.

The elder-guided society (I call it Eldertopia) is and should be run by the vigorous adults of the time. Elders should intervene at critical points to ensure that the adults take into account perspectives that are too easily ignored by those gripped by the fever of rank and wealth.

Since 1900, the percentage of Americans over age 65 has more than tripled, and those who reached age 65 in 1998 could expect to live on average another 17.8 years. Far from being ravenous locusts determined to consume an ever-increasing share of scarce resources, our growing number of elders represents an unprecedented windfall. I believe that the elders of our time form the only force capable of returning adulthood to healthier bounds. Consider the gifts a liberated elderhood could offer our society.

Elders have always made important contributions to the young of their families and communities. For thousands of years, relationships between young and old have made life better for both groups. In Eldertopia, all school construction and remodeling projects would include housing and community services for elders.

Elder councils could provide a balancing perspective that considers the long-term consequences of any proposed action. The topics addressed might well include matters that the conventional political system would rather sweep under the rug.
Elders have long spoken for Earth, its living creatures, and the children who are yet to be born. Eldertopia would have an Elder Conservation Corps that would tackle projects that strengthen the health and vitality of the natural world.

Any honest accounting of the potential influence of elders and elderhood must address the contributions not only of fit and energetic elders. It must recognize the contributions that people who are weak, ill, infirm, dependent, demented, disabled, and dying can make to this struggle. The old and frail are able to surmount the dizzy bustle that clings to the young—to enter a time and place in which the spiritual and emotional dimensions of human life take precedence over the humdrum workings (and failings) of organs, tissues, and systems. This is among the most admirable of all human endeavors. What the old and frail do is show us the way. They provide us with greater insight into and a clearer perspective on the human condition.

The most elder-rich period of human history is upon us. How we regard and make use of this windfall of elders will define the world in which we live.

Adapted from What Are Old People For? How Elders Will Save the World, by William H. Thomas, M.D., copyright 2004. Used by permission of VanderWyk & Burnham (www.VandB.com), Acton, Massachusetts. All rights reserved. William Thomas is a geriatrician who created the Eden Alternative and the Green House Project .

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February 15, 2009

ChangingAging.org Redesign -- Please Bookmark!

Posted by Kavan Peterson on February 15, 2009 8:00 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

January 6, 2009

Dorothea Johnson Responds...

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on January 6, 2009 9:47 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

September 25, 2008

I'm Talking Old

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 25, 2008 6:34 AM |Permalink |Comments (7)

September 23, 2008

The Power of Community

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on September 23, 2008 6:24 AM |Permalink |Comments (3)

July 10, 2008

McCain's Not So--- Social Security

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on July 10, 2008 6:42 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

March 27, 2008

The ProAging Network

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on March 27, 2008 10:21 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

January 30, 2008

The Genius of Aging Campaign

Posted by Kavan Peterson on January 30, 2008 9:12 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 17, 2007

Ontogeny and Neoteny

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 17, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

December 12, 2007

James Dean James Dean

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 12, 2007 9:44 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 10, 2007

Sunshine Down Under

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 10, 2007 9:48 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 6, 2007

Posted Without Comment

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 6, 2007 6:21 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

December 5, 2007

Wealth and Age: King Lear

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 5:33 PM |Permalink |Comments (1)

Its the Race We Run-- Not the Destination

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 5, 2007 6:27 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

December 1, 2007

Nest Egg: How Much is Enough?

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on December 1, 2007 7:18 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 30, 2007

It's (Not) Your 401k

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 30, 2007 6:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 26, 2007

Destinations Known and Unknown

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 26, 2007 6:07 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 21, 2007

Deep Knowledge

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 21, 2007 7:03 PM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 20, 2007

Art and Love

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 20, 2007 5:10 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 15, 2007

Never Too Old for the Tooth Fairy

Posted by Kavan Peterson on November 15, 2007 10:58 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 14, 2007

A Series of Tubes

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 14, 2007 6:10 AM |Permalink |Comments (1)

November 13, 2007

King Pong

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 13, 2007 6:03 AM |Permalink |Comments (2)

November 8, 2007

Sticks and Stones

Posted by Dr. Bill Thomas on November 8, 2007 6:02 AM |Permalink |Comments (0)

November 3, 2007