2017 - My New Old Self

Being stubborn makes you live longer

Dec

30

2017

Name a few things that help you live longer. Exercise, sleep, healthy eating… Here’s something new to add to the list: being stubborn. A new study has shown that stubbornness is a characteristic that can help you live a long life. Research published in the academic journal International Psychogeriatrics looked at the mental and physical ...

Do Not Resuscitate – read my DNR tattoo

Dec

15

2017

If you feel very strongly about something, you want your conviction to be perfectly clear to all. Surely one of the clearest ways to make your view known on a particular issue would be to have it tattooed onto your body. Well, someone actually did that. A 70-year-old man, suffering from various life-threatening conditions, wound ...

Will they remember me when I’m a popsicle? 1

Dec

1

2017

Scientists have made a major breakthrough in cryogenically freezing dead bodies for revival in the distant future. The idea is to preserve a person in a state of suspended animation at sub-zero temperatures. My New Old Self is not convinced about this effort at immortality. Firstly, this feat has only been achieved in fish embryos ...

So… that’s how they start sentences these days

Nov

16

2017

I have recently noticed more and more people starting sentences with the word “So”. I have also noticed that most of those who like to launch their sentences with So are younger than me. I have no principled objection to the use of So to start a sentence. In fact, there are many instances in ...

Good neighbors can make you live longer

Nov

5

2017

Living close to family members or friends you know well can make you physically healthier and help you age more slowly. This revelation about the value of good neighbours came in a new study by scientists from the universities of East Anglia and Leeds in the UK, and Groningen in The Netherlands. The research showed that ...

What are we, if not dotards?

Oct

20

2017

Previously on My New Old Self, as they say on TV, was a condemnation of the revival of a centuries old epithet for old people. Dotard, that word resuscitated from obscurity in the Trump-Kim Jung-un word wars, was rejected for conflating chronological enhancement with dotage and dementia. So we know what we don’t want to ...

Don’t dare call me a dotard! 1

Oct

7

2017

What do you want to be called? You, me and the rest of us Of A Certain Age. What term for “old” is preferable? Or rather, which word is least unacceptable? I am guided by the wise counsel of an American comedian who was cracking jokes 100 years ago. “It ain’t what they call you, ...

Old and feeling it? Blame TV

Sep

22

2017

If you’re feeling your age, guess where you can put the blame? On TV. This is the finding of two new scientific studies. And you know how much My New Old Self relies on those two words “studies show”. TV + old people = bad news These studies show that television has a negative impact ...

Piano on my Mind 3

Sep

8

2017

I have recently taken up the piano again after a gap of nearly five decades. I was taught to read music at the same age that I learned to read English. At the age of five I started weekly lessons with a piano teacher who happened to live across the street. Even when we moved ...

Downsize and Declutter 2

Aug

24

2017

The older I get, the more I hear these D-words. Downsize and declutter are what you need to do when clearing out rooms after kids leave home. Or in packing up an entire house before moving to smaller retirement quarters. New industries have emerged to assist those who aim to downsize and declutter. There are ...