October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. This year, I am deeply aware of my own journey, as this year marks my 20th anniversary as a breast cancer survivor. When diagnosed with DCIS (ductal carcinoma in situ) at the age of 47, I was happily raising…
Read MoreAs a geriatrician, I work with senior patients who suffer from a diverse range of problems, including memory worries, anxiety, pain, diabetes, falls, and more. One symptom many of them have in common is poor sleep…
Read MoreThe older I get, the more I believe the adage “happiness is an inside job.” Life doesn’t seem to generously dish up the thrills and emotional highs it once did when I was part of a greater social scene and professional community. And in talking with my woman friends…
Read MoreUnwelcome visitors have a tendency to pop in at the most inopportune and unexpected times. The telephone is just such an intruder, its shrill ring interrupting sacred downtime. Back when we were still tethered to landlines, sans caller ID…
Read MoreMany of us look forward to the day we retire. As our professional lives wind down, that moment we can finally leave it all behind beckons us like a Promised Land. I retired from a demanding career five years ago, and I can say that much of that promised bliss is real…
Read MoreScience is constantly evolving, but when it comes to our brain health, there are some elements that we know have a serious impact on the health and longevity of one of our most important organs. Your brain health depends on five major lifestyle pillars…
Read MoreWhat’s the secret to living a fuller, more content life? For John Leland, an award-winning New York Times reporter and author of the New York Times bestseller Happiness Is a Choice You Make: Lessons from a Year among the Oldest Old, the answer came…
Read MoreBy March 2020, the Covid pandemic had hit Thailand (where I was living at the time), and the country started implementing lockdown restrictions. I had to make a big decision. Do I stay at my winter home on Koh Lanta, a remote island…
Read MorePicture this. You wake up in the morning, and with a really big yawn, you reach out with your full body and stretch your limbs. That early morning stretch can feel amazing. It can be both energizing and like a massage all in one…
Read Moreor the past decade, I’ve had a front-row seat to the devastating effects of Alzheimer’s. The neurodegenerative disease has wreaked havoc on my mother-in-law. And those who love her. According to neuroscientist Dr. Jeanette Norden, Alzheimer’s…
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