idealawg

Want to live a long life? Listen to music or volunteer

An article in today's New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal summarizes some of what we know about possible longevity enhancers. These include exercising brain and body, taking nutritional supplements, making music, singing, and having a sense of purpose.

And then I read in the article this sci fi kind of information.

Recently, a rather startling claim was made by Ray Kurzweil, an American scientist, who has just announced that humans could become immortal in about 20 years time. He pins his hopes on research on the human body and on nanotechnology. Spare parts are already being used to replace worn-out body parts.

Mr. Kurzweil is quoted as saying, "I and many other scientists now believe that in around 20 years we will have the means to reprogram our bodies' stone-age software so we can halt, then reverse ageing. Then nanotechnology will let us live forever."

Nanotechnology is the study of very small, artificially produced materials. Such materials are made by arranging metals and other compounds at the level of the atom in unique way, often into spheres or

Series on trial lawyers successful into their 70s

Sometimes I click on the links of people who leave blog comments and am glad when doing so leads to Web sites that reward my click. Gary Gwilliam left a comment on one of my posts and it made me want to click through. At his site, I learned that he has written a book titled Getting a Winning Verdict in My Personal Life: A Trial Lawyer Finds His Soul, and has started a series on trial lawyers who are successful into their 70s. First two 70-something trial lawyers: Browne Greene and Stan Jacobs.

Gwilliam's name sounded familiar to me so I did a search on my blog posts. I see that I have blogged about him before. I linked to a review of his book and to an article about him in Plaintiff (fifth article link). (With around 1500 posts at idealawg, I am happy when hearing about a topic or person causes a smoldering of memory about a past post.)

Thanks, Gary, for the comment and for jarring my memory.

Blog Glob: Run for Your Life: New Studies Show Benefits of Exercise on the Brain and Body

Excerpt:

Mounting evidence shows the benefits of exercise on both the brain and body, according to new research released today. The research focuses on the effects of physical activity on brain health and, more specifically, underscores the positive influence of regular physical activity on Parkinson’s disease, depression, premenstrual syndrome, and memory. These findings were presented at Neuroscience 2009, the Society for Neuroscience’s annual meeting and the world’s largest source of emerging news about brain science and health.

Exercise benefits many aspects of life. However, the National Center for Health Statistics estimates that only 31 percent of all adults, and 22 percent of adults older than 65, engaged in regular physical activity in 2006, giving these new findings particular relevance.

Today’s new research shows that:

Click to read the rest of "Run for Your Life: New Studies Show Benefits of Exercise on the Brain and Body" (Society for Neuroscience new release).

What fun! Get some balls because juggling can improve your brain

That's what a recent piece of research seems to indicate. From "Juggling Boosts Brain Connections" (Medical News Today):

Researchers in the UK found that learning to juggle boosts brain connections by making structural changes in the white matter of the brain. ...
...
Although previous studies have shown that learning and practising new skills like juggling that use the visuo-motor part of the brain lead to changes in the grey matter of the adult brain, it was unclear whether it had a similar effect in the white matter.

For this study ...  [Dr Heidi] Johansen-Berg and colleagues used a new form of magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) called "diffusion tensor imaging" to show that the structure of the adult brain's white matter changes after practising juggling extensively.

Actually Johansen-Berg is not suggesting everyone take up juggling.

She said they just chose juggling as an example of a complex new skill for the volunteers to learn. However, she added that:

"There is a 'use it or lose it' school of thought, in which any way of keeping the brain working is a good thing, such as going for a walk or doing a crossword."

Blog Glob: "How to Keep Your Brain Young (Even as You Grow Old)"

Excerpt:

Once a heavy drinker and smoker, my 84-year-old father was never a good candidate for living a long life. But he's remained mentally sharp through four bouts of cancer and a litany of other health complaints, while my younger and (seemingly) healthier mother suffered from dementia and died four years ago. What gives?

...

If researchers are right, my father has (inadvertently) followed some of the best practices for battling mental decline. New studies are pointing to ways one can slow, and in some cases reverse, the memory loss, distractibility, and other cognitive deficits that often come with advancing age. Here are three of the key findings for how to keep your brain fit.

Click to read the rest of "How to Keep Your Brain Young (Even as You Grow Old)" (Greater Good Magazine).

"Elderly" is getting redefined: An article about people working in their 70s, 80s, and even . . .

This article features 101-year-old practicing lawyer Jack Borden about whom I have blogged before. "Workers thriving at 70, 80, and even 100" (CNN) also includes a 70-year-old policeman (he joined the force at 51) and other stories of the careers of "seniors." I am hoping mindsets are changing about the concept of aging.

Be sure to read this related post: Should we change our assumptions about elders? Do we know as much as we think we do? Should we say no to aging?.

Blog Glob: "Law firm partners practicing longer can create problems for associates"

Excerpt:

“The law firm paradigm is shifting,” says Andy Branham, manager of the Memphis office of Counsel on Call, a legal services placement firm. “The business model is not holding up that well.”

At the same time, Branham says many of today’s law school graduates are coming out less motivated about becoming partners in firms. They want more flexibility and have different motivations, he says, such as working for themselves, for smaller firms, in corporate jobs or jobs with more flexibility.

Without younger partners to help support and grow practices — combined with senior partners working longer — the resulting effect is a toxic brew with the potential for poisoning the profession.

“It’s very much in flux,” Branham says of the partnership structure industry-wide. “Everything is very dynamic right now.”

Click to read the rest of "Law firm partners practicing longer can create problems for associates" (Memphis Business Journal).

Although this book is written for lawyers at midlife, anyone can gain much value by using it

Why do I say "using" instead of "reading"? Because Lawyers at Midlife: Laying the Groundwork for the Road Ahead is as much a very practical workbook as it is a valuable source of information. The book contains worksheets, questionnaires, and graphs so the reader can sit down with a pencil and do some real planning. Topics covered are wide-ranging. Nothing is missing; all the ingredients are included for designing next-step scenarios.

Using this workshop in a book, you will be guided wisely through decisions about your finances, health, estate planning, and career transitions. As regular idealawg readers know, I believe that stories are an effective way to communicate information. I am happy to say the authors included several engaging examples of transitioning lawyers to accompany you on your path through the book.

Although it's written for lawyers at midlife, anyone would do well to buy this book and spend some time taking the inventories and making the plans. Don't we all owe it to ourselves and our families to stop every so often and shine our mental flashlight on the road ahead?

Laughter is good for your health, wealth, happiness, self-awareness, focus, and much more

The August edition of Ode Magazine is devoted to laughter. If you are a regular reader of idealawg, you know that I have written several blog posts about the many benefits of laughter. I am a fan and devotee of laughs. Please be sure to take a look at some of the excellent articles, including:

• "Medicinal mirth: The health benefits of laughter"
• "The business of making people laugh"
• "How laughter evolved and how it makes us human"
• "What makes the whoopee cushion so funny?"
• "How laughter can keep you on your spiritual path"

When did you last have a good laugh? Bet you can't watch this without laughing.

Blog Glob: Do We Need to Stay Sick Until Congress Saves Us?

Excerpt:

The current healthcare bill may have a hard time passing in Congress. Do we need to wait for Washington to improve our health and well-being? " The answer ought to be a resounding "NO." As much as we need to reform the healthcare system, we really need what I call personal healthcare reform.

If we exercised the control we actually have over our health and well being, we'd find ourselves healthier and happier, and far less dependent on how any particular congressperson voted.

Imagine that you're 20 years younger. How do you feel? Well, if you're at all like the subjects in a provocative experiment my students and I conducted, you actually feel as if your body clock has been turned back two decades. We took a group of elderly men, to an isolated New England retreat that we retrofit so that in every possible manner it appreared to be 20 years earlier. The men -- in their late 70s and early 80s -- were told not to reminisce about the past, but to actually act as if they had traveled back in time. The idea was to see if changing the men's mindset about their age might lead to actual changes in health and fitness.

Click to read the rest of Do We Need to Stay Sick Until Congress Saves Us? (Huffington Post).