It’s hard to overestimate the enormous gains of the LGBTQ movement over the last two decades. Once thought unthinkable, marriage rights have been expanded nationwide. Bigotry is shunned, instead of accepted. And while incivility and indecency are retrenching, and the victories of the last 20 years are suddenly uncertain, the battlefield has shifted—it’s much more difficult to take away rights in our modern day.
Our incredible bodies are regenerating every day, down to the minute cellular level, always hard at work maintaining its very complex system. In fact, your taste buds may be only a couple weeks old and, if your cornea is damaged, the eye can rebuild this layer in a day or less. But as our bodies age, their ability to regenerate slows, becoming more sensitive to conditions that might hinder its hard and necessary work.
What does the world look like when you’ve never seen it? How do you express what’s inside of you when you can’t see what’s outside? How do you capture emotions on paper when you can’t remember what colors look like?
Since his retirement ten years ago, Jim’s had trouble adjusting to the lack of structure and routine that decades as a San Francisco bus driver offered. The occasional nap turned into regularly drifting in and out of sleep throughout the day, and dinnertime became later and later as he began watching TV for hours every evening. What started as a mild case of restless sleep developed into chronic insomnia as a result of habits that altered his sleep cycles and made sleeping less comfortable.
As we age, we search for metaphors or descriptive phrases to understand what is happening to our bodies. “Falling apart” is one of the most commonly used expressions, though no one means it literally. But there is that feeling that something is breaking down, and it can feel like we’re no longer in control of our body, that a process we don’t really understand has been set in motion.
With our cell phones and other smart devices always within reach, we’re coming to depend more and more on technology to assist with, and sometimes sadly replace, our human-powered efforts in everyday tasks. Here in the Bay Area, we’re seeing robots being tested out as replacements for the warm companionship of in-person care aging adults deserve, some even replicating the behavior and appearance of pets to keep older adults company.
The Business of Longevity, an Economist forum co-supported by IOA | Image courtesy Ross Marlowe, Eversnap Pro[/caption]
Fresh air filling her lungs, feet pounding the pavement one stride at a time, Judy loved feeling a runner’s high more than anything. But, her running years had come to an unexpected halt when she’d been diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis nearly a decade ago. Trying to manage her chronic pain made her scared of doing anything that might worsen her symptoms: she’d stopped her daily jogs and marathon training. And, without running as a stress release, she became sedentary and depressed as the pain worsened.
The Bay Area is a product of water. Tectonic forces shaped our peaceful harbor, protecting it from the crashing Pacific. Every day we feel the presence of water, in the fog or the smell of salt, or if we venture toward the sea on a weekend stroll, the waves crashing against the rocks in an affirmative spray.
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