The Age-Well Project

Libraries, brain training and tennis: help your brain age well

Annabel and I have always been a little wary of brain training exercises. There’s certainly plenty of them out there. They’re well researched, but the ultimate conclusion is often that they make you really good at playing that particular game with no substantial real-world benefits. We’d usually rather read a book, play a board game...

EAT KIMCHI AND CHOCOLATE, SWAP ALCOHOL FOR POMEGRANATE JUICE, PRACTICE ACTIVE SITTING

Well, what a miserable January it’s been. I’ve been laid low with a lingering virus that has absolutely wiped me out and which I hope none of you have suffered from. I suspect it’s Influenza A (H3N2) Subclade K – the new variant currently surging in the UK, Europe and the US. But from my...

Light and longevity

If you’re in the northern hemisphere you have probably commented – more than once –on how dark it is at the moment (if you’re anything like me, anyway). We’re used to the idea of ‘wintering’ now (and if you’re not, read Katherine May’s wonderful book of the same title) – hunkering down in the darkness,...

EAT CHEESE, READ BOOKS, LEARN A LANGUAGE, DRINK TEA

Did you eat a lot of cheese over Christmas and New Year? Well, panic not. Turns out cheese is an age-well food. In fairness we were bigging up cheese as a delicious longevity food, years back, as you can read here. The latest study suggests that cheese can lower our dementia risk – although no...

Art, peanuts and Dick Van Dyke: ageing well at Christmas

And all of a sudden – it’s almost Christmas! Another year of ageing well, for us all, we hope. The festive photo of Annabel and I above shows us flanking a Christmas tree decorated by our friend, artist Amy Robson. She handmade the dolls that decorate the tree. Making by hand, crafting in any form,...