We turn the heating off at night, in our house. Manually. And I’m an early riser. Which means that when I wake up – usually around 6am, often earlier – it’s both dark and very cold. Our house is old, with single glazed windows, so any residual heat from the previous day has invariably escaped…
The ‘flavodiet’ and other ways to age well in 2025
Happy 2025! That came around quickly, didn’t it? Annabel and I hope you had a wonderful festive season and feel recharged, ready for the year ahead. While we’re always wary of New Year’s resolutions here at the Age-Well Project, I’m looking at some nutritional tweaks to support my health – and particularly my cognitive health…
MOVE LIKE A MIDDLE-AGER, EAT CHOCOLATE, DRINK COFFEE
I was recently in Brussels and took the opportunity to visit the city’s fabulous collection of Old Masters. The Brueghels (or Bruegels, as you prefer) caught my eye – not only for their colour and verve but for their insight into how our ancestors lived. Look closely at these paintings of sixteenth century village life…
What speeds up ageing? UPFs
For a recent TV project I tasted 40 different, highly-processed foods in a day. At the start, it felt fun and exciting – a day off from my usual brain-healthy diet – but by the end I felt dehydrated, somewhat nauseous and very bloated. My mouth was coated in salt and a taste I can’t…
MELATONIN AND OTHER MARVELS
I’m just back from walking through Sicily, which has reminded me of the importance of sunlight, darkness and exercise for fantastic sleep. After days of long and strenuous walking – up and down the Madonie mountains and their steeply-sided medieval villages – I slept like a dog/baby/log (as you prefer). Here, in the mountains, the…
Travel, plastics and, er, gorillas!
Annabel and I have long appreciated the benefits of travel to help us age well. We know our brains and bodies thrive on new experiences, new places, new people. So we weren’t surprised to read research published last month in the Journal of Travel Research (not a publication we’d come across before) that suggested travel…
HOW TO GET MORE VITAMIN S
I recently conducted a month-long experiment in which I sat on a Chat Bench almost every day, talking to complete strangers. The results so startled me that I wrote about it for the Washington Post (behind a paywall but subscribers can read the full piece here). Hundreds of people responded to the article, keen to…
Change, and ageing well
The change in seasons is powerful, isn’t it? Whether it’s the transition from summer to autumn here in the UK, or winter to spring in the southern hemisphere, we feel it dramatically. And, of course, we evolve, and age, as each season passes. Annabel and I started this blog more than 10 years ago now,…
THE AGEWELL JOYS OF SUMMER NIGHTS
How’s your sleep been recently? I seem to sleep for fewer hours during these light-filled nights, which I suspect is how our ancestors also slept. More in the long dark months and less in the white nights of summer. Call it seasonal sleep if you like. I’ve also been up and about in the dark…
Building habits to age well
What predicates how well we age? We know that socio-economic factors play a role, as do genetics. We may also experience good or bad luck, accidents, better or worse medical provision. But, ultimately, many of our health outcomes come down to habits. We also know that superagers – broadly defined as people over 80 with…
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