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…
SMELL WITH EXTRAVAGANCE, THINK DIVERGENTLY, LEAN INTO THE TOUGH STUFF…
You may remember that last year I reported – with great excitement – on a study that found sleeping in a room infused with scented oils resulted in a 226% improvement in various sorts of cognition. In this experiment involving people aged 60+, those whose bedrooms were infused with a different oil for two hours…
Climate crisis, rising temperatures and ageing well
India has hit temperatures of 50°C this year, and so has Pakistan. The heat’s starting to rise in Europe. Even the wet and windy UK (see the photo above of me enjoying a balmy 12°C on a Norfolk beach this week. June!) is predicted to hit temperatures in the high 30s in the next few…
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