Aging in America: The Last Unchallenged Stereotype By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH Marketing messages in the media would have us believe that unless we are young and fit into a well-defined description of beauty (i.e. age, shape, athletic ability), we have no value. But, we know through research, and by surveying hundreds of thousands of older adults in America, […]
You Have a Choice! By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH The cat’s out of the bag and there’s no going back. Your grandmother’s belief that how she ages was primarily determined by genes and a little bit of luck, well, that belief has gone the way of the eight-track player. According to the MacArthur Foundation’s 10-year study on aging, approximately […]
What Does it Mean to Live in an Age-friendly Town? By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH Age-friendly towns are places that provide opportunities for people of all ages and abilities to remain intellectually and physically active, socially connected, and engaged with life. Some characteristics of an age-friendly town include bike and walking trails, ease of transportation and accessible spaces, regardless […]
What Does Authentic Health Look Like to You? By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH Nobel Prize winning biophysicist, Max Delbruck, tells us that any living cell carries with it the experience of a billion years of experimentation by its ancestors. These ancestors gave us much ore than a family tree. The very things that make us distinctly human were unknowingly […]
The Last Unchallenged Stereotype By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH In our youth-obsessed culture, it’s easy to buy into the negative stereotypes of aging. It is this discrimination that convinces us that aging is mostly about decline. And yet, research continually tells us that how we age is mostly up to us, and that our perception of aging influences our […]
Getting More Colorful with Age By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH I often say, “I want to get more colorful with age.” What do I mean by that? Just as the leaves change in the Fall and get more colorful over time, I want to get more colorful as I age, and to blend with others to create more beauty than […]
The No Fear Path to Change By Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH In today’s hectic and competitive world, one that our ancestors could have never dreamed of, fear is self-inflicted and chronic, the by-product of our mind running rampant, chattering and creating virtual fearful situations … fear of failure, injury, sickness, loss, humiliation, pain or loss of status. You see, […]
Facing a Challenge By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH As we age, we are likely to encounter problems, everything from arthritis to cancer to heart disease. But facing a challenge does not mean you’ve failed. For example, getting cancer, or heart disease, or even cognitive impairment, doesn’t mean it’s your fault. It just means you must deal with it if […]
Creating a Positive Aging Message By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH In a recent article published in The Atlantic, “Battling Ageism With Subliminal Messages,” Cari Romm cites the research of Becca Levy, the director of social and behavioral sciences at the Yale School of Public Health. Levy, who has spent much of her career studying how cultural perceptions of aging affect […]
Changing Aging Stereotypes By: Dr. Roger Landry, MD, MPH Research repeatedly tells us that how we think about aging affects our health outcomes. If we view aging as being mostly about decline and disability, our health is more likely to suffer. However, if we see aging as a time of growth and potential, we experience better health. We’ve also come […]