Savvy Seniors: May 2016

A new National Institutes of Health report, "An Aging World: 2015," places the world's population of people age 65 and older at 8.5 percent, or 617 million. That percentage is expected to increase to nearly 17 percent by 2050. The report also examines the demographic, health and socioeconomic trends accompanying the growth of the aging population.

As they reach middle age, most men begin looking forward to what's next. They gear up to experience renewed productivity and purpose and are more conscious of their health. This book provides a guide to healthy aging from a man's perspective.

Aging is a gift that we receive with life--and in New Aging, the architect Matthias Hollwich outlines smart, simple ideas to help us experience it that way. New Aging invites us to take everything we associate with aging--the loss of freedom and vitality, the cold and sterile nursing homes, the boredom--and throw it out the window. As an architect, Matthias Hollwich is devoted to finding ways in which we can shape our living spaces and communities to make aging a graceful and fulfilling aspect of our lives. Now he has distilled his research into a collection of simple, visionary principles--brought to life with bright, colorful illustrations--that will inspire you to think creatively about how you can change your habits and environments to suit your evolving needs as you age. With advice ranging from practical design tips for making your home safer and more comfortable to thought-provoking ideas on how we work, relax, and interact with our neighbors, and even how we eat, New Aging will inspire you and your loved ones to live smarter today so you can live better tomorrow.

There are more than 43 million adults caring for their aging parents and family members in the United States alone. While some are about to enjoy retirement and the freedoms that come with a life well lived, the responsibility of caring for their aging parents is a key issue they unexpectedly face.

Imagine:

Being able to competently choose a home care worker, assisted living, or nursing home, knowing the prosĀ  and cons
Being able to find just the right words to approach your aging parents with the conversations you need about finances
Knowing how talk to your aging loved ones about giving up driving when the time comes
Being able to plan ahead for an aging parent who is running out of money and taking advantage of all benefits available to them
Understanding how to get past your aging parents' resistance about getting help, using a successful approach
Knowing how to best protect your aging loved ones from financial predators

The Family Guide to Aging Parents is the complete guide to help the caregiver understand the issues and be prepared for the realities. Covering everything from legal issues to what to do when your aging parent still wants to drive, The Family Guide to Aging Parents provides clear counsel for giving loving care and enjoying life after retirement.

This is a book about our parents and grandparents, because they don't grow old in a vacuum. The process can be just as painful for us -- daughters and sons, granddaughters and grandsons -- as for them. The gradual turning of life's tide can take us by surprise, as we find ourselves unprepared to begin caring for those who have always cared for us. Writing from her experience as a therapist and from interviews with families and older people, Pipher offers us scenarios that bridge the generation gap. And in these poignant and hopeful stories of real children, adults, and elders we find the secrets to empathy. With her inimitable combination of respect and realism, Pipher gets inside the minds, hearts, and bodies of elder men and women. And we begin tounderstand fully that the landscape of age is truly that of another country. Today's world is vastly different from the one our parents grew up in. It's not the world in which helping aging parents meant stopping in at their house every day; in which children could learn about the richness of life from their grandparents; and in which grandparents and children were sustained and nourished by the unique bond between those on the opposite ends of a lifetime. We need new ways of supporting one another -- new ways of sharing our time, our energy, and our love. In Another Country, Mary Pipher will show us how.

Offers support and advice for those caring for an elderly relative or friend, incorporating recent medical findings, information on fraud, helpful online resources, and "aging in place" technologies.

"Though we talk about wanting to "age gracefully," the truth is that when it comes to getting older, we're programmed to dread an inevitable decline: in our health, our looks, our sexual relationships, even the pleasure we take in living life. But as Christiane Northrup, M.D., shows us in this profoundly empowering book, we have it in us to make growing older an entirely different experience, for both our bodies and our souls. In chapters that blend personal stories and practical exercises with the latest research on health and aging, Dr. Northrup lays out the principles of ageless living, from rejecting processed foods to releasing stuck emotions, from embracing our sensuality to connecting deeply with our Divine Source. Explaining that the state of our health is dictated far more by our beliefs than by our biology, she works to shift our perceptions about getting older and show us what we are entitled to expect from our later years--no matter what our culture tries to teach us to the contrary--including: Vibrant good health A fulfilling sex life The capacity to love without losing ourselves The ability to move our bodies with ease and joy Clarity and authenticity in all our relationships--especially the one we have with ourselves And she brings it all together in a 14-day Ageless Goddess Program, offering tools and inspiration for creating a healthful and soulful new way of being at any stage of life"--.