I'm ready to rebound from the midlife dip. In fact, lately I've been feeling like the rollercoaster is chugging back uphill, and here's some evidence that I'm not just waxing Pollyanna for a change. Women get the short end of the stick when it comes to midlife crises. Men get new cars and younger wives and become more distinguished with age; we [women] get depression, weight gain, and an overall ...
Midlife Scrapbook
39: Prime Time for a Midlife Crisis?
Debate proliferates about when exactly to "prime time for a midlife crisis" begins. Thirty five? Forty? Forty five? Fifty? Fifty five? I remember my mother dismissing my precocious self-references to midlife when I turned 39. That was back at the beginning of this journey, back when I was still feeling a perplexed, sideswiped, and maybe even slightly pissed off about the aging hiccup. It was ...
Midlife Quest
I've talked about a midlife reboot, proclaimed a midlife manifesto or three, and meditated on middle age long enough to grok the importance of a midlife leap rather than a midlife crisis. More like leaps versus crises... But the adventure, one I originally anticipated being a tidy yearlong reflection (ergo 40x41), has proven to be far lengthier and more complex than I imagined. I'm slowly coming ...
Midlife: Fumbling Forward
"I saw how a man who, unexpectedly, in midlife, had been dumped for someone else, might struggle to keep up his old sense of self, his old optimism. How he might take on an Indiana Jones look, indicative of hopes of adventure, while being careful not to get into anything new that might result in further pain. I saw the polite charm, the detachment, the silk shirt and the expensive restaurant ...
Exercise: Better Mood, Better Brain
"Moderate intensity aerobic exercise improves mood immediately and those improvements can last up to 12 hours... This goes a long way to show that even moderate aerobic exercise has the potential to mitigate the daily stress that results in your mood being disturbed." ~ Dr. Jeremy Sibold (Source: Inc.com) Good news. If you exercise you feel better. Runner's high. At least if you're a runner. I'm ...
Hypertension & Cognition
Recent buzz (driven all or in part from a study that originally appeared in the Journal of Alzheimer's Disease) is suggesting that high blood pressure at midlife might adversely affect your cognitive tracking and planning abilities in your advanced years. In short, there appears to be a connection between high blood pressure in your 50s and reduced cognitive function in your ...