For decades, a common belief has been that metabolism slows with age, leading to unwanted weight gain. It is true about the unwanted weight gain. A 2013 study by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality showed an average of 1-2 pounds per year of extra weight between 40-59 years, which adds up to significant weight gain over time. However, don’t be so quick to blame this on “slowing metabolism.”

Age does not define us, yet ageism is one of the most prevalent and least recognized forms of prejudice in society today. In part, ageism is prevalent because as we age, we fall into the trap of believing the ageist stereotypes ourselves. We blame lost keys on a senior moment, or make jokes at our own expense about our changing faces and bodies.

I wanted to share a few favorite books that I have read in the last few years. Some caught my interest in a bookstore, and others were written by outstanding authors who delivered Wellness Wednesday presentations in 2021.

Cell-based seafood is created from a single needle’s worth of muscle cells from a single fish like orange roughy or mahi-mahi. These cells are then cultivated in BlueNalu’s labs where they grown into broad sheets of whole muscle tissue that can be cut into filets and sold fresh, packaged, or frozen, similar to seafood we buy today. However, cell-based fish will be lacking in a few areas: these fish will have no head, tail, bones, or blood.

Good posture does more than help us look better. It provides a myriad of health benefits, including better breathing, back relief, brighter mood, and improved digestion. Posture also plays a key role in balance, which makes every day movement easier, from getting up from a chair to toting packages to turning around to look behind you.

At a recent meeting of my Healthy Habits Network community, we talked about superpowers. Specifically I asked people “what superpower do you have that helps you stay on track with your healthy habits?” It was a fun exercise to get people to focus on their strengths, and I expected answers like “discipline” or “good planning.” One answer, however, surprised me. Jenny said her superpower was pause. PAUSE? I didn’t get it at first. What kind of superpower was that?

I have always considered planning a virtue, and something that contributes to people’s success.

Then I met Patricia Ryan Madson. She is the author of Improv Wisdom: Don’t Prepare, Just Show Up, and her perspective has helped me balance my planning tendencies with a little more improvisation.

While we are years or decades away from that in humans, the latest research from John Hopkins Medical Center shows that a particular gene called Lhx6 can be turned on or off in mice to produce better sleep. This turning on and off of genes is called “gene expression” and it is something our bodies naturally do to regulate how proteins are made. This, in turn, determines how cells function. Epigenetic research is a rapidly growing field which studies how our behaviors and environment can cause changes in the way our genes work.

Tight shoulders can cause a myriad of problems, from pain or stiffness in the neck, back, and upper body, to limitations on daily activities. Less-than-optimal posture, incorrect sleeping positions, tension, and injuries can all lead to tight shoulders.

The good news is that about five minutes a day of shoulder stretching can eliminate tightness and increase shoulder mobility.

Even without being a born optimist, all of us can find at least one good thing that has come from leading our lives differently during the pandemic. Pre-COVID, I was like a pinball, constantly in motion: always doing, moving, going. I was rarely home during the day, choosing to go from gym class to coffee shop to grocery store, or hopping on a plane for a quick visit with friends. Then lockdown occurred and I learned to appreciate our home and the view from our backyard. I got a puppy and made a whole new world of friends, right in our neighborhood, where I was known by a new name: Bella’s Mom.

Results from a randomized controlled trial (RCT) published in February, 2021, showed that women women who consumed 20% of their daily calories from almonds had significantly decreased facial wrinkles and skin pigmentation after 24 weeks compared to the control group. Before getting too excited about this skin care snack, read the highlights of the study.

If you enjoy exercise on a regular basis, chances are you have experienced an “upward spiral.” This term comes from the field of Positive Psychology, the study of human well-being to help people thrive. Movement does more than help us physically. It helps us emotionally by reducing feelings of depression and stress, enhancing our mood, and increasing our energy level. Exercise creates an upward spiral by making us feel good, so we move more, which in turn makes us feel good, and so on.

Dementia is a disease with no known cure, and there have been no new medical treatments in the last 10 years. It is projected to affect 115+ million people by 2050 at an annual cost of more than $1 trillion in the US alone. As staggering as these numbers are, they may be compounded by COVID-19 because of the link between accelerated rates of cognitive decline and social isolation.

Forgetting a word now shouldn’t raise a red flag, as it can happen to anyone at any age. This is quite different than aphasia, which can occur suddenly after a stroke or head injury, affecting a person’s ability to express and understand language. Likewise, misplacing our car keys or a pair of glasses doesn’t point to cognitive impairment as much as it does to inattention.

Researchers and physicians alike promote the heart-healthy benefits of aerobic exercise, but less attention is given to activities that improve balance. Tai Chi, a traditional Chinese mind-body exercise that has been practiced for many centuries, is a safe way to improve balance, with many additional health benefits. Learn more here.

During the last five years, there has been an explosion of research into the gut microbiome—the colony of bacteria and other microorganisms that reside within us and their genetic material. This new study shows that people whose gut bacteria were able to transform over the decades tended to be healthier and live longer.

The concept of diets can be traced back thousands of years to the 5th century, B.C., when Hippocrates began prescribing fasting for many of his patients. Since then a myriad of diets have emerged, mostly with an emphasis on quick or easy weight loss. In 1087, William the Conquerer, who found himself too fat to ride his horse, proposed the Alcohol Only Diet, which required him to lay in his bed drinking whiskey until he had lost sufficient weight. 1912 brought the Tapeworm Diet, in which people swallowed mail-order, live tapeworm eggs to consume the extra calories from junk food; instead they became malnourished. The 1920's introduced the Cigarette Diet…

As a result of the overwhelming evidence linking sleep to good health, I began to make sleep a priority, after years of short-changing myself with only 6.5 hours of sleep per night like most Americans. As part of my research as a gerontology student at USC, I also began to study age-related changes to sleep.

My favorite blogs are those inspired by questions from the community. I recently gave a presentation on gut health, and shared that pickles are a natural and healthy form of probiotics. Probiotics are live bacteria that are good for you. They add to the diversity of microbiota in your gut, which results in better immune health, improved digestive health, and may even contribute to better moods and weight control.

When the going gets tough we may rely on external resources like friends, family, caregivers, and medical professionals. While all of these are good, we have a vitally important resource within us—our minds. Humans have a unique capacity to turn the negative aspects of life into something constructive. In the face of challenges, we have inner strengths to draw on, and the ability to choose our response.