138 longevity

 

neighborhood life.task.acts

from deleted separate Blogger page “second 50y”Citation (APA): Whitman, D. (2024). The Second Fifty: Answers to the 7 Big Questions of Midlife and Beyond [Kindle iOS version]. Retrieved from Amazon.com

138 rebuild healthy self 144

138 maintain functional health 129 134 137 144 157

77yo runner advice    https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2025/04/20/healthy-aging-exercise-benefits-jeannie-rice/?utm_campaign=wp_the7&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F4232525%2F680622dd8670807363cfc3fc%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F75%2F103%2F680622dd8670807363cfc3fc

consistent exercise

lack of overuse injuries suggests this balance… of training and recovery Harv does not push to the upper levels of training, in fact, may possibly do no training at all.

healthy diet       …fresh vegetables, rice, fish and nuts,…

passion and purpose        Theory W

social life and other interests

gratitude

notes from second 50y book

1. How Long Will I Live?

Highlight(yellow) - Page 7 · Location 285

social drivers are estimated to account for about 60 percent of what determines how long we live.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 8 · Location 302

While Tom told me that how life treats us and how we treat ourselves make the biggest difference in how long we live, he acknowledged that genes matter more as we approach one hundred. At that point, the relative importance of genes and behavior reverses, and genes play a bigger role.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 8 · Location 311

For every one hundred centenarians, about fifteen are male and eighty-five are female.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 12 · Location 385

Better education sets us up for more job opportunities and more successful careers, which leads to higher income and benefits, including greater pensions and Social Security contributions. These, in turn, lead to more financial security and better health care in later life.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 14 · Location 406

Perhaps more important to your longevity than your income, education, gender, or genes is where you live.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 14 · Location 418

access to healthy foods, affordable housing, health services, and good schools. A healthy community includes everything from physical infrastructure—sidewalks, street lighting, public transportation—to environmental factors such as clean air, water, and soil.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 16 · Location 453

state and local governments can increase life expectancy by prioritizing key services—education, health care and emergency services, affordable housing, public transportation, safe green spaces—and ensuring that all residents have access to them.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 22 · Location 555

healthy behaviors also make a real difference in our longevity.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 24 · Location 582

Having a sense of purpose doesn’t just make us happier; it may actually help us live longer. The word purpose, as researchers use it, refers to the degree to which we feel our lives have goals and direction.

7. How Will I Die?

Highlight(yellow) - Page 163 · Location 2884

the standard drill for just about any serious health alarm: phone 911, wait for the ambulance, go to the hospital. While that system has been lifesaving for people who are injured or suddenly ill, hospitals began to treat every imminent death, even when expected, as a crisis from which people needed rescuing. Patients often got surgeries and other aggressive (and incredibly expensive) treatments that extended life only slightly while also causing considerable suffering.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 164 · Location 2905

For people under fifty, deaths are often due to “external” causes such as motor vehicle crashes, drug overdoses, alcohol abuse, homicide, and suicide. Adults over fifty are most likely to die of heart disease and cancer. As we get into our mid-seventies, we begin to see more strokes, respiratory diseases, and dementias causing death.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 165 · Location 2914

Eventually, though, our bodies will begin their irreversible decline, and the question arises of where we will spend our final months, weeks, or days.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 167 · Location 2944

make sure that the patient really does want those interventions and that they fully understand the potential benefits, risks, and implications of any treatment.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 167 · Location 2947

A likely reason that dying at home has become so much more common is the growth of hospice programs. Some experts argue that further expanding access to hospice would lead to an increase in quality home care for people with serious illnesses.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 169 · Location 2983

Hospice does have its limitations. It does not provide around-the-clock care. Although someone from the hospice team is available by phone, and members of the team will visit, the actual hands-on care is intermittent. So unless the dying person is in a hospital or a nursing facility, most of the day-to-day caregiving will be provided by friends and family or by paid caregivers. In addition, hospice does not pay for room and board beyond brief stays at a hospice inpatient unit, hospital, or nursing facility, when pain or symptoms become too difficult to manage at home.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 171 · Location 3019

Hospice is available only to people who are dying and choose to no longer receive treatment. But palliative care, a key component of hospice, can help many people who are living with chronic conditions such as multiple sclerosis, cardiac disease, Parkinson’s, or ALS—and could benefit from the symptom management and support it provides. Palliative care goes beyond simply treating a disease and focuses on quality of life for both the

Highlight(yellow) - Page 171 · Location 3024

the palliative care team is likely to include social workers, nutritionists, and spiritual counselors, all of whom work to reduce or eliminate suffering, whether from pain, depression, fatigue, or worry. They help patients understand their choices for medical treatment, clarify their goals for care, and avoid unnecessary treatments. In other words, they help them get what they want from the medical system.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 175 · Location 3086

If you are seeking palliative care, you can start by asking your primary care doctor about it, or the specialist overseeing your treatment. Unfortunately, doctors are often reluctant to refer patients for palliative care.

8. A Better Second Fifty

Highlight(yellow) - Page 195 · Location 3419

the infrastructure that makes it easier to age well—have become sadly outdated.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 196 · Location 3432

take into account the interconnectedness of problems and solutions.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 196 · Location 3438

address health, finances, housing, and social support needs together.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 198 · Location 3462

process unfolded at a time of fiscal

Highlight(yellow) - Page 198 · Location 3462

surplus,

Highlight(yellow) - Page 198 · Location 3469

Three years into implementation, California’s Master Plan

Highlight(yellow) - Page 198 · Location 3471

including assisted living—

Highlight(yellow) - Page 200 · Location 3493

When we turn ageism on ourselves, it worsens our health and shortens our longevity.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 206 · Location 3599

Social drivers of health—including economic and social mobility, education, neighborhood environment, housing, transportation, and nutrition—

Highlight(yellow) - Page 211 · Location 3697

While dementia is not an inevitable element of aging, the number of people with dementia and cognitive decline is expected to rise dramatically as the world’s population ages.

Highlight(yellow) - Page 225 · Location 3929

Many people never receive hospice benefits because of the requirement that they have a prognosis of six months or less to live and the rule prohibiting potentially curative care.

*****

Life.flow task/act# 117 enhance longevity comfort 177 178 is on the ‘CPM’ comfort critical path method different from but analogous to PERT-CPM, thus a new acronym CCPM for “Comfort Critical Path”.

Harv’s life expectancy is 91y referenced in some other Blogger place. 

end notes from second 50y book

2024oct08        life expectancy

“In 1990, we predicted increases in life expectancy would slow down, and the effects of medical interventions, which we call Band-Aids, would have less and less of an effect on life expectancy,” said Olshansky, a professor of epidemiology and biostatistics in the School of Public Health at the University of Illinois in Chicago.    “A lot of people disagreed with us. They said, ‘No, no, NO!’ Advances in medical and life-extending technologies will accelerate and will drag life expectancy along with it,” he said.    Now, 34 years later, Olshansky says he and his coauthors have proven their point. Their analysis of lifespan data from Australia, France, Hong Kong, Italy, Japan, South Korea, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United States was published Monday in the journal Nature Aging.    Overall, female children born in 2019 in these places have a 5.1% chance of reaching 100 years of age, the study said. There is only a 1.8% chance for males.    “We waited 30 years to test our hypothesis. We have shown the era of rapid increases in human life expectancy has ended, just as we predicted,” Olshansky said.    “Now, I want to make sure that this is interpreted correctly,” he added. “We’re still gaining life expectancy, but it’s at an increasingly slower pace than in previous decades.”  https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/07/health/live-span-estimates-wellness/index.html

2024feb12    well-being   

As a person ages, each well-brain exam would focus on early prevention of disease known to damage the brain, such as diabetes, obesity, heart disease and more. Those visits would continue “into end-of-life stages, because even as we age or acquire a cognitive disease, we can still optimize brain health while living with brain disorders,” Rost said.        “Over 46 million Americans are currently estimated to have pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s disease, where pathologic hallmarks of the disease can be detected in the blood and brain before cognitive decline has begun,” Isaacson said.        ... the ability to stay active, exercise, perform daily tasks or practice self-care.        Have I had any falls, concussions or traumatic brain injuries, called TBIs? That’s important because even a mild traumatic brain injury from a fall, car wreck, or playing sports can have a long lasting impact on the brain.    How many years of education from kindergarten onward did I have? Education and learning can develop “cognitive reserve,” thought to offset damage to the brain.        How many hours of uninterrupted sleep did I get? Poor sleep is a well-known contributor to brain decay. Adults need to get seven to eight hours of quality sleep each night to give the brain time to regenerate and “take out the trash” of dead and dying cells.        And then there was my emotional health. Was I neglected as a child, did I lose a parent or loved one or suffer mental or sexual abuse? Such adverse childhood experiences, known as ACEs, have been shown to hinder healthy brain development in children and contribute to multiple health problems throughout the lifespan.    Even as adults, depression, anxiety and other mental illnesses can impact the brain’s ability to function, while emotional trauma, such as domestic violence, rape, loss of a child, spouse or job can also flood the brain with caustic stress hormones that take a toll over time.        I am a strong, resilient woman — as many of us are. Thankfully, the ability to take life’s challenges in stride and still prosper is something science says all of us can learn – and teach our children. In addition, many of my medical concerns can be addressed with a focus on healthy behaviors such as stress reduction, strength training and aerobic exercise, and a recommitment to a healthy plant-based diet — behaviors which Isaacson and his colleagues outlined in a recent review published in Nature.       ... wear a glucose monitor for a few weeks to identify which foods spiked my blood sugars. "Such spikes cause brain inflammation, disrupt brain metabolism and increase shrinkage of the thinking part of the brain," Isaacson said. https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/12/health/brain-checkup-wellness/index.html

……….. expansionary comments below apart from the above narrative post Illustration Eleven end.crux

Contents  (in key-word terms -- search page for key-work chosen)

anxiety

assisted living

climate 

CHF

death  --  longevity

depression 

friends

happiness -- fitness --

ice 

Judaism

naps

nuclear

perfectionism

plant-based diet

Romney

sex

sleep

weight 

well-being -- life-way --  memory  --  

2024july18.    laughter.    Bob Newhart, legendary comedian, dead at 94.     https://www.cnn.com/2024/07/18/entertainment/bob-newhart-death/index.html   https://www.nytimes.com/2024/07/18/arts/television/bob-newhart-dead.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20240718&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=172523&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2024may19.    assisted living.    Aging is not an unmitigated process of cognitive decline and deterioration, ... . Judgment and emotional stability can improve with age — and may be more essential to effective leadership than, say, the ability to remember names or deliver a speech without a flub.    “The really important thing to keep in mind is that the older brain’s a wiser brain,” said Earl Miller, a professor of neuroscience at MIT. “Knowledge and experience count for a lot, and that can more than make up for slight losses of memory as a result of aging.”        When President Ronald Reagan ran for reelection in 1984 at the age of 73, his poor performance in a debate against Democratic challenger Walter Mondale, including halting speech in an obvious struggle to find the right words, incited allegations that he was showing signs of dementia.        In November 1994, nearly six years after leaving office, Reagan revealed in a letter to the American people that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease. That incited a new round of speculation that Reagan had been cognitively impaired while still in the White House, but his defenders have argued the contrary.        One way in which many older people have an edge on younger people is in emotional stability. As people age, they typically experience a decline in negative emotions, said Laura Carstensen, a professor of psychology and director of the Stanford Center on Longevity.    “Emotional regulation, emotional caring, appreciation, motivation to be social with others — all of those go up with age,” she said,        Normal aging in the brain involves changes in the smallest components, as well as the broader systems. The machinery our cells use to convert glucose into energy and get rid of waste begins to break down. Cell debris builds up ― imagine a city during a garbage strike. As a result, neurons don’t function as they should. And a feature of aging called “stem cell exhaustion” results in the formation of fewer new neurons.    On average, the weight and volume of a human brain decrease by roughly 2 percent per decade due to a wide range of factors, including loss of cells as well as loss and shrinkage of connecting fibers called dendrites.    At the macro level, the gray matter that processes information and the white matter that helps different areas of the brain communicate with one another both decline in key areas called the hippocampus and frontal cortex. These declines weaken our working memory, attention and mental flexibility, leading to problems with word retrieval, among other things.    But these are gradual processes. Absent an injury or disease, cognition does not tend to decline precipitously, although the process does accelerate when people are close to death, said Allison Sekuler, a professor of psychology at the University of Toronto and at Baycrest Centre, a research and teaching hospital for older patients.        A thorough neuropsychological evaluation is typically a holistic one, “which means it’s an inexact science,” said Ranganath, of UC Davis. It includes an interview and a set of memory tests. The patient might be asked to remember a list of words immediately after the examiner has said them, and then asked again 20 minutes later to recall as many as possible. A series of images, such as faces, can be used to test visual memory.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2024/05/18/biden-trump-age-cognitive-decline/?utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere_trending_now&utm_medium=email&utm_source=alert&location=alert

2024apr27.    anxiety.    Long before anxiety became a clinical affair, it was an existential predicament. The medical condition, an illness in want of treatment, emerged in the 19th century; the philosophical orientation has probably existed for as long as we have, and it cannot (and ought not) be eradicated. Unfortunately, in recent years, an army of gurus and pathologically positive thinkers have colonized the concept. Along the way, they have forgotten what philosophers have known for centuries: that to be human is to worry, and, accordingly, to excel is to worry well. As the Danish philosopher Soren Kierkegaard once put it, “Whoever has learned to be anxious in the right way has learned the ultimate.”    The philosopher and philosophical counselor Samir Chopra invokes the long and distinguished lineage of anxiety in his wise, if sometimes circumlocutory, new book, “Anxiety: A Philosophical Guide.” “My anxiety made me who I am,” he writes in the introduction, “and I could not get rid of my anxieties without ceasing to be myself.”    Though he includes several moving accounts of his own traumas and perturbations, his slim volume is for the most part dedicated to staging a whirlwind tour of the intellectual history of an unjustly reviled emotion. Of course, “Anxiety” is not a comprehensive study. Chopra focuses on four schools of thought that illuminate his subject with special acuity: Buddhism, existentialism, psychoanalytic theory and critical theory. All of these traditions are topics of tomes in their own right, and Chopra’s summaries can sometimes feel rushed. It is hard to do justice to thinkers as thorny and disparate as the vehemently anti-Christian iconoclast Friedrich Nietzsche and the Christian existentialist Paul Tillich in a book of this modest size.    Still, “Anxiety” is a useful introduction to the work of thinkers who confront, rather than recoil from, our most fruitfully unpleasant feeling. Perhaps more important, in an age that strives for easy analgesics, Chopra’s book represents an urgent attempt to recover anxiety from those who threaten to medicate or counsel it out of existence. It leads by example, providing a rewarding and challenging alternative to the facile self-help that it implicitly (and sometimes explicitly) critiques.        ... a little historical consciousness suffices to show that any number of previous generations have deemed themselves the same thing. Why is our anxiety so persistent, so impervious to remedy? Perhaps, Chopra proposes, because it is a “universal, perennial human condition” — or at least, the philosophical version of it is.    What distinguishes this elevated brand of anxiety from its lesser cousin? Clinical anxiety is, paradigmatically, irrational, but many of the traditions that Chopra investigates regard existential anxiety as a clear-eyed response to our lot. Which aspects of the human condition provoke existential anxiety, however, depends on whom you ask.    Buddhists, for instance, believe that our suffering is bound up with “a true, unblinking understanding of the nature of the world and of human existence’s place in it,” Chopra writes. In other words, we despair not because we fear phantoms but “because we realize we are limited and mortal, in life, in capacity, in achievement.” Sigmund Freud and his followers echo Buddhist concerns, suggesting that anxiety is, roughly, a response to a world riddled with “painful, terrifying losses.” Existentialists like Jean-Paul Sartre and Kierkegaard take a different tack, arguing that anxiety is concomitant with freedom: Once we accept that we are not bound to a single path, we are left to fret about which path(s) to take. And leftist critics like Karl Marx regard anxiety as a social ill, a product of inhabiting “a world constructed on someone else’s terms.”        That is, slavery and a POCTA void of action.        Still, certain strategies can alleviate anxiety without eliminating or cheapening it. Chopra himself stopped worrying so painfully when he discovered existentialism, which reassured him that there is no one way to be, no single standard to live up to. And philosophy, like psychoanalysis, can reshape our fears. After philosophizing, Chopra writes, “what appears to be a problem is no longer one because in the process of reinterpreting it, we have changed its identity and nature.”        That is, we changed our understanding into a solvable.        His goal is to show that, even if we are fated to anxiety by our very nature, we needn’t be anxious about being anxious. Contra those who would abolish every form of friction or frustration, he insists that anxiety is a way of honoring who and what we are. It is, in his words, “a fundamental human response to our finitude, mortality, and epistemic limitation.” Who knows what sort of truncated beings we would become without it?  https://www.washingtonpost.com/books/2024/04/26/anxiety-samir-chopra-review/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3d855e6%2F662bcc975a814b7fa895e4ba%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F29%2F52%2F662bcc975a814b7fa895e4ba

2024apr26.    PCP.    What causes high triglycerides?        Triglycerides: Levels & Normal Range - Cleveland Clinic

• Excessive alcohol use.
• Unmanaged diabetes.
• A diet high in sugar, saturated fat and simple carbohydrates.
• Liver disease.
• Kidney disease.
• Medications like diuretics, hormones, corticosteroids, beta blockers and some HIV medications.
• A body mass index (BMI) greater than 25.
• More items...•Aug 9, 2023

What is a normal PSA level after radiation?        Recent studies have shown that for optimal results, PSA levels should be lower than 1 ng/ml, and even lower than 0.5 ng/ml. Levels that are above 1 or 2 ng/ml 12 to 18 months following completion of radiation treatments are very worrisome, because they indicate that the cancer may not have been eradicated.Mar 31, 2009       Post-treatment monitoring - Harvard Health

2024apr25.    PCP.    Many times, after exiting the doctor's office, the visit summary is   read, with a frown and the thought, "Was I in this visit with my doctor?"        What     Harv takes away from the visit needs to be written in his words, not the doctor's -- clarification issues can then be discussed at the next followup visit.        A high RBC count could be caused by a number of health conditions or health-related factors, including:

smoking.
congenital heart disease.
dehydration (for example, from severe diarrhea)
low blood oxygen levels (hypoxia)
pulmonary fibrosis (a lung condition that causes scarring of the lungs)
Red blood cell count - NHS
NHS
https://www.nhs.uk › conditions › red-blood-count

Assessments Encounter Date     Dx Diagnosis (ICD Code)       Tx  reatment  Notes

04/22/2024 Hypertensive heart and chronic kidney disease with heart failure and stage 1 through stage 4 chronic kidney    Multiple Dx shotgun blast not useful for specific correction.

04/22/2024  disease, or unspecified chronic kidney disease ? (ICD-10 - 113.0)   A declining GFR to a low of 23 caused 'panic' in patient -- CHC PCP prescribed plant based diet which the patient pursued specifically even with NEF and Dietitian substitute for Renal Nutritionist seemingly non exsitant.  Two recent GFR test were 45 and 43 to indicate success with patient Tx.

04/22/2024 ACC/АНА stage B heart failure (ICD-10 - 150.9)

04/22/2024 Morbid (severe) obesity due to excess calories (ICD-10 - E66.01)  Loss of PCP to Leave Of Absence until 2024aug panicked patient who went ahead with substitute DO visit.  That visit illuminated patient's weight increase of 283#, the most of his lifetime, reasoned by the patient at the visit due to calories and recent INCREASED SALT INTAKE.  Patient took immediate steps and resolution with supportive lifestyle changes to be supported by near monthly support visits with dietitian.  Reachable goal is 260s once attained in early 2024 thwarted by lifestyle stress.

04/22/2024 Chronic kidney disease, stage 3b (ICD-10 - N18.32)      Two recent GFR tests were 45 and 43 to indicate success with patient Tx of plant based diet lifestyle change.  Although defined as 3b, studies have advocated GFRs in mid 40s were 'normal' for elders.  Heart failure is now the patient's 'panic', especially the word 'congestive' indicating a debilitation lifestyle which the patient fights to maintain non debilitation.

04/22/2024 Elevated red blood cell count (ICD-10 - R71.8)   A measure of heart failure degree subject to trend analysis to determine the impact of Tx lifestyle changes, that is, less weight, less calories, less salt, less stress, ...

04/22/2024 Hepatic cyst (ICD-10 - K76.89)    Patient is concerned that cysts are cancerous.  He is told most are benigyh !  Nor good enough for patient, thus two blood tests have been ordered at his cost of $200 each.  It's his life which he tends not to treat as a statistic rather as a condition requiring Tx ACTION. 

04/22/2024 Other

2024apr22.    CHF  

Conviva Ghabras DO claims 6.7 is diabetic  and that Harv has CHF [congestive heart failure] -- SURPRISE.  If you have type 2 diabetes, you’ve long heard that generally, a good A1C to aim for is 6.5 to 7 percent. A1C is a two- to three-month average of blood sugar (glucose) levels, and physicians use the results of this blood test to estimate how well or poorly diabetes is being controlled.        It is now recommended that people with type 2 diabetes should be treated to hit an A1C level between 7 and 8 percent instead of the previous 6.5 to 7 percent benchmark, but these new guidelines have drawn controversy.  https://www.everydayhealth.com/type-2-diabetes/treatment/controversial-new-recommendations-diabetes-what-know/#:~:text=It%20is%20now%20recommended%20that,new%20guidelines%20have%20drawn%20controversy.

CHF study.        Which signs would you notice if the end of life is near?

• Why do changes happen at the end of life? When someone's dying, the body slows down and shows signs that the person is approaching the end of their life. ...
• Losing weight. ...   For Harv the opposite is true -- easts too much and has hit the salt again.
• Feeling weak and sleeping more. ...   "Yes," but strong enough for elder activity.
• Feeling hot or cold. ...
• Eating and drinking less. ...
• Bladder and bowel problems. ...
• Breathlessness. ...
• Noisy breathing.
• More items...•Nov 25, 2022  https://www.mariecurie.org.uk/help/support/terminal-illness/preparing/what-to-expect

How can someone strengthen their heart muscle? Feb 15, 2022

“A good diet, exercise and controlling your blood pressure and cholesterol all help promote a strong heart and prevent heart disease. For people who already have a weak heart, low sodium intake, proper exercise and compliance with medications can all prevent more problems.  https://www.uchealth.com/en/media-room/articles/5-steps-to-strengthen-your-heart-and-avoid-heart-disease#:~:text=How%20can%20someone%20strengthen%20their,can%20all%20prevent%20more%20problems.

Can 80- or 90-year-olds live with heart failure? They can, and they do. In fact, I’ve helped heart failure patients as old as 103.  https://www.uchicagomedicine.org/forefront/heart-and-vascular-articles/2020/september/older-adults-with-heart-failure

2024apr20.    longevity | climate.     https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/04/20/upshot/carbon-dioxide-growth.html

2024apr17.    well-being.   Previous studies have shown that education has a significant protective effect against cognitive decline in old age. Part of the reason is that better educated people are more likely, and more able, to lead healthier lives. But education also appears to build “cognitive reserve” – the capacity to improvise and find alternative ways of doing things – which may help stave off mental decline, much as physical exercise delays frailty.  https://www.theguardian.com/science/2024/apr/17/mentally-stimulating-work-plays-key-role-in-staving-off-dementia-study-finds

2024apr17.    longevity | climate.     https://www.nytimes.com/2024/04/10/climate/ocean-heat-records.html

2024apr09.    well-being.   We got it from our grandmothers: Don’t be gluttonous. Get exercise. Avoid stress, which creates hormonal effects that change our metabolism and can accelerate aging. Get enough sleep.    Aging research is helping us understand the deep biological implications of this advice. Eating a variety of healthy foods in moderation can prevent the health risks of obesity. Exercise helps us regenerate new mitochondria — the powerhouses of our cells that provide energy. Sleeping allows our bodies to do molecular-level repair. Learning the biology behind this age-old, rock-solid advice can encourage us to take other actions that will help promote a long and healthy life.  https://www.cnn.com/2024/04/09/health/aging-death-why-we-die-wellness/index.html?utm_term=1712700188205707b1a7c3d1f&utm_source=cnn_What+Matters+for+April+9%2C+2024&utm_medium=email&bt_ee=TisUIQWy%2FXM9Z5sJGA%2FaBpDVdAQW50aPUOHSovhQbBCec58uDcmgUUZy0xmZC11q&bt_ts=1712700188208

2024mar15.    well-being.   Savor the moment.    Find purpose.    Give self-compassion.    https://www.axios.com/local/des-moines/2024/03/13/iowa-state-science-of-happiness-course?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=newsletter_axiosfinishline&stream=top

2024mar03.    dementia   In December 2022, nearly six years after her memory loss began, Dershem was diagnosed with mild cognitive impairment (MCI). Her delayed diagnosis wasn’t unusual, but experts say that needs to change.    More than occasional forgetfulness, MCI causes problems that disrupt daily life but don’t make it impossible to function, said Ronald Petersen, director of the Mayo Clinic Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center and the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. It is often but not always a precursor to dementia, he added.        “With MCI, people can still drive, pay their bills and do their taxes — they just do so less efficiently,” Petersen said.    A 2022 study in the journal Alzheimer’s & Dementia projected that 14.4 million people in the United States would have MCI in 2025, and 19.3 million in 2050. An American Academy of Neurology subcommittee estimated that about 1 in 10 people ages 70 to 74 had MCI, and 1 in 4 ages 80 to 84 in 2018.      Denial about potentially worsening symptoms may be tempting, but it’s dangerous, experts said. Dershem, who grew increasingly worried about her condition, said she raised the issue three times with her primary care doctor and saw two neurologists before she was diagnosed with MCI.    Both patients and physicians need to be aware of the symptoms of cognitive decline,said Soeren Mattke, director of the Brain Health Observatory at the University of Southern California’s Dornsife Center for Economic and Social Research. “If you wait until someone’s obviously symptomatic — like they can’t find the door to the physician’s office — you’re going to be too late.”        “The advantage of catching MCI early is that we can delay progression. Later on, less,” said David Weisman, director of clinical research at Abington Neurological Associates in Abington, Pa., and Dershem’s current doctor. “In neurology we learn the same lessons again and again: Time is brain.”    Since February 2023, Weisman has been treating Dershem with lecanemab (brand name Leqembi), which federal regulators approved last year to treat MCI and early Alzheimer’s disease. Lecanemab reduces the buildup of amyloid beta, a protein in the brain that is a hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Clinical trials have shown it can modestly slow dementia’s progress but can’t stop the decline or make up for lost ground.        Some deterioration in memory and processing speed is an inevitable part of getting older, although the pace and degree vary from person to person.        In October 2022, Karen Sandone looked over the evaluation herself — “and I was like, ‘Oh my goodness, how could he say everything was okay?’ I didn’t realize that Anthony couldn’t understand or remember what she was saying.” Anthony Sandone was diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer’s disease in October 2023. The couple has since joined the Alzheimer’s Association in advocating for a cure.        Following an MCI diagnosis, it’s especially important to take care of your brain, no matter how old you are, said Petersen. That includes carefully managing any other illnesses, such as diabetes, and adhering to National Institute of Aging guidelines on exercising regularly, getting sufficient sleep, limiting alcohol and stress, and maintaining an engaging social life.    Diet is also important. Researchers have found that trading saturated and trans fats (in foods like beef ribs, sausage, butter, and commercially baked cookies and cakes) for unsaturated fats (think seafood, walnuts and olive oil) is associated with slower cognitive decline and decreased risk of onset of Alzheimer’s disease.         It’s also a good idea to fortify your memory-support tools, such as calendars and notes and daily routines, and to put your keys, phone and glasses in the same place each day.    Eventually, a diagnosis of MCI that’s on track to dementia should inspire some hard thinking about the future, including considering alternative arrangements for driving, designating a surrogate decision-maker for health care and financial affairs, and executing a will.        In recent years, dementia rates around the world have been falling, driven mainly by improvements in cardiovascular health.       “Being retired helps — there’s a lot less stress,” said Dershem, adding that she was also exercising more consistently, watching her diet and spending more time with her two children. “I’m just trying to do everything I can.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/03/03/mild-cognitive-impairment-dementia-treatment/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3cf1f6d%2F65e4aa4f6430bc1a89203d95%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F16%2F43%2F65e4aa4f6430bc1a89203d95

2024feb28.    plant-based diet   Your likelihood of developing diabetes decreases about 6 percent for each cup of coffee you consume daily — but only up to about six cups.    Many of the studies on coffee and health come with an important caveat. They are usually large observational studies, which show correlations — not cause and effect. This means that it’s possible that something else could explain the findings. Perhaps coffee drinkers also are more likely to exercise more, drink less alcohol, eat healthier diets or engage in other habits that boost their health.    But there are other reasons to believe that the findings are not a mirage. Coffee’s protective effect against diabetes persists even when scientists take these other lifestyle behaviors into account.  The effect has been found in dozens of studies involving more than a million participants across Europe, North America and Asia. It’s been found in women and men, in young and old people, in smokers and nonsmokers, and in people with and without obesity.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/02/27/coffee-diabetes-health-benefits/

2024feb10.    well-being.   Memory lapses happen at every age, but recent missteps by Biden and Trump have sparked questions about memory and aging.        Experts agree. Memory, no matter what your age, is fallible and malleable. Our brain processes incalculable amounts of information at a given time, and there’s simply not room for all of it to be stored. And surprisingly, the act of forgetting is an important aspect of memory.        The Washington Post interviewed several memory experts. They noted that the cognitive abilities of Biden and Trump can’t be evaluated based on anecdotal memory lapses. Formal evaluations are needed to truly assess someone’s brain health. But they noted that memory lapses at any age are surprisingly normal and, for most people, aren’t a signal of mental decline.        Our brain can process and hold vast amounts of information, but it has limits. Facts, dates and events can be stored and recalled for days and weeks — or even across a lifetime. As new memories are created, the brain must prioritize important memories, making it more difficult to recall less important details or events.    When we encounter new information, our brains encode it with changes in neurons in the hippocampus, an important memory center, as well as other areas. These groups of cells work together to hold onto the specific information of a memory, creating a memory trace, known as an engram.    Much of this information is forgotten unless it is stored during memory consolidation, which often happens during sleep, making the memories more stable and long-term. These neurons become active when the event happens and, “when you recall the memory, they’re active again,” said Sheena Josselyn, a senior scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children in Toronto who studies memory.    Unlike a computer, our memories are not fixed and permanent. Each time we access and reconsolidate a memory, it is subject to change. Sometimes, when we have conversations about a memory or see news footage related to it, the mind can recombine these experiences and wrongly store them as memories.    That’s why the stories we tell about our real memories may shift and change over time, and misremembering is common. Mitt Romney once shared a memory about a jubilee in Detroit that took place before he was born. Hillary Clinton once spoke of being under sniper fire in Bosnia, only to later admit that she had her facts wrong.       Our imperfect recollections are the price we pay for a memory system that is adapted to the things we want to remember in our everyday lives.   https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/02/10/memory-lapses-brain-biden-trump/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F3cb3272%2F65c7a6b80372493a92d4a7a6%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F18%2F43%2F65c7a6b80372493a92d4a7a6

2024feb10.    well-being.   Living a healthy lifestyle with a focus on a nutritious diet, regular exercise, minimum alcohol consumption and other healthy habits can help keep your brain sharp into old age, doctors say.   But what if your brain already has signs of beta amyloid or tau — two of the hallmark signs of Alzheimer’s and other brain pathologies? Will a healthy lifestyle still protect you from cognitive decline?    The answer is yes, according to observational research that examined the brains of 586 people during autopsies and compared the findings with up to 24 years of data on their lifestyles.    The participants, who lived to an average age of 91, underwent regular cognitive and physical testing and filled out annual questionnaires on their lifestyles for over two decades before they died.      People in the study were categorized as living a low-risk or healthy lifestyle if they scored top marks in five different categories: they did not smoke; they did moderate to vigorous exercise for at least 150 minutes a week; they kept their alcohol consumption to about one drink a day for women and two for men; and they regularly stimulated their brain by reading, visiting museums, and playing games like cards, checkers, crosswords or puzzles.    The fifth category measured how well they followed the Mediterranean-DASH Diet Intervention for Neurodegenerative Delay or MIND diet. Developed in 2015 by researchers at Rush University in Chicago, the MIND diet incorporates much of the plant-based Mediterranean diet, which focuses on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, beans, seeds, nuts and a lot of extra-virgin olive oil. Red meat and sweets are eaten rarely, but fish, which are packed with good-for-you omega-3 fatty acids, are a staple.    https://www.cnn.com/2024/02/05/health/healthy-living-dementia-study-wellness/index.html

2024feb03.    sex.   There is no official porn addiction diagnosis in the United States. A condition called "hypersexuality," which included a subsection for pornography, was considered and rejected by the psychiatrists who compile the influential Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.    The proposed condition was not approved because the range of normal sexual behavior is so broad that it's hard to define what is outside that range, according to an official with the American Psychiatric Association.    Internationally, the World Health Organization did approve a condition called compulsive sexual behavior disorder. But it lists important caveats, including that it should not be diagnosed based on moral judgments about sex and masturbation or be assigned to adolescents with commonplace, high levels of sexual interest.     "In all of the years I've been seeing people who complain with compulsive sexual behavior, there's been so very few that actually met all the criteria of the disorder," says Silva Neves, a sex and relationship therapist in the U.K. and the author of a book for clinicians about compulsive sexual behavior. He says many people who report sexual behaviors that feel out of control are in fact able to delay an urge or impulse long enough to make it to a private place.    Neves worries that when it comes to sexual behavior, unlike with alcohol or drugs, abstinence-focused treatments can actually increase erotic excitement, inducing self-described relapse.    Grubbs says people who are troubled by their porn use should not be ignored. His research found that more than 1 in 10 American men say they have some level of concern that they're addicted to porn.    Researchers have found evidence that cognitive behavioral therapy or acceptance and commitment therapy can be very helpful. But Grubbs says what dominates internet abstinence forums and influencer videos is not that.    "Abstaining from masturbation is not a reasonable or, in my opinion, ethical treatment goal," says Grubbs.    It has, however, become an industry, he says.  https://www.npr.org/2026/01/01/1198916105/mens-health-masturbation-abstinence

2024feb03.    sleep.      8%.        The increase in the amount of sleep that people in their 20s got in 2022 versus 2020, RentCafe’s analysis of American Time Use Survey data found. They reported nine hours and 28 minutes of snoozing, up from eight hours and 47 minutes in 2010. Young adults are skipping barhopping and dinners out because they understand the link between sleep and health better than older generations.  https://whatsnews.cmail19.com/t/d-e-elytrjt-iudygtktd-r/

2024jan24.    well-being.      Perhaps best of all, the most effective exercise in the study was also relatively gentle. People who said they exercised moderately, meaning they could still chat as they worked out, wound up with somewhat greater brain volume than those who exercised more vigorously, such as by swift running.         “Studies like this continue to provide strong evidence that moving your body even a small amount may have an impact on brain health, and that it is never too early, or too late, to start.”  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/01/24/exercise-brain-volume-memory/

2024jan18.    well-being.      Can Learning a New Language Stave Off Dementia?    Research suggests that bilingual people enjoy some cognitive benefits later in life, but it probably requires more than a few Spanish lessons in your 60s.  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/16/well/mind/dementia-bilingual-language.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur

This $10 purchase can improve your sleep and boost your brain health.    Wear an eye mask when you sleep.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2024/01/18/eye-mask-sleep-cognition-health-benefits/

Nancy E. Adler, a health psychologist whose work helped transform the public understanding of the relationship between socioeconomic status and physical health, died on Jan. 4 at her home in San Francisco. She was 77.    The cause was pancreatic cancer, her husband, Arnold Milstein, said.    Dr. Adler was instrumental in documenting the powerful role that education, income and self-perceived status in society play in predicting health and longevity.    Today, the connection is well known — a truism among public health experts is that life expectancy is determined more by your ZIP code than your genetic code. But it was an obscure notion as recently as 30 years ago.    “It’s thanks to the decades of Nancy’s work and leadership that we now recognize socioeconomic status as one of the biggest and most consistent predictors of morbidity and mortality that we know of,” said Elissa Epel, a health psychologist at the University of California, San Francisco, and a mentee of Dr. Adler’s.  https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/18/health/policy/nancy-e-adler-death.html         H2o self-challenge is to live the lifestyle of his 32713 mailbox zip.

2024jan16.    depression.      Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that occurs in late fall and winter that has to do with the lack of sunlight.        Light therapy is the go-to treatment for seasonal affective disorder. It involves exposing yourself to a light box with at least 10,000 lux for at least 30 minutes. (Lux is a unit of measurement for light level intensity.)       Tried that a decade ago.        Thomas Kilkenny, a sleep specialist at Northwell Health in New York, emphasized the importance of getting enough sleep.         Cognitive behavioral therapy has people with seasonal affective disorder work to develop an awareness on what they’re experiencing, identify negative thoughts and come up with strategies to replace the thoughts with more positive ones, said Lucian Manu, a psychiatrist at Stony Brook Medicine in New York.        Selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors, for example, work to boost serotonin levels, which can help boost mood. A popular prescription is bupropion, which Manu said helps in managing increasing sleep (along with appetite and weight) for people with seasonal affective disorder.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/11/12/health/seasonal-affective-disorder-self-care-wellness/index.html

2024jan13.    depression.    

Existential depression.    May be triggered by a positive event, i.e., something a person has been looking forward to for a long time.    People may believe attaining the goal will provide meaning to their life and a state of peace and well-being.    When the expected joy or satisfaction does not occur, people may feel they wasted their time, and if that achievement could not bring meaning to their life, what will?     People may question everything they once believed. https://www.emedicinehealth.com/what_are_the_four_types_of_depression/article_em.htm

Harv's current positive event is his functional blog is working for his joy, love, freeing.    It brings integrated meaning to his lifetime -- past, present, future.     As pride in his website evolves, a search light looks to what's next for his joy, love, freeing.    His next 'footnote' tome seems just another creation of an unsurmountable wall of scribble -- certainly not a joy in itself to see just another scribble-morass-set in his lifetime.    Seemingly, the now 'functional' blog has no readers of accolade-bit nor conversation-bit -- no 'intellectual' friends based on some expandable evidentiary bit (not entirely true -- however, no true flood of bits. "Ha ha!").

2024jan11.    sleep.    ... key to staying young is an 'embarrassing amount of sleep'.    "I get tons of sleep. Like, an embarrassing amount," Lowe said without sharing a specific number. "I don't want people to think something is wrong with me. It's a lot of sleep, not 12 hours. But if there's ever 12 (hours) to be had, I'm taking it."  https://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/rob-lowes-key-staying-young-embarrassing-amount-sleep

2024jan02.    The previous night's dream may have had a message.  The dream had me not hired via some inherent predetermined positioning that I was realizing in packing up the non-hired experience.  As reality dawns in this new day Tuesday, the standing list-for-the-future gets pulled.  Resulting from the New Year, recent family interaction, and post last night's dream thought, Harv proposes his longevity path as a five year glide path with 1.  mat and a garden 2. eat like a peasant 3. plant-forward approach 4. joiner 5.  cultivate friends and a sense of purpose 6. nap 7. affordable home.  The mat in the car is already years' tested, in the garden are apples and peanut butter, COA breakfast bran and senior dinner is meager, plant-based dietician regular support, daily joining at COA and Sakura, friends outside COA, a sense of purpose (peace and ERG convenience), naps are well-practiced, and finances well-managed.

.................................................................................................................................................................

web-site  Section Three -- "list-for-future"  bucket #1  — share slides, lose more weight, ill prevention , free quality life time, update dissertation via blog, write ‘tome’,  

2023sep15.

Health:  (1) pursue self-hagiography; (2) actualize advanced directive; (3) the cancelled world cruise was certainly an idea of a breakout kind of activity akin to his lifetime-epoch-flow degree-job actualization of BSME, engineer, organizer, MBA, accountant, CMA, administrator, manager, bureaucracy, consultant, retiree, PhD, writer/publisher-of-sorts.  The world cruise was a fit, even to the point of an $8000 bet !   But his health flow intervened; (a) loss-of-balance, (b) CKD deterioration, (c) dementia, (d) foot-arch collapse; (4) focus on CKD stabilization Tx, (5) more convenient PCP.  Note that, as his 85th year proceeded, the idea of super-health has become just plain health, that is, delimited by old age.

Residence In Motion  (RIM):  (6) peaceful in the park’s tropical breezes with MacBook Air #4 tool for personal improvement-thought/actualization.   (7) the shrinking as-set idea from all-in-car to all-in-coffin still fits Harv’s minimalism character, 

Relatedness niceties:  (8) devise system to digitize the generation-past family slides/photos/papers,

Write:  (9) daily skim/surf BBC NPR NYT WaPo CNN C-Span streaming-sites, (10) weekly write Blog/Tome life model flow, (11) rewrite — overcome Photos blockage, merge Unique book notes into LOFt, a1833 etc, read/write control standard,  read.  “Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience."   Book title: A business/education/personal organization case-study.”  From philosophy, through religion, through jobs and careers, laboring 30 years of retirement, choosing 20 years of car (RIM) living (Residence-In-Motion), ending in Stoic secularism.” Another “Unsaved: Working An 86^th Year — the ‘irreligious WAY’, the light, and the life.” 

(11)  Harv faces the challenge of more lifetime, encouraged by a relenting of his ’normal’ ills: 

• backache, 
• foot ache, 
• allergies, 
• macular degeneration, 
• cataracts, 
• dementia, 
• teeth failure, 
• car engine light, 
• obesity,
• CKD itch, …

Then, combined with no major lifestyle change on his horizon, his currently developed Florida lifestyle continues: 

• his COA retirement office, 
• HarvOtto.com, 
• COA socialization, 
• slides digitization, 
• news/book reading, 
• financial stability,
• a mailbox courtesy of grandpa Bob, and 
• Harv’s compact FourTowns business-support circuit. 
• but challenged in 2023 by climate change heat.
• However, a Real Retirement option has been ideated.

With those externals come the contents fulfillment of life well-being: 

• work (the challenges of HarvOtto.com are open ended), 
• finances (decades of continued stability),
• physical health (coming out of a 2022 frail period), 
• community (infrastructure to maintain enough personal interest), and
• sociality.

Perhaps life will be strange not to be rushing off to the next ‘big thing’, but rushing off will occur, none the same, with eagerness ‘tonight or tomorrow’.

Love to all :) from Happy Harv Otto (H2o) facilitated by HarvOtto.com via

phone/emails/texts to daughters Lisa, Susan, son Chris, grandpa Bob, and text to Ray, Erin, ...

.................................................................................................................................................................

2023jan02. assisted living.    7 habits to live a healthier life, inspired by the world's longest-lived communities.  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/09/1198047149/blue-zones-health-centenarians-healthy-habits

Swap 1: Trade the La-Z-Boy for a mat and a garden

Swap 2: Ditch DoorDash and eat like a peasant

Swap 3: Reduce meat and aim for a plant-forward approach

Swap 4: Give loneliness the boot — become a joiner

Swap 5: Revamp social media to cultivate friends and a sense of purpose

Swap 6: In lieu of an afternoon espresso, take a nap

Swap 7: Trade big-city rents for an affordable home (and maybe keep your parent nearby)

2023jan02. fitness.    https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/interactive/2024/fitness-test-by-age-exercise/?utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere_trending_now&utm_medium=email&utm_source=alert&location=alert

2023dec02. assisted living.    Brad and Carol Burns moved from Fort Worth, Texas, in 2019 to Chapala, Jalisco, in Mexico, dumping their $650 a month long-term care policy because care is so much more affordable south of the border. Mr. Burns, 63, a retired pharmaceutical researcher, said his mother lived just a few miles away in a memory care facility that costs $2,050 a month, which she can afford with her Social Security payments and an annuity. She is receiving “amazing” care, he said.    “As a reminder, most people in Mexico cannot afford the care we find affordable and that makes me sad,” he said. “But their care for us is amazing, all health care, here, actually. At her home, my mom, they address her as Mom or Barbarita, little Barbara.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/15/health/readers-long-term-care.html

2023dec02. happiness.    My earliest memories of late-night television shows are of the guests, not the hosts.        The world hasn’t gotten any easier since late night returned, but the truth is, it never will be. Creating a space for both earnestness and entertainment is part of the job.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/26/insider/from-an-early-age-a-passion-for-late-night-tv.html

2023dec02.  assisted living.    DYING BROKE: THE HIGH COST OF HELP.         Desperate Families Search for Affordable Home Care.        Facing a severe shortage of aides and high costs, people trying to keep aging loved ones at home often cobble together a patchwork of family and friends to help.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/12/02/health/home-health-care-aide-labor.html  

2023nov22.  assisted living.    “We want her to stay in her house,” Ms. Jemmott said. “That’s what’s probably keeping her alive, because she’s in her element, not in a strange place.”    The private insurance market has proved wildly inadequate in providing financial security for most of the millions of older Americans who might need home health aides, assisted living or other types of assistance with daily living.    For decades, the industry severely underestimated how many policyholders would use their coverage, how long they would live and how much their care would cost.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/22/health/long-term-care-insurance.html

2023nov20.  sleep    Earlier research pointed to sleep loss as a risk factor for many chronic diseases, including diabetes and heart problems. But much of the research has looked at severe, short-term sleep restriction or has been studied in men, as the National Institutes for Health noted in a press release. So researchers in the Diabetes Care study wanted to know what effect being an "average" short sleeper – 6.2 hours per night – had on insulin resistance in women. Insulin resistance happens when the body doesn't respond as well to insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. It can lead to type 2 diabetes.         The hope behind the study is that it may provide an easy-to-achieve lifestyle change that could reduce the risk of developing prediabetes, and eventually, type 2 diabetes.      "If that's sustained over time, it is possible that prolonged insufficient sleep among individuals with prediabetes could accelerate the progression to type 2 diabetes."          Everyone skips out on quality sleep every once in a while, and how much sleep you need depends on your age and health, but adults generally need at least seven hours per night. Anything less than 7 hours is considered short sleep, according to the US Centers for disease Control and Prevention.         In general, sleep is also important for the regulation of blood sugar. A lot of the negative things that can pile onto the body when it's lacking sleep may impact blood sugar levels. This includes the increased amount of cortisol that's released during sleep deprivation, which may increase glucose levels. According to the Sleep Foundation, sleep deprivation may also cause more inflammation, which also impacts blood glucose levels.         Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs) are wearables that stick to your arm and pair with an app that monitors glucose levels. They've traditionally been used as a tool for people with type 1 diabetes to manage their blood sugar, but they've gained traction lately by others wanting more insight into how their body processes blood sugar and uses energy -- you can use them to see how your body reacts to certain foods.   https://www.cnet.com/health/medical/sleeping-more-may-reduce-your-risk-of-diabetes-new-study-suggests/

2023nov19.  friends    ... making and retaining deep, meaningful friendships as an adult is hard, especially for men, according to research.    Less than half of men report being satisfied with their friendships, and only about 1 in 5 said they had received emotional support from a friend in the last week, compared with 4 in 10 women, according to a 2021 survey from the Survey Center on American Life.        “Boys don’t start emotionally disconnected; they become emotionally disconnected,” said Dr. Niobe Way, a researcher and a professor of applied psychology at New York University.    All humans have the innate capacity and desire for close, emotionally intimate connections with others. We need these relationships for survival as babies and then to thrive as we get older, Chu said.    Research has shown close friendships protect our mental and physical health, she added. And men who prioritize those relationships are fighting off one of the most harmful things to human health — loneliness, said Dr. Frank Sileo, a psychologist based in Ridgewood, New Jersey.“What (men) are at risk of losing is this sense of not being alone in the world or not being alone in their experience,” Sileo said. Research has shown “disclosure of emotional distress improved (men’s) emotional well-being, increased feelings of being understood and resulted in less reported loneliness,” he added.    Just as many men strive to eat right, exercise, succeed in their careers and raise children, men should prioritize developing friendships as adults, he said.        Assumptions nearly 30 years later might be different, but social pressures remain that make it difficult for men to express the vulnerability and intimacy needed for close friendships, Sileo said.    We are all born with two sides of ourselves: the hard side that is stoic and independent and the soft one that is vulnerable and interdependent, said Way, author of “Deep Secrets: Boys’ Friendships and the Crisis of Connection.”    The hard side has been characterized as masculine and inherently preferable, and the soft side has been seen as feminine and lesser than, Way said.    Boys receive messages that growing up and “manning up” mean shedding that soft side — a mindset that neuroscience, social science and developmental psychology all show is harmful to them, Way said.        “We live in a culture that clashes with our nature,” she said. “If we raise children to go against their nature, we shouldn’t be surprised if some of those children grow up to struggle.”    Heterosexual men seeking closeness might turn to those they see as better at building relationships and feel comfortable exploring their vulnerability with: the women in their lives and their romantic partners, Way said.    It may seem like a good solution, but it works neither for the men nor the women they look to, Sileo said.    Putting everything on a romantic partner can strain a relationship, he said, whether it is going to a female partner exclusively for emotional support or depending on her to cultivate friendships and get-togethers for holidays and weekends.        “A very powerful place to start is listening and asking real questions,” she said. “All people love when they can trust that this situation is safe and that someone is genuinely interested in them.”    The key is to move beyond banter and general niceties and ask questions you find meaningful, such as what friends like about their jobs or what happens to their feelings after breakups, Way said. Don’t worry. It’s not rude to do so. Most people report wanting to be asked these questions, she said.        Putting in time, effort and intention is the key, Sileo said. Showing up and spending time is crucial to building those important friendships.    “Quality counts here,” he said. “If you can have a handful of friends that are quality, that’s better than having a slew of friends.”  https://www.cnn.com/2022/11/29/health/men-friendships-wellness/index.html

2023nov19.  plant-based diet.    For Health, More Nuts, Beans and Whole Grains,        Plant-based foods are linked to a lower risk of heart disease and diabetes, a new study shows.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/15/well/eat/plant-based-diet-nuts-beans-grains.html 

2023nov19.  assisted living.    Doug Anderson, a senior vice president at New Perspective, said in a statement that “the cost and complexity of providing care and housing to seniors has increased exponentially due to the pandemic and record-high inflation.”    In one way, Mr. Guckenberg has been luckier than most people who run out of money to pay for their care. His residential center accepts Medicaid to cover his health services.    Most states have similar programs, though a resident must be frail enough to qualify for a nursing home before Medicaid will cover the health care costs in an assisted-living facility. But enrollment is restricted. In 37 states, people are on waiting lists for months or years.      “We recognize the current system of having residents spend down their assets and then qualify for Medicaid in order to stay in their assisted-living home is broken,” Ms. Bethea, with the trade association, said. “Residents shouldn’t have to impoverish themselves in order to continue receiving assisted-living care.”    Only 18 percent of residential care centers agree to take Medicaid payments, which tend to be lower than what they charge self-paying clients, according to a federal survey of facilities. And even places that accept Medicaid often limit coverage to a minority of their beds.     For those with some retirement income, Medicaid isn’t free. Nancy Pilger, Mr. Guckenberg’s guardian, said that he was able to keep only about $200 of his $2,831 monthly retirement income, with the rest going to paying rent and a portion of his costs covered by the government.      In September, Mr. Guckenberg moved to a nearby assisted-living building run by a nonprofit. Ms. Pilger said his costs were the same. But for other residents who have not yet exhausted their assets, Mr. Guckenberg’s new home charges $12 a tray for meal delivery to the room; $50 a month to bill a person’s long-term care insurance plan; and $55 for a set of bed rails.    Even after Mr. Guckenberg had left New Perspective, however, the company had one more charge for him: a $200 late payment fee for money it said he still owed.https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/19/health/long-term-care-assisted-living.html

2023oct09.  climate.    Lahore, Pakistan, already an epicenter of human ills linked to climate change, could surpass that survivability threshold for two or three weeks out of the year by the middle of the century, for example, the study, published Monday in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, found. Under the most dramatic global warming scenarios, it could last for months.    In the Red Sea port of Al Hudaydah, Yemen, such oppressive conditions are expected to last a month or two — or, at the highest levels of global warming projections, would endure for most of the year, scientists found.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/10/09/heat-waves-increased-temperatures-climate-change/?utm_source=alert&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere&location=alert

2023oct09.  death.    6 joyful steps for end-of-life planning.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/05/end-of-life-planning/?utm_campaign=wp_the_optimist&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_optimist&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F38c2bd3%2F63bacd23ef9bf67b235121f3%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F37%2F48%2F63bacd23ef9bf67b235121f3&wp_cu=639b84fe3ddb27af65b99f6cacbf7a23%7CC0DBC114CDAE2BA7E0430100007FAD1A

5 estate planning documents that Suze Orman recommends for every family.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/05/end-of-life-planning/?utm_campaign=wp_the_optimist&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_optimist&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F38c2bd3%2F63bacd23ef9bf67b235121f3%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F37%2F48%2F63bacd23ef9bf67b235121f3&wp_cu=639b84fe3ddb27af65b99f6cacbf7a23%7CC0DBC114CDAE2BA7E0430100007FAD1A 

2023oct05.  climate.    

2023oct03.  climate.    ... according to the National Snow and Ice Data Center. Antarctic sea ice reached its lowest peak by a wide margin for any year since 1979, when the continuous satellite record began.  

.   2023sep19.  depression 2023sep19.  death.    The United States is failing at a fundamental mission — keeping people alive.    After decades of progress, life expectancy — long regarded as a singular benchmark of a nation’s success — peaked in 2014 at 78.9 years, then drifted downward even before the coronavirus pandemic. Among wealthy nations, the United States in recent decades went from the middle of the pack to being an outlier. And it continues to fall further and further behind.        While opioids and gun violence have rightly seized the public’s attention, stealing hundreds of thousands of lives, chronic diseases are the greatest threat, killing far more people between 35 and 64 every year, The Post’s analysis of mortality data found.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/interactive/2023/american-life-expectancy-dropping/

2023sep19.  depression.    ... explain your mood — and your risk of depression too. In fact, a new study finds that people who maintain a broad range of healthy habits, from good sleep to physical activity to strong social connections, are significantly less likely to experience episodes of depression. Researchers used Mendelian randomization — using genetics to study behavior — to confirm a causal link between lifestyle and depression. They found a reduction in the risk of depression held up even among people who have genetic variants that make them more susceptible.  https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/09/19/1200223456/depression-anxiety-prevention-mental-health-healthy-habits

2023sep15.  Judaism.   happiness.   ... the words of Britain’s esteemed late chief rabbi, Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, are particularly moving. “Judaism is an extraordinary set of disciplines for living a meaningful life – and it is meaning, not fame or success, that lies at the heart of happiness,” he wrote in 5770/2009. “It invites us through the blessings we say every morning to give thanks for simply being alive in a universe full of beauty and wonder.” He went on to say, “We can lose material possessions, but spiritual possessions — the good we do, the love we inspire — we never lose, and that is why they are the greatest investments we can make. May we, in this coming year, spend more time on the things that matter, the things Judaism teaches us to value, and may God write all of us in the Book of Life.” Amen.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/15/newsletter-trump-losing-streak-jamie-raskin/ 

2023sep15.  Romney.    He controls what he can, of course. He wears his seat belt, and diligently applies sunscreen, and stays away from secondhand smoke. For decades, he’s followed his doctor’s recipe for longevity with monastic dedication—the lean meats, the low-dose aspirin, the daily 30-minute sessions on the stationary bike, heartbeat at 140 or higher or it doesn’t count.    He has never really interrogated the cause of this preoccupation, but premonitions of death seem to follow him. Once, years ago, he boarded an airplane for a business trip to London and a flight attendant whom he’d never met saw him, gasped, and rushed from the cabin in horror. When she was asked what had so upset her, she confessed that she’d dreamt the night before about a man who looked like him—exactly like him—getting shot and killed at a rally in Hyde Park. He didn’t know how to respond, other than to laugh and put it out of his mind. But when, a few days later, he happened to find himself on the park’s edge and saw a crowd forming, he made a point not to linger.  https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2023/11/mitt-romney-retiring-senate-trump-mcconnell/675306/        Harv thinks Romney controls not his self in politics/religion, but he follows whatever ... that whatever is not clear to Harv, but evidently not politics.  He fears ...

Mr. Romney lives a hermitlike existence in Washington.        Mr. Romney, 76, has few friends in Washington, and he did not follow President Harry S. Truman’s adage to get himself a dog. That, plus the absence of his wife, Ann, has left him living a lonely bachelor’s existence in a brick townhouse near the Capitol, where he spends most evenings stretched out in a leather recliner, eating dinner alone while watching shows including “Ted Lasso” and “Better Call Saul.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/us/politics/mitt-romney-mckay-coppins-takeaways.html        Harv says his leader image portrayed is not flattering nor uplifting.

2023sep09.  perfectionism.    Worried that perfectionism is holding you back? No wonder, given all the messaging out there that demonizes the tendency, advising us to give it up in favor of finding balance.    Psychotherapist Katherine Morgan Schafler rejects that approach, upending the whole notion that perfectionism is something to overcome. Getting rid of it won’t work because it’s a fundamental component of who you are, Schafler argues. Instead, it’s time to recognize perfectionism as a gift and a source of power.    It’s fine that perfectionists are not balanced people, Schafler writes in her book, “The Perfectionist’s Guide to Losing Control: A Path to Peace and Power.” What’s more, changing by “subscribing to prepackaged notions of balance and generic wellness when they don’t fit who you are isn’t being healthy.”     Instead, Schafler advises people to celebrate their ceaseless drive to bridge the gulf between reality and the ideal. Too often, counsel issued under the guise of self-care — especially to women — is more about suppressing “expressions of ambition and power seeking” that could help people live full, big lives.    She says it’s time to reclaim the term perfectionist along with all the advantages brought by an insatiable desire to excel.    Perfectionism is a natural impulse that’s unique to humans. We all have the cognitive capacity to see reality and project onto it new and improved versions of things, noticing differences between what now exists and the ideal. Perfectionists, meanwhile, are those who not only see that gap but feel an active compulsion to try and bridge it. They carry the impulse to explore the bounds of possibility, without being constrained by what’s realistic.    In mental health, compulsion is often talked about in a negative way, as a marker of dysfunction. But to say that something is compulsive doesn’t automatically mean it’s unhealthy. In my view, perfectionism is the energy that makes the world go round. Societies need people with the drive to strive toward ideals. The tension that perfectionists carry is where their power lies. The key is to apply this power with intention, constructively and consciously. https://www.cnn.com/2023/09/08/health/embrace-perfectionism-self-confidence-wellness/index.html

Harv says, "At what am I excelling?  A: web site blog/tome, the 'don' of COA, challenge extended family, avoid sad in favor of joy polarity, do R.E.C. love not hate polarity, promote self-freeing over fear polarity, pursue full retirement ideation, new PCP ups health game, ...

2023sep06.  friends.    Good friends are good for us. They help us get through bad times, listen when we need them and offer advice. A lack of someone you can confide in can lead to loneliness and isolation, which have been labeled a public health threat, on par with smoking and obesity.        Four in 10 Americans say they don’t have a best friend at all, up from 25% in 1990. The best-friend gap is more pronounced for men, who typically have fewer close friends than women do. The percentage of men without any close friends jumped fivefold to 15% in 2021 from 3% in 1990, according to the May 2021 American Perspectives Survey.         Time together deepens bonds. Becoming a best friend takes 300 hours of togetherness, one study reported. Those fortunate enough to have friends through the decades develop a common history that fresh friendships often don’t.   https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/theyve-been-friends-for-60-years-lew-and-bobby-have-figured-out-what-most-men-dont-e44063ac  

friend: noun:

1 a person whom one knows and with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically exclusive of sexual or family relations.

• (often as a polite form of address or in ironic reference) an acquaintance or a stranger one comes across: my friends, let me introduce myself.

• a person who acts as a supporter of a cause, organization, or country by giving financial or other help.

• a person who is not an enemy or who is on the same side.

• a familiar or helpful thing.

• a contact associated with a social networking website (OAD)   Underline emphasis by Harv.

Harv has a text contact list.  He also has a phone contact list as well as an email list.

2023sep02.  nuclear.    After the first nuclear weapons test in New Mexico in 1945, the United States, its allies, China and the Soviet Union kept testing atomic weapons by detonating them above ground, leading to heavy atmospheric nuclear pollution that spread around the globe.    In all, the world’s nuclear powers conducted more than 500 atmospheric tests before moving them underground to try to limit the spread of radioactivity. The new study’s findings indicate how the many decades of above-the-ground detonations continue to have ramifications.        Professor Steinhauser said that a crucial element to the mystery was a fungus — elaphomyces, or deer truffles — that boars dig up and eat but other wildlife ignores.    Although many other edible fauna are no longer significantly contaminated, the truffles, which grow inches below the Earth’s surface, store radiation particularly well.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/02/world/europe/germany-boars-radioactivity-study.html

2023aug26.  The Greenland Ice Sheet contributes more to rising oceans than any other ice mass on the planet. If it all disappeared, it would raise global sea levels by 24 feet, devastating coastlines that are home to about half the world’s population. Yet computer simulations and modern observations alone can’t precisely predict how Greenland might melt. Researchers are still unsure whether rising temperatures have already pushed the ice sheet into irreversible decline.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/interactive/2023/greenland-ice-sheet-drilling-bedrock-sea-rise/?itid=hp_most-read_p009_f003_3

2023aug23.  The bigger the particle size of your food, the less surface area your digestive enzymes have to work with, and the less efficiently you absorb the energy. Almond butter, for example, will net you more calories than whole almonds. Ditto instant oats vs. whole oats. And if you’ve ever eaten corn on the cob, you may have noticed that some of those large particles pass right through you. (This is one of the reasons highly processed foods, which tend to be pulverized, are so insidious.)    “Weigh yourself on a scale,” Nestle said. If you’re not losing weight, you have to find a way to rejigger the equation. https://www.washingtonpost.com/food/2023/08/23/calories-in-calories-out-weight-loss/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most        For Harv that equation is calories-fiber-protein.

2023aug20.  It’s a beautiful day in the neighborhood, haven’t you heard? Mister Rogers said so—and now his simple advice on how to be a good person has been backed by sophisticated polling data.    As part of the Gallup National Health and Well-Being Index, saying hello to more than 1 neighbor was shown to correlate with greater self-perception of well-being.    Averaged across five dimensions that included career, communal, physical, financial, and social well-being, the increase which greeting a neighbor had led to around a 2-point increase on a scale of 0-100 up until the sixth neighbor, at which point further greetings had no measured impact.    Interestingly, when the well-being scores are looked at individually and not averaged together, the sixth neighbor is where the perception of well-being in life peaks for social and communal well-being, but not financial well-being.    No; perception of financial well-being kept on climbing and climbing, only to cease at the 11th such greeting; a profound revelation—repeated positive social interaction benefited perception of personal finance even more than personal sense of community.    Men were more likely to greet neighbors than women, as were people with children under the age of 18 in the household, and people with a household income of more than $120k a year.    Individuals aged 40 to 65+ were the most common greeters of neighbors, and 27% of the over 4,000 participants greeted 5 neighbors or more in a day.    “Recent Gallup research in partnership with Meta has shown that the U.S. compares favorably with other nations around the world in social interactions,” the polling company states, “with those in the U.S. more likely than those in countries such as Mexico, India, and France to interact with the people who live near them.”    “Notably, greeting neighbors is also linked to career wellbeing (liking what you do each day), physical wellbeing (having energy to get things done), and financial wellbeing (managing your money well),” the report continued. “The associations found among these latter three elements are likely more multifaceted in nature and could be reinforced in part through the correlations found with social and community wellbeing.”  https://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/mister-rogers-had-a-point-routinely-greeting-six-neighbors-maximizes-wellbeing-outcomes/

2023aug19.   cimate     https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-023-02552-2  

2023aug18.   Climate.  The National Hurricane Center issued its first-ever tropical storm watch for Southern California, including downtown Los Angeles, on Friday.    A watch means that tropical conditions are possible within the area over the next 48 hours. The watch stretches from the California-Mexico border to the Orange County and Los Angeles County line and for Catalina Island, forecasters said.    The system had sustained winds near 130 miles per hour, according to the National Hurricane Center. Tropical disturbances that have sustained winds of 39 m.p.h. earn a name. Once winds reach 74 m.p.h., a storm becomes a hurricane, and, at 111 m.p.h., it becomes a major hurricane.  https://www.nytimes.com/article/tropical-storm-hilary-hurricane-california-mexico.html?campaign_id=60&emc=edit_na_20230818&instance_id=0&nl=breaking-news&ref=cta&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=142370&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4        

2023aug15.    Climate.   On Monday, the National Weather Service issued an excessive heat warning and heat advisories for much of the Pacific Northwest, where temperatures could be as high as 110 in parts of Oregon.   The heat means some of the most common outdoor summer activities may have to be put on hold, experts say. Biking, hiking, running, and even just going for a long walk can potentially all be dangerous in higher temperatures.  https://themessenger.com/health/heat-waves-arent-over-yet-experts-want-you-to-be-careful-outside?utm_campaign=body&utm_medium=newsletter&utm_source=messenger-morning

2023aug14.      Climate.  

https://www.washingtonpost.com/weather/2023/08/11/florida-record-heat-climate-summer/

2023aug11.   US hurricanes.     Climate.    Global ocean temperatures are at their highest levels on record. This is especially the case in the Atlantic, where sea surface temperatures are much above average in areas where hurricanes typically form. Notably, sea surface temperatures in parts of the Gulf of Mexico are in the middle 80s to low 90s Fahrenheit – well above the 80 degrees needed to sustain tropical storm development. Water temperatures have even recently climbed above 100 degrees in shallower water closer to the Florida coast.    Even with the abundance of very warm water, no tropical development has occurred in the Atlantic since Hurricane Don dissipated in late July.    Despite the lack of US impacts so far, there have been five named storms, putting this season slightly above the climatological normal for tropical activity.    And there have been recent signs that the tropical Atlantic could soon spring to life. Several thunderstorm areas have come close to developing, only to be torn apart by two things: wind shear, which is the change in strength in winds in different levels of the atmosphere, and dry air, which can cut off a storm’s lifeblood – its thunderstorm activity.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/10/weather/hurricane-season-ocean-temperatures-climate/index.html

2023aug08.  Walking exercise.  Well-being.  Just 4,000 Steps Daily Reduces Risk of Death: Study.        Boosting daily step count by as little as 500 extra steps could make a big difference.  https://themessenger.com/health/just-4000-steps-daily-reduces-risk-of-death-study                        Ordered pedometer Tuesday for Thursday delivery.

2023aug08.  Climate tip-point reached.  The world got its first preview last month of what summer will be like at 1.5 degrees of global warming — a threshold that scientists warn the planet should stay under, yet one that it has flown increasingly close to in recent years.    The average global temperature in July, the hottest month on record by far, was around 1.5 degrees Celsius warmer than the pre-industrial era that ended in the mid-to-late 1800s, the European Union’s Copernicus Climate Change Service reported Tuesday.    The announcement came after a series of deadly heat waves and remarkable record-breaking temperatures for several continents, as well as unprecedented ocean heat around the globe. Copernicus scientists say it’s the first summer month that has surpassed 1.5 degrees, offering a glimpse of future summers.        The 1.5-degree threshold is significant because scientists consider it a key tipping point for the planet, beyond which the chances of extreme heat, flooding, drought, wildfires and food and water shortages will become even more unfavorable for life as we know it.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/08/world/july-climate-record-paris-agreement/index.html

2023aug03.   Climate.   Bromirski gathered a team of undergraduate students to analyze daily seismic readings covering decades of winters. It was a slow, painstaking process that took years and involved digitizing drums of paper records. But he said it was important in learning how things have changed over nearly a century along California's coast.    They found that average winter wave heights have grown by as much as a foot since 1970, when global warming is believed to have begun accelerating. Swells at least 13 feet tall are also happening a lot more often, occurring at least twice as often between 1996 to 2016 than from 1949 to 1969.    Bromirski was also surprised to find extended periods of exceptionally low wave heights prior to about 1970 and none of those periods since.  https://themessenger.com/news/waves-getting-bigger-surf-getting-taller-in-california-as-planet-warms

2023aug03.  Climate.    Sea ice growth around Antarctica has reached a record low by a significant amount, and the news is worrying researchers.        At the end of June, ice covered approximately 1 million square miles less than the expected average based on four decades of satellite observations, according to data cited by the news outlet.        The drop also means the planet will have reduced protection from solar rays, which can raise water temperatures and hinder future ice formation in the areas.  https://themessenger.com/news/drop-in-arctic-sea-ice-this-year-unprecedented-as-scientists-report-very-sudden-change

2023aug02.  Climate.    https://www.nytimes.com/2023/08/02/climate/antarctic-sea-ice-record-low.html  

2023july25.   Well-being.  The independent and influential U.S. Preventive Services Task Force, in its latest draft guidelines, recommends screening mammograms for women 40 to 74, but says “the current evidence is insufficient to assess the balance of benefits and harms of screening mammography in women age 75 years or older.”    Screening for colorectal cancer, with a colonoscopy or with a less invasive test, becomes similarly questionable at advanced ages. The task force gives it a C grade for those 76 to 85, meaning there’s “at least moderate certainty that the net benefit is small.” It should only be offered selectively, the guidelines say.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/23/health/seniors-life-expectancy.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20230725&instance_id=98356&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=140200&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2023july25.  Canada wildfires.  Climate.  https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/07/18/climate/canada-record-wildfires.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20230725&instance_id=98356&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=140200&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2023july23.     Nuclear.   Today, the two-acre plot where the physicist disappeared and lived in a modest cottage part-time from 1955 until his death in 1967 is public land, known locally as Oppenheimer Beach. https://www.bbc.com/travel/article/20230719-st-john-the-tiny-island-where-robert-oppenheimer-escaped-his-legacy  

2023july20.  Climate.   A recently discovered ice core taken from beneath Greenland’s ice sheet decades ago has revealed that a large part of the country was ice-free around 400,000 years ago, when temperatures were similar to those the world is approaching now, according to a new report – an alarming finding that could have disastrous implications for sea level rise.    The study overturns previous assumptions that most of Greenland’s ice sheet has been frozen for millions of years, the authors said. Instead, moderate, natural warming led to large-scale melting and sea level rise of more than 1.4 meters (4.6 feet), according to the report published Thursday in the journal Science.    “When you look at what nature did in the past, as geoscientists, that’s our best clue to the future,” said Paul Bierman, a scientist at the University of Vermont and a lead author of the study.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/20/world/greenland-ice-sheet-melt-sea-level-rise-climate/index.html

2023july20.   Climate.  In a statement on Tuesday, Petteri Taalas, secretary general of the World Meteorological Organization, called this relentless cascade of extreme weather “the new normal.”    But some scientists now baulk at that framing.    “When I hear it, I get a bit crazy because it’s not really the new normal,” said Hannah Cloke, a climate scientist and professor at the University of Reading in the UK. “Until we stop pumping greenhouse gases into the atmosphere we have no idea what the future looks like.”    She is one of many scientists who warn that, while this summer is very bad, it’s only just the beginning. As long as global temperature continues to rise, they said, the world should brace for escalating impacts.    [End of the world is Harv's sum]    Michael E. Mann, a climate scientist and distinguished professor at the University of Pennsylvania, prefers to describe the weather we are seeing as “the new abnormal.”    The new normal “wrongly conveys the idea that we’ve simply arrived in some new climate state and that we simply have to adapt to it,” he told CNN.    “But it’s much worse than that. The impacts become worse and worse as fossil fuel burning and warming continues. It’s a shifting baseline of ever-more devastating impacts as long as the Earth continues to warm.”  https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/19/world/extreme-weather-heat-floods-abnormal-climate-scn/index.html

2023july14.   Well-being.  Epidemiologic research suggests that the ideal body mass index (BMI) might be higher for older adults than younger adults. (BMI is a measure of a person’s weight, in kilograms or pounds, divided by the square of their height, in meters or feet.)    One large, well-regarded study found that older adults at either end of the BMI spectrum — those with low BMIs (under 22) and those with high BMIs (over 33) — were at greater risk of dying earlier than those with BMIs in the middle range (22 to 32.9).    Older adults with the lowest risk of earlier deaths had BMIs of 27 to 27.9.  https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/14/health/older-adults-excess-weight-kff-partner-wellness/index.html

2023july12.   Climate. Floods, fires and deadly heat are the alarm bells of a planet on the brink.  https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/07/12/climate-change-flooding-heat-wave-continue/

2023july12.  Climate.  Coral reefs are natural wonders that support myriad species and blunt damage from storms. In the United States, reefs generate economic benefits to the tune of $3.4 billion annually for fisheries, tourism and coastal protection, according to NOAA.    But oceans have absorbed some 90 percent of the additional heat caused by humans as we burn fossil fuels and destroy forests. When sea temperatures rise too high, corals bleach, expelling the algae they need for sustenance. If waters don’t cool quickly enough, or if bleaching events happen in close succession, the corals die. For decades, scientists have been warning that climate change is an existential threat to coral reefs. Already, the world has lost a huge proportion of its coral reefs, perhaps half since 1950.  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/12/climate/florida-ocean-temperatures-reefs.html

2023july07.   Well-being.  Renal nutrition.  Harv discussed his newly found Renal Nutrition Journal article, specifically the large calorie allowance in study of CKD patients.  His aim is to reduce weight for longevity while using the article's guide for protein and fiber.  That fits with his calorie-protein-fiber food-eaten log.

2023jun26.  Climate. 

https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/05/world/hottest-day-world-climate-el-nino-intl/index.html 

2023july02. Climate. Too hot? Move!  James Doss-Gollin, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Rice University, in Houston, Texas, believes infrastructure upgrades could help people to cope with future heatwaves in the US, but they come at a cost.    There are plans to improve wind and solar resources in Texas between now and 2030 at an estimated cost of US$66.5 bn (£52.7bn), while residents could add rooftop solar panels or back-up batteries to their homes, which could lighten the load on the transmission system during peak hours, he explains. "It's important to make sure the things that benefit people who can afford them also provide benefit to others and we're not leaving people behind."    Those who cannot afford technology to help them adapt may consider moving somewhere cooler if extreme heat becomes the norm in Texas and elsewhere in the US. https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230630-will-texas-become-too-hot-for-humans

2023jun27. Death.   Guns and suicide. 

https://us14.campaign-archive.com/?e=6bda99e89e&u=ff1bc9abb222ec965ded81e5e&id=67d7fbf2d0

 2023jun26.   Death.   US murders 

 

 

2023jun13. Climate change -- ocean warmth 

 

2023jun13. Climate change 

 

2023jun09.  Well-being.  Financial stability. Harv has indexed his retirement annuity to the S&P 500 Index. That wealth flow is the basis for a quality retirement life style.

2023may23.  Well-being.  Want to Live Longer and Healthier? Peter Attia Has a Plan. [This interview has been edited and condensed from two conversations by David Marchese.] 

"I understand why I initially got into this space [Medicine 3.0]. I got into this because I didn’t want to die. I wasn’t afraid of death; I was afraid of dying. I was afraid of not finishing what I knew I needed to do. I was afraid of being incomplete, not being a great fill-in-the-blank: father, husband, son, brother. Just thinking, I need more time to fix it. But I was never fixing it. I was just running. I don’t feel that way today. I don’t feel like I’m in this frenetic race to not die."    "For me [Attia], I’m tethered to the marginal decade. [This is Attia's term for the last decade of your life, when, typically because of declining physical and mental health, you can no longer participate in the activities that bring you pleasure.] I think about that all the time because I’ve seen too many examples of what a bad marginal decade looks like, and that’s not what I want. The beauty of the marginal decade is: I’m not going to be working, I’m not going to have any nonsense that’s going to bug me anymore. The only thing that matters is spending time with people you care about and the state of your health to enjoy those relationships — not being in pain, being able to travel, to play in a park. If you can’t do that, I don’t care how much you partied ...; it's not worth it." https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2023/05/22/magazine/peter-attia-interview.html?campaign_id=34&emc=edit_sc_20230523&instance_id=93214&nl=science-times&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=133678&te=1&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

First wanting to become a professional boxer, he [Attia] later attended Queen's University, receiving B.Sc. degrees in mechanical engineering and applied mathematics. He attended Stanford University School of Medicine, where he received his M.D. After medical school, Attia spent five years at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore, Maryland as a general surgery resident.[8] He spent two years at the National Cancer Institute (NCI) at National Institutes of Health (NIH), in Bethesda, Maryland as a surgical oncology fellow under Steven Rosenberg.       Attia revealed to Hemsworth that he carried the high-risk APOE4 allele, which places him at elevated risk of neurodegenerative aging of the Alzheimer's type.  https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Peter_Attia&oldid=1156416461

2023may21.  Well-being.  Happiness is fleeting. Aim for fulfillment.    It can be achieved when you accept who you are, make the most of what you have and are optimistic about the future. 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/05/19/fulfilled-life-happiness-strategies/

2023may13.  Well-being.  Countless people find joy, frustration and discovery in video games.     Endless exploration.     For nearly four decades, games in the Zelda franchise have pushed the boundaries of lore and storytelling in video games. Throughout, the basic spark of discovery has endured.     Influential Nintendo designers explained how they engineered Tears of the Kingdom’s world of skydiving and floating islands.

https://messaging-custom-newsletters.nytimes.com/template/oakv2?campaign_id=9&emc=edit_nn_20230513&instance_id=92480&nl=the-morning&productCode=NN&regi_id=91739846&segment_id=132845&te=1&uri=nyt%3A%2F%2Fnewsletter%2Fdfd140cf-9731-5482-8074-cc50c952977c&user_id=c169c5df23b5bd14a95e704d648953e4

2023mar25.  Well-being.   The Finnish Secret to Happiness? Knowing When You Have Enough.     Interviews with Finns reveal a complex reality that includes satisfaction from sustainable living, strong social safety nets, and embracing nature, alongside feelings of guilt, anxiety, and loneliness.  https://dnyuz.com/2023/04/01/the-finnish-secret-to-happiness-knowing-when-you-have-enough/

2023mar25.  Death.   Life expectancy continues to decline in the U.S. as it rebounds in other countries.    Harv's 2023q1 micro life is mired in maladies. In parallel, two years prior macro life has declined, putting extra stress on Harv's micro life due to whatever soft link exists. However, 85yo Harv still is beating the 'odds',

https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/03/25/1164819944/live-free-and-die-the-sad-state-of-u-s-life-expectancy 

Writing in JAMA Network Open, report on CariedAway, a study that compared dental sealants with an application of silver diamine fluoride (SDF), a colorless liquid that is brushed on to the molars.    The Food and Drug Administration labels SDF as a medical device to be used to treat tooth sensitivity, but dentists are increasingly using it to prevent cavities from forming or worsening. In 2018, the American Dental Association approved SDF’s use for cavity prevention in both kids and adults. https://www.washingtonpost.com/health/2023/02/18/silver-diamine-fluoride-cavity-treatment/

2023mar25. Well-being.     Memory naturally declines gradually as people age. Some older people may develop dementia, an umbrella term that can include Alzheimer’s, and generally describes a deterioration in cognitive function that goes beyond the normal effects of aging. But for many, “memory loss can merely be senescent forgetfulness,” write the authors of the BMJ study — like forgetting the name of that TV program you used to love, or that pesky fact you wanted to look up.    Memory loss is no less damaging for being gradual, and age-related memory decline can in some cases be an early symptom of dementia. But the good news, the researchers say, is that it “can be reversed or become stable rather than progress to a pathological state.” https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/26/dementia-memory-loss-lifestyle-habits/?utm_campaign=wp_post_most&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_most&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F38f46c2%2F63d2b7691b79c61f8766b513%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F47%2F72%2F63d2b7691b79c61f8766b513&wp_cu=639b84fe3ddb27af65b99f6cacbf7a23%7CC0DBC114CDAE2BA7E0430100007FAD1A

cognition: noun: the mental action or process of acquiring knowledge and understanding through thought, experience, and the senses.(OAD)

2023mar25.  Well-being.    While genetics play a large role in healthy aging, physical activity, social support, and where you live also can influence your chances of living a very long life— or even living to become a centenarian! https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/25/longevity-centenarians-healthy-living/

2023mar25.  Well-being.    Your grip strength could be a better indicator of life expectancy than blood pressure, a new study shows.   A study of 1,275 men and women found that those with relatively feeble handgrip strength, a reliable marker of overall muscle quality and strength, showed signs of accelerated aging of their DNA. Although preliminary, the study raises the possibility that visiting the gym or doing a few pushups might make our cells and selves more biologically youthful, whatever our current age. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/18/grip-strength-muscles-aging/?utm_campaign=wp_news_alert_revere_trending_now&utm_medium=email&utm_source=alert&location=alert        

2023mar25.   Well-being.    "We don't have a single perception of time," says Peter Tse, a neuroscientist at Dartmouth College. "We have a perception of time in the moment — perceptual time, you might call that. And then you have how you regard time by looking through your memories."    The brain perceives time based on how much information it is processing at any given moment, he adds, which in turn depends on how much attention we're paying to what we're doing and what's happening around us.    "If you're paying attention, you're actually processing more units of information per unit of objective time," says Tse. And that makes time feel subjectively longer.    This can happen when we are in a new place, absorbing all the little details around us. It can also happen when we're having an emotionally charged experience. https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2023/01/25/1139781674/make-childhood-memories-last-brain-science          

2023mar25.  Well-being.    A recent study published in JAMA Psychiatry showed that people who received eight weeks of mindfulness-based interventions experienced a decrease in anxiety that matched those who were prescribed escitalopram, a common anti-anxiety medication that is often prescribed under the brand name Lexapro.    Mindfulness practices such as breathing exercises have been used to treat anxiety for a long time, but this is the first study showing how effective they can be in comparison with standard treatments for anxiety disorders, said the study’s lead author, Elizabeth Hoge, who is a psychiatrist and director of the Anxiety Disorders Research Program at Georgetown University.    She believes the findings help support the use of mindfulness as a viable intervention that may be better than traditional treatments for some people, such as those who aren’t comfortable seeing a psychiatrist or who experience negative side effects from medication. https://www.washingtonpost.com/wellness/2023/01/23/mindfulness-meditation-anxiety-medication/?utm_campaign=wp_the_optimist&utm_medium=email&utm_source=newsletter&wpisrc=nl_optimist&carta-url=https%3A%2F%2Fs2.washingtonpost.com%2Fcar-ln-tr%2F38f161f%2F63d136ac1b79c61f876407ba%2F598b051fae7e8a68162a1429%2F14%2F51%2F63d136ac1b79c61f876407ba&wp_cu=639b84fe3ddb27af65b99f6cacbf7a23%7CC0DBC114CDAE2BA7E0430100007FAD1A           

mindfulness: noun: 1 the quality or state of being conscious or aware of something. 2 a mental state achieved by focusing one's awareness on the present moment, while calmly acknowledging and accepting one's feelings [Stoic via Elaine], thoughts, and bodily sensations, used as a therapeutic technique [writing also]. (OAD)          

2023feb.  Harv's current life expectancy calculation 91 years.    Search "life expectancy" via Google "How Long Will I Live? - Life Expectancy Calculator".  Thus his life-time work begins as to the way to fill his next theoretical six years......  Death. https://www.blueprintincome.com/tools/life-expectancy-calculator-how-long-will-i-live/results?id=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&lc_r=n 

2023feb11.  Well-being.    Following are the Five Stages of Aging That Most Older Adults Experience.        The first stage in the aging process is (1) self-sufficiency. ... (2) Interdependence. Eventually, your aging loved one will require some support and assistance. ... (3) Dependence. ... (4) Crisis Management. ... (5) End of Life. 

A person between 80 and 89 is called an octogenarian. In broader terms, aging can be broken down into three distinct and often related categories: biological aging, psychological aging, and social aging. One study distinguishes the young-old (60 to 69), the middle-old (70 to 79), and the very old (80+). Another study's sub-grouping is young-old (65 to 74), middle-old (75 to 84), and oldest-old (85+). A third sub-grouping is young-old (65 to 74), old (74 to 84), and old-old (85+). Natural changes happen in the body as we age, such as skin damage from sun exposure, loss of muscle and physical strength, loss of some sight and hearing, as well as changes to our sleep patterns, energy levels and appetite. A human being's age can be categorized into four types: Chronological age, Appearance age, Biological age, and Mental age. What foods slow down aging? 

Romaine lettuce. It's high in vitamins A and C, which curb inflammation. ...

Tomatoes. They're rich in a nutrient called lycopene. ...

Salmon. It's high in omega-3 fats, which fight inflammation. ...

Lentils and beans. These are good sources of protein and are loaded with fiber and nutrients. ... Oatmeal. What makes you age slower? Eat a healthy, well-balanced diet. Does life get better as you get older?

Despite our youthful pessimism about growing older, a mounting body of scientific evidence shows that, in many ways, life improves with age. We become happier and less anxious, more adaptive and resilient. We deepen our friendships and expertise, and shift our focus to the positive over the negative. Take basic care of yourself by making sure to see your doctor and dentist regularly. Stay up to date on your health tests as you age. Get good sleep. Wear sunscreen. A new study suggests that stopping or even reversing the aging process is impossible. In a collaborative effort from scientists worldwide, including experts from the University of Oxford, it was concluded that aging is inevitable due to biological constraints, The Guardian reported. Can a 90 year old live alone?

Solo seniors may have a harder time enjoying life. Non-driving seniors may become introverted and isolated. Additionally, a senior living solo may not get emergency medical care. Essentially, as long as the 80-year-old has access to help and socialization and can take care of their own needs, they can live solo. Hard workers actually have a 20% to 30% lower risk of early death, according to the Longevity Project study. If your workplace causes you take-home stress, that's bad for your health. What are the first signs of old age?

Natural changes happen in the body as we age, such as skin damage from sun exposure, loss of muscle and physical strength, loss of some sight and hearing, as well as changes to our sleep patterns, energy levels and appetite. Why do we get lazy as we get older? "Often, people do feel more tired as they get older, but it's because they're not getting enough sleep, eating right, or exercising regularly, not because they're older," she says. In other words, the culprit comes down to lifestyle, not age. Where do seniors go when they run out of money?

Another good place to check is your regional Area Agency on Aging, where you might find assistance can come in the form of home care, food delivery, check-ins, transportation, or another essential service. Happy people don't just enjoy life; they're likely to live longer, too. A new study has found that those in better moods were 35% less likely to die in the next 5 years when taking their life situations into account. Due to the low prevalence of obesity in Japan, the low mortality rates from ischemic heart disease and cancer are thought to be the reasons behind the longevity of Japanese people. Japanese have a low intake of red meat, specifically saturated fatty acids. The bottom line is that being tired or fatigued is expected more as we age than when we were young. There are things we can do to restore some of that old vim and vigor, but there are some conditions that might cause this that require our seeking medical help.  reference lost.

Some people expressed that aging means change, loss, and not being able to do anything. One said, "Getting older means more years to add to your life, less active, less hair, more medicine, more wrinkles, arthritis, and more forgetful." They felt that when people get older, they lose their dignity and independence. Your cells are programmed to divide, multiply, and perform basic biological functions. But the more cells divide, the older they get. In turn, cells eventually lose their ability to function properly. Cellular damage also increases as cells get older. The World Health Organization believes that most developed world countries characterize old age starting at 60 years and above.  reference lost.

2023jan25.  Well-being.    I’m certainly not suggesting that we all start binge drinking daily, eating hot dogs at every meal and breathing deeply over gas ranges, I do wonder what’s lost if we don’t let go of our superegos from time to time in pursuit of perfect health and potential longevity.    I decided to get in touch with academics who study pleasure and happiness to see what their research indicates. They didn’t mince words. “We need pleasure to survive,” said Morten Kringelbach, a professor of neuroscience at the University of Oxford who’s also the director of the Center for Eudaimonia and Human Flourishing. Kringelbach’s research over the past few decades, he said, has been in identifying the “machinery of the brain that makes you want something.”    According to Kringelbach, life has a cycle: “You need to be able to vary your pleasures, not necessarily to moderate them. You need different pleasures at different times.”    We get in trouble as humans, Kringelbach said, if we have no pleasure — or too much. And the reduced ability or inability to experience pleasure is associated with several psychological maladies. “If I become too addicted to coffee, and even when I get the coffee, I don’t get the hit anymore,” and then you spend all your time thinking about coffee (or alcohol or anything else) to the detriment of a full life, you are in a “maladaptive loop,” he explained.     That idea of a full life, a flourishing life, is much of what Kringelbach studies. He defines eudaimonia as meaningful pleasure. Drinking, for example, isn’t necessary for human bonding or thriving, and drinking alone isn’t meaningful. And yes, excessive drinking is harmful. But for some people, drinking can facilitate social connection and lower social anxiety.     Sonja Lyubomirsky, a distinguished professor of psychology at the University of California, Riverside, and the author of “The How of Happiness: A New Approach to Getting the Life You Want,” agreed that there can be benefits to substances that aren’t strictly healthy by every metric if they create bursts of positive emotion. “Happy people feel more frequent bursts of positive emotions,” she said, and it’s worth seeking out these pleasures “as long as they don’t have long-term harm.”    I also wanted to know, if we’re otherwise reasonably healthy, how much additional longevity any individual can really expect to get out of going from four pieces of bacon a week to two. I asked Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel — the vice provost for global initiatives and a professor of medical ethics and health policy at the University of Pennsylvania — if we can really know how much these tweaks in behavior matter.    He told me that beyond what he calls “the six commandments of wellness” — which he defines as: 1. eat a good diet (which from what we can tell is a Mediterranean diet); 2. exercise (“not training for a marathon, get out and get your heart rate up”); no smoking; wear a seatbelt; sleep; and socialize — we don’t really know specifics on an individual level. The example he gave was: He might do fine on seven hours of sleep a night, while his partner might need eight for optimal health.     There are some days when I just want — need — a bacon, egg and cheese on a roll. There’s no substitute for this specific pleasure, and despite knowing that processed meat isn’t good for me, the satiety I will feel after eating it, fresh from a bodega’s griddle, is worth maybe, potentially shaving off a few weeks when I’m 90, should I be lucky enough to make it there. I’ll be grateful if I do, but I won’t be happier knowing that I denied myself a guaranteed joy at 40.      Americans seem to be obsessed with exercising, doing mental puzzles, consuming various juice and protein concoctions, sticking to strict diets, and popping vitamins and supplements, all in a valiant effort to cheat death and prolong life as long as possible.    In The Times, the psychologist Adam Grant described the dominant emotion of 2021 as “languishing,” which is “a sense of stagnation and emptiness.” The opposite of languishing, Dani Blum explains, is flourishing, which is a “lofty combination of physical, mental and emotional fitness.”  https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/25/opinion/health-pleasure.html?action=click&module=Well&pgtype=Homepage&section=Guest%20Essays

2022july25.  Well-being.    “…although taking a nap itself is not harmful, many people who take naps may do so because of poor sleep at night. Poor sleep at night is associated with poorer health, and naps are not enough to make up for that," said clinical psychologist Michael Grandner in a statement. Grandner directs the Behavioral Sleep Medicine Clinic at the Banner-University Medical Center in Tucson, Arizona, and was not involved in the study.    Study participants who typically napped during the day were 12% more likely to develop high blood pressure over time.    "I do believe napping is a warning sign of an underlying sleep disorder in certain individuals," he added. "Sleep disorders are linked to an increase in stress and weight regulation hormones which can lead to obesity, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes -- all risk factors for heart disease."  https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/25/health/naps-high-blood-pressure-study-wellness/index.html

2019dec08.  Well-being.    During the fasting period, participants were encouraged to stay hydrated with water. "We saw a 3% reduction in their weight and a 4% reduction in abdominal visceral fat," says Taub.   "We didn't ask them to change what they eat," she explains, though participants consumed about 8.6% fewer calories — likely as a result of the limited eating window.   In addition to the weight loss, "we saw that cholesterol levels improved and blood pressure {levels} also improved," Taub explains. There was also some reported improvement in sleep quality, and many of the participants reported more energy.  https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/12/08/785142534/eat-for-10-hours-fast-for-14-this-daily-habit-prompts-weight-loss-study-finds        Harv’s most recent diet schedule is a personal Cici’s pizza every day but now he leaves one square of six not eaten. Perhaps tomatoes for desert. That begins the 10-hours. The end is McD decaf coffee and a soft-serve cone.        How would this work out of the Everglades?              

2019dec03.  Well-being.    And there was my anxiety that my driving days are numbered, that my writing {/job/career} life had stalled, that I kept being reminded I was old, and I knew that a road trip would lift my spirits and release me from the useless obsession of self-scrutiny and induce in me (as the English writer Henry Green put it in Pack My Bag) “that blessed state when you forever cease to give a damn.” What I intended was a jaunt from one end of Mexico to the other, … a leap in the dark, driving away from home, to cross the border and keep going until I ran out of road. Even the most lighthearted journey to Mexico becomes something serious — or dangerous, tragic, risky, illuminating or at times bowel-shattering, and in my case it was all of those things.  http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20191203-is-travel-the-secret-to-a-long-life        Although still living in my car, I had become risk adverse along with Lisa and Chris, Susan not. Chase of family has exhausted the attractively possible unto and into a birthday 81 state of “pack it in.”

2019nov10.  Well-being.    You are having a love affair - with yourself. Who else wants to do exactly what you want to do, on exactly the same day? Eat in the same place, climb the same mountain, go and see the same film as you?        I remember walking in the forest one day with a friend and our tribe of children. … My friend turned to me and sighed, "This would all be so much nicer with no children."        After that, I prescribed myself one skive a month, and guess what? It made me a better parent.  It can be a walk along the river, a trip to the theatre, a stroll around the shops, or even just a couple of hours on the sofa watching movies, the point is you are doing it just for yourself.  https://www.bbc.com/news/stories-50289609

That is the difference between 2019 and 2017-2018  — at the end of house/dog sit my car awaits unable to compete with the ‘heaven’ of having a bedroom at Susan’s house.   Returning to Florida in 2018 and 2019 was devastating!   That would repeat in 2020 after 6 months of ‘heaven.’   The car would be stale. And although 2019 added Florida flat-sleep, the comparison with Susan’s bedroom likens to stepping off a cliff.   After refusing the 2019-2020 6-month offer of ‘heaven’ perhaps if the car went along to CA, car spiff and clinic activity could have been shifted to CA.   A change in Medicare Advantage would have to be enacted November 2019 — a coverage that pays no matter if in Florida or California.   However, has only offered an end-date to a California ‘visit.’   After the California end-date a return to Florida would be devastating as was experienced in 2017 and 2019.   Thus, Harv is in Florida, as Susan told him to do in 2019 while in CA. His challenge is to best a Florida life-style without the kids.  Lisa has Elaine.  Susan has Greg although she has lost Laura, and Chris/Tina won’t even allow flu shots. Harv has spiffed his medical with Disney walking. The car no longer has do-it-yourself maintenance, Cici IN MODERATION every noon, McD IN MODERATION every night, unlimited data, retrieve slides from Bob, DO DICTATION on tome, walk and write Disney, …        Drive center lane to/from Disney. Solidify caffeine-free soda with half hot water, an Equal, and a cream.        Harv likes kids — he sees them adventure at Disney        I pray that sweet dreams bring peaceful death.        Do i quit when i am ahead?        What do i need to quit, or not?           The elements of THE REPRESENTATIVE day:        awake at St.Cloud Walmart ready for morning pills,        complete pill process in lake front shade,        nap in shade through pills effect until time to drive to noon meal,        personal pizza with noon pills and news review then dump,        if sun is shining, drive to Disney for walk and computer writing,        return to St.Cloud for McD snack and news review then dump,        asleep at St.Cloud Walmart.

Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a disorder that develops in some people who have experienced a shocking, scary, or dangerous event{s}.   It is natural to feel afraid during and after a traumatic situation. Fear triggers many split-second changes in the body to help defend against danger or to avoid it. This “fight-or-flight” response is a typical reaction meant to protect a person from harm. Nearly everyone will experience a range of reactions after trauma, yet most people recover from initial symptoms naturally. Those who continue to experience problems may be diagnosed with PTSD. People who have PTSD may feel stressed or frightened, even when they are not in danger.  https://www.nimh.nih.gov/health/topics/post-traumatic-stress-disorder-ptsd/index.shtml

Move with PTSD violence event approach through rest of life,  tapping, deep breathing, …?        Teaching you skills to address your symptoms {pleaser chaser}.        Helping you think better about yourself {refused CA 6 months}, others and the world.        Learning ways to cope if any symptoms {pleaser chaser} arise again.        Treating other problems often related to traumatic experiences, such as depression, anxiety, or misuse of alcohol or drugs {health care FL not CA because of my personal challenge after refusing Sue’s 6-month offer}.

2019nov09.  Well-being.    Like a lot of Paradise area residents, Waller was drawn here by the beauty and quiet and the slower pace than her longtime home in the Los Angeles area. But now she's on the fence about staying here for the longterm.  https://www.npr.org/2019/11/09/777801169/the-camp-fire-destroyed-11-000-homes-a-year-later-only-11-have-been-rebuilt

St.Cloud (Disney World)  has urban noise but not so much to prevent sleep.  Enough shade with breezes can be found to thwart the summer Florida sunshine.    Slower pace — mother Connie would tell Harv, “Slow down, take your time.” But Harv was driven by his circumstances.  Even in St.Cloud he remains driven.  However, at 82 he needs to slow down and take  his time to be peaceful.  First, he need not be afraid of taking his time — there is no close association that prevents full focus unto the tasks of his choosing.  He recently declined a CA visit that would again rush his lifetime for good and enjoyable reason, but would dump him alone on the Florida streets in six months.  He has been there and done that — thus he refused the CA challenge at this time in comparison to his vision of Florida for well into 2020.  

2019nov03.  Well-being.    Former President Jimmy Carter said Sunday that he found he "was absolutely and completely at ease with death" after doctors told him in 2015 that his cancer had spread to his brain.    "I assumed, naturally, that I was going to die very quickly," Carter said during a church service in Plains, Georgia. "I obviously prayed about it. I didn't ask God to let me live, but I asked God to give me a proper attitude toward death. And I found that I was absolutely and completely at ease with death."    "It didn't really matter to me whether I died or lived. Except I was going to miss my family, and miss the work…,” the 39th president added, smiling.    The son of a peanut farmer who entered the US Naval Academy during World War II, Carter announced he beat cancer in December 2015 after he received experimental treatment for liver cancer that metastasized to his brain. During a news conference at the time, Carter said his fate was "in the hands of God" and vowed to continue teaching Sunday school at his church "as long as I'm physically able."    Carter teaches Sunday school lessons at Maranatha Baptist Church in his home state of Georgia, but after an October 21 fall in his home that led to a minor pelvic fracture, the church said he would miss his appearance. The church later announced the former president would teach as scheduled.   Carter, who has recently spoken out about the chaos of Washington, also touched on the state of the nation in the Sunday morning service.    "Wouldn't it be nice if the United States of America could be a superpower in maintaining peace? ... Suppose the United States was a super power in environmental policy. Suppose the United States was a superpower in treating people equally. See, that's the kind of superpower I'd like to have," said Carter Sunday, who once said that if he had one wish for the rest of his life it would be that he gets to see peace in the Middle East.    Carter said the United States would be a better country if people reached out to somebody who might need a friend.    "That's the way to make the United States a superpower," he said. "We can help the United States become more peaceful."  https://www.cnn.com/2019/11/03/politics/jimmy-carter-at-ease-with-death-prayer-service/index.html        Peaceful: adjective:   1 free from disturbance; tranquil.   2 not involving war or violence.   • (of a person) inclined to avoid conflict; not aggressive. (OAD)

In Harv years, he is eighty-two, the year that he is living in. He uses a walker to shuffle around Disney World many days in the month to the effect of better balance, posture, and shuffle stamina.  He never acclimated to the folding cane. The folding walker out/into the car is still within his power.  The main improvement of the car this past year has been flat-sleep to the effect of almost normal ankles.  Night sleep occurs at the St.Cloud FL Walmart and anytime day naps at the East Tohopekaliga Lake Park.   Diet includes a daily noon Cici’s personal flatbread pizza.  Evening eats range from ice cream to McDonald’s snacks all subject to weight-loss actions.  Recently corrected a “heartburn diet” of four months.  His locations of St.Cloud, Kissimmee, Disney World, McDonald’s, and parking close-up to the Real Florida provide peace.        He is on a four-month death watch by his PCP clinic, but is able to donate blood every eight weeks.  Minimal dental maintenance occurs every six-months.    Get slides from Bob.

2022oct. Well-being.     Feature may be irrelevant as an input to one’s human life, specifically, their life time in wholly hours, that is, (1) whole hours of time and (2) wholistic where all ingredients are considered together as in a cooperation or synergism of agents, that is, Harv’s operation as-set to actualize universal ERG needs.

yE safe convenient 
nR others sensical thought
yG blog into tome
yJ share with kin
nS BMI so what = not smooth progression to what = sensical thought
yL R rests on physicals actualized
yL E time with …
yL C potential homes
nH avoid self damage = do sensical thought
yFreeing MB Air 
yFear medical literacy

2019jun10.  Well-being.    Work was intense, and many were beginning to feel demotivated and emotionally drained. Though they had once found their jobs rewarding, they had become cynical and depressed; they weren’t giving … the attention they deserved.         A syndrome “resulting from chronic workplace stress that has not been successfully managed”.        Three elements: feelings of exhaustion, mental detachment from one’s job and poorer performance at work.        Look out for creeping bad habits.        Watch out for feelings of tiredness that won’t go away.         Best tackled by making lifestyle changes.        “Stress is really important, and anxiety is what motivates us to do well,” says Murray. “It’s when we’re continually exposed to stress and anxiety, that we’re not letting go, …”        Another classic sign of inching closer to burnout is cynicism: feeling like your work has little value, avoiding social commitments and becoming more susceptible to disappointment.        “Like they don’t have the capacity to engage as much in the ordinary things of life.”        The only way to stop burnout — and banish it for good — is to root out the underlying problem. “Sometimes it’s because they feel the need to be too perfect, or they might have imposter syndrome where they’re having to work very hard to cover up that they’re not quite as good as everyone thinks.”        Murray’s top tip is to be kind to yourself. She says it's crucial to prioritize and not expect too much of yourself; when others seem like the perfect boss parent, fitness idol and friend all at the same time, they're probably misleading us – or at the very least getting a lot of help. Take a step back, figure out what’s going wrong – and let yourself off the hook.        When we try to relax, the pings, notifications and small, mundane obligations all add up until, suddenly, we’ve wasted all of our “me time”.        Retaking control requires us to make a conscious effort to avoid distractions, center our focus on one thing at a time and reevaluate what’s truly important to us.        “I wasn’t able to find the answer when I was sitting down. But I always found the answer when I walked,” Lee says. {38k v Harv’s 17 mile day}        A work week without a day of rest doesn’t benefit anyone. Output does not increase, and workers are unhappy.        Working too many hours backfires for both employers and employees, whether you measure by decreased outputs, lack of creativity, a drop in quality or poorer interpersonal skills.        "It is the day-in-day-out, seemingly endless and inescapable nature of chronic stress that causes burnout,"         Solutions for preventing overwork sound deceptively simple and involve setting boundaries and managing workloads. "But to be honest, long work hours and demands outside of working hours are imposed upon employees by management and are usually a part of a workplace or professional culture," Reid says. "Asking workers to solve the problem for themselves, on their own, can only lead to temporary and incomplete fixes."   https://www.bbc.com/worklife/article/20190610-how-to-tell-if-youve-got-pre-burnout          Harv’s ordinary life tasks: EAT (with macro curiosity fulfilled via BBC NPR CNN NYT) (with sociality contact via txt):    SLEEP (within the confines of Harv’s Recreation Vehicle - RV);    REST (one simple task v sleep);    HEALTH (dental moved to 6-month followup, medical lengthened to 4-month).      Not able to take advantage of 6-month CA visit offer:      prophy expediting pulling teeth that Harv had forgotten about, but resolved with Dec exam;      too-low blood pressure reversed but now too high awaiting further adjustment via Dec PCP visit;      fear of stomach ulcers’ symptoms with weight to 265#;    RV not spiffed with many fixit bits wanting;    heat pad failure with 45F cold wave;    too much Disney walk, delimited to a walker, missed.

Longevity comment ends here