I was happy to read that the Mediterranean diet, newly repurposed as the MIND diet, is said to help prevent dementia. To no one’s surprise, it emphasizes fresh fruit and veggies, whole grains, olive oil, fish, etc.
I can’t help wondering, though, why no one is touting the MINDLESS diet, which has been proven to help prevent depression.
This classic meal plan, first discovered during those critical, formative teenage years, is equally helpful in attaining mindless hedonism in adulthood. Its key components are:
1 bag of chips per day
1 pint of ice cream twice weekly (do not substitute ice milk or frozen yogurt); extra benefit from additions such as chocolate chips, fudge, and salted caramel
2 cocktails per evening
1 bottle of wine per dinner (serves 2)
French fries (actually, fried anything)
Include plenty of fresh bread, cookies, pies, cakes and pastries
Level up to vegetable stir fry or tempura – so much more festive than raw or steamed veggies
Remember the 3 P’s: Pasta, Potatoes, Pizza
At least monthly: savor an ample cheese board with brie, goat cheese, Stilton, cheddar (may substitute grilled cheese on buttered bread as desired)
Dessert twice daily, preferably with whipped cream
SINGAPORE — Move over carrots, grapes may also benefit your eyes as well, according to new research.
Researchers, supported by the California Table Grape Commission, say eating just a few handfuls of grapes daily for four months appears to enhance significant indicators of eye health. The reason? Eye degeneration is attributed to oxidative stress, and grapes are rich in antioxidants.
Researchers from the National University of Singapore conducted a study involving 34 adults. Participants were divided into two groups: one consuming one and a half cups of grapes daily, while the other ate a placebo over a span of 16 weeks.
The group that consumed grapes exhibited a notable increase in macular pigment optical density (MPOD), plasma antioxidant capacity, and total phenolic content, compared to the placebo group. Conversely, those who did not consume grapes witnessed a significant rise in damaging ocular advanced glycation end products (AGE) in their skin.
The study highlights that oxidative stress and elevated levels of AGE are primary risk factors for eye diseases. AGEs, in particular, can harm the retina’s vascular components, compromise cellular functions, and amplify oxidative stress.
Being a natural reservoir of antioxidants and polyphenols, grapes can curtail oxidative stress and obstruct the formation of AGEs. This could lead to potential benefits on the retina, such as an uplift in MPOD.
“Our study is the first to show that grape consumption beneficially impacts eye health in humans which is very exciting, especially with a growing aging population. Grapes are an easy, accessible fruit that studies have shown can have a beneficial impact in normal amounts of just 1 ½ cups per day,” says Dr. Jung Eun Kim, the study’s co-author, in a media release.
Q (me): So, what I want to know is, how many glasses of wine is that?!
A (Internet): Alas, there is no straightforward answer. It depends on everything from varietal to winemaking technique. This answer isn’t as satisfying as we’d like, however, so we’ll go with a safe average of about 80 grapes in a glass of wine and 400 grapes in each bottle.
5,000-year-old wine jars in the tomb of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos during the excavation. The jars are in their original context and some of them are still sealed. (Credit: EC Köhler
Cheers! 5,000-year-old wine collection discovered in tomb of ancient Egypt’s first female pharaoh
ABYDOS, Egypt — This gives a whole new meaning to “aging like fine wine.” Archaeologists from Germany and Austria have discovered a treasure trove of wine in the tomb of Egypt’s first female pharaoh.
The team, led by Christiana Köhler from the University of Vienna, was conducting an excavation of Queen Meret-Neith’s tomb when they found hundreds of large wine jars. Remarkably, some of these jars were in pristine condition, even preserving remnants of 5,000-year-old wine within them. Inscriptions discovered within the tomb further indicate Queen Meret-Neith’s significant influence, revealing her control over pivotal government sectors, including the treasury.
The tomb complex of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos during excavation. The Queen’s burial chamber lies in the centre of the complex and is surrounded by the secondary tombs of the courtiers and servants. (Credit: EC Köhler)
Meret-Neith, a key figure around 3,000 BC, stands out not only as the most influential woman of her time but also as the sole woman to have her own monumental tomb in Egypt’s first royal cemetery at Abydos. The team’s new findings have reignited discussions about her unique place in history, as her true identity remains shrouded in mystery. It also hints at the possibility of Meret-Neith being the first female pharaoh of ancient Egypt.
Excavations in the tomb complex of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos. (Credit: EC Köhler)
The expansive tomb complex of Meret-Neith in the Abydos desert is not limited to her burial chamber. It also encompasses the tombs of 41 courtiers and servants. Made primarily from unbaked mud bricks, clay, and wood, the intricate structure showcases multiple construction phases spanning a relatively extended period. Such evidence challenges earlier beliefs of human sacrifices accompanying royal burials during the 1st Dynasty – a concept frequently assumed but never definitively proven.
These excellently preserved grape seeds were found in the sealed wine jars in the tomb of Queen Meret-Neith in Abydos. (Credit: EC Köhler)
Köhler’s team is the result of a collaboration among multiple institutions, including the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, the German Archaeological Institute in Cairo, the University of Vienna, the Vienna University of Technology in Austria, and Lund University in Sweden. Their work has been made possible through the support of the Austrian Science Fund (FWF) and the German Research Foundation (DFG).
This weekend I enjoyed watching the movie Jules starring Ben Kingsley, Jane Curtin and Harriet Sansom Harris. So when I saw the following article I had to share it. (Apologies for wonky formatting issues.)
Do you find the idea of “aliens” alarming, comforting, or just good fun??
NASA can’t rule out ‘potential unknown alien technology’ in Earth’s atmosphere
But it says it prefers to call them UAPs – ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’
NASA cannot rule out that ‘potential unknown alien technology’ is operating in the Earth’s atmosphere, a new report has concluded.
The study of flying saucers, UFOs, and claims alien spaceships are visiting the earth has long been the preserve of mavericks and the unhinged.
But yesterday, NASA said it wanted to dispel the ‘negative perception’ surrounding Unidentified Flying Objects and make it a scientifically respectable field of study.
As part of the effort to put the study of UFOs onto a more scientific footing, it said it preferred to call them UAPs – ‘unidentified anomalous phenomena’.
A NASA panel, comprising 16 experts in scientific fields and ranging from physics to astrobiology have compiled a report into UAPs which it called ‘one of our planet’s greatest mysteries.’
(Pictured: NASA Administrator Bill Nelsonspeaking recently.)
Above, a weather balloon careens through the air following its release from the Cape Canaveral weather station in Florida. NASA’s panel included this image in their report as an example of the striking, highly unusual objects that nevertheless have a terrestrial explanation.
The report said: ‘Observations of objects in our skies that cannot be identified as balloons, aircraft or natural known phenomena have been spotted worldwide, yet there are limited high-quality observations.
‘The nature of science is to explore the unknown, and data is the language scientists use to discover our universe’s secrets,’ the report said.
‘Despite numerous accounts and visuals, the absence of consistent, detailed, and curated observations means we do not presently have the body of data needed to make definitive, scientific conclusions about UAP,’ it added.
The report said there is ‘no reason’ to conclude existing UAP reports have an extraterrestrial source.
But it said if it is plausible that there are extra-terrestrial life forms in the galaxy, it is also plausible that there is ‘potential unknown alien technology operating in Earth’s atmosphere’.
NASA has previously revealed the characteristics of the typical UFO, including the colour and the shape, velocity, and flight level.
Two ‘aliens’ were officially unveiled at Mexico ‘s Congress (pictured) as politicians held their first ever hearing on UFOs, but was everything as it seemed?
The report was not a review of previous UFO incidents but a ‘road map’ of how to scientifically study and evaluate UAPs in the future.
It also only referred to unclassified reports – with the report’s authors acknowledging that the US Military also has secret images and reports of UAPs not available to the public.
NASA said it would make a ‘concerted effort’ to scientifically study UAPs, using its satellites, as well as commercial satellites, as well as using artificial intelligence to analyse data.
The public could help too, using smartphone apps to take pictures of potential UFOs.
NASA said it had appointed a new director of UAP research – who it is not naming – who will be in charge of creating a ‘robust database’ for evaluation of future UAP.’
The director will not be named as members of the panel had received ‘harassment’ and ‘threats’ while working on the report, NASA officials said.
The report added that it was important to get to the bottom of UAPs as ‘the threat to U.S. airspace safety posed by UAP is self-evident.’
At a news conference yesterday one of the report’s authors, Dr Dan Evans, was asked why the report had to rely on unclassified material – while the US Department of Defense holds onto classified images and videos.
Dr Evans said: ‘One of the reasons we restricted ourselves this study to unclassified data is because we can speak openly about it,’ Dr Evans said. ‘And in so doing, we’re aiming again to alter the discourse from sensationalism to science’.
Navy 2021 flyby video of an unidentified aerial phenomena
The scientists were asked by to comment on a recent claim by a UFO expert, Jaimie Maussan, that he had discovered two ancient ‘non human’ alien corpses in Cusco, Peru in 2017, which are 1800 years old and are claimed to have 30 per cent DNA of an ‘unknown’ type.’ Dr David Spergel, who chaired the panel, said samples from the corpses should be made available to the wider scientific community.
NASA issued a watershed report in 2021 compiled by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence in conjunction with a Navy-led task force encompassing numerous observations – mostly from military personnel of UAP.
The report included some UAP cases that previously came to light in the Pentagon’s release of video from naval aviators showing enigmatic aircraft off the U.S. East and West Coasts.
The report said defence and intelligence analysts lacked sufficient data to determine the nature of some of the objects.
British astronomer Dame Jocelyn Bell Burnell was the first person to discover a pulsar in 1967 when she spotted a radio pulsar.
Since then other types of pulsars that emit X-rays and gamma rays have also been spotted.
Pulsars are essentially rotating, highly magnetised neutron stars but when they were first discovered it was believed they could have come from aliens.
‘Wow!’ radio signal
In 1977, an astronomer looking for alien life in the night sky above Ohio spotted a radio signal so powerful that he excitedly wrote ‘Wow!’ next to his data.
The 72-second blast, spotted by Dr Jerry Ehman through a radio telescope, came from Sagittarius but matched no known celestial object.
Conspiracy theorists have since claimed that the ‘Wow! signal’, which was 30 times stronger than background radiation, was a message from intelligent extraterrestrials.
Fossilized Martian microbes
In 1996 Nasa and the White House made the explosive announcement that the rock contained traces of Martian bugs.
The meteorite, catalogued as Allen Hills (ALH) 84001, crashed onto the frozen wastes of Antarctica 13,000 years ago and was recovered in 1984.
Photographs were released showing elongated segmented objects that appeared strikingly lifelike.
However, the excitement did not last long. Other scientists questioned whether the meteorite samples were contaminated.
They also argued that heat generated when the rock was blasted into space may have created mineral structures that could be mistaken for microfossils.
Behaviour of Tabby’s Star in 2005
The star, otherwise known as KIC 8462852, is located 1,400 light years away and has baffled astronomers since being discovered in 2015.
It dims at a much faster rate than other stars, which some experts have suggested is a sign of aliens harnessing the energy of a star.
Recent studies have ‘eliminated the possibility of an alien megastructure’, and instead, suggests that a ring of dust could be causing the strange signals.
Exoplanets in the Goldilocks zone in 2017
In February 2017 astronomers announced they had spotted a star system with planets that could support life just 39 light years away.
Seven Earth-like planets were discovered orbiting nearby dwarf star ‘Trappist-1’, and all of them could have water at their surface, one of the key components of life.
Three of the planets have such good conditions, that scientists say life may have already evolved on them.
Researchers claim that they will know whether or not there is life on any of the planets within a decade, and said: ‘This is just the beginning.’
Interfaith Voices: The Jewish New Year and the possibilities for transformation
by Sari Sapon-White
At sundown on Sept. 15, the Jewish New Year begins.
The first 10 days of the Jewish year, known as the “Yamim Norayim” (Days of Awe), begin with Rosh Hashanah and end with Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Rosh Hashanah (literally “the head of the year”) is a day to look back on the accomplishments as well as the disappointments of the previous year, and to look forward with hope to the new possibilities that lie ahead.
Unlike the secular New Year, it is not marked with late-night parties or resolutions. Jews typically welcome Rosh Hashanah with a festive family dinner, an evening service that introduces the special melodies that are sung at this season, and a blessing over sliced apples and honey in hopes that sweetness lies ahead.
This evening is followed by a full day (or two) of services that include singing, readings from the Hebrew Bible, and blowing the shofar (ram’s horn), dramatically awakening our spirit and readying us for a heightened level of self-awareness.
But that isn’t the endpoint — in one week it will be Yom Kippur, often considered the holiest day of the Jewish year. The intervening days are spent not in communal prayer but in private reflection.
We are to review our behavior over the past year and identify the ways in which we missed the mark or fell short of the morals and values we aspire to uphold.
While the ultimate purpose of this process is to make things right with God and be granted a new year of life, we are told that we cannot ask God to forgive our failings unless we first ask forgiveness of any fellow human beings whom we have mistreated. This process is known in Hebrew as “heshbon ha-nefesh,” an accounting of the soul.
Yom Kippur has an entirely different tone from Rosh Hashanah; it is marked by a complete fast, simple dress (often white) and a full day of services that include many penitential prayers.
It is an intense experience of prayer that urges us to take responsibility for the ways in which we have failed to be our best selves in our relationships with loved ones, friends, community members, strangers and God.
If it sounds hard, it is. It can feel grueling and emotionally painful. What carries me through is doing this in community with other Jews. When we recite long lists of the ways in which we have strayed, we say the words aloud in unison.
Certainly, no one of us has fallen short in all those ways, but by speaking them together we acknowledge our own failings and express support for those standing next to us who have different but equally challenging habits they also yearn to change.
As the sun begins to set, we hear the final blast of the shofar. Standing together, humbled and vulnerable, we hope to move closer to the version of ourselves we most wish to be in the world.
I recently heard a Jewish spiritual leader propose that we also use this time of year to ask ourselves if there is anything around us that is broken that we did not break, and then consider what we might do toward healing this brokenness.
Taking responsibility for social justice is a core tenet of Judaism, but I see tremendous value in adding this question.
The times we are living through are fraught with inequity, injustice and increasingly frightening manifestations of climate chaos; it feels right and timely to bring the focused intentionality of these days to a broader vision of transformation.
Sari Sapon-White of Corvallis is a writer who also tutors children preparing for their Bar and Bat Mitzvah. She is an active member of the local Jewish community.
This morning I received an email that leaves me speechless.
Nearly twenty years ago, my son’s friend suddenly and tragically developed lower-body paralysis that left him unable to walk. Of course, friends and family rallied around, donating time and money to help.
Since then, “C” has held down a steady job and gotten married. His wife works. His single mother continues to work and has an excellent income. This woman, someone I considered a friend in those years, pointedly dropped contact after I remarried, moved out of state, and ceased being “useful”. I haven’t heard from her in thirteen years. We are both on FaceBook and my birthday is two days before hers, so I know her lack of contact — even annual birthday wishes — is deliberate. Even when I’ve sent birthday wishes to her.
Back to this morning, when I received a group letter FundMe-type request to contribute to the cost of a new, $80,000 wheelchair-accessible van for the son, who is now nearly 40. WTF?!?
I am biting my lip and fingers to avoid sending her a blistering email in return, but am inclined to simply ignore it.
What would you do?
*”chutzpah” — roughly pronounced “hoots-pah”,ˈho͝otspə,ˈKHo͝otspə”, is a Yiddish word meaning nerve, gall, audacity, supreme self-confidence, and conspicuous boldness.
Finally — after two failed attempts at overseas travel this year — we recently enjoyed a Viking Ocean cruise to Britain and Norway. Here are 12 things I discovered:
Although I appreciated the gorgeous scenery, I realized I generally prefer exploring cities and towns where I can enjoy the culture and architecture and talk to locals we meet along the way.
Art installation in Greenwich UK imagining a better world
2. Life’s much easier with two carry-on bags (one for clothes, one for toiletries, books, electronics, etc. vs checking luggage. Even a 19-day trip was manageable with two smaller bags.
Random photo of Kirkwall, Orkney Islands
3. Even so, always pack an extra folding bag. The sweatshirt I bought didn’t fit in my suitcase so I checked the suitcase on the return flight and used my extra tote as a carryon.
4. The Ring of Brodgar stones are older than Stonehenge.
Stromness: the third largest henge (circular enclosure) in Britain
5. Our ideal trip is about two weeks. Longer, and we get restless.
Yours truly in Leknes
6. Goats help maintain traditional Norwegian thatched roofs.
Supposedly, they actually put goats on the roof. No data on whether they fall off
7. Wristbands and ginger chewable Dramamine only go so far if the ocean is bumpy.
Mostly, it was calm and beautiful.
8. In medieval times, the following items were catapulted into enemy territory to speed victory, along with the usual rocks and boulders: rotting food, bees, baskets of snakes, body parts from corpses.
Taxidermy (including reindeer and elk) is popular in Norwegian gift shops
9. There are more Shetland ponies in The Netherlands than there are in the Shetland Islands.
Only 1000 in Shetland vs 50,000 in Holland and 15,000 in Britain
10. Pot bellies are much cuter on ponies than people.
Am I right?
11. The Norwegian fjords, waterfalls and countryside are breathtaking.
12. Even an imperfect trip is better than no trip!
Geirangerfjord– 11 hairpin turns to get up this highMageroya
This article brightened my freakin’ morning; enjoy!
Why swearing is a sign of intelligence, helps manage pain and more
By Sandee LaMotte, CNN
Max Pepper/CNN
Polite society considers swearing to be a vulgar sign of low intelligence and education, for why would one rely on rude language when blessed with a rich vocabulary?
That perception, as it turns out, is full of, uh … baloney. In fact, swearing may be a sign of verbal superiority, studies have shown, and may provide other possible rewards as well.
“The advantages of swearing are many,” said Timothy Jay, professor emeritus of psychology at the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts, who has studied swearing for more than 40 years.
“The benefits of swearing have just emerged in the last two decades as a result of a lot of research on brain and emotion, along with much better technology to study brain anatomy.”
1. Cursing may be a sign of intelligence
Well-educated people with plenty of words at their disposal, a 2015 study found, were better at coming up with curse words than those who were less verbally fluent.
Participants were asked to list as many words that start with F, A or S in one minute. Another minute was devoted to coming up with curse words that start with those three letters. The study found those who came up with the most F, A and S words also produced the most swear words.
That’s a sign of intelligence “to the degree that language is correlated with intelligence,” said Jay, who authored the study. “People that are good at language are good at generating a swearing vocabulary.”
Swearing can also be associated with social intelligence, Jay added.
“Having the strategies to know where and when it’s appropriate to swear, and when it’s not,” Jay said, “is a social cognitive skill like picking the right clothes for the right occasion. That’s a pretty sophisticated social tool.”
2. Swearing may be a sign of honesty
Science has also found a positive link between profanity and honesty. People who cursed lied less on an interpersonal level, and had higher levels of integrity overall, a series of three studies published in 2017 found.
“When you’re honestly expressing your emotions with powerful words, then you’re going to come across as more honest,” said Jay, who was not involved in the studies.
While a higher rate of profanity use was associated with more honesty, the study authors cautioned that “the findings should not be interpreted to mean that the more a person uses profanity, the less likely he or she would engage in more serious unethical or immoral behaviors.”
3. Profanity improves pain tolerance
And swearing doesn’t just help your endurance: If you pinch your finger in the car door, you may well feel less pain if you say ‘s**t” instead of “shoot.”
People on bikes who swore while pedaling against resistance had more power and strength than people who used “neutral” words, studies have shown.
Research also found that people who cursed while squeezing a hand vice were able to squeeze harder and longer.
Spouting obscenities doesn’t just help your endurance: If you pinch your finger in the car door, you may well feel less pain if you say “sh*t” instead of “shoot.”
Another study found people who cursed as they plunged their hand into icy water felt less pain and were able to keep their hands in the water longer than those who said a neutral word.
“The headline message is that swearing helps you cope with pain,” said psychologist Richard Stephens, the lead author of the three studies. Stephens researches swearing at the Psychobiology Research Laboratory at Keele University in Staffordshire, England.
Stephens says it works like this: swearing produces a stress response that initiates the body’s ancient defensive reflex. A flush of adrenaline increases heart rate and breathing, prepping muscles for fight or flight.
Simultaneously, there isanother physiological reaction called an analgesic response, whichmakes the body more impervious to pain.
“That would make evolutionary sense because you’re going to be a better fighter and better runner if you’re not being slowed down by concerns about pain,” Stephens said.
“So it seems like by swearing you’re triggering an emotional response in yourself, which triggers a mild stress response, which carries with it a stress-induced reduction in pain,” he added.
Careful, however, the next time you decide to extend your workout by swearing. Curse words lose their power over pain when they are used too much, research has also discovered.
Some of us get more out of swearing than others. Take people who are more afraid of pain, called “catastrophizers.”
“The research found men who were lower catastrophizers seemed to get a benefit from swearing, whereas men who are higher catastrophizers didn’t,” Stephens said. “Whereas with women there wasn’t any difference.”
4. Cussing is a sign of creativity
Swearing appears to be centered in the right side of the brain, the part people often call the “creative brain.”
“We do know patients who have strokes on the right side tend to become less emotional, less able to understand and tell jokes, and they tend to just stop swearing even if they swore quite a lot before,” said Emma Byrne, author of “Swearing Is Good for You.”
Research on swearing dates back to Victorian times, when physicians discovered that patients who lost their ability to speak could still curse.
“They swore incredibly fluently,” Byrne said. “Childhood reprimands, swear words and terms of endearment — words with strong emotional content learned early on tend to be preserved in the brain even when all the rest of our language is lost.”
5. Throwing expletives instead of punches
Why do we choose to swear? Perhaps because profanity provides an evolutionary advantage that can protect us from physical harm, Jay said.
“A dog or a cat will scratch you, bite you when they’re scared or angry,” he said. “Swearing allows us to express our emotions symbolically without doing it tooth and nail.
“In other words, I can give somebody the finger or say f**k you across the street. I don’t have to get up into their face.”
Cursing then becomes a remote form of aggression, Jay said, offering the chance to express feelings quickly while hopefully avoiding repercussions.
“The purpose of swearing is to vent my emotion, and there’s an advantage in that it allows me to cope,” he said. “And then it communicates very readily to bystanders what my emotional state is. It has that advantage of emotional efficiency — it’s very quick and clear.”
A universal language
What makes the use of naughty words so powerful? The power of the taboo, of course. That reality is universally recognized: Just about every language in the world contains curse words.
“It seems that as soon as you have a taboo word, and the emotional insight that the word is going to cause discomfort for other people, the rest seems to follow naturally,” Byrne said.
It’s not just people who swear. Even primates curse when given the chance.
“Chimpanzees in the wild tend to use their excrement as a social signal, one that’s designed to keep people away,” Byrne said.
Hand-raised chimps who were potty-trained learned sign language for “poo” so they could tell their handlers when they needed the toilet.
“Chimpanzees in the wild tend to use their excrement as a social signal, one that’s designed to keep people away,” Byrne said. “And as soon as they learned the poo sign they began using it like we do the word s**t.”
Does that mean that we should curse whenever we feel like it, regardless of our environment or the feelings of others? Of course not. But at least you can cut yourself some slack the next time you inadvertently let an f-bomb slip.
Are mosquitos a worldwide phenomenon, or just a pesky pest here in the US?
Now that it’s full-on summer — and in honor of the forthcoming July 4th festivities — here’s a tip to avoid getting bitten.
According to interestingfacts.com, beer is their favorite beverage. Read on:
“There are a few ways to avoid the itch-inducing bites of summer’s biggest pest: the mosquito. Wearing long-sleeved apparel and dousing yourself in insect repellent can help, but avoiding some beverages — particularly alcohol — might further protect you. According to a 2010 study of mosquito biting preferences, beer makes humans more attractive to the paltry pests.
Researchers found that Anopheles gambiae, a mosquito species in the genus responsible for transmitting malaria, were more attracted to humans who had consumed beer (compared to those who consumed only water), and the results were evident as soon as 15 minutes after the humans began drinking. Other studies have produced similar findings; one examination of alcohol’s role in mosquito meal choices found that those who imbibed just one 12-ounce beer were more likely to be pestered by the insects. It’s unclear why beer primes humans to become bite victims, though some scientists believe it could be partly linked to body temperature; alcohol expands the blood vessels, a process that slightly increases the skin temperature and also makes us sweat — two factors that may attract more hungry mosquitoes.
For being such tiny insects, mosquitoes are incredibly effective in their ability to feast on larger prey. Their proboscises — aka mouths — are created from a complex system that includes six needlelike mouthparts called stylets; when a mosquito bites, the stylets are used to hunt for nearby blood vessels. That makes a mosquito’s job of finding food quick and easy work — a necessity when dinner comes with a risk of being swatted.”
Unless you die young, you’re likely to grow old. And although this is not without challenges, there are numerous upsides including financial security, learning to say “no” to people, experiences or activities you simply don’t enjoy, and the resultant contentment that comes from being true to yourself.
Credit: Heritage Images/ Hulton Fine Art Collection via Getty Images
A common misconception is that our predecessors lived brutish lives cut short by disease and war. While modern medicine has certainly expanded life expectancy, many people in the past lived as long as people live today. For example, some ancient Roman offices sought by politically ambitious men couldn’t even be held until someone was 30.
When scientists analyzed the pelvis joints (a reliable indicator of age) in skeletons from ancient civilizations, they found that many people lived long lives. One study of skeletons from Cholula, Mexico, between 900 and 1531 CE found that a majority of specimens lived beyond the age of 50. Low life expectancy in ancient times was more the result of high infant mortality rates than of people living unusually short lives. Modern science has helped more humans survive our vulnerable childhood years and life expectancy averages have risen as a result.
The amount of sleep each of us needs is only altered during childhood and adolescence as our bodies require more energy to do the tough work of growing. Once we’re in our 20s, humans require the same amount of sleep per night for the rest of our lives (though the exact number of hours differs from person to person). In fact, the elderly are more likely to be sleep-deprived because they receive lower-quality sleep caused by sickness, pain, medications, or a trip or two to the bathroom. This can be why napping during the day becomes more common as we grow older.
While we’re likely to get shorter as we age, some bones keep growing. A 2008 study for Duke University revealed that skull bones continue to grow, with the forehead moving forward and cheek bones moving backward. Unfortunately, this imperceptible bit of facial movement exacerbates wrinkles, because as the skull shifts forward, the overlying skin sags.
The pelvis also keeps growing throughout our lives. Scientists analyzing the pelvic width of 20-year-olds compared to 79-year-olds found a 1-inch difference in width, which adds an additional 3 inches to your waistband. That means our widening in the middle as we age isn’t our imagination — or about a slower metabolism.
While our hips get bigger, our pupils get smaller. The human pupil is controlled by the circumferential sphincter and iris dilator muscles, which weaken as we get older. Because of this loss of muscle function, pupils get smaller as we age, and are also less responsive to light. Smaller pupils make it harder to see at night (hello, reading a menu in a dark restaurant?!), so people in their 60s need three times as much light to read comfortably as people in their 20s.
Although the body experiences some slowing down as we age, growing old isn’t all bad news. Researchers from the University of Queensland found that older people had stronger immunities than people in their 20s, as the body keeps a repository of illnesses that can stretch back decades. This extra line of defense begins to drop off in our 70s and 80s, but until then, our bodies generally just get better and better at fighting off disease due to biological experience. Additionally, as we age we experience fewer migraines, the severity of allergies declines, and we produce less sweat. Older people also exhibit higher levels of “crystalized intelligence” (or what some might call “wisdom”) than any other age group.
If age is just a number, in the cosmic view human age is rather insignificant. The atoms that make up the human body are already billions of years old. For example, hydrogen — one of the key components of our bodies — formed in the Big Bang 13.7 billion years ago. Likewise, carbon, the primary component of all known life, formed in the fiery cauldron of stars at least 7 billion years ago.
Which, comparatively speaking, makes us all universally young. I find that strangely comforting!
(Pictured: NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaking recently.)
olderfatterhappierdotcom 