Category Archives: Ageing

Working from home made my descent into decrepitude harder to avoid | Elizabeth Quinn

Posted on by

Confronted by my reflection at every turn, I armed myself with expensive beauty products

I have a theory – largely untested – that everyone is mentally “stuck” at a certain age: the one that best reflects their outlook. Mine is 17. At my core, I see myself as youthful, enthusiastic and not yet tainted by the bitterness of experience. I’m optimistic and forward-looking. A woman in my prime.

But increasingly, the face and form I see reflected back in the mirror are none of those things. At first I blame harsh lighting for my transformation. Then I realise it’s natural light coming in from the skylight, not the gentle artificial light of a boutique store change room. There is, quite simply, nowhere to hide.

Continue reading...

Inseparable for 44 years – the couple banned from touching because of Covid

Posted on by

Trish Walker’s husband Chris is in a care home, and she has been allowed to speak to him for only an hour a day

They met on a blind date and married nine months later. For the next 44 years, Chris and Trish Walker were inseparable. Until the pandemic.

For the past eight months, Trish has not been allowed to touch her husband and has only been able to speak to him for just over an hour, even though he has already had – and recovered from – Covid-19.

Continue reading...

Dalliance, affair, love, intimacy: how should we approach sex as we age?

Posted on by

As sex lives ebb, the wider world can get more interesting. Robert Dessaix asks, does it really matter if we’re out of the sexual running, even in a society as sex-obsessed as ours?

If the Roman poet Lucretius is to be believed, the whole universe is “a dance with Venus” – a sexual performance. “Love” just provides some of the footwork for amicable copulation. Or something to that effect. In his day, of course, with high child mortality and a ripe old age far from assured, reproduction must have been at the top of everyone’s list.

Nowadays, in the west, average life expectancy is much longer than it was in Rome at the beginning of the first millennium – indeed, a quarter of the population where I live can hardly walk in a straight line without assistance, let alone cavort around Venus’s dancefloor – yet we are still fixated as a society on arousal and performance. What is the point of living on into old age in such a society? Why soldier on? Even if you could still dance, who would dance with you?

Continue reading...

‘Shutdown is literally killing people’: families of isolated nursing home residents demand compromise

Posted on by

Eldercare advocates argue that facilities have allowed asymptomatic staff members with Covid-19 in, but kept loved ones out

Martha Marie Duncan was as bright as the blue Texas sky of the Rio Grande Valley where she was born, and when she was young, she styled her hair to just about touch it. She was clever, fashionable, and determined to climb the corporate ladder.

She worked her way up to become vice president of one of America’s largest advertising firms, and bought a dark red Porsche and mauve Pendleton suits along the way.

Continue reading...

Patti Smith: ‘I feel the unrest of the world in the pit of my stomach’

Posted on by

The rock star and poet on solitude, her lifelong friend Sam Shepard, and writing her latest memoir

Patti Smith, rock star, poet, visual artist and writer, won the 2010 National book award with her memoir Just Kids. The Year of the Monkey, her moving postscript – about loss, serendipity, friendship and hope – is out now in paperback (Bloomsbury).

Did you plan The Year of the Monkey or did it almost write itself?
Truthfully, I had no goal. It was the end of 2015. I’d had concerts at the Fillmore in San Francisco and was supposed to go on a trip with my good friend Sandy Pearlman. But he had an accident and was in a coma and I was without a plan. I don’t drive, so decided to linger to be in his proximity and, being alone, started keeping a journal. I find writing a journal is like having an imaginary friend.

Continue reading...

Ravers and boomers: is intergenerational Covid tension real?

Posted on by

With ‘don’t kill granny’ warnings and talk of an over-50s lockdown, there are fears unity is fraying in the UK

On a Saturday evening in mid-July, Michael made a video call to his grandmother and checked she had everything she needed. Then, along with about 3,000 others, he set out for an illegal rave.

Despite coronavirus lockdown measures, Michael, a 20-year-old student from Bristol who asked to use a pseudonym, went to the event at a former RAF airfield near Bath three weeks ago with a group of friends. Before they met up, he said, their group chat was “mostly excitement, but a little bit of trepidation”. Michael added: “But we just thought, none of us live with old people, and the rules are all confusion.”

Continue reading...

A difficult conversation with her family led to a better death for my patient | Ranjana Srivastava

Posted on by

Helping grieving relatives reach a difficult decision without hectoring or judging is a fine art

“What kind of God would do this?” she sobs and rocks. I am sinking in my chair and the nurse is perched on the side table. To focus on something other than her palpable despair, I regard the worn sofa and imagine a public hospital meeting room with comfort and sunlight. When a daughter arrives, she squeezes in beside her grieving mother.

She is a woman plainly devoted to God and her children, especially the unmarried daughter who is now my patient. The second daughter strikes me as thoughtful and educated, and as becomes evident, helpless to stem the tide of her mother’s sorrow. I fret at this, not because I am rushed, rather the patient needs an urgent outcome.

Continue reading...

‘The older I get, the less I fear’: meet the Italian Larry David

Posted on by

A decade after his two much-loved comedies about the vicissitudes of ageing, director Gianni Di Gregorio explains why, against his own expectations, he had to make another

In 2000, after a decade of caring for his ailing mother in her large flat in Rome, Gianni Di Gregorio wrote a comedy about a bloke called Gianni who looks after his 93-year-old mother in a large flat in Rome. No one was interested in the story, in which the unemployed bachelor ends up running around after a cohort of old ladies whose spirit and vigour remain undimmed despite various ailments. Everyone thought he was crazy: who would be interested in a funny film about four old women and a middle-aged bloke?

Related: Gianni Di Gregorio: The incidental director

Continue reading...

World’s oldest man dies in Hampshire aged 112

Posted on by

Family pays tribute to ‘witty, kind, knowledgeable conversationalist’ Bob Weighton

The world’s oldest man, Bob Weighton, has died from cancer at the age of 112, his family have confirmed.

The former teacher and engineer, from Alton, Hampshire, took up the title of the oldest man in the world in February after the death of the previous holder, Chitetsu Watanabe of Japan.

Continue reading...

Hampshire 112-year-old officially recognised as world’s oldest man

Posted on by

Bob Weighton presented with certificate at assisted living home where he is isolating

A Hampshire resident has been officially recognised as the world’s oldest man by Guinness World Records.

Bob Weighton, who is 112 years and two days old, was presented with his certificate by staff at the assisted living home where he lives, while keeping the appropriate distance because he is isolating.

Continue reading...

We are old and in love, but she left me after my cancer diagnosis | Dear Mariella

Posted on by

We might assume better treatment from maturing adults but at least she was decisive, says Mariella Frostrup

The dilemma In the summer I met a wonderful woman online. She is kind, clever, good looking and many other positive things. We clicked from the outset and became lovers after a couple of months. We have a combined age of 127, but we both said the sex was the best we’ve ever enjoyed. She told me she loved me – and it was reciprocated. We live 100 miles apart, but that suited our busy lifestyles.

Everything was wonderful and we seemed to be very much on the same wavelength until November, when I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. The treatment is extensive, but hasn’t yet started. She broke up with me over Christmas. She still professes love for me (though we haven’t been in contact for a few weeks), but says she is too busy with work, family and friends to commit to me, and that I would become too needy of her and her time. I don’t agree that I would, but I can see why she might say that. I have recently retired. I miss her terribly and don’t know how to deal with it.

Continue reading...

African killifish may hold key to stopping ageing in humans

Posted on by

Turquoise killifish is able to suspend its development for longer than its average lifespan

The curious ability of the African turquoise killifish to press pause on its development could have intriguing implications for human ageing, say researchers.

Certain creatures, including the killifish, can put themselves into suspended animation as an embryo – a trait known as diapause. The phenomenon is thought to have evolved in response to pressures such as seasonal changes in the environment – for example ponds drying up – or sudden challenges that pose a risk to the creatures. In other words, diapause allows the animal to put its development or birth on ice until conditions improve.

Continue reading...

Families sending relatives with dementia to Thailand for care

Posted on by

British people with disease sent abroad over inadequate and expensive care at home

British families are sending elderly relatives with dementia overseas to Thailand in a small but growing trend.

Researchers visiting private care homes in Chiang Mai have found eight homes where guests from the UK are living thousands of miles away from their families, because suitable care in their home country was impossible to find or afford.

Continue reading...

The science of senolytics: how a new pill could spell the end of ageing

Posted on by

A simple treatment to stave off the health problems of old age could be available in five to 12 years. Here’s how it would work

The science of extending life is a subject of morbid fascination, conjuring the image of old billionaires being cryogenically frozen. But imagine if, instead of a pill you could take to live for ever, there was a pill that could push back the ageing process – a medicine that could stave off the fragility, osteoarthritis, memory loss, macular degeneration and cancers that plague old age.

It could happen, with the science of senolytics: an emerging – and highly anticipated – area of anti-ageing medicine. Many of the world’s top gerontologists have already demonstrated the possibilities in animals and are now beginning human clinical trials, with promising results. If the studies continue to be as successful as hoped, those who are currently middle-aged could become the first generation of oldies who are youthful for longer – with a little medical help.

Continue reading...

Breast cancer risk from using HRT is ‘twice what was thought’

Posted on by

Study prompts medicines regulator to advise all women using HRT to remain vigilant

The risk of breast cancer from using hormone replacement therapy is double what was previously thought, according to a major piece of research, which confirms that HRT is a direct cause of the cancer.

The findings of the definitive study will cause concern among the 1 million women in the UK and millions more around the world who are using HRT. It finds that the longer women take it, the greater their risk, with the possibility that just one year is risk-free. It also finds that the risk does not go away as soon as women stop taking it, as had been previously assumed.

Continue reading...

Housework could keep brain young, research suggests

Posted on by

Even light exertions can slow down ageing of the brain, activity-tracker data indicates

Even light activity such as household chores might help to keep the brain young, researchers say, adding to a growing body of evidence that, when it comes to exercise, every little helps.

The findings mirror upcoming guidance from the UK chief medical officers, and existing US guidelines, which say light activity or very short bouts of exercise are beneficial to health – even if it is just a minute or two at a time – countering the previous view that there was a threshold that must be reached before there were significant benefits.

Continue reading...

Woman stands in German council election aged 100

Posted on by
Lisel Heise runs for local grassroots group after realising her age ‘gives me the chance to say something’

For most people, reaching 100 would be reason enough to put one’s feet up and take things easy, but Lisel Heise has other ideas.

The German centenarian, a former sports teacher, has started a new chapter in her life by standing for election to the council in her home town of Kirchheimbolanden.

Continue reading...

Scientists reverse memory decline using electrical pulses

Posted on by

Working memory of older group temporarily improves to match younger group in study

A decline in memory as a result of ageing can be temporarily reversed using a harmless form of electrical brain stimulation, scientists have found.

The findings help explain why certain cognitive skills decline significantly with age and raise the prospect of new treatments.

Continue reading...

Infusions of young blood not proven ‘safe or effective’, US government warns

Posted on by

FDA warning is blow to anti-age treatment fad that claims it could improve strength and memory and even combat Alzheimer’s

The US government has warned that older people should not be paying to have their veins filled with the blood of young people, in a blow for what was becoming a fad anti-aging treatment.

In a statement on Tuesday the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) said infusions of plasma from young donors into older clients “should not be assumed to be safe or effective”, and said it was “concerned that some patients are being preyed upon by unscrupulous actors” charging thousands of dollars for transfusions.

Continue reading...

New drug raises hopes of reversing memory loss in old age

Posted on by

Toronto researchers believe the drug can also help those with depression, schizophrenia and Alzheimer’s

An experimental drug that bolsters ailing brain cells has raised hopes of a treatment for memory loss, poor decision making and other mental impairments that often strike in old age.

The drug could be taken as a daily pill by over-55s if clinical trials, which are expected to start within two years, show that the medicine is safe and effective at preventing memory lapses.

Continue reading...