Three Not-So-Bad Things on Aging and Longevity

?Volume 21

1. Kids these days... are learning about ageism.

Somewhere between algebra and English, a group of New York high school students will be making space for a new subject in their schedule: ageism. In?a pilot curriculum?jointly developed by the NYC Department for the Aging and the Department of Education, thirteen Brooklyn high schools will adopt a new course of study on ageism in the coming year. Department for the Aging Commissioner Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez’s hope is that the program will eventually be expanded city-wide—supplementing existing diversity and anti-discrimination programs in the schools and hopefully raising awareness of the challenges of an ageist society.??

The program guide for the initiative focuses on “structural ageism” in areas such as healthcare, and “interpersonal aging” which can include harmful stereotypes. Among the proposed projects are interviews of older New Yorkers and videos dispelling myths about older adults, especially around physical fitness. We’re quite keen on this effort, and note that it is only the latest program coming out of a citywide council on older New Yorkers championed by Mayor Eric Adams.???

Shameless Plug #1:?You’re probably saying to yourself: “Jeepers, I’ll like to hear more from Lorraine Cortés-Vázquez.” Well, you're in luck. You can hear her on Episode 3 of Century Lives: Place Matters, where we explore the story of Co-op City in the Bronx, the nation’s (and maybe the world’s) largest naturally occurring retirement community.

Click here for "Century Lives: Place Matters" Episode 1!

2. And to top it all off: visiting Bobi is free.

Long gone are the days when your retirement options were Del Boca Vista and Del Boca Vista II. Today there are countless options—including?staying right in the backyard—but more and more retirees are heading overseas. An estimated 440,000 American retirees now live abroad, and that number is expected to grow substantially with the aging of the Baby Boomers. Let’s keep that number in perspective: Florida has a population of about 4.5 million seniors and the Villages alone has about 100,000 people, but a couple factors are working in favor of overseas retirement right now. The cost of living in the US remains high, especially with regard to housing inflation for seniors, and a number of countries are actively recruiting American retirees with easy to obtain visas and “fixer up” homes to be had for a Euro.

Where are the retirees headed? Two new surveys list many of the usual suspects like Mexico, Costa Rica and Panama, but the headline is that Europe is now an increasingly competitive option for American retirees. Greece, France, and Italy all make various lists, but Portugal is ascendent, ranking number one on the?International Living Magazine and Live and Invest Overseas?list. There are many reasons to favor Portugal, not least among them is the favorable?cost structure?and the strong national soccer team. We generally don’t take these types of rankings too seriously—there is a lot of local variability, things change from year to year, and everyone has different tastes—but for now, we are all in for Portugal, because it brings us that much closer to?one lucky 30-year-old pup, and that’s enough for us.

3. Fellow Krispy Kreme lovers: look away.

For years, people have made claims that reducing calorie intake, sometimes in the form of intermittent fasting, can slow the aging process. Those statements have sometimes controversial and subject to criticism from scientists who have found the support for these claims somewhat limited—in part because testing humans is such a?lengthy and expensive process.?

But a new study, led by researchers from the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, is the first randomized, controlled test on humans that looks to assess the effects of calorie reduction in the aging process. In this study, called the Comprehensive Assessment of Long-Term Effects of Reducing Intake of Energy (CALERIE), the effects of reducing calories by 25% was tested on 220 healthy adults over the course of two years. And the results are in!?Published in Nature Aging, the researchers found that reducing calorie intake did slow the process of aging, though they cautioned that the treatment effects were small. But even if the effects were small, it is a considerable finding, though one that will have to be researched further to understand the long-term effects on chronic disease and mortality.

So what should you do? First thing: don’t rely on the advice of a bunch of people who write a newsletter. But we remain fans of moderation: find a balanced diet that works for you and combine it with a suitable and sustainable exercise regimen. And, no, that person you saw in the Chick-Fil-A drive through line only?looks?like us.

Which Not-So-Bad Thing surprised you the most? Let us know in the comments below!