According to Marriage, Family, Sex Therapist Laurie Watson, unless your plumbing is broken, you can (and should) have intimate relations until you die. In this blog, she answers some questions no one wants to ask in public, but many want to know. While editing my recent interview with Raleigh-based marriage, family counselor and sex therapist Laurie Watson, my teenage son came in to ask me something. I thought he was looking over my shoulder, so I [...]

In the Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, Swedish author Magnusson writes,"A loved one wishes to inherit nice things from you. Not all things." Not long ago, my dear Aunt Jessie sent me an article about the new book, The Gentle Art of Swedish Death Cleaning, by Margareta Magnusson, a Swede who lists her age as “80 to 100.” (I feel the need to credit this web of wise elder women—my mom, Aunt Jessie, Aunt Sarah, Cousin [...]

So often our fears around the unknown overwhelm us. Information can be a good antidote. A dear client asked me recently if I had read Dr. Sherwin Nuland’s book, “How We Die: Reflections on Life’s Final Chapter.” I had not and picked it up later that day. Dr. Nuland, a surgeon for his entire professional life, wrote the book to demystify what scares most of us: death. He had witnessed thousands over his career. He thought it [...]

What happened when 31-year-old Harvard Medical grad Bill Thomas became medical director of a nursing home, where he brought in pets, birds, and gardens? You might be surprised! Like my father, and his father before him, I’m an early riser. With three teenagers in the house, I love starting the day when the house is still quiet, but with the start of spring, when I open the back door, it is anything but that. Even [...]

It's a good reminder that as we age, our need for friendships and relationships doesn't go dormant. If anything, now that we are less rushed with work and family and the busy-ness of life, we might need and crave community even more. As C.S. Lewis once said, "You can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." To view the whole story, visit: https://www.wral.com/changing-your-story/17561842/  

It's been scientifically proven that eastern exercises, like Tai Chi and yoga, not only increase strength and flexibility, they might be more effective than anything else in reducing the fall risk in elderly people. And falls are responsible for 50% of accidental deaths in old people. To read the entire article, visit: https://www.wral.com/yoga-or-tai-chi-just-what-the-doctor-ordered/17561641/

Meet Super Senior Bob Ross, who at 92, still maintains a busy social schedule and chalks up his longevity to good genes, good friends and family, and daily exercise. He had a cup of coffee in one hand and was gesturing while telling a group of six ladies around a small table in the lobby that he was supposed to be here at 8:30 am to meet someone. That someone was me and I waved [...]

A daily mindfulness practice is associated with decreased anxiety and depression, improved management of chronic pain (especially for those for whom nothing else has worked), Improved cardiovascular health, lower blood pressure, improved emotion regulation and many other benefits. “Turn here,” my mom said after I, in an irritated voice said, “Which way?” Fifteen years ago, when we first moved to Raleigh from Japan, my parents came to help us settle in. “What’s the hurry?” she [...]

Doing something different doesn't only feel good, it's good for your brain, too--especially as we age. This morning, while driving my youngest daughter’s carpool, I dropped Sarah and Hannah off, then followed my usual route home. Two blocks from home, I remembered that I had intended to go west on Hillsborough to the Kinko’s, rather than east to home. Our habits are so ingrained, we can easily—especially as we age—go on autopilot, which is what [...]

People assume they're too old to start over with a new person. That is not necessarily true. Matchmaker Kate Freiman-Fox answers your common questions. There's the perception that after a certain age, we’re too old to imagine meeting someone new, much less start dating. "I am a widow and 70. Me? Date?" a neighbor recently said. Another friend said, "Try to meet someone online? Is it safe?" What both conveyed though, was that they were [...]