Why We Are Happier When We’re Older

Has your happiness increased with age?

By: MARY JO DILONARDO(mnn.com) –  It seems that the more candles you blow out on your cake, the happier your life can be. It’s known as the paradox of aging — so many things supposedly worsen with age, yet older people often have a better sense of overall well-being.

Researchers continue to find explanations for the reasoning behind why happiness seems to increase with age. In the latest study, researchers surveyed more than 1,500 San Diego residents between the ages of 21 and 99, and found that those in their 20s were the most stressed out and depressed, while those in their 90s were the most content.

“The consistency was really striking,” Dilip Jeste, director of the UC San Diego Center for Healthy Aging and senior author of the study, told the Los Angeles Times. “People who were in older life were happier, more satisfied, less depressed, had less anxiety and less perceived stress than younger respondents.”

The study was published in The Journal of Clinical Psychiatry.

The authors suggest that some of that improved sense of well-being could come from the wisdom people collect as they age. Jeste defines wisdom to include empathy, compassion, self-knowledge, openness to new ideas, decisiveness, emotional regulation and doing things for others rather than just for yourself.

“As we get older, we make better social decisions because we are more experienced, and that’s where wisdom comes into play,” he told the Times.

The study — and the resulting explanation — is just one of many in recent science literature explaining the link between aging and well-being. Here’s a look at several other reasons we might be happier as we get older.

We become more trusting

Two large-scale studies by researchers at Northwestern University and the University at Buffalo found that as people get older, they also get more trusting. And that trust can benefit their well-being.

“Our new findings show that trust increases as people get older and, moreover, that people who trust more are also more likely to experience increases in happiness over time.” Claudia Haase, a professor of social policy at Northwestern and one of the study’s authors, said in a statement.

In the first study, the researchers looked at the association between trust and age in nearly 200,000 people from 83 countries over the past 30 years. The second study followed 1,230 people of different ages in the U.S. They were Millennials, Generation X and Baby Boomers.

Both studies found that people became more trusting as they aged, and that increased trust led to more happiness and well-being.

The studies, combined into one research paper, were published in the journal Social Psychological and Personality Science.

“We know that older people are more likely to look at the bright side of things,” Haase said. “As we age, we may be more likely to see the best in other people and forgive the little letdowns that got us…

 

 

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Have you needed the advice of a financial advisor?

by MIRANDA MARQUIT(moneyning.com) – You can probably do better financially by managing your investment portfolio yourself, but you might end up unsure of what to do with your money every once in a while. When it comes to figuring out your next step, talking to a professional can go a long way, especially when you have big decisions to make about your finances.

If you aren’t sure what to do next, a financial advisor can help you map out a plan. Here are a few times when it can make sense to meet with a financial advisor for a little extra help:

1. You’re Going Through a Major Life Change

Pretty much anytime you are making a major change in your life, it can make sense to meet with a financial advisor. Some of the major events likely to prompt financial changes in your life include:

  • Marriage
  • Divorce
  • Starting a family
  • Retirement
  • Making a big move

These large life changes impact the way you use money and can change your financial situation dramatically. If you see these items looming on your horizon, consider talking to a financial professional about your path. You might find it easier to navigate with an outside perspective.

2. You Receive a Windfall

One of the best things to do when you receive an unexpectedly large amount of money is to do nothing. Wait to make decisions about the money. Let it wait. And while you’re waiting, consider consulting with a financial advisor. The right financial professional can help you walk through your windfall, explore the options, and decide what your next move should be. Don’t make a decision about the money immediately, especially if you are excited. Decisions made in a heightened emotional state are rarely the best choices.

3. You Don’t Have Any Estate Planning

While you might not go to a financial planner for estate planning, you do want to see a professional. From making sure you have a will, to considering the advantages of a trust, it makes sense to see a professional about how to best to preserve your legacy and protect your family. If you have a financial advisor you…

 

 

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Have you ever battled glandular fever?

By: beamingwithhealth.com.au – What is it?

Catching a kissing disease sounds like fun. Well, it’s not. Not remotely fun. Caused by the Epstein-Barr virus, glandular fever is a common infection in children and teenagers. It often cruelly strikes students at the end of their schooling, around the time of important exams and assessments. Also called acute mononucleosis, an episode of glandular fever can last a couple of weeks, or symptoms can linger for months and sometimes years. Glandular fever is thought to be a possible precursor to chronic fatigue syndrome. That threat alone is enough to treat this kissing disease very seriously.

Symptoms

  • Swollen lymph glands in the neck, underarms and groin.
  • Swollen tonsils.
  • Sore throat.
  • Fever.
  • Fatigue.
  • Loss of appetite.
  • Headache.
  • Night sweats.
  • The spleen and liver can also be affected by glandular fever.

What causes it?

  • The Epstein Barr virus is spread by saliva, so in addition to kissing, you can catch it by sharing cutlery and crockery, or being downwind from someone sneezing or coughing.

What to do

If you treat your glandular fever with the recommendations below, and make sure you rest well, then there is every reason to expect you will be fighting fit within a couple of weeks.

Diet

  • If your appetite has reduced, don’t force yourself to eat big meals. Your appetite will return as soon as your body is ready to digest more solid sustenance. But the meals you do eat need to be nutritious. Lean meat, chicken and fish. Plenty of fresh vegetables and fruit.
  • It is important to consume plenty of fluids.
  • Soup is good but avoid those based on cream, cheese or milk. Make a broth from vegetable, fish, chicken or beef stock and add vegetables, onions, beans and garlic.
  • Drink fresh vegetable and fruit juices. Vegetables to include are carrots, celery, parsley, beetroot, kale and ginger and for fruit, try berries, pineapple, oranges, grapefruit and mandarin.
  • Avoid sugar. Studies have shown that within a few minutes of sugar consumption, lymphocyte activity is reduced markedly. Lymphocytes (white blood cells) are major players in the immune system. Sugar also tends to increase mucus. A little raw honey is better and soothes a sore throat.
  • Calendula is a plant that is good for the immune and lymphatic system. If you grow this colourful flower, use some petals in your salads and sandwiches.

Remedies

  • Herbs to support and strengthen the immune and lymphatic systems are mandatory. Choose from andrographis, echinacea, cat’s claw, baptisia, calendula, poke root, golden seal and/or olive leaf and take twice a day in tablet or tincture form. If you are using the gargle mentioned below, you don’t need this mixture as well. Use one or the other.
  • If your throat is inflamed and sore, add 5 mls of poke root, calendula, echinacea, golden seal and/or myrrh to 30 mls of water. Gargle 3 times a day and swallow. This will probably be one of the worst experiences of your life. As above, if you are using the gargle, you don’t need to…

 

 

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How do you protect your important documents?

By (lenpenzo.com) – For some people, it’s tough letting go. Of anything.

Take my wife, for instance; she saves everything.

The other day the Honeybee showed me her baseball ticket from our very first date way back on September 24, 1995.

And if I ever feel oddly compelled to scrutinize the birthday card I received from my mother-in-law in 1998, I can rest easy knowing that the Honeybee has it dutifully stored upstairs in our bedroom closet.

What’s that? You say you’re looking for the operating instructions to a vintage Easy Bake oven, circa 1986? If I’m not mistaken, they’re in our closet too, not far from the rest of those 643 old birthday, Christmas, Easter, and Mother’s Day cards she’s been saving that nobody will ever look at again.

Protecting the Important Stuff

I’m a bit more judicious than the Honeybee when it comes to saving things — and I use a fireproof safe for the most important stuff.

Of course, no strongbox can hold everything — and so that demands a bit of discretion when deciding what to put in them. Here are some of the more important things you should consider protecting:

Birth certificates. Your birth certificate is proof that you are a citizen of the country you live in. Lose it, and you’ll have a difficult time getting a passport, or landing a job that requires proof of citizenship.

Property titles. Yes, home deeds and car titles are replaceable, but why go through the hassle if you don’t have to?

Insurance policies. Home, life and auto insurance policies are a key part of any financial back-up plan. If your house burns down or has been burgled, the first thing you’ll want to get your hands on is a copy of your home insurance policy and your agent’s phone number.

House photos. Speaking of insurance, photos of the interior and exterior of your home are invaluable for reporting losses due to fire or theft to your insurance company. If possible, keep them on electronic media like a CD or thumb drive.

Safe deposit box keys. Not having access to your safety deposit box during an emergency is not only inconvenient, it can be costly, as the boxes will have to be forced open and replaced at your expense.

Social security cards. Your social security number is required to get a job, collect social security benefits and receive certain other government services. That’s why the US Social Security Administration strongly advises people to not carry the cards on…

 

 

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 Have you tried group meditation?  Positive energy gathered in one space is powerful stuff.

by: Deepak Chopra, M.D. – Meditation has so many advantages that it’s become more popular than ever. Health, well-being, and mental processes improve with meditation and, over time, the benefits increase steadily. If meditation works so well for an individual, perhaps that power is amplified in a group. It could accelerate and expand everything. Let’s go into the possibilities.

At the most practical level, group meditation reinforces your desire to make it a daily practice. We all lead busy lives, and even the best intention to meditate can get lost once in a while. Joining a group can make you more committed to your practice. But a group can also represent a meditation lifestyle that inspires every member.

The Meditation Lifestyle

In the Indian spiritual tradition, this lifestyle has been condensed into three words derived from Sanskrit, each beginning with “S.”

  • Seva: Service without regard for the self. In service your actions harm no one and benefit everyone. You spread the influence of peace, which you have found personally in meditation.
  • Simran: Remembrance. In meditation you contact your source, the true self, and thus you remember who you really are. As you learn more about your true nature, your purpose for being here strengthens.
  • Satsang: Communing with others and sharing knowledge. You want to belong in the community of peace and wisdom, a desire that can be shared with others who are like-minded.

These three S-words describe the ideal life of any spiritual person. But just as crucial, they unlock a power that materialism can’t defeat, as a rock can’t defeat the rain even though one is hard and the other soft, or as a tree can’t defeat the wind even though one is solid and the other invisible. Power can sound abstract, but satisfaction isn’t. With each S-word comes a satisfaction that is built from your meditation practice when you begin to share its fruits.

Seva brings the joy of knowing that your daily actions support life. You become part of the planet’s evolution, not its degradation. You live in peace with your conscience because you have fulfilled your duty to be a steward of every aspect of nature, down to the most sacred level.

Simran brings the satisfaction of expanded possibilities. You are not limited to being one individual lost in a sea of humanity. You find your authentic self and your authentic truth. A unique path to mastery is opened for you and the group at a silent level of expanded awareness.

Satsang brings the satisfaction of being at home in the world. The rest of the human family is part of you. Older and younger generations are no…

 

 

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How many of these can you give up?

BY  (lifehack.org) – If you want to meet your financial goals and certain milestones in life you have to be critical on how you spend money. Spending money and acting frugally could be the difference between a comfortable retirement and having to work hard in later years. It takes only a couple of habits to be robbed of your hard-earned money.

There are certain spending habits that could be wasting you a lot of money though you are not aware of it. If you want to attain your financial independence and be in control of your every dollar, here are some spending habits you should be aware of.

1. Buying brand names

Because we are conditioned by advertisers that brand-name products always serve us better we are inclined to reach for brand-name products without ever counting the cost. But by trying generic brands or stores for products we buy often, we certainly would be saving 20 percent more.

2. Eating out

Many of us feel that cooking good food is tough. For some of us, we are too tired to cook. But when you stop eating out, the payoff can be huge. By changing your dining habits you could save hundreds if not thousands of dollars a year.

3. Regularly changing the oil in your vehicles

By wanting to stay on top of routine maintenance you show good habits. However when you are regularly changing the oil in your vehicles for every 3,000 miles, you may be wasting money. Many new vehicles use synthetic oils that can last you for over 8,000 miles or more. You could save your money by checking this…

 

 

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They don’t call this the silent killer for nothing. Do you know the signs?

By:  (rmhealthy.com) – Diabetes has been coined the alarming name of the “silent killer” because the symptoms are easy to miss and many people aren’t even aware that they may have diabetes. Over 24 million people in America have diabetes and more shockingly only about a 3rd of that number are aware that they have it. It’s the disease where rising sugar can become a poison in your body. It is important to get a blood sugar test to determine whether you have diabetes. If you suffer from any of the symptoms listed here you should talk to your doctor immediately.

It seems that there is more to it than we originally were made to believe.

By Dr. Mercola

Story at-a-glance

  • Added sugars, particularly fructose, in the US diet may be more strongly related to high blood pressure than salt
  • Cutting processed foods from your diet may benefit high blood pressure not only because it reduces salt, but more likely because it reduces sugar
  • Excess sugar in your diet increases blood pressure and heart rate and contributes to inflammation, insulin resistance and metabolic dysfunction

One out of every three US adults has high blood pressure (hypertension). If you’re among them, one of the first recommendations your physician probably gave you was to cut back on salt.

Yet, there’s far more to maintaining a healthy blood pressure than eating a low-salt diet – a strategy that works for some people and fails for others.

In fact, fewer than half of Americans with high blood pressure have their condition under control, and perhaps this is because conventional physicians have been focused on the “wrong white crystals,” namely salt instead of sugar.

One of the primary underlying causes of high blood pressure is related to your body producing too much insulin and leptin in response to a high-carbohydrate (i.e. high sugar) and processed food diet.

New Study: Sugar May be Worse for Your Blood Pressure Than Salt

You’ve probably heard of the DASH diet, which is claimed to be among the most effective for controlling hypertension. It consists largely of fresh vegetables, fruits, lean protein, whole grains, low-fat dairy, and very low sodium content.

But it’s ALSO low in sugar/fructose. So, while people on DASH diets do tend to show reduced hypertension, the reason for this may not be solely the reduction in salt, but the reduction in sugar.

The same holds true for reducing your intake of processed foods, which are top sources of both heavily processed salt and sugar/fructose. In a new review in the journal Open Heart, the authors also argue that the high consumption of added sugars in the US diet may be more strongly and directly associated with high blood pressure than the consumption of sodium.

They write:

“Evidence from epidemiological studies and experimental trials in animals and humans suggests that added sugars, particularly fructose, may increase blood pressure and blood pressure variability, increase heart rate and myocardial oxygen demand, and contribute to inflammation, insulin resistance and broader metabolic dysfunction.

Thus, while there is no argument that recommendations to reduce consumption of processed foods are highly appropriate and advisable, the arguments in this review are that the benefits of such recommendations might have less to do with sodium—minimally related to blood pressure and perhaps even inversely related to cardiovascular risk—and more to do with highly-refined carbohydrates.”

Take, for instance, one 2010 study that showed consuming a high-fructose diet lead to an increase in blood pressure of about 7mmHg/5mmHg, which is greater than what is typically seen with sodium (4mmHg/2mmHg). 

Research also shows that drinking a single 24-ounce fructose-sweetened beverage leads to greater increases in blood pressure over 24 hours than drinking a sucrose-sweetened beverage, which again points to the detrimental effects of fructose on your health. The Open Heart study authors concluded:

It is time for guideline committees to shift focus away from salt and focus greater attention to the likely more-consequential food additive: sugar.

A reduction in the intake of added sugars, particularly fructose, and specifically in the quantities and context of industrially-manufactured consumables, would help not only curb hypertension rates, but might also help address broader problems related to cardiometabolic disease.”

How Excess Sugar Causes High Blood Pressure

In order to effectively treat and recover from high blood pressure, it’s important to understand its underlying cause, which is often related to your body producing too much insulin and leptin in response to a high-carbohydrate and processed food diet. As your insulin and leptin levels rise, it causes your blood pressure to increase. Eventually, you may become insulin and/or leptin resistant.

As explained by Dr. Rosedale, insulin stores magnesium, but if your insulin receptors are blunted and your cells grow resistant to insulin, you can’t store magnesium so it passes out of your body through urination. Magnesium stored in your cells relaxes muscles.

If your magnesium level is too low, your blood vessels will be unable to fully relax, and this constriction raises your blood pressure. Fructose also elevates uric acid, which drives up your blood pressure by inhibiting the nitric oxide in your blood vessels. (Uric acid is a byproduct of fructose metabolism. In fact, fructose typically generates uric acid within minutes of ingestion.)

Nitric oxide helps your vessels maintain their elasticity, so nitric oxide suppression leads to increases in blood pressure. So any program adapted to address high blood pressure needs to help normalize both your insulin/leptin sensitivity and uric acid level.

As it turns out, by eliminating excess sugar/fructose from your diet, you can address all three issues (insulin, leptin, and uric acid) in one fell swoop. As a standard recommendation, I recommend keeping your total fructose consumption below 25 grams per day.

If you’re insulin resistant (the majority of Americans are), have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart disease, or other chronic disease, you’d be wise to limit your fructose to 15 grams or less per day, until your condition has normalized.

In his book The Sugar Fix, Dr. Richard Johnson includes detailed tables showing the content of fructose in different foods, but you can view a sampling of the fructose content of several common fruits below.

Keep in mind that for most…

 

 

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How do you know that your life is run by overwhelm?

by MANAL GHOSAIN (onewithnow.com) – When we’re drowning in a sea of overwhelm, it’s very hard to stop and take notice of the environment in which we live, just like fish are hardly aware of water.

Overwhelm though is not like water. It’s more like a swamp that pulls us deeper into helplessness, and compounds our stress as time goes by.

We can go on for years living with a dominant state of stress and overwhelm without giving it much thought—until a major event interrupts this way of life, and forces us to take a deeper look at how we’ve been operating in the world.

We don’t need to wait for a catastrophe to stop and look at the life we’re leading. We can do it right now.

First let’s look at overwhelm itself. It is not a mental process that we can analyze, or try to reason with. It’s a deep emotional response to countless thoughts and experiences. It runs without much care for logic, making it much harder to understand.

Feeling overwhelmed leads to higher levels of stress and anxiety, which in turn strip every experience of joy and satisfaction. Who wants to live a life devoid of contentment and enjoyment?

So, how do you know that your life is run by overwhelm?

Look at the following symptoms and see how they manifest in your life. You may relate to some more than others. You’ll also notice that they tend to work in tandem, and compound the stress.

7 chronic signs of overwhelm

It’s okay for us to experience any of these symptoms at any given time. They become a problem, however, when they turn into habits that run our lives.

I’ll start with the one I feel is the most indicative of overwhelm and its faithful companion: resistance.

1. Dread

If you wake up in the morning dreading the things you need to do and feeling anxious, chances are you’re in overwhelm mode before you even start your day.

Dread is anxiety wrapped in resistance. We feel torn between having to do something, and fearing that we won’t be able to do it. So we resist it and then feel more anxious.

Dread can become a habit that runs your life. When dread takes over, nothing is fun anymore; everything becomes a chore.

2. Indecision

Feeling overwhelmed clouds our judgment and robs us of clarity. When we feel we’re drowning, we grasp on to anything, but only momentarily before doubt creeps up and we fear we’re making the wrong decision.

Resistance in this case shows up as jumping from one thing to another because we’re unsure if we made the right choice among countless choices. If we don’t stick to anything long enough to see results, we’ll add to our stress and confusion.

3. Rushing through life

When we feel we have too much to do, and we don’t feel like doing anything (resistance), we procrastinate. But when life’s demands scream at us, we react with rushed…

 

 

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This isn’t as easy as it sounds! Are you up for the challenge?

by Rhonda Britten (consciouslifenews.com) – What I’ve discovered is, complaining steals your energy, time and money away. Complaining just sucks you dry of passion, motivation and purpose. I’ve seen it happen with thousands of people, because one of the first assignments I give my private clients is the very one I am giving you now.

Your Mission: For the next 24 hours, NO COMPLAINING.

That’s it. Your assignment all day is to stop yourself the minute you hear a complaint start to come out of that sweet little mouth of yours. Or maybe you don’t say it, but you think it. No more complaining in that brain of yours, either.

What I’ve discovered is, complaining steals your energy, time and money away. Complaining just sucks you dry of passion, motivation and purpose. I’ve seen it happen with thousands of people, because one of the first assignments I give my private clients is the very one I am giving you now.

I ask my clients to keep track of every complaint that comes up. For how long? A week. Sometimes two. Maybe three. They discover what I am telling you…

Your spark doesn’t have time to turn into a flame if you keep dousing it with complaints about how you can’t do this, or how no one will help you do that, or how no one understands you.

I know. Those complaints all sound so REAL and FEEL so true… until you get perspective (from a kick-in-the-butt life coach or a super good friend), and then you see them for the self-imposed hurdles they really are. They’re getting in the way of the life you want to live.

Your job is to…

 

 

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