Music is good for us. This is a little hard to study with the same rigor as, say, whether penicillin or another antibiotic is best for a specific infection, but music has been studied and the physiological benefits are measurable. Music can reduce stress, blood pressure, pain and anxiety. Sometimes music can ...

Where do I even start? Ah, in utero! My mother was a cellist and played Bach Suites long before I was conceived. My father was a pianist and knew all the jazz standards of the 1930s and ’40s, before, as he would put it, my mother was a “glimmer in his eye.” Together, they played music hundreds of years old....

How often have we heard or repeated that, “Music hath charms that soothe the savage beast?” The original statement by English playwright William Congreve in “The Mourning Bride” (1697), however, was, “Music has charms that soothe the savage breast.”

While writing my doctoral dissertation, “Transgressive Gender Performance — An Act of Personal and Cultural Transformation,” I speculated that gender was the last stubborn holdout of binary thinking, and that we were on the cusp of a paradigm shift.

If you have taken part in medical care in the last year, it is likely you have encountered artificial intelligence (AI). It is increasingly used to write medical provider notes, sometimes by directly listening in on visits.

Apparently, I am a workaholic, even though I haven’t had a “real” job for years. I applied to be a dishwasher last year and was not even called for an interview. I was a waitress in 1956 — that might have been too revealing for the employer. Their loss.

I was walking down the long hall at my mother’s nursing home when I heard a bright cheery “Hi!” behind me. I turned and saw a woman in her 90s rolling toward me in her wheelchair with a big smile on her face.

A friend recently asked me about retirement. “Was it difficult?” My reply, without giving it much thought: “No, it was surprisingly easy.”

As I watched soccer’s World Cup matches last month, I was left with one question: Is anyone more fit than a soccer referee? I am still trying to understand all the rules of international “football,” but thoroughly enjoyed seeing people from all over the world unite around this sport. There is something moving...

I entered a crowded restaurant and noticed a table of eight sitting with bowed heads. I thought, “How sweet, they are saying grace.” As I walked by, I saw they were all praying to their cell phones. Three generations riveted to technology. I have lived long but still carry memories of my grandmother and mothe...

While my wife, Janet, was alive, our financial situation was simple. All of our assets were in both our names and I made sure that if something happened to me, Janet, while dealing with her terminal illness, could quickly access enough cash to move into a care facility. Nothing happened to me and Janet died a...

Question: What do college students and companion animals have in common? Answer: Among other contributions to retired folks, both challenge us with new ideas and skills to keep us on our toes as we age.

It can be hard to believe that we have any power to change the course of climate change. Each time I get one of those soggy paper straws with my smoothie, I am reminded why we love plastic so much. How can it make any difference to use just one plastic straw? Maybe it cannot. But during this Plastic-Free July...

As an elder Baby Boomer, I want and need to apologize. I could list the various generations, but let me simplify and address my apology to all current and future-not-yet-named-generations that are dealing with or will have to deal with the consequences of my actions or, more often, my lack of actions.

I grew up believing all things are possible, born in the “land of the free” with “liberty and justice for all.” The past few months have been a huge challenge to my belief system. I won’t digress here — you read the news and listen to the broadcasts. You have personal experiences at the grocery store (you eve...

Which came first? Does feeling good cause your smile or does smiling make you feel good? Sometimes, when walking in the park, I’ll feel so good to be out there with the cows and birds on foggy spring mornings that I’ll break out in a smile, which I did six times a few days ago. The next day I didn’t smile at ...

Hypertension literally means “too much strain,” referring to the pressure against the walls of arteries. People likely have known about it since ancient times, maybe noticing pulses being harder than usual and even noticing things like salt making that worse, but the Western World did not start regularly trea...

Well, maybe it is for some things — I’m not going to be a ballerina, although I did sign up for ballet classes when I turned 80. It was great for balance, flexibility and short-term memory. I was not preparing for the corps de ballet, so there was no pressure to perform. Two years ago, a friend who is a big r...

The older we get, the more meaningful and significant the opportunities and inherent power of being able to choose become. I have found that the loss of a loved one challenges the very nature of my capacity to choose. Miriam-Webster defines choice as, “the act of picking or deciding between two or more possib...

Today’s media are filled with articles extolling the positive effects of pets on our well-being, especially those of us who are retired. Dogs, for example, provide companionship, encourage physical activity and even introduce us to new friends and social groups.