Contemporary Retirement
Retirement is changing. The type of retirement that their parents enjoyed is no longer enough for the baby boomer generation. Today’s retirees are younger, richer, fitter, healthier and better educated than previous generations of retirees. They also have much higher expectations. The aim of this blog is to help you get the vital, healthy, prosperous, productive and fulfilling retirement that you really want (and deserve).Wednesday, August 30, 2006
Campfire stories on Squidoo
Scare your grandchildren silly before you hand them back to their parents - tell them a spooky campfire story from http://www.squidoo.com/campfirestories/.
Tuesday, August 29, 2006
Alzheimer mice memories restored - BBC News article
Friday, August 25, 2006
How roughage 'keeps you regular' - BBC News article
I'm a great believer in eating fibre-rich foods and I wouldn't dream of starting the day without my bowl of branflakes with fruit and skimmed milk.
The benefits of a high-fibre diet are well known - but now US researchers have found out just how roughage keeps people 'regular'. Read all about it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5274420.stm.
Thursday, August 24, 2006
How to get published
The Squidoo 'Lens of the Day' for today is The Perfect Pen: How to Get Published by best-selling author, Connie Briscoe. Connie's lens has information about getting your first novel published, advice about whether to submit your novel to a literary agent or direct to a publisher, and even resources to help you find that agent or publisher. Visit http://www.squidoo.com/howtowrite/ if the urge to write that book is still burning away inside you... (And you will send me a first edition copy won't you? :-))
Wednesday, August 23, 2006
Good quotes
Life is like a box of chocolates. Sometimes you take a big bite out of something that you just have to spit out.
Author Unknown
Tuesday, August 22, 2006
Does what you want to do with your life seem too silly or irresponsible?
I often recommend coach Michael Neill's radio show, 'You Can Have What You Want', on Hay House Radio. This week's programme looks interesting. Here are the details:
This week on 'You Can Have What You Want'!
Thursday, August 24 at Noon pacific/3pm eastern/8pm UK:
(Internet radio at (http://www.hayhouseradio.com)
*****FEAR MASQUERADING AS GOOD TASTE*****
Does what you want to do with your life seem too "silly" or
"irresponsible?"
If so, you may be suffering from a condition Michael calls "fear
masquerading as good taste." Tune in as Michael helps you
uncover your hidden fears and step boldly into the life of your
dreams!
To get coaching live on air, use these numbers:
Inside the US (Toll free)
1-866-254-1579
From the UK/Outside the US
001-760-918-4300
You can also e-mail your questions for me to
questions@geniuscatalyst.com.
To listen to the show each and every Thursday, go to
the button marked 'Listen Now'.
Coming Next:
August 31 - Thriving on Change
If you missed last week's show on finding ways to feel better in
the midst of whatever is going on in your life, please visit
http://www.hayhouseradio.com/ and click the button for the
'Listen Again' archives!
Monday, August 21, 2006
No nursing home for me!
Someone sent me this over the weekend - I must admit that the idea does have a certain appeal...
Two years ago, my wife and I were on a cruise of the western Mediterranean aboard a Princess liner. At dinner we noticed an elderly lady sitting alone by the rail of the grand stairway in the main dining room. I also noticed that the ship's staff, officers, waiters, busboys, etc, all seemed very familiar with this lady. I asked the waiter who the lady was, expecting to be told that she owned the cruise line, but he said that he only knew that she had been on board for the last four cruises, back to back.
As we left the dining room one evening, I caught her eye and stopped to say 'hello'. We chatted for a while and I said, 'I understand that you've been on this ship for the last four cruises?' She replied. 'Yes, that's true'. I stated, 'I don't understand', and she replied, without a pause, 'It's cheaper than a nursing home'.
So, there will be no nursing home in my future. When I get old and feeble, I am going to get on a Princess ship. The cost for an average nursing home is £111 per day. I have checked on reservations at Princess and I can get a long-term discount and senior discount price of £75 per day. That leaves £36 a day.
1. Tips will only be £6 per day.
2. I will have as many as 10 meals a day if I can waddle to the restaurant, or I can have room service (which means I can have breakfast in bed every day of the week).
3. Princess has swimming pools, a workout room, free washers and dryers, and shows every night.
4. They have free toothpaste and razors and free soap and shampoo.
5. They will even treat you like a customer, not a patient. An extra £15 worth of tips will have the entire staff scrambling to help you.
6. I will get to meet new people every 7 or 14 days.
7. TV broken? Light bulb needs changing? Need to have the mattress replaced? No problem! They will fix everything and apologise for your inconvenience.
8. Clean sheets and towels every day and you don't even need to ask them.
9. If you fall in a nursing home and break your hip, chances are you will die before being treated on the NHS; if you fall and break a hip on the Princess ship, they will upgrade you to a suite for the rest of your life...
Now, hold on for the best...
10. Do you want to see South America? The Panama Canal? Tahiti? Australia? New Zealand? Asia? Princess will have a ship ready to go!
So, don't look for me in a nursing home - just call shore to ship!
P.S. And don't forget, when you die, they just dump you over the side at no charge!
Thursday, August 17, 2006
Squidoo 'Lens of the Day'
Every day a lens is chosen by the Squidoo staff to become their 'Lens of the Day'. Today, it's the turn of Vanessa Blott's 'Glo to Sleep' lens, which I thought you might find interesting, especially if you're feeling a little sleep-deprived. 'The Glo to Sleep' is a device which is designed to stop you lying awake, thinking or worrying, when you go to bed. Apparently, all that thinking and worrying generates beta waves in your brain, which are too fast to be conducive to sleep. In order to nod off, you need to slow your brain activity to the alpha wave state - a state of relaxation which is the bridge between wakefulness and sleep.
The 'Glo to Sleep' device was invented by Vanessa's husband, Tim, who had problems shutting off his mind when it was time for bed. When he was unable to find anything to help him, he invented his own solution. Read more about it at: http://www.squidoo.com/glotosleep/.
Wednesday, August 16, 2006
Is your brain ready for bootcamp?
Gary Small, Professor of Psychiatry at the American UCLA Center on Aging, has designed a two-week memory bootcamp as an assault against the natural decline in memory than comes as a result of aging. You can read more about it in an article written by Phil Scott at http://www.aarp.org/learntech/wellbeing/staying_sharp_boot_camp.html and you can try out a week's worth of mental exercises from the bootcamp at http://assets.aarp.org/www.aarp.org_/articles/NRTA/docs/7DaysofMentalPushups2.pdf.
Tuesday, August 15, 2006
Wise words
"Imagine life as a game in which you are juggling five balls in the air. You name them - work, family, health, friends, and spirit - and you're keeping all of these in the air. You will soon understand that work is a rubber ball. If you drop it, it will bounce back. But the other four balls - family, health, friends, and spirit - are made of glass. If you drop one of these, they will be irrevocably scuffed, marked, nicked, damaged, or even shattered. They will never be the same. You must understand that and strive for balance in your life."
Brian Dyson, CEO of Coca Cola Enterprises from 1959-1994
Monday, August 14, 2006
Mornings 'best time for surgery' - BBC News article
According to a research team at the U.S.-based Duke University, mornings are the best time to go under the surgeon's knife if you want to avoid 'adverse events' such as post-operative nausea and vomiting, wound infection and dangerous changes in blood pressure. Read the full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/4783163.stm.
Friday, August 11, 2006
Check out About.com
Another excellent resource that I came across in the last couple of days is About.com. The whole site is packed with useful information for all ages, but they also have a 'Seniors' section where you're bound to find something of interest. To reach it, visit the About.com site, click on 'People and Relationships' then click on either 'Senior Health' or Senior Living'.
Thursday, August 10, 2006
Mid-life crisis? Check out LifeTwo.com
My request for guinea pigs to test my new eCourse - the Retirement Detox Programme (see yesterday's posting) was picked up by Wesley Hein of LifeTwo.com. LifeTwo is a fantastic resource, packed full of articles relevant to baby boomers, middle-agers and retirees. Here's what Wesley has to say about the site:
'Life Two is many things and will certainly create a different experience for different people. In short Greg and I want to create a place that helps people make better decisions with their lives. Of course the scope of this task is ridiculous, how can we even propose to do such a thing. Well, a couple of ways.
First, there is an old saying that goes something like "How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time." We aren't going to solve everyone's problems in one day. But we hope that this site is a catalyst for people improving their lives one bite at a time.
Second and more importantly, we will likely have very little to do with whatever benefits people will get form the site. Our part is to put up the plumbing and do what we can to attract the early visitors, but after that it is going to be community members helping community members. This is not a novel concept and recently a number of web companies have launched to help new parents (Minti) or to help people make travel decisions (RealTravel). We applaud these efforts and hope that they succeed. But if one wants parenting help or travel suggestions there is no shortage of good online/offline sources for this information. But for the more complex life decisions (such as "what do I want to do with my life") there are places to turn. Furthermore, these are sometimes the types of topics that people have trouble having with people they are close--making the anonymity of the Internet a plus.
Life Two is a long-term project and you will see us add new features and functions over-time based on reactions that we get from other community members.'
Definitely well worth a look!
Tuesday, August 08, 2006
Guinea pigs wanted!
Since I went to Florida in March, I've not taken a Summer vacation yet and I've been busy, busy, busy writing two eCourses which I hope to release within the next month. The first eCourse, The Retirement Detox Programme is ready to be tested and I'm looking for volunteers who would be willing to receive the course, free of charge, and be prepared to comment on content and layout, point out any areas that are unclear, spot typos etc, and, if they like the course, provide a testimonial to say what they liked and what effect the course had on them.
Ideally, volunteer testers will have been retired for at least a year and be feeling a little disillusioned with retirement and wondering 'Is this all there is, then?'. They will be able to identify with at least one of the following:
- You took some much-need time off to relax but find that you're getting bored now
- It's starting to feel like your purpose in life retired when you did and that you're floundering around in your retirement
- Golf and time spent with the family isn't enough for you and you want and need to do more
- When you envisage the remainder of your retirement years, you see only more of the same and you want something different. Something better.
- You still have things that you'd like to accomplish. You still want to travel. Explore. Experience.
- Your relationship has suffered since you retired and you're not sure how to get it back on track
- Your partner's idea of their ideal retirement and your own idea of your ideal retirement differ and you can't seem to find a compromise
- You would love to be able to start your retirement over again
The course is delivered via email in 40 daily lessons. If you know of anyone you feel might benefit from it, would you please tell them about it and ask them to get in touch at retirement@annharrisonlifecoaching.com?
Read more about the Retirement Detox eCourse
Keep on driving to avoid long-term care
Researchers at the U.S.-based John Hopkins School of Medicine have discovered that older people who continue to drive are less likely to enter nursing homes or assisted living centres than those who have given up driving or who have never driven.
Obviously, however, the team of researchers are not advocating that a person continue to drive if they are a danger to themselves or other road users. Ellen Freeman, Ph.D, an epidemiological researcher at the John Hopkins Wilmer Eye Institute, stated that:
"This probably isn't so much about the process of driving but rather the larger issue of mobility as it relates to a person's independence. When someone becomes a shut-in due to the loss of their primary transportation, the likelihood that they will require living assistance categorically increases."
Monday, August 07, 2006
Living in the raw
I love the idea of incorporating more raw food into my diet - no, I'm not talking about raw meat or anything like that - I'm talking about more fruit, salads, smoothies, nuts and seeds, etc. Would you believe that you can even get raw chocolate cake and apple crumble? Or flapjacks, cookies and ice-cream?
If you're even the slightest bit intrigued, have a look at Karen Knowler's 'Living in the Raw' blog, at http://karenknowler.typepad.com/living_in_the_raw/.
Karen is The Raw Food Coach. She is also an author, presenter, MD of The Fresh Network (The UK's raw and living foods organisation), founder of The Fresh Festival and creator of Get Fresh! magazine. Karen has appeared on LK Today (GMTV), Channel Health, The Wellbeing Channel, Rude Health, LBC radio and Radio 4, as well as appearing regularly in the press in her capacity as raw food expert and food/life coach. She really knows her stuff and she makes the idea of raw food seem an absolute 'no-brainer' (without appearing to be the slightest bit 'crusty' or 'cranky').
Friday, August 04, 2006
Dementia risk predictor devised - BBC News article
A new test could help doctors to predict the probability of patients developing dementia. People who are found to be at greater risk could then be encouraged to make lifestyle changes or be given drugs to lower their weight or blood pressure levels. Read the full story here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5238542.stm.
Wednesday, August 02, 2006
OAP pays for op with fake cheque - BBC News article
You can read the rest of the article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/5234656.stm.
Tuesday, August 01, 2006
Many in the UK 'don't wear suncream' - BBC News article
A survey of 1,010 people carried out by The Institute of Cancer Research and Superdrug has found that whilst 67% of them used high-factor protection while on holiday, only 33% did whilst in the UK. The survey also uncovered the fact that almost four out of 10 people do not put on sunscreen for gardening and that nearly half do not put it on for playing sports. You can read the full article here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/5232010.stm
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