Maine's John Calderwood has given up retirement for a real labor of love. WABI reports.
CNN reports 61-year-old Diana Nyad had to abandon the first shark cage-free swim from Florida to Cuba about half way through the 103-mile undertaking. Nyad was attempting this to show people all over the world that it is never too late to set goals for yourself and you can do anything you set your mind to, even if you are older. Both the wind and currents contributed to her decision to stop the swim, plus asthma and shoulder pain.Here are three other senior citizens who defied the odds and exceeded expectations of what was expected of someone their age.The Huffington Post reports Min Bahadur Sherchan became the oldest person ever, at age 76, to scale 29,035 feet-tall Mount Everest in 2008. The Guinness Book of World Records confirmed Sherchan had indeed become the oldest person to scale Mount Everest; in 2009, they awarded him a certificate and put him in the record books. Sherchan is a former soldier in his home country of Nepal and wanted to climb for world peace, which is what kept him determined throughout the climb.HealthLine reports that, at age 91, Edith McAllister from San Antonio, Texas, is a daily water skier and has stayed mobile and independent even in her older years. McAllister believes in daily physical activity and thinks you just need to keep going and not stop in order to stay healthy. Instead of just sitting around the house waiting for life to pass her by, she gets out there on the water and just has thetime of her life, which she probably learned from her father -- also an avid water skier.ESPN reports Ken Mink, 73, from Arrington, Tenn., became an inspiration after he became part of the Roane State Community College basketball team. Mink had been kicked out of a junior college basketball team when he was younger for something he did not do and was committed to get back on the court again before it was too late.Mink came onto the court defending the ball, shooting free throws, and dribbling the ball as he ran just as well as a lot of the men younger than himself. This was an excellent moment and an inspiration for older people everywhere; it showed that all you have to do is set your mind to do something and ask to become part of a team and you might get your shot.CNN Wire Staff, "Diana Nyad Back In U.S. After Abandoning Cuba To Florida Swim", CNNAdam Taylor, "Min Bahadur Sherchan, Nepalese Climber, 76, Oldest Man To Conquer Everest", Huffington PostJolie Bookspan, "91 Year Old Water Skier", Health LineWright Thompson, "The Legend Of Ken Mink", ESPNBy Jeanne Rose | Yahoo! Contributor Network – Tue, Aug 9, 2011 http://news.yahoo.com/diana-nyad-other-inspirational-seniors-194500497.html
ARTICLE BY: CYNTHIA ROSS CRAVIT - SEP 08, 2011
When times are tough it's easy to expect the worst. But a positive attitude benefits your health, your happiness -- and your productivity.Research shows that having a positive attitude can make a huge difference in promoting better health and an improved sense of well-being — which in turn can lead to improved confidence and productivity.And while optimists are often accused of oversimplifying or being unrealistic, the Mayo Clinic says that people who tend to view situations in a positive light experience a higher level of both physical and mental functioning than their pessimist counterparts.Optimists, for example, have:- Greater resistance to catching the common cold- Reduced risk of coronary artery disease- Easier breathing if you have certain lung diseases, such as emphysema- Better coping skills during hardships- Less negative stressFurther, studies have found that optimistic people decreased their risk of early death by a full 50 per cent compared to those who were more pessimistic. (For more, see Will your personality determine how long you live?)Retrain the brainIf you’re not a natural optimist, can you change the way you think — and become more upbeat? Experts say yes, that with practice, people can basically retrain their brains to think more positively. Mainly this has to do with monitoring — and changing, if necessary — the ’self-talk’ or the automatic stream of thoughts that runs through your head, endlessly, every day. These thoughts can be either negative or positive, and can be based on logic or on misconceptions and lack of information.According to the Mayo Clinic, some common forms of negative self-talk include:Filtering. This happens when you magnify the negative aspects of a situation and filter out all of the positive ones. For example, after a fantastically productive day at work, you suddenly realize you forgot one task – and it is this task you focus on instead of the ones you did accomplish.Personalizing. In this case, when something bad occurs, you automatically blame yourself. Did your company lose an important account? You think it must be entirely your fault — when in reality other factors came into play.Catastrophizing. This happens when you automatically anticipate the worst in any given situation. Your boss asks to see you? It must be bad news.Polarizing. In this instance there is no middle ground: You view things as either good or bad, black or white. You feel that you have to be perfect or that you’re a total failure.Silence the internal criticInstead of automatically giving in to them, challenge your negative thoughts. You can weed out negative self-talk by replacing thoughts that are based on irrational thinking with rational, positive ones. For example, if you’re feeling out of the loop at the office, instead of saying to yourself: “No one bothers to communicate with me”, say instead, “I’ll see if I can open the channels of communication.”Copyright 2009-2011 All Rights Reserved - ZoomerMedia Limited.
 Just as physical activity improves your body's ability to function, studies show that keeping your brain active may help reduce your risk of developing Alzheimer's disease. Research is showing that by using your brain, you increase its networks of connections. A brain-healthy lifestyle also emphasizes the importance of overcoming routine and monotony in our daily lives. By approaching daily routines in new ways, you engage new or little used mental pathways. Since the evidence suggests that mental stimulation enhances brain activity and may help maintain brain health throughout life, it is important to put your brain to work. Challenging your brain doesn't have to be difficult. It can be as simple as dialing the phone with your less dominant hand or as complex as learning a new language. Remember, the goal is to give your brain a new experience and a workout each and every day.
For a reference list of studies regarding Alzheimer's disease and brain health, click here. [This information is also available in an information sheet you can download from this site. |
Play games to challenge your mind – chess, word and number puzzles, jigsaws, crosswords and memory games.
