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Aging is inevitable, if you're lucky. But frailty doesn't have to be. The condition—sometimes signaled by a slower walk or weaker hand grip—is projected to increase sharply in the near future, my colleague Veronique Greenwood wrote in a new story today. |
Exercise (surprise, surprise!) is a key to preventing it and even reversing it, which is possible to a certain extent. That’s yet another good reason to get up and move today. |
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TODAY’S TOPICS |
Living—and laughing—with Stage IV cancer When memory suddenly disappears Got a health question for us? An intergenerational antidote to loneliness
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QUICK CHAT |
A diagnosis, not an identity |
Last week, I wrote a story about what hospice workers recommend saying to someone who’s dying. It quickly became one of the week’s most-read stories, which made me realize how many people are navigating these conversations |
While reporting it, I spoke with Barbara Andes, an 88-year-old in Orange County, Calif., who has Stage IV pancreatic cancer. Her conversation didn’t make it into the piece—we ended up talking less about dying than about how she wants to live—but it’s stuck with me ever since. —Angela Haupt, Editor, Health & Wellness |
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity. |
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Peter Dazeley—Getty Images |
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You seem remarkably energetic and optimistic. What's your secret? |
Cancer is part of my life, but it doesn't define my life. I've accepted that I have an incurable cancer and that someday it will take my life. But while I'm here, I'm 100% into living. I've always been an optimistic person. I don't dwell on bad things, and I haven't changed because of this diagnosis. I'm enjoying every day of my life. |
What advice would you give someone who just received a diagnosis like yours? |
Don't let the cancer control you. Accept that it's part of your life, follow your doctor's advice, and expect good things to happen. You really can live a happy life even with a diagnosis like mine. I think having faith has helped me tremendously, but whatever gives you hope, hold onto it. |
Someone told me you have one very specific philosophy about getting dressed every morning. |
Yes! Get up, take your shower, put your makeup on, do your hair, and wear nice clothes. Don't live in sweatpants. Wear color. It lifts your spirits, and I think it lifts other people's spirits, too. At [my treatment center] City of Hope, I see so many people dressed in gray and beige, and it makes me sad. I like to think that if I walk in wearing bright colors and looking put together, maybe I've brightened someone else's day. |
Besides colorful clothes, what keeps you feeling good? |
I eat well, especially protein. I sleep soundly every night. I love to read, and I walk every day because I love being outside, hearing the birds, and seeing people. I live in a retirement community, so I'm surrounded by neighbors and friends. Those relationships, along with good nutrition, good sleep, and staying active, have made a tremendous difference for me. |
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TODAY I LEARNED |
Memory, interrupted |
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Katie Couric suffered from transient global amnesia (TGA), an episode of sudden and temporary memory loss, while at the Aspen Ideas Festival this summer. She spoke in detail last week about the scary episode with Dr. Jeremy Faust, an emergency medicine physician, on his Substack column Inside Medicine. |
“I couldn't tell you anything about the interviews I did, the panel I was on, what I said, what the other panelists said. I don't remember going to the ER. I don't remember getting an MRI,” Couric told Faust of the day she “will always forget.” |
TGA affects about 3 to 10 people out of every 100,000 each year. “In patients over the age of 50 years it can be considered relatively common,” according to one study on this topic. |
Doctors still don’t know what causes TGA, and the condition is considered harmless, though it can be disconcerting. Still, Faust recommends that anyone who experiences sudden confusion and memory loss go to the ER to rule out other causes, such as strokes or seizures. “Yes, it's benign, but let us in the ER determine that. —Dominique Mosbergen |
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PLEASE ADVISE |
Ask the health team |
Have a burning health or wellness question? Wondering how to handle a tricky social situation? Please write to healthmatters@time.com, and we might tackle it in a future edition of the newsletter. |
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WHAT WE’RE READING |
Can a college student be an antidote to an older person’s loneliness? Kevin Simpson at the Colorado Sun follows a program pairing students and seniors for conversation, crafts, music, and friendship. A recall of nearly 1.6 million dozen eggs linked to a Salmonella outbreak has been upgraded to the FDA’s highest risk level, Rebecca Schneid reports for TIME. Want to make the most of your next vacation? David Robson at BBC Future writes about looking for “extraordinary grandeur” while letting go of the urge to optimize a trip.
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