July, 2011Archive

You Call Them Chores, They Call Them Memory Boosters

Posted on 07/29/2011 by Candy Sagon | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Personal HealthExercise helps the brain, but that doesn’t mean you have to work up a sweat to get those mental benefits. Some important new studies show that just getting up off your tush every day and doing normal daily activities like gardening, walking, or volunteering can stave off memory loss, the New York Times’ Gretchen Reynolds writes in a recent column. In a study published last week in the Archives of Internal Medicine, a team of Canadian and American researchers found that modest activity — …

Life Is All about Choices. So What Are Yours?

Posted on 07/29/2011 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthEvery day, I make choices: to get up on time or sleep late. Brush my teeth or skip the cleaning. Take my prescription pills or skip the medicine. Drink a cup of coffee or fix a pot of tea. Clean the kitchen sink or let the chore wait. Sweep the floor or step over the crumbs. I’ve made six decisions in the first few minutes of being awake. In response to the question of how many decisions we make a …

Volunteering On Your Next Vacation

Posted on 07/28/2011 by Reed Sandridge | Giving & Volunteering | Comments

Travel | VolunteeringThis is a guest blog post from Reed Sandridge. Sandridge lost his job in 2009 and did the unthinkable – he started giving away $10 a day to complete strangers! He captured the story of every recipient at www.yearofgiving.org. A frequent writer and speaker on volunteering and micro-philanthropy, Sandridge lives in our nation’s capital. As we settle into the heart of the summer, many people are getting ready to embark on vacation. It’s a time to relax and leave our …

The Takeaway: Grandparents Are Safer Drivers; Suicide, Women Over 50

Posted on 07/28/2011 by Tina Johnson-Marcel | The Takeaway | Comments

News RoundupsWant to keep your kids safe in the car? Make sure Nana’s behind the wheel. When children are present, grandparents are better drivers than Mom and Dad, a new study says.

Volunteer Excitement! No, Really!

Posted on 07/28/2011 by John Briley | AARP Blog Author | Comments

VolunteeringYou know and I know that, despite all hope and expectations, every single volunteer engagement you do won’t qualify as fun. This can be due to any number of factors, including setting, weather, your mood that day and even your co-volunteers and (we can admit it) the recipients of your good will. So every now and then you need a little extra kick to make volunteering exciting. That’s one reason we’re running the Create The Good Win & Do Good …

You Want the 230-Calorie Fries With That? Or The 500-Calorie Ones?

Posted on 07/28/2011 by Candy Sagon | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Personal HealthHere’s the thinking: If we knew how many calories were in our restaurant foods, we’d make healthier choices about what to order. But is that really true? A new study of New York City fast-food restaurants found that only one in six customers use the calorie information on menus, but they generally order about 100 calories less than those who either didn’t notice the numbers or who ignored them.