Aging Bodies

Aging Bodies
Author: Christopher A. Faircloth
Publisher: Rowman Altamira
Total Pages: 306
Release: 2003-06-11
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0759116156

Western thought traditionally divides the human being into a body-mind dualism, a divide realized in the divergent research fields of geriatrics and gerontology; the first examines the physical body, and the second focuses instead upon psychological and social aspects of aging. Research Health Scientist Christopher Faircloth's edited volume of original pieces attempts to bridge this rift: reinserting the physical aging body and its lived experiences back into gerontology's study of aging. He asks, 'Is it not the physical body that readily marks us as aging?' Faircloth organizes this text around two major themes of the aging body: everyday experience, and the social and personal impact of its imagery, while concentrating on three areas of substantive concern: medicalization, gender/sexuality, and the body as consumer. This book would be of interest to gerontologists, social scientists, and students of these fields concerned with the aging body, both object and subject, as experienced and alternatively perceived in relation to contemporary society.

Our Bodies Not Ourselves

Our Bodies Not Ourselves
Author: Kathryn A. Kirigin
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2018-08-06
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0429891253

In 1970, the best-seller Our Bodies Ourselves was published. The focus of the authors, the Boston Health Collective, was on the youthful female body: on reproduction, sexuality, genitalia, intimacy and relationships in the context of North American cultural expectations. Our Bodies Not Ourselves is also about the female body—but on women aging from menopause to 100. Like its predecessor, Our Bodies Not Ourselves covers sexuality, genitalia, intimacy, gender norms and relationships. But the aging woman's body has many other issues, from head to toe, from skeleton to skin, and from sleep to motion. The book, an ethnography and Western cultural history of aging and gender, draws upon history, culture and social media, the authors’ own experiences as women of 70, and conversations and correspondence with more than two hundred women aged from 60-ish to 100. They consider the cultural and structural frameworks for contemporary aging: the long sweep of history, gendered cultural norms and the vast commercial and medical marketplaces for maintaining and altering the aging body. Part I, The Private Body, focuses on the embodied experiences of aging within our private households. Part II, The Public Body, explores weight, height, and adornment as old women appear among others. Part III, The Body With Others, sets the embodied experiences of aging women within their sexual and social relationships.

Dynamic Aging

Dynamic Aging
Author: Katy Bowman
Publisher: Uphill Books
Total Pages: 247
Release: 2017-02-24
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 1943370125

As seen on the Today Show, Dynamic Aging isn’t that same old senior fitness, senior stretching, senior strength book you’ve seen again and again. This book is about using simple exercises to feel better and get back to living vitally no matter your age. Don't blame your age if you're feeling creaky. It could just be the way you're using (or not using) your body. ―Washington Post on Dynamic Aging as a Book for the Ages Movement is a powerful tool and changing how you move can change how you feel, no matter your age. Dynamic Aging is an exercise guide geared to an over 50 audience that includes: 30+ illustrated exercises Moves for pain-free feet and strong hips better balance and getting over the fear of falling how to improve sitting, standing, and walking posture go from stiff shoulders to arms that can reach, carry, and lift how to stay fit to drive tips for moving more in daily life Alongside Bowman's exercise and alignment instructions are stories and advice of four women over seventy-five who began this program over a decade ago. Along the way they found recommended surgeries unnecessary, regained strength and mobility, and ended up moving more than they did when they were 10 years younger. From hiking in the mountains to climbing ladders and walking on cobblestones with ease, each of these women embodies the book's message: No matter where you're starting, if you change how you move, you can change how you feel.

The Art and Science of Aging Well

The Art and Science of Aging Well
Author: Mark E. Williams, M.D.
Publisher: UNC Press Books
Total Pages: 241
Release: 2016-06-22
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 146962740X

In the past century, average life expectancies have nearly doubled, and today, for the first time in human history, many people have a realistic chance of living to eighty or beyond. As life expectancy increases, Americans need accurate, scientifically grounded information so that they can take full responsibility for their own later years. In The Art and Science of Aging Well, Mark E. Williams, M.D., discusses the remarkable advances that medical science has made in the field of aging and the steps that people may take to enhance their lives as they age. Through his own observations and by use of the most current medical research, Williams offers practical advice to help aging readers and those who care for them enjoy personal growth and approach aging with optimism and even joy. The Art and Science of Aging Well gives a realistic portrait of how aging occurs and provides important advice for self-improvement and philosophical, spiritual, and conscious evolution. Williams argues that we have considerable choice in determining the quality of our own old age. Refuting the perspective of aging that insists that personal, social, economic, and health care declines are persistent and inevitable, he takes a more holistic approach, revealing the multiple facets of old age. Williams provides the resources for a happy and productive later life.

The Aging Body in Dance

The Aging Body in Dance
Author: Nanako Nakajima
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2017-01-06
Genre: Performing Arts
ISBN: 1315515326

What does it mean to be able to move? The Aging Body in Dance brings together leading scholars and artists from a range of backgrounds to investigate cultural ideas of movement and beauty, expressiveness and agility. Contributors focus on Euro-American and Japanese attitudes towards aging and performance, including studies of choreographers, dancers and directors from Yvonne Rainer, Martha Graham, Anna Halprin and Roemeo Castellucci to Kazuo Ohno and Kikuo Tomoeda. They draw a fascinating comparison between youth-oriented Western cultures and dance cultures like Japan’s, where aging performers are celebrated as part of the country’s living heritage. The first cross-cultural study of its kind, The Aging Body in Dance offers a vital resource for scholars and practitioners interested in global dance cultures and their differing responses to the world's aging population.

Providing Healthy and Safe Foods As We Age

Providing Healthy and Safe Foods As We Age
Author: Institute of Medicine
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 192
Release: 2010-11-29
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 0309158834

Does a longer life mean a healthier life? The number of adults over 65 in the United States is growing, but many may not be aware that they are at greater risk from foodborne diseases and their nutritional needs change as they age. The IOM's Food Forum held a workshop October 29-30, 2009, to discuss food safety and nutrition concerns for older adults.

If Our Bodies Could Talk

If Our Bodies Could Talk
Author: James Hamblin
Publisher: Anchor
Total Pages: 384
Release: 2016-12-27
Genre: Health & Fitness
ISBN: 0385540981

"If you want to understand the strange workings of the human body, and the future of medicine, you must read this illuminating, engaging book." —Siddhartha Mukherjee, author of The Gene In 2014, James Hamblin launched a series of videos for The Atlantic called "If Our Bodies Could Talk." With it, the doctor-turned-journalist established himself as a seriously entertaining authority in the field of health. Now, in illuminating and genuinely funny prose, Hamblin explores the human stories behind health questions that never seem to go away—and which tend to be mischaracterized and oversimplified by marketing and news media. He covers topics such as sleep, aging, diet, and much more: • Can I “boost” my immune system? • Does caffeine make me live longer? • Do we still not know if cell phones cause cancer? • How much sleep do I actually need? • Is there any harm in taking a multivitamin? • Is life long enough? In considering these questions, Hamblin draws from his own medical training as well from hundreds of interviews with distinguished scientists and medical practitioners. He translates the (traditionally boring) textbook of human anatomy and physiology into accessible, engaging, socially contextualized, up-to-the-moment answers. They offer clarity, examine the limits of our certainty, and ultimately help readers worry less about things that don’t really matter. If Our Bodies Could Talk is a comprehensive, illustrated guide that entertains and educates in equal doses.

Disrupt Aging

Disrupt Aging
Author: Jo Ann Jenkins
Publisher: Public Affairs
Total Pages: 274
Release: 2016-04-05
Genre: Family & Relationships
ISBN: 1610396766

This book "sets out to change the current conversation about what it means to get older. In it, Jenkins chronicles her own journey, as well as those of others who are making their mark as disrupters, to show readers how we can all be active, financially unburdened, and happy as we get older. It's [a] ... narrative that touches on all the important issues facing people 50+ today, from caregiving and mindful living to building age-friendly communities and attaining financial freedom"--

Cultures of Ageing

Cultures of Ageing
Author: Chris Gilleard
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2016-12-23
Genre: Aging
ISBN: 9781138157811

For undergraduate courses in sociology and psychology which examine ageing adulthood. This book focuses on the dramatic changes to the nature of post-retirement life experienced by people at the end of the twentieth century. It examines age and ageing in terms of the key preoccupations of contemporary sociology - citizenship, the body and the self. The book provides a platform for a new social gerontology that sees ageing as central to our understanding of social change. It examines social, cultural and political changes in Europe and North America to address the need for a text that moves the study of ageing from social policy towards the mainstream of social science.

Ending Aging

Ending Aging
Author: Aubrey de Grey
Publisher: Macmillan + ORM
Total Pages: 452
Release: 2007-09-04
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1429931833

MUST WE AGE? A long life in a healthy, vigorous, youthful body has always been one of humanity's greatest dreams. Recent progress in genetic manipulations and calorie-restricted diets in laboratory animals hold forth the promise that someday science will enable us to exert total control over our own biological aging. Nearly all scientists who study the biology of aging agree that we will someday be able to substantially slow down the aging process, extending our productive, youthful lives. Dr. Aubrey de Grey is perhaps the most bullish of all such researchers. As has been reported in media outlets ranging from 60 Minutes to The New York Times, Dr. de Grey believes that the key biomedical technology required to eliminate aging-derived debilitation and death entirely—technology that would not only slow but periodically reverse age-related physiological decay, leaving us biologically young into an indefinite future—is now within reach. In Ending Aging, Dr. de Grey and his research assistant Michael Rae describe the details of this biotechnology. They explain that the aging of the human body, just like the aging of man-made machines, results from an accumulation of various types of damage. As with man-made machines, this damage can periodically be repaired, leading to indefinite extension of the machine's fully functional lifetime, just as is routinely done with classic cars. We already know what types of damage accumulate in the human body, and we are moving rapidly toward the comprehensive development of technologies to remove that damage. By demystifying aging and its postponement for the nonspecialist reader, de Grey and Rae systematically dismantle the fatalist presumption that aging will forever defeat the efforts of medical science.