Source https://tinybuddha.com/blog/coming-out-at-50-love-loss-and-living-my-truth/
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” ~Carl Jung
We all had a wild ride during the pandemic, am I right? Mine included falling in love with a woman. At fifty years old.
That’s not something I expected. But isn’t that how life goes?
One day you’re baking sourdough and trying not to touch your face, and the next you’re coming out to the world and losing half your family in the process.
I’d been single for over two decades—twenty-five years of bad dates, some good therapy, and quiet Friday nights. I’d survived abuse, betrayal, and abandonment.
I’d been struggling to make peace with…
Source https://tinybuddha.com/blog/coming-out-at-50-love-loss-and-living-my-truth/
“The privilege of a lifetime is to become who you truly are.” ~Carl Jung
We all had a wild ride during the pandemic, am I right? Mine included falling in love with a woman. At fifty years old.
That’s not something I expected. But isn’t that how life goes?
One day you’re baking sourdough and trying not to touch your face, and the next you’re coming out to the world and losing half your family in the process.
I’d been single for over two decades—twenty-five years of bad dates, some good therapy, and quiet Friday nights. I’d survived abuse, betrayal, and abandonment.
I’d been struggling to make peace with…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/menopause-accelerates-aging/
It is well known that the health of women and aspects of aging worsen in many ways after menopause. The biochemistry of menopause and its role in aging is not as easily researched as it might be, as mice do not naturally exhibit menopause. Menopause can certainly be induced by chemical or surgical means in mice, but these models are all artificial and come with caveats as to the interpretation of results. It was thought that only a few larger mammals exhibit menopause, and this remains the consensus, but in recent years researchers have provided evidence to suggest that most large mammals do in fact undergo menopause. Identifying that this is the case has not been an area of focus, as large mammals are not often used in fundamental research into mechanisms of aging for reasons of cost and time.
In today’s open access paper, researchers use an <a href="https:…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/menopause-accelerates-aging/
It is well known that the health of women and aspects of aging worsen in many ways after menopause. The biochemistry of menopause and its role in aging is not as easily researched as it might be, as mice do not naturally exhibit menopause. Menopause can certainly be induced by chemical or surgical means in mice, but these models are all artificial and come with caveats as to the interpretation of results. It was thought that only a few larger mammals exhibit menopause, and this remains the consensus, but in recent years researchers have provided evidence to suggest that most large mammals do in fact undergo menopause. Identifying that this is the case has not been an area of focus, as large mammals are not often used in fundamental research into mechanisms of aging for reasons of cost and time.
In today’s open access paper, researchers use an <a href="https:…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/more-on-the-lower-age-related-inflammation-in-hunter-gatherer-populations/
Inflammaging is the age-related tendency of the immune system to slip into chronic inflammation in the absence of any external provocation such as injury or infection. Research into this phenomenon has produced a list of many different contributing mechanisms: the growing burden of senescent cells that produce pro-inflammatory signaling; excess visceral fat tissue that encourages the creation of senescent cells and provides pro-inflammatory signaling of its own; <a href="https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2017/12/reviewing-the-mitochondrial-con…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/more-on-the-lower-age-related-inflammation-in-hunter-gatherer-populations/
Inflammaging is the age-related tendency of the immune system to slip into chronic inflammation in the absence of any external provocation such as injury or infection. Research into this phenomenon has produced a list of many different contributing mechanisms: the growing burden of senescent cells that produce pro-inflammatory signaling; excess visceral fat tissue that encourages the creation of senescent cells and provides pro-inflammatory signaling of its own; <a href="https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2017/12/reviewing-the-mitochondrial-con…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/metabolic-syndrome-correlates-with-increased-risk-of-parkinsons-disease/
Metabolic syndrome is a consequence of excess fat tissue, being overweight. It is the precursor to type 2 diabetes, and produces the same sort of harmful contributions to age-related conditions via increased chronic inflammation and a range of other mechanisms relating to the disruption of normal metabolism. It should not be surprising to see that metabolic syndrome increases the risk of a neurodegenerative condition like Parkinson’s disease, as this class of age-related conditions are well known to involve inflammation in brain tissue.
…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/metabolic-syndrome-correlates-with-increased-risk-of-parkinsons-disease/
Metabolic syndrome is a consequence of excess fat tissue, being overweight. It is the precursor to type 2 diabetes, and produces the same sort of harmful contributions to age-related conditions via increased chronic inflammation and a range of other mechanisms relating to the disruption of normal metabolism. It should not be surprising to see that metabolic syndrome increases the risk of a neurodegenerative condition like Parkinson’s disease, as this class of age-related conditions are well known to involve inflammation in brain tissue.
…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/progerin-expression-may-play-a-role-in-chronic-kidney-disease/
Progerin is a truncated form of lamin A, a protein needed to ensure the cell nucleus has a normal structure. In patients with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, lamin A mutation leads to a large amounts of progerin, widespread cell dysfunction, the appearance of accelerated aging, and early mortality. In normal aging, progerin is expressed to some degree in some cells, and may or may not be significant; as in all potential contributing mechanisms of aging, it is very hard to assign the degree to which that mechanism is important relative to all of the other ongoing issues. Here, researchers provide evidence for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.or…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/progerin-expression-may-play-a-role-in-chronic-kidney-disease/
Progerin is a truncated form of lamin A, a protein needed to ensure the cell nucleus has a normal structure. In patients with Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome, lamin A mutation leads to a large amounts of progerin, widespread cell dysfunction, the appearance of accelerated aging, and early mortality. In normal aging, progerin is expressed to some degree in some cells, and may or may not be significant; as in all potential contributing mechanisms of aging, it is very hard to assign the degree to which that mechanism is important relative to all of the other ongoing issues. Here, researchers provide evidence for <a href="https://en.wikipedia.or…
Source https://tinybuddha.com/blog/what-would-make-the-better-story-why-i-chose-the-rain/
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” ~Mark Twain
Let me set the scene.
It’s a blistering summer day in Miami—the kind where the humidity hugs you tighter than your ex at a high school reunion, and the air feels like you’re swimming through warm soup. Not exactly the kind of weather that makes you want to move, let alone sweat through a surprise death-match workout on Muscle Beach.
But there I was.
The trainer—clearly a drill sergeant in a past life—barks out: “One more rep and we’re done!”
Ah, yes. The famous last words of every group fitnes…
Source https://tinybuddha.com/blog/what-would-make-the-better-story-why-i-chose-the-rain/
“Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do.” ~Mark Twain
Let me set the scene.
It’s a blistering summer day in Miami—the kind where the humidity hugs you tighter than your ex at a high school reunion, and the air feels like you’re swimming through warm soup. Not exactly the kind of weather that makes you want to move, let alone sweat through a surprise death-match workout on Muscle Beach.
But there I was.
The trainer—clearly a drill sergeant in a past life—barks out: “One more rep and we’re done!”
Ah, yes. The famous last words of every group fitnes…
Source https://www.americanspa.com/sponsored/educational-moments-osmosis
Educational Moments: Osmosis
swheeler
Wed, 08/20/2025 – 14:15
…
Source https://www.americanspa.com/sponsored/educational-moments-osmosis
Educational Moments: Osmosis
swheeler
Wed, 08/20/2025 – 14:15
…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/exerkines-and-myokines-in-the-context-of-muscle-aging/
Muscle tissue is metabolically active and does produce effects on the rest of the body via signaling. Myokines are signal molecules produced my muscle tissue, while exerkines are signal molecules produced during exercise, and which induce improvements in tissue function, both in muscle and in other organs. This signaling is incompletely mapped and its effects in detail are not well understood outside of a few specific signals that have attracted research attention in past years. The broader topic of how muscle, and muscle use in exercise, influences function in the rest of the body is an area of interest for ongoing research. Researchers would like to produce exercise mimetic drugs, for example, analogous to cal…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/exerkines-and-myokines-in-the-context-of-muscle-aging/
Muscle tissue is metabolically active and does produce effects on the rest of the body via signaling. Myokines are signal molecules produced my muscle tissue, while exerkines are signal molecules produced during exercise, and which induce improvements in tissue function, both in muscle and in other organs. This signaling is incompletely mapped and its effects in detail are not well understood outside of a few specific signals that have attracted research attention in past years. The broader topic of how muscle, and muscle use in exercise, influences function in the rest of the body is an area of interest for ongoing research. Researchers would like to produce exercise mimetic drugs, for example, analogous to cal…
Source https://tinybuddha.com/blog/vulnerability-is-powerful-but-not-always-safe/
“Vulnerability is not oversharing. It’s sharing with people who have earned the right to hear our story.” ~Brené Brown
Earlier this year, I found myself in a place I never imagined: locked in a psychiatric emergency room, wearing a paper wristband, surrounded by strangers in visible distress. I wasn’t suicidal. I hadn’t harmed anyone. I’d simply told the truth—and it led me there.
What happened began, in a way, with writing.
I’m in my seventies, and I’ve lived a full life as a filmmaker, teacher, father, and now a caregiver for my ninety-six-year-old mother. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also felt something slipping. A quiet sense that I’m no longer seen. Not with c…
Source https://tinybuddha.com/blog/vulnerability-is-powerful-but-not-always-safe/
“Vulnerability is not oversharing. It’s sharing with people who have earned the right to hear our story.” ~Brené Brown
Earlier this year, I found myself in a place I never imagined: locked in a psychiatric emergency room, wearing a paper wristband, surrounded by strangers in visible distress. I wasn’t suicidal. I hadn’t harmed anyone. I’d simply told the truth—and it led me there.
What happened began, in a way, with writing.
I’m in my seventies, and I’ve lived a full life as a filmmaker, teacher, father, and now a caregiver for my ninety-six-year-old mother. But as I’ve gotten older, I’ve also felt something slipping. A quiet sense that I’m no longer seen. Not with c…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/hapln2-forms-aggregates-to-provoke-microglial-inflammation-in-the-aging-brain/
A small number of proteins in the body and brain are known to become misfolded or altered in ways that provoke the formation of extensive, harmful protein aggregates. Neurodegenerative conditions in particular are strongly linked to the aggregates of specific proteins, such as amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein. Researchers continue to discover new proteins that produce aggregates capable of contributing significantly to forms of age-related disease, however. That TDP-43 aggregates to cause a prominent form of dementia is a comparative…
Source https://www.fightaging.org/archives/2025/08/hapln2-forms-aggregates-to-provoke-microglial-inflammation-in-the-aging-brain/
A small number of proteins in the body and brain are known to become misfolded or altered in ways that provoke the formation of extensive, harmful protein aggregates. Neurodegenerative conditions in particular are strongly linked to the aggregates of specific proteins, such as amyloid-β, tau, and α-synuclein. Researchers continue to discover new proteins that produce aggregates capable of contributing significantly to forms of age-related disease, however. That TDP-43 aggregates to cause a prominent form of dementia is a comparative…