“The sooner you become more health conscious, the more likely you’ll live a long and healthy life.” Ready to become more health conscious now? This series of blogs is written by Mark Neese, LCSW, BCBA. To see more entries in this series, click here.

Healthy Aging Series Season 10 Episode 12

Dementia: The Coming Storm (for Many of You) | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E12

We were headed to Florida for the Thanksgiving holiday. And because we are a little gullible, we paid too much attention to the local news and got to the airport almost 3 hours early. I took a picture of the almost empty Muhammad Ali International airport. Our flight had 37 empty seats. I hate the…

The Magic Necklace, Healthy Aging Series: S10 E11

The Magic Necklace | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E11

The Magic Necklace By Mark Neese There once was a King who had a very beautiful daughter. He loved her very much. When the Princess was a young child, the King lost his Queen to an unknown illness. This caused him to constantly worry about the welfare of his daughter. As she grew older, he…

Healthy Aging Series Season 10 Episode 10

Your Brain on a Hobby | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E10

This is Your Brain on a Hobby Last spring, I planned a camping trip with my three brothers. Really it was a short backpacking trip. I told them I was channeling my mother, as in, being an anchor for my siblings holding us together.  The Aging Neese Boys We are all in our 60s and…

How to Leave Footprints When You’re Gone, Healthy Aging Series S10 E9

How to Leave Footprints When You’re Gone | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E9

I recently read Betty White’s book, “If You Ask Me (And Of Course You Won’t).” It’s not a memoir. It’s more like a series of Hallmark Cards, very short chapters with a photo of Betty, and a pet or a friend, each chapter with a pithy answer to a question that we were all dying…

The Art of Exuberant Aging, Healthy Aging Series S10 E8

The Art of Exuberant Aging | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E8

“The Swedish Art of Aging Exuberantly,” by Margareta Magnusson I’m sitting at Muhammad Ali international airport, drinking a fancy drink from Starbucks, as I head to Colorado to visit my son, daughter-in-law, and granddaughters. After a five-day visit with my family, I’ll meet my wife at the Denver Airport, and then we’ll fly to Phoenix…

Mark Neese Healthy Aging Series S10 E7

Your Brain on the MIND Diet | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E7

This is Your Brain on The MIND Diet If you think you’ve got it bad, try being your pet! I’m sitting in our sunroom on this beautiful May morning. Hansel, our male kitty, has joined me. He loves the sunroom light in the mornings. I can hear him purring from across the room. He follows…

Healthy Aging Series Season 10 Episode 6

The Dance with Alzheimer’s | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E6

Reflecting on: “Before I Forget: Love, Hope, Help, and Acceptance in Our Fight Against Alzheimer’s,“ by B. Smith, and Don Gasby.   I spent a week this past year helping my older son move. I am almost 68, but a rather fit 68. All of us have helped someone move. Four days of grueling, backbreaking work….

Healthy Aging Series Season 10 Episode 5

Your Brain on Food | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E5

A Real Man? It was a cartoon. Really, it was an advertisement for Joe Weider Protein Powder that was circulating when I was a high school junior. It might’ve been on the back cover of the Boys Life Magazine. The advertisement picture was of a young man and woman at the beach under an umbrella….

Healthy Aging Series Season 10 Episode 4

Your Brain on Star Trek | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E4

Elberfeld When I was eight years old, my father moved us to a 20-acre horse farm. He started raising horses a few years earlier and had gotten the idea he could make money boarding horses and providing riding lessons. Years later, he confessed that it was a bad idea.  When I was nine, I was…

Healthy Aging Series Season 10 Episode 3

It’s All About the Engine, Part 3 | Healthy Aging Series: S10 E3

I attended college in Portland Oregon. I lived in the upstairs of a house owned by Mr. and Mrs. Peters. 2705 Brooklyn St. Rent was  $75 a month. It was 1980. I remember Mr. Peters was in his late 80s. He was sharp as a tack, always reading the Bible, always listening to Christian radio…