by Vivian Diller, Ph.D
As someone well into my fifties, the popular aphorism “50 is the new 15” makes me laugh. As a therapist who writes about the psychology of aging, it baffles me. Who are we kidding? Sure, being 50 today means something different than it did for our parents or grandparents — more of us are fit, active and expect to remain that way well into our 80s and 90s — but 50 to me, well, is simply the “new 50!” […]
A new study analyses the influence that certain birth and infancy characteristics have on mammographic density – an important indicator of breast cancer risk. The results reveal that women born to mothers aged over 39 years and women who were taller and thinner than the average girl prior to puberty have a higher breast density. This brings with it an increased risk of developing breast cancer. Read more about the Carlos III Health Institute’s findings (published in the Breast Cancer Research and Treatment Journal) on: http://medicalxpress.com/news/2012-02-women-born-older-mothers-higher.html.
by Rosemary Lichtman & Phyllis Goldberg
Raising children has never been easy, but some parents think it’s even harder today. They have always had to deal with providing – food, clothing and shelter as well as a supportive and loving environment where their offspring can grow to their full potential. Today, in addition, mom and dad are faced with handling the stresses of an unstable economy and volatile social situations. And youngsters often feel the worries we feel as well. […]
Women over 50 who get pregnant using donor eggs do not appear to face greater risks of complications than younger women using the same assisted baby-making technologies. According to Dr. Mark Sauer, professor and chief of the division of reproductive endocrinology at Columbia University and his co-authors, whose report appeared in the American Journal of Perinatology, the group found that compared with women 42 and younger, women in their 50s undergoing in vitro fertilization with donated eggs had similar rates of gestational hypertension, diabetes, Caesarean delivery and premature birth. Read more on this Vancouver Sun article:
http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Older+moms+using+donor+eggs
by Jane Samuel
Nature versus Nurture. Which is it? Is it both? Nature is our gene-pool – what we bring to the table. But what does nurture include? Is it only the environment after the baby is born or does it include the in-utero environment? How much of a role does either play in child development? And that of our children whose past – genes or otherwise – we don’t know? The ones who come to us with a whole other life and blueprint?
These questions and many others related to this topic make up what continues to be one of the leading debates in child development. Luckily for certain children the research – and mainstream reporting of such – is finally beginning to catch up with what we as mothers have perhaps know all along. When a child has a difficult start in life, whether inutero, at birth or after, it can leave its mark on the child’s development for months and years after. […]
by Susan Chaityn Lebovits
Nurturing mothers have garnered accolades for rescuing skinned knees on the playground and coaxing their children to sleep with lullabies. Now they’re gaining merit for their offspring’s physical health in middle age.
In a recent study published in the journal Psychological Science, Brandeis psychologist Margie Lachman with Gregory Miller and colleagues at the University of British Columbia and the University of California, Los Angeles reveal that while children raised in families with low socioeconomic status (SES) frequently go on to have high rates of chronic illness in adulthood, a sizable minority remain healthy across the life course. The research sought to examine if parental nurturance could mitigate the effects of childhood disadvantage. […]
by Rachel Snyder
You can search the shelves for supplements and tonics, but the only way to get over overwhelm is to withdraw. Get clear on your priorities and back off everything else. Politely decline your directorship for another year – and see who shows up with new energy and ideas. Attend fewer and fewer meetings, forget to sign up for anything, and take home no assignments. Withdraw from the school spotlight so someone else can step forward. Make an appearance now and then, but resist the pressure of perfect attendance. Some other mom can supervise. Somebody else can host. Surely there’s another with a car who can drive. Ignore the idea that the association, the co-op, the hospital, the club, or the team can’t make it without you. Create a space for someone who’s ready to serve. The world has limped along for millennia without you. It can go a bit longer even if you withdraw.
by Dr. Barb Depree
Who has time for sex any more? That’s a question I hear from women whose plates are full with working, caring for parents, caring for kids, even caring for grandchildren. With all of the demands on our time and energy, why not just let sex fade into the background? Beyond the intimacy sex brings to our relationships, research continues to document how and why regular sex improves both our mental and physical health. These effects are significant enough to feel as good about an active sex life as about taking our daily vitamins. […]
by Jamie Walters
Is there a deeper purpose and beauty in relationship than what we might have been conditioned to see? Traveling back to ancient times, we may find a clue.
What we may know of Aphrodite-Venus is that she was the Goddess of Love and Beauty. In more recent times this has taken on a kind of greeting-card quality, where love or relationship is the romantic fantasy, all rose-colored lenses, chocolates and flowers. And that’s lovely enough. […]
by Valerie Gillies
“That it will never come again is what makes life so sweet” – Emily Dickinson
This is Love Month. Such a loaded word. Some languages have many words for love. Ours has one. The word that we used as teenagers, with the “o” shaped like a heart to describe our racing pulse and new-found obsession with the object of our desire, is the same word that is used to describe connection with the Almighty and car preferences. That’s a lot for four letters to take on. But, perhaps one word is the best option, since “love” includes more possibilities than a million words could cover. Might as well stop at a single word and increase the definitions. […]