Envisioning a New Map of Life
The mission of the Stanford Center on Longevity is to accelerate and implement scientific discoveries, technological advances, behavioral practices, and social norms so that century long lives are healthy and rewarding.
To further this mission, SCL has launched its New Map of Life™ initiative. In this initiative, researchers define new models for education and lifelong learning, redesign how we work, advise new policies for health care, housing, the environment and financial security, and promote more intergenerational partnerships. It will also advance a new narrative, which redefines what it means to be “old” and values people at different stages of life. Media outlets, advertisers and the entertainment industry will play an important role in this effort by sharing stories and creating new imagery and content about longevity and aging. Read more
Lessons From the Pandemic
Early in the pandemic, we launched the New Map of Life: After the Pandemic project, a collection of short observations about changes as they were occurring, from experts in academia, business, healthcare, the arts and elsewhere. Now, more than a year since COVID-19 erupted, we’ve had time to analyze and reflect about the most significant and lasting changes that have occurred, and about what’s most needed to ensure healthier, longer lives.
In this series of articles to be released over the coming weeks, we address each of these topics in depth, identifying the most pressing issues and seeking solutions. Read more
LATEST NEW MAP OF LIFE RESEARCH
A Life-Course Model for Healthier Aging
The vulnerabilities that an aging population face during COVID-19 highlight the urgency of re-structuring our society to accommodate this growing proportion of our global community.
In this commentary, published in the first issue of the Lancet Healthy Longevity, we urge societies to adopt principles from the New Map of Life in order to respond with resilience to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more
Working to Connect Older Adults
A Digital Inclusion Progress Report
Imagine sheltering in place for a year, or more, without internet access. That is the situation for nearly 15 million adults aged 65 and up, or over one-quarter of the older population in the United States, estimated to be off-line. As they shelter in place, those with without internet access may be dealing with both social isolation, especially among the 14 million-plus who live alone, and the practical challenges of life during a pandemic, such as ordering groceries and obtaining health care via telemedicine. Read more
STAY INFORMED
Mentally Sharp
Absent significant disease, aging is associated with an increase in knowledge and expertise, emotional stability and heightened motivation to engage in meaningful work. At the same time, the speed and efficiency of new learning typically declines with age, as does sensory functioning affecting hearing and vision. Such changes can hamper the effectiveness with which people engage with work, families and communities.
SCL aims to develop and evaluate infrastructures that channel the strengths of older people into families, workplaces, and communities. This includes improving cutting-edge technologies that compensate for deficits in hearing, vision and balance. We work to understand and improve how older people make important decisions about health care and financial matters. We also pursue efforts to distinguish normal from disease-related aging in cognition, so that interventions and policies are targeted appropriately.
Center Team
Marie Conley Smith
Jialu Streeter, PhD
New Map of Life
Education: Ilana Horwitz, PhD, Fellow | Ari Kelman, PhD, Faculty Advisor
Intergenerational Relationships: Sasha Shen Johfre, Fellow | Jeremy Freese, PhD, Faculty Advisor
Early Childhood Influences: Jonas Miller, PhD, Fellow | Ian Gotlib, PhD & Paul Wise, PhD, Faculty Advisors
Featured Research

Gender Differences in Widowhood
Spotlight
The Emergence of Life-Long Learning
Chip Conley is a bestselling author, entrepreneur and the founder of Joie de Vivre Hospitality, the second largest boutique hotel brand in America. He currently serves as Airbnb’s Strategic Advisor for Hospitality and Leadership, and is a member of SCL’s Advisory Council.
In 2018, he founded Modern Elder Academy (MEA), the world’s first “midlife wisdom school,” where attendees learn how to repurpose a lifetime of experience for the modern workplace. MEA’s beachfront campus is located in Baja California Sur, Mexico.
He recently co-authored a white paper with Ingo Rauth, an adjunct professor for Management and Design at IE Business School (Spain), titled “The Emergence of Long Life Learning“, which is intended to be a conversation starter and “a starting point for educators, policymakers, and entrepreneurs who seek to develop programs and schools that help us live a life that is as deep and meaningful as it is long.”
news? Read more
Video
Online Education Has Exacerbated Inequalities
News
Three ways virtual reality could transform mental health treatment – The Conversation
‘Stereotype threat’ makes older adults perform worse – Futurity
The loneliness of an interrupted adolescence – The Washington Post
People With Dementia Are Twice as Likely to Get Covid, Huge Study Finds – The New York Times
Older adults struggle to access COVID-19 vaccine appointment websites – The Verge
Physically Fit
Mobility is strongly associated with quality of life – the ability to move about independently at home and at work, to move about our community, to travel to distant places. Embedded in the concept of mobility is physical fitness across the life course, which is central to the notion of healthy aging.
Maintaining physical fitness is a major focus of SCL’s work, including projects on exercise, reducing sedentary behavior, optimal nutrition, and measurement of fitness through wearable devices.
We continue to work closely with the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Center.
Center Team
New Map of Life
Healthcare & Technology: Andrea Jonas, MD, Fellow | Nirav Shah, MD, Faculty Advisor
Fitness & Lifestyle: Megan Roche, MD, Fellow | Michael Fredericson, MD, Faculty Advisor
Built Environment: Diego Sierra Huertas, Fellow | Rob Jackson, PhD, Faculty Advisor
Environment: Chenghao Wang, PhD, Fellow | Rob Jackson, PhD, Faculty Advisor
Featured Research
Spotlight
Sightlines Project Research Update on Sleep
In a world full of opportunities, stressors, inequalities, and distractions, maintaining a healthy lifestyle can be challenging, and sleep is often the first habit to suffer. Good sleep hygiene is a huge commitment: it takes up about a third of the day, every day, and works best when kept on a consistent schedule. It does not help that the primary short-term symptoms of insufficient sleep can be self-medicated away with caffeine. However, the effects of sleep loss can range from inconvenient to downright dangerous; people have trouble learning and being productive, take risks more readily, and are more likely to get into accidents. These effects also last longer than it takes to get them, as recovering from each night of poor sleep takes multiple days. When it comes to sleep, every night counts. In this update, we will discuss what Stanford researchers have to say about sleep and why we need it, who is getting too little of it, and some of the latest findings that may help us sleep better. Read more
Video
The Role of Residential Housing Segregation in the Burden of COVID19
News
American Life Expectancy Dropped By A Full Year In 1st Half Of 2020 – NPR
Older adults struggle to access COVID-19 vaccine appointment websites – The Verge
Yes, Many of Us Are Stress-Eating and Gaining Weight in the Pandemic – The New York Times
11 Minutes of Exercise a Day May Help Counter the Effects of Sitting – The New York Times
How Exercise Might Affect Immunity to Lower Cancer Risk – The New York Times
Financially Secure
In an age of unprecedented longevity, a focus on lifelong individual financial security has never been more crucial. The mission of the Financial Security Division is to bring a unique interdisciplinary perspective to financial security issues facing our society by rethinking the perceived problems around an aging population, especially retirement planning and the need to work longer. By understanding the role that research, education and policy can play in solving these issues and by looking at the problems from multiple perspectives, we will drive the dialogue forward in order to facilitate a healthier state of long-term financial security for the individual and society.
Center Team
Martha Deevy
Jialu Streeter, PhD
Steve Vernon, FSA
New Map of Life
Financial Security: Matteo Leombroni, PhD, Fellow | Gopi Shah Goda, PhD, Faculty Advisor
Work: Alice Milivinti, PhD, Fellow | David Rehkopf, PhD, Faculty Advisor
Featured Research
Spotlight
Thinking Ahead: Informing the Design of a Roadmap for Keeping Your Money Safe as You Age
Preparing for changes in financial decision-making capacity is essential for a secure retirement. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans are underprepared for periods of diminished decision-making capacity as they age.
To inform how we might encourage older adults to plan for the future, a multi-disciplinary team of researchers worked together to understand the barriers to and facilitators of advance financial care planning. This research will inform the development of a toolkit and website that will be ready in the first half of 2021. These resources will be very useful for individuals, financial planners, financial institutions, and non-profit and community groups that serve seniors and their families.
The research team – Naomi Karp and Steve Vernon, Consulting Research Scholars at the Stanford Center on Longevity, and Dr. Marti DeLiema, Assistant Professor at the University of Minnesota—recently published their research findings on the website of the Society of Actuaries.
Video
COVID-19 Will Affect the Careers of Today's Youth
News
U.S. Retirement Crisis Hits Black Americans Hard – The Wall Street Journal
Longer life expectancy, complicated retirement savings systems leaving many low-income workers unprepared for retirement – McKnight’s Senior Living
Aging Could Be the Next Booming Business – Barron’s
In Their 20s and Saving for Retirement: How It Started, How It’s Going – The New York Times
Why do we fail to reach big milestones? – BBC