Stanford researchers aim to create global conversations about long, healthy living

The Stanford Center on Longevity’s new, interactive website is designed to further research and to encourage officials, entrepreneurs and members of the public to think about ways of redesigning the human life.

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Retirement Wellness: Toward a More Complete Framework

A Stanford Center on Longevity project with support from the Society of Actuaries recently drew up a road map for thinking about living long and living well in America. Results identified three domains for successful living in old age: healthy living, financial security and social engagement.

My own approach to retirement wellness includes these three domains, but I also believe it’s critical to add two more: having suitable housing, and being passionate about something.

Read the full article at Forbes.

U.S. Surgeon General and the National Prevention Council release Healthy Aging in Action: Advancing the National Prevention Strategy

Healthy Aging in Action (HAIA) identifies recommendations and actions to promote healthy aging and improve health and well-being in later life. HAIA highlights federal and nonfederal policies and programs that reflect the National Prevention Strategy’s approach of targeting prevention and wellness efforts to promote healthy aging to further advance the Strategy for an aging society.

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Seizing Longevity’s Competitive Advantages

“The aging megatrend could generate massive opportunities. We are at the beginning of a longevity revolution. The aging megatrend — caused by increased life expectancies and plummeting birthrates — will disrupt traditional working norms, challenge virtually all businesses and transform society’s structure.

Conventional thinking holds that this upheaval will trigger an economic calamity. The workforce will wither, savings will disappear and markets will collapse.

To the contrary, I believe aging could generate the most significant economic opportunity of our lifetimes.”

Read the full article by Andrew Sieg at Next Avenue.

Baby Boomers Are Isolating Themselves as They Age

A sobering finding has emerged from the Stanford Center on Longevity’s Sightlines Project. Social isolation is as strong a risk factor for early mortality as cigarette smoking. Which makes the findings about social engagement among boomers startling. The 55-to-64-year-olds just about to join the ranks of the elderly are far less socially engaged now than their predecessors were at the same age 20 years ago. And this pattern emerged across virtually all traditional measures of social engagement.

Read the full article by Center on Longevity founding director Laura L. Carstensen at Time.

Why Seniors Have the Greatest Financial Security

A recent study from the Stanford Center on Longevity unearthed an interesting anomaly. While the financial security of Millennials and Gen Xers had dropped significantly from 2000 to 2014, it has risen slightly for baby boomers ages 65 to 74, according to The Sightlines Project.

Read the full article at U.S. News and World Report.

Why You Need Friends in Retirement

An old Carole King song captures the emotional value of having a friend. New research from the Stanford Center on Longevity confirms it, saying that social engagement promotes physical and mental health, while social isolation costs people both personal and medical problems. According to the study, “socially isolated individuals face health risks comparable to those of smokers.”

Read the full article at U.S. News and World Report.

Retiring Rich Is Looking Less Likely for These Americans

For every age group under 65, the prospects for a financially sound retirement have diminished over the past 15 years, new research shows.

Soaring student debt and falling access to employer-sponsored savings plans are two of the troubling trends putting a squeeze on younger groups’ financial security, according to a study from the Stanford Center on Longevity.

Read the full article at Time.