freelance health writer
Hello! It's been a long while since you last heard from me. I hope you are all staying well! Long story short...a pandemic happened and threw our lives into quite a tizzy. At the same time, I gave MySoCalledMidlife a makeover. It was time. Whew. A lot of changes.I'm excited about this change: MySoCalledMidlife has morphed into a new newsletter called thePause. As before, I'm still … [Read more...] about Big News! MySoCalledMidlife is Evolving Into Something New
Brian Van Buren’s life has been filled with thrilling adventures. In the late 1980s, he met Princess Diana at one of her pet projects, the London Lighthouse AIDS Clinic, while caring for his late husband (who died before Van Buren’s diagnosis); during his 22-year tenure as a flight attendant for United Airlines, he visited 57 countries; he twice appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show, as a survivor of … [Read more...] about An Early-Onset Alzheimer’s Diagnosis Is Met With Resilience
Hi! It's been a while...a long while, since I wrote here. Call it COVID-19-related craziness? fatigue? overwhelmed-ness? (Wait, is that last one even a word? Well, now it is. It's my word.) Anyhow, COVID-19 has not only stopped the world, but it stopped me in my tracks for a little while, too. I'm happy to report I've made it through the virus and now I'm fully recovered. But the … [Read more...] about My Covid Journey (and The New York Times)
...But there must be something. Just as the first shelter-in-place directives were shouting their way around the world, I found my moods wildly ping-ponging between those YOU-DONT-WANT-TO-GO-THERE places of panic, sadness, insecurity and despair. By this time in our so-called midlife, only a select and lucky few are unfamiliar with these emotions. By now, most (all?) of us have suffered … [Read more...] about What is COVID Teaching Us? Damned if I Know…
Covid-19 is so challenging and confounding to everyone in so many ways, especially health experts who are in a desperate race to put all the pieces together. From my perspective, one thing (there are so many!) that is so very odd: Why do some people who test positive for the virus have mild - or no - symptoms, while others are suffering and worse, dying? It's so hard to believe that this … [Read more...] about Underlying Conditions & Covid-19
Things are so tough right now. Never before have we gone through anything this big. Never in our wildest imaginations could we conjure up something this devastating (well, that's not entirely true, but that is a discussion for a different time and forum). There’s so much news out there and I find myself both drowning in it - and fighting to avoid much of it these days - even though I'm a health … [Read more...] about Washing Produce, Staying Mentally Fit and Other Covid-19 Questions
Did you roll your eyes when your mother insisted you “eat your carrots for good eyesight”? Turns out, she was right. Carrots are rich in beta carotene, which the body converts to vitamin A, an essential nutrient for overall eye health. In fact, there’s new proof to support the “your eyes are what you eat” argument: A landmark study by the National Eye Institute revealed a link between nutrition … [Read more...] about 7 Foods You Should Eat to Keep Your Eyes Healthy
If you find yourself working from home rather than in your office lately, it might be challenging to figure out how to make it work for you. Will you be productive? Will you stick to your healthy eating habits? Will you stay organized? While working remotely undoubtedly has its perks — you likely spend less time commuting and have more flexibility — if you’re not used to it, working at home … [Read more...] about 7 Foolproof Ideas For Creating a Productive Home Office
Being stuck in the house can feel mighty isolating and frustrating, even if you’re a homebody, like me. I mean, there comes a time when it’s nice to get a change of scene and see that a world outside your own four walls truly exists. But for now, that world is a scary one, filled with unknown pathogens and dangers. (Sorry for the strong words, but from time to time my spirits sag a bit; I’m … [Read more...] about Your At-Home Survival Kit
The last time I wrote about hot flashes was back in February, when it was so frigid that stepping outside was almost painful. But I suspect it was a relief to you if you were coping with those mighty power surges. Throw open a window or step outside and voila—instant cool. Now that the heat of the summer is engulfing the country, it's not as easy to find immediate relief from those hormonal … [Read more...] about 8 Ways to Deal With Hot Flashes in the Heat (Or Is-It-Hot-In-Here-or-Is-It-Just-Summer?)
