Three Not-So-Bad Things on Aging and Longevity
A Weekly Newsletter
There’s no denying it: we are constantly bombarded with bad news. A pandemic, climate change, inflation, war, political discord—the list goes on. Here at the Longevity Project, we understand that bad news can be enough to take years off your life, so we want to do our part (however small) to balance the scales.
At the end of the day, though, we’re realists. Good news is hard to come by, no matter how hard you look. So we’ll aim a little lower and without further ado, we are pleased to share our first weekly newsletter: Three Not-So-Bad Things on Longevity and Aging. Feel free to share with others and send us items you want to see included. With some luck, you will see this newsletter (and some more not so bad news) every Wednesday.
Subscribe below to stay up-to-date on all the latest newsletter releases!
december 17, 2026
1. Take Two GrandPeople and Call Me In The Morning.
According to Gallup, 49% of Americans report significant daily stress, one of the highest rates among high-income countries. Financial stress is consistently ranked as the principal source of stress, followed by work, health concerns, and personal relationships.
We tend to think of social media as a cause of - not a refuge - from stress, and with good reason: heavy use of social media is tied to higher rates of depression, anxiety, and overall psychological distress.
But that’s not the whole story, at least according to a new study from the American Psychological Association. In the study, participants were variously exposed to a number of different stimuli: three to five minutes a day of inspiring or amusing short videos, guided meditations, and self-selected social media clips. Participants who watched one inspiring video a day for five days felt noticeably more hopeful - and that boost in hope predicted lower stress up to 10 days later. The effect was roughly equal to meditation, and better than self-selected social media or no social media at all.
So pass on the endless doom strolling and try to limit yourself to a small number of fun or uplifting clips. Start watching those hilarious cat videos that everyone watches or watch your favorite Rocky training montage for the 15th time. Just make sure you stop after 5 minutes.
Shameless Self Promotion #1.
You didn’t think we would do a post on inspiring social media offerings and not mention GrandPeople, did you? Lucky for you, we have the perfect inspiration you need for this holiday season with a new story on Santa Ed, who has been Bayonne’s favorite Santa Claus for 60 years. But like Santa himself, this GrandPeople episode won’t arrive until Christmas Eve. Stay tuned!
2. And To Think, Rob Petrie Was Only 30.
And now Dick Van Dyke, as of earlier this month, is 100, and still going strong - and we trust not tripping over the furniture as Rob did in the opening sequence of every Dick Van Dyke Show (at least for the first few years of the show).
Van Dyke’s secrets to longevity? Stay active and write a book: in his case, 100 Rules for Living to 100: An Optimist’s Guide to a Happy Life. As the book title suggests, attitude matters, but also staying active, saying yes to things, being playful, and embracing opportunities, such as singing in an a capella group called The Vantastix alongside other people decades younger than him.
We regret to inform you though, that we have all missed the Dick Van Dyke 100th Birthday Flash Mob, held last Saturday in Malibu, but there is still the chance to say yes to the unofficial fan meetup this coming Sunday at Disneyland. Dress up as your favorite Dick Van Dyke character and enjoy the playfulness of it all. Alas, you will not see us there: we’re more the Andy Griffith types.
3. Senior Living Could Use a Few More Dick Van Dykes.
Or at least it is hard to avoid that thought when you read a new report from the International Council on Active Aging. The study argues that wellness – and extending healthy longevity – needs to be the central organizing principle for senior communities. In practice, that means moving wellness from being a functional department, to making it an enterprise strategy across every function.
By 2030, 71% of senior communities say they intend to identify as wellness based, and according to the report, communities that fail to move beyond traditional care models will lose relevance to new generations of customers who seek autonomy, meaning, and active health management.
How should senior communities become wellness communities?
Optimize for social connection and meaning for residents
Understand the built environment as part of a wellness strategy, emphasizing natural light, walkability, and access to nature
Leverage emerging monitoring technologies to understand what works and what doesn’t
Adopt wellness-driven longevity as an enterprise strategy and emphasize workforce transformation that turns staffers into wellness and longevity navigators
Prioritize prevention as the best kind of care
Or if they can’t do that, just organize a Dick Van Dyke flash mob.
Check out our archived posts here: