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.
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November 12, 2026
1. This is Your Brain on Zip Codes.
Dementia risk is most often associated with genetics or behaviors around diet, exercise, smoking, mental stimuli, or lack of sleep - but not too often with zip code. That may be changing though, as researchers at the Wake Forest School of Medicine last month released a study that suggests that we may need to broaden our thinking when it comes to the drivers of cognitive health.
In the study, researchers tested 679 adults, with each volunteer receiving brain imaging and blood testing designed to detect early indicators of Alzheimer's disease and related forms of dementia. The biological results were then compared using three national tools that measure neighborhood conditions by zip code: the Area Deprivation Index, the Social Vulnerability Index, and the Environmental Justice Index. All these indices weigh factors such as income, housing quality, pollution exposure, and community resilience.
The results? People residing in neighborhoods marked by greater social vulnerability, environmental inequities, and economic hardship showed measurable differences in both brain structure and activity. Their brain images revealed a thinner cerebral cortex, reduced blood flow, and white-matter changes associated with vascular disease.
All this means that if we want to maximize cognitive health in an aging nation, we will need to look beyond behavioral tactics and address community safety, environmental quality, and the broad range of systems that create stress in neighborhood life.
2. I Want to Live in Their Zip Code.
What’s the secret to long life and successful marriage? Love and lunchtime beers. That may not be the textbook answer, but it has the credibility of experience, because it comes from Eleanor and Lyle Gittens (ages 107 and 108 respectively) who have just earned the title of the world’s oldest married couple, with a combined age of 216 years and 132 days and counting. They have also been declared to have the longest current marriage, topping 83 years.
Eleanor and Lyle met in 1941 while studying at Clark Atlanta University – she first saw him play on the college basketball team - and married a year later, just before Lyle shipped out to fight in World War II. Eleanor, unsure if she’d see him again, moved to New York City, where she worked payroll and later became a teacher. When Lyle returned from war, he built a career with the State of New York, and together they raised three children in Brooklyn. Eleanor continued working, earning her doctorate in Urban Education from Fordham University at age 69.
The Gittens have since relocated to Miami to be closer to family and care networks, but have brought with them the key components of their marriage: lasting love, and a Modelo beer with every lunch.
3. If Only Younger People Knew About the Gittens.
They might have a more optimistic view of aging. Alas, younger people are far less optimistic than older Americans about their opportunity for aging well. According to a new poll of 8,750 adults from the Pew Research Center, only 30% of respondents under 65 say they expect to age “very well” when they reach later life, compared to nearly half of adults 65 and older (49%) who believe they are aging very well.
Perhaps it is because younger people are concerned about cognitive decline. As a group, we are pretty confident in our ability to control our physical health as we age: 67% of respondents reported a great deal or a fair amount of confidence in our physical health. However, only 47% reported that they had a similar amount of confidence in controlling mental sharpness as they age.
And only 37% report that they had the same amount of confidence in controlling how they look as they age. That is a particular challenge for women, as they sometimes struggle with society’s punishing gendered norms around beauty. As a consequence, according to the Pew poll, four times as many women as men have had surgical or nonsurgical cosmetic treatments, twice as many women as men take “anti-aging” supplements, and almost six times as many women report coloring their hair to cover the grays.
Shameless Self Promotion #1.
Perhaps the takeaway from the Gittens is that we would all feel better – and be better – if we had less focus on outer appearance and more focus on purpose and building a strong relationship with the person next to us.
That’s also a takeaway from a lovely new documentary called In Life. In the film, we meet three older artists who are redefining what it means to grow older with purpose, passion, and grace. Through their stories, we see that aging isn’t about retreating from the world but about expanding into new ways of expression and connection.
If you want a snack size version of the film, tune into this week’s GrandPeople episode, which features Leanne Rees, a classically trained pianist and composer whose seven-decade career (and counting) challenges norms around aging and retirement.
The film is on the documentary circuit right now and not in general release, but the kind people at In Life are offering the TNSB family the opportunity to watch it in its entirely for free through November 18, 2025. We hope you like it as much as we did.
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