Have all the warnings about potential risks got you hiding from the sun this summer? Rethink the duck and cover routine. Research shows that the vitamin D benefits we get from sensible sun exposure far outweigh the dangers.

A growing body of evidence implicates vitamin D deficiency in a host of age-related ailments and disorders, ranging from bone diseases and diabetes to cardiovascular problems, increased risk of many forms of cancer, suppressed immune function, and even depression. Studies indicate that as many as two thirds of US adults and teens are actually deficient in this crucial nutrient, and many experts say the trend to avoiding the sun is making matters worse.

Sun exposure is actually the most important source of the vitamin, which is often referred to as “the sunshine vitamin” because though dietary sources of it are limited, the sun’s ultraviolet-B rays triggers the body to produce its own supply; it’s believed that given adequate sun a healthy human body can synthesize as much as 90% of the amount it needs. By avoiding the sun we could be eliminating one risk only to incur many greater ones.

A joint study by U.S. Department of Energy’s Brookhaven National Laboratory and Norway’s Institute for Cancer Research in Oslo concluded that the health benefits from some sun exposure are far larger than the skin cancer risk. As little as 20 minutes of sun exposure to the face and hands daily can trigger the synthesis of the vitamin, and exposure that limited is highly unlikely to result in the development of skin cancer or premature aging.

A combination of sun-limiting lifestyle and a natural decrease in the aging body’s ability to synthesize the vitamin make D vitamin deficiency a major health hazard for older people. Sufficient amounts of the vitamin are believed to boost aging health in many ways, including the following:

Helps prevent hip and other bone fractures A 2009 study by the University of Pittsburgh determined that low levels of the vitamin can increase post-menopausal women’s risk of hip fracture by as much as 70%. One of D vitamin’s primary functions is to regulate the absorption of calcium, making it crucial to the prevention of bone softening diseases such as osteoporosis.

Protects against cancer The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition reports that a four-year clinical trial involving 1,179 healthy post-menopausal women showed that improving calcium and vitamin D levels substantially reduced risk of all cancers in postmenopausal women.

May help prevent and treat depression It is known that the vitamin plays a key role in a number of neurological and hormonal processes, and feelings of depression are identified as one of the symptoms of D vitamin deficiency. Research indicates that low levels of the vitamin are distinctly related to depression.

Boosts energy and improves physical performance A recent Wake Forest University School of Medicine study found that physical performance of people over 65, including walking speed, grip strength, and ability to rise from a sitting position to standing, was 10 percent lower among participants with deficient blood levels of the vitamin.

May help prevent autoimmune diseases Research has shown unmistakable associations between deficiencies of the vitamin and autoimmune diseases including multiple sclerosis, diabetes, and rheumatoid arthritis.

One of the less comfortable facts of human hardwiring is that the ability to concentrate generally hits a peak in early adulthood and then starts slowly going south. Fortunately, however, the same depressing research that says middle-agers are more easily distracted also indicates we can actually do something about it. Here are six surprising scientifically-backed ways to boost cognition and concentration.

1. Unleash your inner Picaso. A recent study shows that doodling while listening can actually improve concentration and recall, probably by keeping the mind engaged enough to prevent it from simply checking out and wandering off into a daydream. Doodling creates a minimal cognitive load – enough to stave off daydreaming, but not enough to shut down processes like listening and recall. So what seems like mindless doodling while performing a dull task can actually be a defensive tactic that improves concentration.

2. Paint the room red. Or maybe blue. Science has long recognized the importance of color to mood – green is peaceful, yellow is cheerful, etc. Red has been mainly linked to things like sexuality and aggression, but a recent University of British Columbia study indicates that both red and blue can provide a substantial boost to cognitive activities. According to the study, tests showed that red enhanced performance on attention-demanding tasks, while blue gave a boost to creativity. Source

3. Drink wine and eat chocolate. It sounds too good to be true, but a team of Oxford researchers say micronutrients found in both wine and chocolate can enhance concentration, improve test scores and slow the progress of age-related cognitive decline. According to Science Daily, both wine and chocolate (and tea as well, but where’s the fun in that?) contain a sub-class of subclass of dietary polyphenols called flavonoids, and flavonoids appear to be good for the brain.

4. Doze off. On purpose. Studies show that naps as short as five minutes long can improve alertness and concentration and enhance memory processes. And if that’s not enough to banish nap-guilt, here’s some happy science: we appear to be biologically programmed to sleep for a short period in the middle of the day. So the next time you find yourself fighting a surge of mid-afternoon sleepiness, give in. Source

5. Wake up and smell the the peppermint. But lay off the ylang-ylang. The scent of peppermint has been found to enhance memory and increase the ability to concentrate, whereas ylang-ylang impaired memory and lengthened processing speed. In terms of subjective mood peppermint increased alertness and ylang-ylang decreased it, but significantly increased calmness.

6. Raise the roof. Bizarre as it seems, recent research supports the idea that ceiling height has a significant effect on cognitive processing. Study participants given a memory test in a high-ceiling room did better on concentration-demanding free recall tasks (tasks in which they’re not given any recall cues, like categories).

It’s no myth that on average, weight goes up and fitness levels go down as we get older. But there’s nothing that says you have to be average – especially as being average in the area of middle age fitness is putting yourself at significantly higher risk of illness and even death.

The largest-ever long-term study of physical fitness change in United Stated clearly illustrated the correlation between aging, weight, and fitness. The study, conducted by the Kaiser Permanente Northern California Division of Research, monitored over 2,000 men and women at four research sites across the United States, starting when the participants were 18 to 30 years of age. The participants’ fitness levels were tracked for twenty years as they moved from young adulthood into middle age … and the news wasn’t good.

As age increases, fitness and activity levels plunge …. and risk factors soar

As the participants aged, their physical activity dropped by an average 18 percent. This change set off an alarming domino effect: by the end of the study the participants’ physical fitness levels had declined by an average 28 percent and their weight increased by an average 20 percent. According to the researchers, these changes put the participants at significantly greater risk of illness and death.

KPNCDR Associate Director for Clinical Research Stephen Sidney said the study unmistakeably showed the importance of staying physically active as we grow older. Noting that though we can’t control aging, he stressed that our level of physical activity definitely is something we can control. And the degree to which we do maintain fitness in middle age can play an enormous role in determining our health and well-being for the rest of our lives.

Mid-life fitness clearly shown to reduce risk factors

In recent years science has shown that a host of natural aging-related changes once considered inevitable can be reduced, delayed, or offset by maintaing a healthy weight and moderate-to-high physical activity level. Slowing of the metabolism, loss of muscle tone and bone density, reduced flexibility, and even cardiac ailments and irregularities have all been shown to respond dramatically to a regular regimen of increased physical activity. Higher levels of fitness also correspond to lower incidence of non-insulin dependent diabetes, osteoprosis, high blood pressure, and cardiovascular disease.

And it’s not just the body that benefits from middle age fitness – it also significantly reduces the risk of dementia, Alzheimer’s Disease, depression and other mood disorders.

The encouraging news is that it seems it really is never too late to start. A regular regimen of physical activity leads to increased fitness at any age, resulting in remarkably positive physical and mental health improvements in even the very old.

The idea that aging automatically leads to sleep problems is a myth, according to the experts. People over 50 don’t necessarily sleep any worse (or any less) than we ever did. But we do sleep differently.

A milestone 2003 study conducted by the National Sleep Foundation took a close look at the sleep habits of Americans between the ages of 55 and 84 and came to the encouraging conclusion that people over 55 may actually sleep better than adults aged 18-54. According to the NSF study, a higher percentage of older adults are sleeping 7-9 hours per night (56% vs. 51%). And as an added bonus, the 32% of older adults who nap during the day get an average of 41-51 minutes of supplemental sleep time.

This is excellent news, because the idea that older people need less sleep is also a myth. The National Institute of Health says that while sleep needs do change over the course of a lifetime, the big change comes long before middle age. Children and adolescents need more sleep than adults, but older adults need about the same amount of sleep as younger adults.

Then why aren’t I sleeping as well as I used to?!

Maybe it’s your sleep schedule. According to NIH, sleep patterns change throughout life and one of the most significant pattern changes happens when we hit the “older adult” category. People over 50 tend to become sleepier earlier in the evening (which explains why you keep nodding off in front of the TV) and wake up earlier in the morning.

Unless we understand and adjust to natural sleep pattern changes it’s easy to feel that we’re just not “sleeping right”. If you keep sleeping through the 11 o’clock news but find yourself tossing and turning in the wee hours, try moving everything back a bit – go to bed somewhat earlier and rise earlier – an easy fix to the feeling that “I can’t stay awake till I go to bed, but then I can’t stay asleep!”

But it could be more than how you set your alarm clock. The NSF study shows a powerful correlation between the quality of sleep and overall health, both mental and physical. The better one’s overall physical health, the better the quality of sleep. And the greater the incidence of depression and negative life outlook, the more likely the occurrence of sleep problems.

Of course, actual sleep disorders do occur in all age groups and being over 50 is certainly no guarantee of immunity. NIH Senior Health says sleep-disordered breathing (such as snoring and sleep apnea) and movement disorders like restless legs syndrome are the most common sleep disorders in older adults.

An insidious sidenote: worrying about the quality of our sleep can be a significant factor in lowering it. Older adults do tend to be more concerned about the quality of sleep than younger adults, and when that concern gets out of hand it can result in what amounts to performance anxiety. The more time we spend talking to ourselves and others about how we just never sleep well anymore, the more we’re programming ourselves to sleep badly.

Americans 50 and over control 70% of all US wealth, bring in $2 trillion in annual income, own more homes than any other age group, account for 50% of all discretionary spending, and purchase 41% of all new cars.

16 million over-50s exercise at least three times a week.

People over 50 spend more per capita on groceries, over the counter and other health products, and travel and leisure than any other age group.

Adults 50+ spend an average of $7 billion online annually (Source: SeniorNet).

People over 50 represent 27% of the US population, and more than 50% of them live in the following nine states: California, Texas, New York, Florida, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Ohio, Michigan and New Jersey. (Source: US Census Bureau)

Population of Americans over 50 using internet in 2006: 58.2 million. Estimated population of Americans over 50 using internet in 2011: 68.3 million (Source: Tech Crunch)

Adults 50+ account for 80% of all luxury travel spending (Source: Pew Internet and American Life Project).

Japan has the highest rate of middle-age suicides (44% of Japanese suicides are middle aged) while the Philippines has the lowest at 12%. The US comes in tied with China at 27%. However, middle-age suicides in the US are currently at the highest rate in the past 25 years. (Source: US Centers for Disease Control)

There are expected to be 57.8 million baby boomers living in the year 2030, 54.9% of whom will be female. (source: US Census Bureau)

40 percent of people between 45 and 60 anticipate that their adult children will move back in with them. 30 percent anticipate that their parents will move in with them. (Source: Met Life)

14.2% of boomers are divorced. 12.6% of boomers never married. (Source: US Census Bureau)

20% of single men over 50 say sex on the first date is fine. 2% of single women over 50 are OK with sex on a first date. (source: AARP)

Four out of five boomers see work as playing a role in their retirement years, with only 20% anticipating retiring and not working at all (Source: AARP)

And the most encouraging statistic of all: There are now 70,000 people over 100 years old. By 2050, demographers estimate there will be 834,000. (Source: University of Nevada)

Is it possible that something as simple as a daily morning jog could offset the effects of aging?

Could stopping by the gym a few times a week enhance sexual performance and increase libido?

Could hiking, biking, swimming, or just lifting weights in the garage be the “cure” most midlife men are looking for?

According to a recent study by the New England Research Institutes, the answer is a resounding “yes”.

The study, which followed 1,667 men ages 40 through 70 for 16 years, indicated that as men age the importance of weight control through regular exercise becomes vital. The reason? Because even moderate increases in weight led to major decreases in the production of testosterone, the primary male hormone.

As weight and BMI go up, testosterone production goes down

Most people are aware that there is a normal age-related decline in testosterone production, but in reality the amount of age-related decrease is surprisingly small. In normal healthy men testosterone production generally decreases about one percent per year after the age of 40. But the New England research revealed that as the Body Mass Index or BMI rose into the level of obesity, the production of testosterone dropped off dramatically. In fact, moving from a non-obese to an obese BMI category was linked to a reduction in testosterone equivalent to 10 years of aging.

Low testosterone linked to a host of mental, physical, and sexual problems

Low testosterone levels undoubtedly play a role in many of the symptoms and syndromes associated with male aging, male “menopause”, and the classic male mid-life crisis. Low levels of this crucial hormone are believed to contribute to a host health conditions, including diabetes, osteoporosis and impaired sexual function.

Both mental ability and sexual function are markedly effected by major drops in testosterone levels. A French study by the Saint-Etienne University Hospitals found that lower levels of testosterone are definitely linked to measurably poorer results in cognitive tests.

Other studies have demonstrated that low testosterone is linked to Alzheimer’s disease, but it is still unclear whether the drop in testosterone levels lead to the disease or are a result of the disease process.

Good nutrition + regular exercise = fitness over 50

While changes in diet and lifestyle play an important role in maintaining a healthy weight (and therefore a healthy production of testosterone) in middle aged men, research is reaffirming that at midlife exercise is absolutely crucial. In addition to promoting weight loss, fitness over 50 has been repeatedly proven to dramatically lower most major health risks and to increase energy, alertness, and libido.

Yesterday you couldn’t recall the name of that restaurant you enjoyed so much. This afternoon you searched frantically for your keys for 15 minutes before you realized they were in your pocket. And more often than you’d like to admit, you find yourself standing in the middle of a room wondering what on earth made you go there.

What’s going on here? Are you really losing your memory?

The not-so-great news is that if you’re a normal person over 50 you probably are a little more “forgetful” than you were 20 years go. But the absolutely excellent news is that it’s 100% normal and doesn’t mean you’re losing your memory.

A lot of what we tend to identify as middle age memory problems actually has more to do with the way we process information than how well we remember. Around midlife the brain’s frontal lobes become less adept at automatically blocking out information that isn’t important to the task at hand. Distractions like noise, being interrupted in the middle of something, etc. can be more difficult to ignore or overcome, and that makes it harder to maintain attention or focus. In distracting situations our short-term memory (which is what’s responsible for prioritizing information) may be overwhelmed by all the input.

The result? What we generally call “forgetfulness” – misplacing things, being unable to recall names, or finding it difficult to learn something new. Annoying as these events are, they’re temporary, not seriously life-disrupting, and don’t mean you’re losing your intelligence or are on the road to dementia. Middle age memory can occasionally be maddening, but it’s nothing to worry about.

Serious memory loss, which is often defined as memory loss that affects your ability to carry out everyday life activities is rare in midlifers. Generally associated with conditions like Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia, serious memory loss actually affects a relatively small percentage of the elderly. It has been estimated that only 15% of older Americans experience serious memory loss, and less than 20% of people over 65 experience even mild cognitive impairment.

Fortunately there are many things mid-lifers can do to keep our brains sharp. Studies have shown that the most effective memory-maintainer is exercise for both body and mind. If you continue to challenge yourself mentally your brain literally continues to grow. An active brain produces new connections between nerve cells, which helps your brain store and retrieve information more easily no matter what your age. Challenging yourself physically with exercise and activity increases blood flow to the brain, promoting cell growth and offsetting normal age-related cellular decay.

Go ahead and pop that cork. Science may have discovered a fountain of youth, and it’s right there in that bottle of vin rose.

Though for over-50s “if it feels good, do it” has been largely replaced by “if it feels good it’s probably bad for you”, medical science has pitched us a delightful change-up: it seems that drinking wine, and red wine in particular, is actually pretty darn good for you. In fact, it may even help keep you young.

The key is resveratrol, a natural antibiotic produced by plants to help them ward off disease. It’s present in many plants but is particularly abundant in the skins of grape species used to make red wine. Some have suggested that resveratrol is the secret behind the “French Paradox”, which refers to the fact that though the Gallic diet is typically high in fat, the French have a low incidence of heart disease. Could the French wine-with-everything ethic be why?

Yes, probably. Resveratrol is a potent antioxidant, and as such is a powerhouse of health benefits. Antioxidants are substances that can neutralize free radicals, unstable molecules that scavenge and damage other cells. Antioxidants can not only prevent free radical damage, they can sometimes even reverse the process and repair damages already done.

Since recent research indicates that free radical damage is either a cause of or contributor to most age-related diseases and disorders, antioxidants are particularly important for the over-50 crowd. The body does produce some antioxidants, but our ability to synthesize them decreases with age.

In a nation where more than 8,000 people are turning 60 every day, it’s easy to see why resveratrol is a hot research topic. Though so far all resveratrol research has been cellular or animal studies, the initial findings are promising: it looks like that glass of wine could be protecting your heart, boosting your immune system, and perhaps even protecting you from cancer and Alzheimer’s.

Most intriguiging of all, however, is connection between resveratrol and sirtuin, a substance some have called a “longevity gene” which can actually make life longer. Since 2003 a number of studies have proven that resveratrol activates sirtuin in a number of life forms, and has effectively extended the life span of yeast, fruit flies, worms, and certain fish. Interesting, yes – but downright exciting in view of the fact that it has been proven that there is a human version of the longevity gene.

So drink up – moderately, of course – and bask in the knowledge that you may be adding some time to your stay on the planet. Of course there are other ways to get resveratrol – but why would you want to?

Do-It-Yourself is indeed a Big Freakin’ Deal for anyone having a Midlife Crisis – it can be an invaluable resource for alleviating some pervasive midlife problems. Putting up some shelves or fixing that shaky stair railing builds more than your property value. It can also build your mental sharpness, physical fitness, personal attractiveness, and self esteem.

Here are five ways in which DIY is particularly good for people over 50.

1. It helps you stay sharper longer. Mastering new skills is just about universally recognized as one of the best, most effective ways to forestall age-related cognitive problems and keep the ability to remember, concentrate, and focus in top shape. Figuring out how to install a ceiling fan can be as valuable a mental workout as sitting down with the Times Sunday crossword.

2. It increases your activity level. On average, activity levels drop by more than 18 percent as we move from young adulthood into middle age. This decline in physical activity is believed to be at the heart of more alarming statistics: by middle age, the norm seems to be a 28 percent decline in physical fitness levels and and a 20 percent increase in weight.

Not only does increased activity have a significant positive impact on both weight and general fitness levels, it has also been shown to dramatically decrease risk of illness and death. In addition, older adults with higher activity levels are far less prone to cognitive problems like dementia, and are less likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer’s Disease.

Perhaps most interestingly of all, higher activity levels seem to be powerfully related to positive physical appearance characteristics, like youthfulness, vitality, alertness, strength, and sexuality. Mowing your own grass can improve a lot more than your house’s curb appeal – it can be a powerful enhancement to your own curb appeal as well.

3. It offers new challenges and enhances creativity. Feelings of boredom, disenchantment, and ennui are typical complaints associated with midlife crises, and the older we get the easier it is for an insidious “been there, done that” attitude to creep into the outlook. Health professionals agree that finding a new challenge is one of the best ways to shake that syndrome. Striving to meet a new challenge can also be extremely effective in lifting or even eliminating depression. This is particularly true when the challenge involves coming up with a creative solution to something that you’ve identified as having significant personal importance to you, like getting that damn dripping faucet to stop keeping you awake at night.

4. It gives you new achievements. Setting yourself an important but realistic goal and becoming truly invested in achieving it is undoubtedly one of the all-time best self-motivation techniques, and achieving a personal goal is a tremendous morale booster. Just deciding you’re going to take on that leaky faucet yourself can lift your mood, and actually doing it will increase feelings of self-determination, competency, independence, capability, and achievement.

5. It’s an absolutely unparalleled source of self-esteem. If there’s anything a lot more gratifying than the feeling of successfully completing a DIY project, it’s hard to imagine what it would be. Feelings of pride, ingenuity, personal achievement, and self-satisfaction can be surprisingly hard to come by some days …. but every time that light switch works or the back door doesn’t squeak, that’s exactly what you’ll feel.

If you’re finding that Saturday night cocktails are making for some miserable Sunday mornings, you’re not alone. As we get older our tolerance for alcohol may change – and if you don’t take that into consideration, you could be in for some whopper surprise hangovers.

Alcohol effects the central nervous system and changes the balance of brain chemicals. Normal metabolic and physiological changes related to aging can have a significant impact on our body’s ability to cope with these changes, so the same number of drinks that were fine at 30 can be a morning-after disaster in the making when you’re over 50.

Midlife women need to be particularly aware of this, since women appear to be more prone to hangovers than men, no matter what their age.

Moderation, of course, is the best form of prevention. But here are some other things that can help:

- Keep it clear. Colorless liquors like vodka and gin tend to be a little gentler to the body when it comes to after-effects. Red wine and malt liquors like whisky contain compounds that tend to produce more severe hangovers.

- Keep it sweet. Research suggests that drinking fruit juices or sugary beverages can decrease hangover intensity, so don’t use diet soda as your mixer.

- Eat before you drink. Having food (particularly fats, like meat or cheese) in your stomach when you start drinking can slow the body’s absorption of alcohol.

- Don’t try to cure it with coffee. The idea that some strong coffee will sober you up is a total myth – and even worse, the caffiene can lead to dehydration and actually make your hangover worse.

- No “hair of the dog” treatments. Having a drink to cure your hangover is like throwing gas on a fire to put out the flames. Depending on what stage of hangover you’re in, having a morning-after drink will either just postpone the inevitable or makes you feel a million times worse immediately.

- Forget the herbal hangover remedies. Mankind has been suffering through hangovers ever since alcoholic drinks were invented, and no real remedy has ever been found. As some very wise person once said, the only real cures for a hangover are time and death …. and when you have a bad one, the latter starts to sound good.