This season delves into our evolving views on aging and the cultural obsession with defying it. Co-hosts discuss the importance of community and intergenerational bonds in reshaping how we experience aging. They explore the beauty of accepting mortality and challenge listeners to embrace aging positively. The conversation also invites reflections on personal fears and aspirations related to growing older, encouraging a mindset shift that sees aging as a journey worth celebrating.
02:30
AI Summary
AI Chapters
Episode notes
auto_awesome
Podcast summary created with Snipd AI
Quick takeaways
The podcast critiques society's obsession with aging, emphasizing how this fixation shapes our expectations and responsibilities regarding health.
Listeners are encouraged to navigate the confusing landscape of dietary changes with skepticism toward industry influences and seek consistent information.
Deep dives
The Evolution of Aging Perceptions
Aging is increasingly viewed through the lens of societal obsession with age, which has intensified over time. This fixation on age impacts our understanding of responsibilities and the expectations we place on ourselves and others regarding health. The podcast explores how the concept of age was less significant in the past, with an example from the early 1800s when knowing someone’s age was not a common practice. Today, this preoccupation with age often leads to a sense of individual responsibility for health outcomes, creating pressure that can detract from broader public health initiatives.
Challenging Dietary Trends
The conversation addresses the rapid shifts in dietary advice, highlighting the confusion surrounding the best nutritional practices for aging individuals. Listeners are reminded that trends seem to fluctuate from one extreme to another, such as the rise of plant-based diets to the current focus on high protein intake. The potential influence of the food industry is questioned, suggesting that if new dietary guidelines require increased spending on products, skepticism is warranted. This ever-changing advice contributes to the stress of maintaining health, indicating a need for more consistent and reliable information.
Our scientific understanding of the aging process may be expanding, but is our cultural thinking about aging keeping up? In the new season of TheAtlantic’spopular How To series, co-hosts Yasmin Tayag and Natalie Brennan explore the cultural gamification of aging, the obsession with defying this inevitable process, and how we might shift our understanding of aging to embrace the beauty of being mortal. Just as “leveling up” is a positive notion, How to Age Up challenges listeners to consider how we all, regardless of our specific age, might live better.
How do you think about aging? Please send a voice memo to howtopodcast@theatlantic.com with your name, your age, and answers to the following questions:
What aspects of aging are you nervous about?
What are you looking forward to as you age?
Who do you hope to be like when you are older? Is there someone in your life who has made you excited to get older?
Sending in a voice note means that you are consenting to the possibility of The Atlantic using your audio in a future episode of How To.