Honest Aging – Rosanne Leipzig, MD & PhD

The Retirement Wisdom Podcast

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Healthy aging and positive aging are topics you’ll want to learn more about as you’re planning for retirement. Dr. Rosanne Leipzig, author of Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life, highlights what you need to know – and what you’ll want to do now that you’ll be glad you did later in life.

Dr. Rosanne Leipzig joins us from New York.

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Bio

Internationally recognized in the field of geriatrics, Dr. Rosanne Leipzig is a trailblazer in transforming the way we approach aging individually and as a society. In her 40+ year career, she has treated thousands of patients and trained hundreds of doctors and practitioners in all specialties of medicine. She is the Gerald and May Ellen Ritter Professor and Vice Chair, Emerita of the Brookdale Department of Geriatrics and Palliative Medicine at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York City. Her new book, Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life, was published in January, 2023 by The Johns Hopkins University Press.

​Dr. Leipzig’s life-long commitment to older adults began with her grandmother who lived with her family for 8 years after developing cancer, yet decided at age 75 she wanted to be on her own again, so got an apartment where her closest friends lived. She later developed a cancer recurrence and spent several years in a nursing home. Her ‘Bube’ taught her how, no matter how old you are or where you are living, there are ways to have an engaged and meaningful life. She also taught her to try to be open and flexible as things change in life.

​During her career as a doctor, she has received numerous awards. She has been repeatedly named as one of the Best Doctors in America (Woodward/White, Inc.), America’s Top Physicians (Consumers Research Council of America), a New York Times SuperDoc, and one of New York Magazine’s Top Doctors for Geriatric Medicine. She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, and AARP Webinars, and has been published in TIME magazine, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Bottom Line Health, AARP The Magazine, Consumer Reports, and American Medical News, among others.

She has published over 100 scientific articles and published two groundbreaking books on geriatrics. For over 20 years, she has been the editor-in-chief of Focus on Healthy Aging, a monthly newsletter. ​Dr. Leipzig has served as in a variety of Advisory capacities including: As a member of the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), she championed changes in prevention and screening recommendations for older adults, and as a member of the Board of Directors of the American Board of Internal Medicine she advocated for and achieved greater representation of knowledge of care for older adults in physician certification examinations.

Dr. Leipzig’s latest book, Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life, describes what to expect physically, psychologically, functionally, and emotionally as you age, what you can do to adapt to your new normal. Martha Stewart calls it, “… essential reading for anyone who is growing older, or whose loved ones are growing older – in other words, for all of us!” A nationally recognized thought leader Dr. Leipzig has brought her expertise to dialogues with organizations as varied as the FDA, the American College of Cardiology, and AARP. Additionally, she is widely sought-after speaker for medical symposia and community forums. Rosanne Leipzig believes that as a society we need a paradigm shift on how we, as individuals, organizations, and society, think about and react to aging, and how we can move from unconscious ageism to a more honest aging. The goal is a more engaged and meaningful life at every stage of life.

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For More on Dr. Rosanne Leipzig

Honest Aging: An Insider’s Guide to the Second Half of Life

Website

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Podcast Episodes You May Like

Breaking the Age Code – Dr. Becca Levy

Better Sleep, Better You – Dr. Frank Lipman

Ageism Unmasked – Dr. Tracey Gendron

Successful Aging – Daniel Levitin

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Wise Quotes

On Aging Well

“…immerse yourself in multi-generational communities. You really need to have people in your life of all generations. Find a role model or two of older people who’ve done it the way you would like to do it. And start thinking about, and I think that’s what this podcast is all about, what your old age will be like. And I don’t mean just financially. The other thing I would say is start reconsidering what the term independence means. We think of teenagers, they want to be independent and that means they wanna be away from their parents. They don’t want to have anything to do with anybody. As you get older, I think independence means having the ability to do the things you really want do to, whatever it takes to get there. Stay flexible. We can get very, very rigid – and that can happen in our twenties. Okay? But as you get older, we never have a lot of control over what happens, but we think we do. As you get older, you have less. And if you’re flexible, you can figure out creative ways to deal with what comes your way and have an a meaningful and engaging life.”

On Cultivating a Positive Mindset

“I think the first thing is to recognize that if we’re lucky, we’re all going to get old. Okay. And so all of this negative press that we have about older people is really being prejudiced about our future selves. We’re going to have to live with that. And there’s a lot of data that shows that if you have a negative image of aging, then you will not do as well in your old age. You won’t do as well on hearing tests. You won’t do it as well on memory tests. And you certainly won’t let yourself try new things as often. So I think that’s the first thing. I’m sure you’ve talked about ageism and how rampant it is in our society. And I think really opening ourselves up to recognize this is just another stage of life. You went through your childhood, you went through your adolescence, your adulthood. Now you’re an older adult and at some point you’re going to be old or elderly, whatever word you like. But it doesn’t mean you have to stop. And I have had patients who have stopped and it is a horrible thing to see. They could have done so much more for 20 more years and they just called it quits. And I have other patients who say, you know, my life began at 80…So I think it’s really recognizing the self-fulfilling prophecy that’s in there and also standing up and resisting ageism wherever you see it.

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About Your Podcast Host

Joe Casey is an executive coach who also helps people design their next life after their primary career. He created his own next chapter after a twenty-six-year career at Merrill Lynch, where he was Senior Vice President and Head of HR for Global Markets & Investment Banking.

Today, in addition to his work with clients, Joe hosts The Retirement Wisdom Podcast, which thanks to his guests and loyal listeners, ranks in the top 1.5 % globally in popularity by Listen Notes. Business Insider has recognized him as one of 23 innovative coaches who are making a difference. He’s the author of Win the Retirement Game: How to Outsmart the 9 Forces Trying to Steal Your Joy.

The views and opinions expressed by guests on The Retirement Wisdom Podcast are solely those of the guests and do not reflect the opinion of the host or Retirement Wisdom, LLC. The Retirement Wisdom Podcast primarily covers the non-financial aspects of retirement. From time to time we may invite guests who discuss other aspects of life and retirement planning, solely for educational purposes. Listeners are advised to consult qualified financial and/or medical professionals on those matters.