Any discussion of aging naturally brings us to one of the biggest paradoxes in modern science. We have essentially doubled life expectancy since 1900, when the mean duration of life was only 48 years, but we don’t know how to preserve brain function in our oldest patients, even if they are in optimal physical health.

Men and women have different strategies to cope with depression, and their doctors should too. Contrary to what the drug companies would have you believe, there’s no magic “happy pill”. It’s not as easy for us to treat depression with medications as you might think. Many patients need trials on several different kinds of medicine

I congratulated my patient Diane on being selected for a very prestigious Woman of Achievement award. Imagine my surprise when this very powerful, self-possessed executive dissolved into tears in my consulting room! Her accomplishments had come at some personal cost. The constant stress and competition had taken its toll on her sleeping habits and relationships.

Keep It Simple Of course, there is a material difference between the way we talk to our female friends and the way we talk to our spouses; there has to be. I don’t have to go shopping with Anne, but couples are mutually involved and invested in domestic matters, including parenting, providing shelter for themselves

Say What You Mean We know that men find it more difficult to decode nonverbal expressions than women do, especially those on the female face. Unfortunately, women tend to use a lot of these nonverbal signs to communicate. This can lead to a situation that both parties find very frustrating. You may feel that your

The Grieving Brain The end of a romantic relationship is truly agonizing. I remember feeling furious as I imagined the cad who might one day break my daughter’s heart. At the time, my husband consoled me by pointing out that she was five days old and safe – at least for a while. Heartbreak really

There may be more to the Felix-and-Oscar truism than we know. In fact, researchers believe that one of the things we seek out in someone else’s smell is that it be unlike our own. There is evidence that your odor type is linked to genes that determine your immunity. People of different odor types seem

Attraction between people may be taking place at a level more subtle than clothing choice or facial appearance. There’s considerable evidence to suggest that we’re drawn together by our sense of smell. It’s not surprising that Proust’s Madeline prompted five volumes of memoirs. The smell of a cookie reminded him of his childhood and was

Psychologist Linda Mealy, PhD, of the College of Saint Benedict in Minnesota demonstrates how many of the meeting behaviors of animals echo our own behavior, particularly in the use of carefully chosen objects to entice the female. For example, the bowerbirds of Australia collect brightly colored objects that they display for the females consideration in

A few months ago, I ran into a friend of mine, out for a walk with a male companion. The first thing that struck me about my friend’s date was that he wasn’t very handsome and well-dressed. But the next thing I noticed about him were his lively and intelligent eyes and the laugh lines