The typical 50-year-old driver needs twice as much light to see as well after dark as a 30-year-old. This discouraging factoid comes to us from Jane Brody, our favorite health writer and reporter for the New York Times. Brody also tell us a great deal about cones and rods, including cat cones and rods, then gets down to business: In dim light or darkness, she says, eyes adapt by widening the pupils to let in as
much light as possible. The iris (the colored part of the eye
surrounding the pupil) contains tiny muscles that control the size of
the pupil. As we age, these muscles (like most in the body)
weaken and do not respond as well to the need to let in more light. The
result is a small pupil when you try to see in poor light.
What to do? Brody has three pieces of advice:
1. Wear sunglasses in bright sunlight. Brody reports that bright sunlight bleaches the photoreceptors and lengthens the time it
takes for your eyes to adjust to the dark. While it normally takes half
an hour for full adaptation to the dark, being in bright sunlight for
two or three hours can delay this adaptation by hours.
2. Clean your windshield.
3. Stay home after dark.
Health, fitness and lifestyle tips for people over 50 who still like to play hard
Saturday, May 31, 2025
I find this ban on grunting in the gym rather inconvenient. When in need of passing a bit of posterior gas, I have always found that a loud grunt covers the sound quite well. Now what? Oh and I suppose instead of heavy rock music which gets the blood flowing, those grunt banning gyms will pipe in harp or violin music. I can see it now: twenty people all napping at their respective exercise stations. I guess sweating is out too?