We now have evidence that the brain is malleable. What this means is by learning new skills, changing current behaviors, and modifying lifelong habits for better health, you can halt cognitive decline as you age — even into your later years.

You know that feeling you can’t shake? It’s grief. Every single one of us has lost something, and each of us will be forever changed by 2020. How we experience that grief is personal, and it’s easy to fall into a trap of ranking our suffering compared to someone else’s. We have to allow ourselves to feel it, so we can heal it.

Once women reach menopause their risk for cardiovascular disease is equal to the risk for men. Women need to take action now to care for their hearts as they age to feel their best and reduce risk.