Payson Roundup

Retired 80-year-olds can often have double the social interaction of their 50-year-old counterparts. This supports research that happiness increases with age because social interaction stimulates your brain to release “feel good” chemicals like norepinephrine, which leads to contentment.

Informative nuggets like this are packed into the book “Old Is the New Young: Erickson’s Secrets to Healthy Living.”

The book empowers people over 50 to live happier, healthier, more active lives through a series of simple tips backed by the latest research.

“Society dictates what we do for the first 60 or so years of our lives: we go to school, we join the work force, we raise a family.

“But people are living longer and healthier than ever before; and the later years are, for many people, a big question mark,” says Mark Erickson, co-author and son of John Erickson, founder of Erickson, a network of retirement communities.

“There’s a real opportunity right now to help people see all the possibilities that are out there and realize how they can make the most of this valuable time in their lives,” he said.