Although aging is often associated with several negative outcomes (e.g., declines in physical health), older adults generally report more positive and less negative affect than younger adults. The mechanisms underlying this “well-being paradox” are not clearly understood. In the present study, we examined whether differences in trait mindfulness accounted for age differences in affect. Community-dwelling younger (n  123, Mage 
28.63 years) and older adults (n  117, Mage  68.10 years) completed measures of affect and mindfulness. Older adults reported significantly more positive affect and mindfulness than younger adults. Negative affect did not differ by age. After controlling for mindfulness, positive affect no longer differed by age. That is, mindfulness significantly mediated the relation between age and positive affect. An alternative model in which positive affect mediated the relation between age and mindfulness was not supported. These findings suggest that age-related increases in trait mindfulness may contribute to age differences in emotional well-being. Implications of these findings for health and well-being in younger and older adults are discussed.

Poor sleep quality is a known risk factor for cognitive decline in the elderly. Hearteningly, sleep is also a prime target for behavioral modification. In this study, the investigators propose to test mindfulness-based training (MBT) as an intervention to improve sleep quality by reducing sleep fragmentation, and hypothesize that these improvements will mediate the beneficial effects of MBT on sustained and executive attention. MBT consists of a suite of techniques aimed at enhancing awareness and acceptance of one’s internal (e.g., thoughts and feelings) and external experiences in the present moment. Learning these techniques has been shown to improve sleep quality in patients with primary insomnia, and in other conditions associated with sleep disturbance. There is also increasing evidence that mindfulness training enhances multiple facets of cognition, including components of attention. In this study, the investigators will recruit 120 participants in a randomized controlled design, with 60 participants receiving MBT, and 60 receiving a sleep hygiene education and exercise program (SHEEP). Each intervention will last 8 weeks. Before and after the intervention, the investigators will collect objective and subjective measures of sleep quality, resting-state and task-related functional magnetic resonance imaging scans, and performance on standard laboratory tests of attention. The investigators hypothesize that, relative to SHE, MBT will result in significantly greater improvements in sleep quality and attentional metrics. They also predict that the cognitive changes will be mediated by the changes in sleep quality. If a positive result is found, this would indicate the use of MBT as a cost-effective behavioral intervention to stabilize or even improve cognition in the elderly, thus reducing the risk of dementia in this vulnerable population.

Self-compassion has been associated with psychological health in young and multigenerational samples. This study investigated whether self-compassion may be associated with subjective well-being (positive affect [PA] and negative affect [NA]) and psychological well-being (ego integrity and meaning in life) in older adults. It also assessed the structure of the Self-Compassion Scale (SCS; Neff, 2003a) in older adults.

The improvement in life expectancy, economic conditions, and technological and medical progress have radically changed the demographic structure of many societies. Since many countries now have an ageing population, by adopting a life-course study perspective, this paper aims to explore the needs of older adults (over 60), and the currently adult population which will become older in the coming decades (50–60 years). In detail, the study investigates the lifestyles of the target populations by focusing on two main areas concerning health (healthy diet; attitudes towards physical activity) and socio-relational-housing and living conditions (social housing, senior co-housing in rural environments, etc.). A qualitative study was carried out based on 16 in-depth interviews developed over one month (February 2022). The conduct of the interviews was supported by the Italian Center for Sensory Analysis (CIAS). Emerging from the results, the concept of active ageing is perceived by mature and older adults in a positive and optimistic way. The sample considered want to re-engage in life, continuing to be active, useful, and maintaining their self-esteem, social life and independence. However, despite older people’s major concerns being preserve their physical abilities and social integration, this target group adopts behaviours focused more on current well-being rather than worrying too much about how this well-being will change as they age.

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has been described as a storm. It has affected over 215 regions/countries and the number of cases worldwide has reached 42,003,060¹.

Singapore is an independent, multi-ethnic city-state with a population of 5,704,000. Having experienced severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in 2003, the Singapore healthcare and surveillance systems have enhanced its pandemic preparedness responses. Despite coping and adapting well to contain the first wave of COVID-19, the systems were put to the test with an increase in the percentage of untraceable transmission within the community and widespread transmission among the migrant worker population. As of October 23, the city-state has recorded 57,941 cases of COVID-19 infection [1]; of this, 94.04% (n=54,492) were linked to migrant workers living in dormitories [2]. The nation’s fatality rate of 0.05% is below global average (4%) [1]. Since the initiation of a nation-wide stay-at-home measure (circuit breaker) on April 7, the number of new cases and unlinked cases in the community has decreased significantly. Public health interventions such as contact tracing, enhanced surveillance testing in the dormitories have also lead to earlier detection and quarantine, thus preventing further uncontrolled transmission among migrant worker living in the dormitories [3].

While Singapore has made significant attempts to strengthen its epidemiological response to pandemic crises, it is uncertain whether the society is sufficiently resilient from the perspective of public health emergency preparedness, public hygiene practices as well as civic-mindedness. Singapore’s experience thus far suggests that efficient and capable healthcare and surveillance systems alone are not sufficient to ensure success in the containment of a pandemic. The current COVID-19 pandemic has shaken the international system with tremendous impact on the public health system, and the daily lives of all individuals.

Community resilience as a framework can help us to better understand a community’s persistent capacity to overcome and rebound from adversity. Based on the conceptual framework by Anita Chandra and colleagues [4], components of community resilience include a number of domains: physical and psychological health, communication, social connectedness and integration and involvement of organisations (Fig. 1). An equally important element that has not been emphasised sufficiently in this framework, is civic-mindedness and social responsibility [5,6]. Indeed, collective responsibility, and the sacrifice of individual desires, is key in fighting COVID-19 [7,12], especially in the protection of vulnerable and at-risk populations.

Resilience, the ability to resist or recover from adverse effects of a stressor, is of widespread interest in social, psychologic, biologic, and medical research and particularly salient as the capacity to respond to stressors becomes diminished with aging. To date, research on human resilience responses to and factors influencing these responses has been limited.

Although ageing is generally perceived as a biologically determined process, the literature increasingly points to the importance of psychological factors in the ageing process, specifically age-related stereotypes or cognitive mindsets. Such stereotypes reflect self-perceptions and others’ perceptions about the ageing process and can have a strong influence on health and life satisfaction, specifically through self-fulfilling prophecy mechanisms. This study aimed to investigate whether changes in mindsets can change the ageing process.