"Whether or not I'm the oldest person in Spain makes no difference to me," says Carme Noguera. historical nurse At 111 years old, she doesn't place much importance on the title of oldest person in the State, which was recently taken from her by a 112-year-old neighbor from León. Although she remains the oldest in Catalonia, there's another recognition she's recently received that excites her even more: becoming a great-grandmother. When asked about it, she smiles and confesses that "he's been a very bright child since he was born, and being a great-grandmother is wonderful," and she can't resist sharing a few anecdotes about the boy. In fact, Carme is a very family-oriented woman, and as every year, she plans to celebrate Christmas with her loved ones. "I don't organize anything; my daughter is being looked after now," she says, but she acknowledges that there are some traditions that are essential for her during this special time of year. "Every year we eat cannelloni for Saint Stephen's Day, we make the Tió de Nadal (a traditional Catalan Christmas log) 'poop,' and we receive a visit from the Three Kings," she says. However, Carme confesses that what she likes most is the galets stew with a meatball, so they must prepare it year after year without fail. Christmas is a special time for this centenarian, and when Dolors, her daughter, reminds her of the highlight of these days, her face lights up: "Núria, my eldest granddaughter, is coming back from Brussels! We love each other very much." She explains that she has been living away for a long time and, as happens in many homes, these days are also a time for reunions, which is what Carme is most looking forward to. A Christmas with new traditions

The daughter takes out her phone and starts playing a video. It shows a group of elderly people singing a Christmas carol together. The mother's boyAnd in the foreground appears Carmen, wearing a necklace and a blouse perfect for the occasion. It seems, then, that it's never too late to adopt new Christmas traditions. "It was her first concert with the residence choir," explains Dolors. The residents meet once a week to rehearse, but this was Carmen's first performance in front of an audience. "I really enjoyed it, and I wasn't nervous at all," she says proudly.

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We all aspire to live many years of health and fulfillment. In fact, more and more people are reaching advanced age. The global population over 65 will grow rapidly over the next decade: from 1.565 billion individuals in 2024 (19.5% of the population) to 1.948 billion in 2034 (22.8%). And the number of those over 80 will increase by 29.3%. Demographic change is also accompanied by people enjoying better living conditions, more education, and fewer children. And yet, too often we continue to treat older people as if they cannot make their own decisions, as if they were minors. This is called ageism—there is also ageism for minors, but the most common is that of the elderly. And it is an increasingly evident social problem.

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I read an interview with actor Liam Neeson on Ara.cat in which he was asked how long he would continue to play the action hero. "There comes a time when the public knows, and I don't want to insult them by pretending I'm still 50," Neeson says. "I don't want to do that. I have too much respect for my audience."

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Internationally recognized as one of the leading experts in inflammaging, María Mittelbrunn (Madrid, 1977) is a principal investigator at the Immunometabolism and Inflammation Laboratory at the Severo Ochoa Center for Molecular Biology (CISC-UAM), located in Madrid. For decades, she has been studying the immune system to determine its role in aging and find the elixir that will delay this process and all the diseases associated with it. Her research has shown that immune cells, specifically T lymphocytes, are the philosopher's stone of the body's resilience to the passage of time.

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Hand disability and dependency, complementary aid, and more support at home. These are some of the new features of the draft reform of the dependency and disability laws that the Council of Ministers approved this Tuesday in the second round of voting. It now faces parliamentary proceedings. The Minister of Social Rights, Pablo Bustinduy, has defended the initiatives as "far-reaching" in the legislature because, on the one hand, they protect people with disabilities from discrimination and, on the other, they project the new care model into the future, assuming the high rates of population aging in the coming years.

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Josep Farré (Barcelona, ​​1946) will once again be the oldest swimmer this Saturday, competing in an Open Water Championship. He was the oldest swimmer last April in Ibiza at the national tournament. Now he will repeat the goal in Tarragona with the aim of completing the three kilometers in a time close to an hour. "It's been many years since I've had the goal of improving my times. At the beginning, I did them in about 50 minutes, but over the years, it's normal to lose speed and strength," he explains in a conversation with ARA. At the Spanish Championships in April, he completed the crossing in one hour and two minutes.

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"Things are not easy for anyone, inside that igloo, so thawed, so long, so full of endings, so deprived of you," sings Antònia Font. What a gift Joan Miquel Oliver has for creating images, for suggesting moods and for playing with words! I find it difficult to find a more synthetic and accurate definition of life than that igloo so full of endings.

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From the balcony of my house I can see the badius of some low houses in the centre of Badalona and that makes me feel lucky. In one of the badius there is an almond tree – which is currently in bloom, as it should be – and a huge magnolia that in June will bring us the intense and sweet aroma of its flowers. It is a small oasis of silence and calm in the middle of a noisy and often dizzying city. Behind the windows, I contemplate the white cloud of almond blossoms in silence and leave behind the streams of people going to the metro, the heavy traffic of the buses and the distant murmur of the motorway.

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