For anyone who’s ever watched a TEDtalk online, when it’s over, you’re often left feeling a little smarter, a little more enlightened and a lot more aware of pressing issues that we may not have known about otherwise.
We’ve compiled a not to be missed list of the greatest TED talks, specifically geared to the over 50 demographic. We promise you’ll leave these videos feeling inspired and ready for action.
Perhaps you’ll even be inspired to create a TEDtalk of your own!
7. Amy Cuddy: Your Body Language Shapes Who You Are
Body language affects how others see us, but it may also change how we see ourselves. Social psychologist Amy Cuddy shows how “power posing” — standing in a posture of confidence, even when we don’t feel confident — can affect testosterone and cortisol levels in the brain, and might even have an impact on our chances for success.
6. Nilofer Merchant: Got a meeting? Take a walk
Nilofer Merchant suggests a small idea that just might have a big impact on your life and health: Next time you have a one-on-one meeting, make it into a “walking meeting” — and let ideas flow while you walk and talk.
https://youtu.be/iE9HMudybyc
5.Simon Sinek: How Great Leaders Inspire Action
Simon Sinek leads a thought-provoking talk about how some of the greatest leaders have inspired those around them, including Martin Luther King, Jr., the Apple founders and the Wright brothers. Sinek believes true inspiration comes from believing in something strongly yourself, and communicating that belief to others — “People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it.”
4.Bobby McFerrin Demonstrates the Power of the Pentatonic Scale
Listening to Bobby McFerrin sing may be hazardous to your preconceptions. Side effects may include unparalleled joy, a new perspective on creativity, rejection of the predictable and a sudden, irreversible urge to lead a more spontaneous existence.
3. Russell Foster: Why Do We Sleep?
Russell Foster is a circadian neuroscientist: He studies the sleep cycles of the brain. And he asks: What do we know about sleep? Not a lot, it turns out, for something we do with one-third of our lives. In this talk, Foster shares three popular theories about why we sleep, busts some myths about how much sleep we need at different ages — and hints at some bold new uses of sleep as a predictor of mental health.
2. Jill Bolte Taylor’s stroke of insight
Neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor had an opportunity few brain scientists would wish for: One morning, she realized she was having a massive stroke. As it happened — as she felt her brain functions slip away one by one, speech, movement, understanding — she studied and remembered every moment. This is a powerful story about how our brains define us and connect us to the world and to one another.
Jane Fonda: Life’s Third Act
Within this generation, an extra 30 years have been added to our life expectancy — and these years aren’t just a footnote or a pathology. At TEDxWomen, Jane Fonda asks how we can think about this new phase of our lives
