Michelle Cohen, Ph.d joins Mark Alyn to talk about dating over 50. After a spouse dies or leaves, the remaining spouse often goes into a depression. They end up spending their lives watching Wheel of Fortune and don’t get out to interact with people. This can lead to serious health issues including dementia and high blood pressure. Dr. Cohen talks about why dating later in life is important and how it can help make life more enjoyable. She offers ideas on when it’s time to start dating and ideas on meeting new people.

Getting out and meeting new people as we get older really helps people be happy and helps with depression and anxiety. After a spouse dies there is a natural period of mourning that people have to go through, this is especially more difficult for older people. Older people tend to cling onto old patterns and its much harder to get back out and move forward with life. It's very helpful for other family members to encourage the newly single spouse to get out of the house and be happy again.

Dating at 50 plus is also very different than it was for people when they were younger. Now most people meet on online dating website. A lot of people look up old friends or old high school and college friends through facebook. Odds are you are going to find someone from your past who you used to know that is now single as well. It's much less intimidating than getting out there and meeting new people late in life.