Baby boomers can’t stop staring at their phones
WAPO - Too much screen time is something we usually associate with children. But there is another demographic that is struggling with putting down their devices: Baby boomers. Smartphones came into their lives late, but they were quickly won over. Now some of their children say they are hooked, staring at their screens constantly, even when they should be paying attention to their own grandchildren.
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5 WORST TECH GIFTS FOR SENIORS (AND WHAT TO GIVE INSTEAD)
Daily Caring - Technology has brought many wonderful conveniences to everyday life. Of course, we want the people we care about to benefit from these comforts and innovations too. However, there are some expensive tech gifts that may seem like fantastic ideas, but after further investigation, turn out to be terrible gifts for seniors.
Statins lower risk of deadliest kind of stroke, study finds
CNN - Doctors know that drugs called statins lower a person’s risk of a stroke due to a blood clot. But a new study shows that the inexpensive medications can also decrease the risk of a first stroke as a result of an intracerebral hemorrhage, the deadliest kind.
Senior living and care facilities turn away older adults 11K times in 1 month due to workforce crisis: survey
McKnight’s - Access to long-term care in Minnesota is in a “dangerous decline,” as evidenced by a recent survey revealing that older adults were turned away from assisted living communities and nursing homes 11,000 times in October due the state’s workforce crisis, according to provider groups in the state.
Positive perceptions of aging can benefit sexual satisfaction among older adults, a new study shows.
Futurity - “There’s really robust and quickly growing literature about perceptions of aging,” says Hanamori Skoblow, the lead author of the study published in The Gerontologist. “We know positive perceptions of aging can be really beneficial, but when they are negative, they can be really detrimental.
“Negative perceptions of aging are linked to higher likelihood of cognitive decline, higher likelihood of cardiovascular disease, and even shorter lifespans. We wanted to see how it would affect people’s sexual relationships. As expected, thinking positively about the way you age can also lead to a healthy sex life.”
Skoblow believes that the information can be used to help inform doctors that work with older adults. She says that physicians, who are often reluctant to discuss sexual issues with older patients, are reinforcing ageist beliefs that sexual activity is only for young adults. She also believes that sex therapists could see better results by promoting positive perceptions of aging.
U.S. News adds nursing home ownership tenure, weekend staffing, infection data to its ratings
McKnight’s - US News & World Report’s well-known nursing home ratings kicked up the heat on operators this year, adding information on ownership tenure, weekend staffing levels and infections.
The 13th edition also evaluates more than 15,000 nursing homes on care, safety and health inspections. It uses publicly available information and a ratings methodology that differs from the Five-Star Quality System featured on the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services’ Nursing Home Compare website, organizers point out.
Observation - much needed and a long time coming.
A Story You Can Sink Your Teeth Into - The baguette gets UN world heritage status.
AP - The humble baguette — the crunchy ambassador for French baking around the world — is being added to the U.N.’s list of intangible cultural heritage as a cherished tradition to be preserved by humanity.
Observation - who could disagree?
60% OF AMERICANS HAVE HAD A RECENT BAD HEALTHCARE EXPERIENCE, NEW SURVEY SHOWS
Forbes - In the most recent results from The Beryl Institute – Ipsos PX Pulse, three-quarters (76%) of Americans surveyed said they have not had a positive patient experience in the past three months and 60% have had an outright negative healthcare experience.
Observation - Jason Wolf of Beryl is a friend of mine and I have spoken at his conferences. While I helped birth the patient experience movement, I am afraid that we have created another needless level of bureaucracy. Those salaries are better served for direct caregivers. As Jason notes, communication is key. That is something that you do not need to create a PX department for but needs to be embedded in the culture.
Having a sense of purpose can lower the risk of death
McKnight’s - The researchers noted that an increasing amount of research indicates that a person’s sense of purpose — that is, the extent to which someone perceives a sense of direction and goals in his or her life — may be linked to health-protective benefits such as better physical functioning and lower risks of cardiovascular disease or cognitive decline. The results showed that people with the highest sense of purpose indicated the lowest risk of death (a 15.2% mortality risk) compared with people with the lowest sense of purpose (a 36.5% mortality risk).
Observation - I’m not a math wizard but not having purpose more than doubles your mortality risk. That is significant.
Who Will Care for ‘Kinless’ Seniors?
NYTimes - My friend Paula Span authored this article. An estimated 6.6 percent of American adults aged 55 and older have no living spouse or biological children. (Researchers often use this definition of kinlessness because spouses and children are the relatives most apt to serve as family caregivers.)
About 1 percent fit a narrower definition — lacking a spouse or partner, children and biological siblings. The figure rises to 3 percent among women over 75.
Those aren’t high proportions, but they amount to a lot of kinless people: close to a million older Americans without a spouse or partner, children or siblings in 2019, including about 370,000 women over 75.
Observation - Kinless seniors should check out my friend Carol Marak’s Facebook page, which is devoted to this issue. https://www.facebook.com/groups/elderorphans/
A Neurologist’s Tips to Protect Your Memory
WAPO - A new book by a renowned brain expert says there are a few simple things we can do to prevent memory decline as we age.
It’s Really, Really Worth Trying to Avoid Getting COVID Multiple Times
SELF - The potential risks of COVID reinfection are very real, regardless of your vaccination status, new research suggests. Having COVID more than once boosts your risk of hospitalization, developing long COVID, or even dying from the virus, according to a large new study published in the journal Nature Medicine.
The goal of the research was to determine whether the risk of complications goes up the more you’re infected with the virus, according to lead study author Ziyad Al-Aly, MD, assistant professor at the School of Medicine at Washington University in St. Louis. “The answer is absolutely yes,” he tells SELF.
This may be the best time to exercise to improve heart health: study
The Hill - Exercising in the morning is associated with the lowest risk of heart disease and stroke, according to new research on more than 86,000 individuals.
Compared with individuals who were active midday, those most active around 8 a.m. or 10 a.m. had 11 percent and 16 percent lower risks of incident coronary artery disease, respectively. For women, risks were reduced by 22 percent and 24 percent at these times.
Observation - I personally try to exercise in the morning. It starts the day out right and I have the most energy to really maximize the workout.
Biden turns 80 and joins growing ranks of octogenarians who still work
WAPO - Working past 80, while still the exception, is not as rare as it once was. In recent decades, the number of octogenarians in the U.S. workforce has soared, from around 110,000 — or 2.5 percent of the 80-plus population — in 1980 to a high of around 734,000 — or 6 percent of all octogenarians — in 2019, according to a Washington Post analysis of Bureau of Labor Statistics data. (The numbers begin falling after the pandemic started, with around 693,000 — or 5.5 percent of the population — working last year).
Amazon launches Amazon Clinic, a ‘virtual care storefront’ in 32 states
Benefits Pro - Amazon is back in the telehealth business. It announced on Tuesday that it is launching Amazon Clinic, just months after shutting down Amazon Care. Amazon describes the new service as a virtual health “storefront” in which users can search for, connect with and pay for telehealth care, addressing a variety of conditions that are some of the more popular for telehealth consultations today. Amazon Clinic initially is launching in 32 states. It does not work with health insurance at this point, and overall pricing will vary depending on providers, condition and location.
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