News of the Week
News of the Week
Observations About Some Things That Caught My Eye
What Does Aging-In-Place Mean? It Depends On Who You Ask
Forbes - Americans, we’re told, want to “age in place,” as proven by repeated survey data.
And most of us probably think we know what it means — staying put in the home we raised our children in as we age: “the only way I’ll leave this house is feet first,” as my own father used to say.
But it turns out, it hasn’t always meant this, there is no single official definition, and not all experts even use what we might think is its straightforward meaning.
Observation - interesting article more about the changing definitions of aging-in-place throughout the years and the perceptions that came with those definitions.
Does Aging-In-Place Work? What We Don’t Know Can Hurt Us
Forbes - But is aging-in-place really the right decision? Or, put another way, does it “work”? Is it the right path for us all to take as we age, or would we be better off if we moved somewhere more suitable — a single-level house, or a condo in an elevator building, or a home near public transportation, or any of the communities designed for older adults? Would we miss our neighbors in our old communities, or quickly adapt and be glad we’d gotten past our hesitancy?
Observation - the article leaves us asking - “which choice is the better one, in terms of future quality of life, to stay or to move?”
Frayed Relationships Could Leave Elderly Vulnerable to Scammers
US News - Older adults who are lonely or unhappy with their relationships may be more vulnerable to scammers, new research suggests. Having social connections may help guard against financial abuse, in addition to its other benefits, according to the research.
Observation - so much of everything we post lately has been related to social isolation and mental health.
Many seniors ready to shrink their lists of prescription drugs, survey reveals
McKnight’s - Many older adults say they are motivated to cut down on their prescription medications to avoid future side effects — if their physicians suggest they do so, according to a new survey.
Polypharmacy is common in older adults, with 36% of those aged 65 and older taking at least five concurrent medications. Fully 1 in 5 of these drugs taken may be inappropriate, the researchers reported in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
If This Happens to You in Midlife, Your Dementia Risk Skyrockets, Studies Say
BestLife - According to a 2011 study published in the journal Neurology, becoming severely overweight or obese during midlife significantly raises your risk of later developing dementia. Analyzing data from the Swedish Twin Registry, a databank of 8,534 twin individuals over the age of 65, the research team looked at possible risk factors related to dementia, including height, weight, health history, and more.
Observation - in my keynote, The Meaning of Life, I talk about how people need to prepare earlier in life for their older years - financially, emotionally and yes physically! Need to get that message to your organization. Consider me as a keynote.
48 percent of assisted living providers may close due to workforce issues: survey
McKnight’s - The National Center for Assisted Living on Tuesday released the results of its “State of the Assisted Living Industry” survey of 120 assisted living providers during its Congressional Briefing.
Observation - not sure if there is some crying wolf here. Plus I wouldn’t be surprised that all surveyed entities were for-profit. But I get it the staffing thing is real and it is not going to get better.
A new approach: Our health care system needs to focus on prevention
BenefitsPro - The best way to deal with chronic disease is to prevent it—or, failing that, to work to find ways to slow its progression and reverse it when possible. Today’s health care system, unfortunately, isn’t built to do either. Our “health care” system is in most ways a “sick care” system. Patients are not part of the system until they’ve actually become sick, at which point physicians engage and offer medications or procedures to help ease the problems at that point if they can. The incentives are wrong in the system, and a key source of that problem is our fee-for-service payment model. That model remunerates physicians, hospitals and nursing homes for each service they provide patients instead of for keeping them healthy and bringing about a particular positive outcome if they do fall ill.
Observation - I have said this for years. This author is a day late and a dollar short. We are still a fee for service health care system. We barely address social determinants, pretty much do nothing for family caregivers, and social prescribing is but a dream!
Social isolation linked to dementia risk, lower brain volume
McKnight’s - Social isolation is tied to a 26% increased risk of dementia and loss of brain volume in areas linked to cognition, a long-term study finds. The results highlight the crucial role social connections may have in helping older adults remain healthy, investigators reported in the journal Neurology.
Observation - Yet one more study I can cite in my Sage Stream Business Plan!
Bad Dreams Could Be Early Warning Of Parkinson’s Disease
Science Blog - Older adults who start to experience bad dreams or nightmares could be exhibiting the earliest signs of Parkinson’s disease, say researchers at the University of Birmingham.
A new study, published in eClinicalMedicine, showed that in a cohort of older men, individuals experiencing frequent bad dreams were twice as likely to be later diagnosed with Parkinson’s as those who did not.
Observation - does suggesting that this happens increase the likelihood of those of us reading this study will now be more prone to nightmares? One more thing to worry about if you choose. I do not.
Higher levels of optimism may promote health and longevity in diverse racial and ethnic groups
News Medical Life Sciences - Higher levels of optimism were associated with longer lifespan and living beyond age 90 in women across racial and ethnic groups in a study led by researchers at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Observation - Previous studies only looked at white populations. I think optimism is an equal opportunity employer if you choose to view life that way. As I convey in The Meaning of Life, this is one of the eight traits I have observed in older adults that are key to a quality of life as we age.
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