News of the Week
Observations About Some Things That Caught My Eye
Listed Expert at Baby Boomer Dot Org
We are partnering with www.babyboomer.org on a number of initiatives. I was just listed on their web site in two places.
As an expert: https://babyboomer.org/experts/anthonycirillo/
For my book: https://babyboomer.org/books/who-moved-my-dentures/
Why do you like the music you like? Science weighs in.
WAPO - Have you wondered why you love a particular song or genre of music? The answer may lie in your personality, although other factors also play a role, researchers say.
Many people tend to form their musical identity in adolescence, around the same time that they explore their social identity. Preferences may change over time, but research shows that people tend to be especially fond of music from their adolescent years and recall music from a specific age period — 10 to 30 years with a peak at 14 — more easily.
Observation - No surprise. This is why custom music programs work so well with people with dementia.
I thought this was right up my alley! Get it?!
They Were Entitled to Free Care. Hospitals Hounded Them to Pay
NYTIMES - In 2018, senior executives at one of the country’s largest nonprofit hospital chains, Providence, were frustrated. They were spending hundreds of millions of dollars providing free health care to patients. It was eating into their bottom line.
The executives, led by Providence’s chief financial officer at the time, devised a solution: a program called Rev-Up.
Rev-Up provided Providence’s employees with a detailed playbook for wringing money out of patients — even those who were supposed to receive free care because of their low incomes, a New York Times investigation found.
Observation - this is not uncommon!
Even with more supportive employers, 60% of senior care workers ready to leave: survey
McKnight’s - Nearly 60% of senior care workers have considered leaving their jobs in the last year, with most saying they’d be enticed by better pay and benefits and one-third looking for better work-life balance.
Those were among the findings of a survey by recruitment and scheduling software firm OnShift last week. Direct caregivers indicated a slightly higher interest than other respondents in working outside of healthcare at 17%.
Observation - what was a crisis pre-pandemic has blossomed into an epidemic. Not sure what the answers are. Thoughts?
Healthy aging can include a number of care settings
McKnight’s - Older adults can age successfully in a wide range of care settings as long as they are engaged, eat nutritious meals and live in an adaptive environment. Those are the findings in a new report released Tuesday by The Center for Discovery (TCFD) and The John H. Hartford Foundation.
Resistance-breathing training found to lower blood pressure
Medical XPress - Resistance-breathing training involves breathing in and out of a small device, called, quite naturally, a POWERbreathe, every day for several minutes. The device forces the patient to use their breathing muscles to push and pull air through it, making them stronger. And that, the researchers found, also reduces blood pressure. The device has been in use for several years as a means to assist athletes, singers and people with weak lung muscles.
Drinking several cups of coffee every day is linked to a longer lifespan, research finds
CBS - Two to three cups of coffee a day is associated with increased longevity and a lower risk of cardiovascular disease, a new study published in the European Journal of Preventive Cardiology found. Those benefits were seen regardless of whether the coffee was caffeinated or not, or whether it was ground or instant coffee, based on an analysis of nearly 450,000 people's habits.
1 in 5 older patients ignoring doctors’ orders to home monitor blood pressure
McKnight’s - Older adults with hypertension aren’t conducting at-home blood pressure tests like they should, according to a new study.
The study found that only 48% of adults between 50 and 80 who take medication to control hypertension are routinely checking their blood pressure at home, despite 62% of those polled who said their physician encouraged them to do so. The results were part of the University Of Michigan’s National Poll on Healthy Aging.
Observation - come on people!
Being lonely and unhappy accelerates aging more than smoking, study finds
Medical XPress - According to the latest article published in Aging-US, any anti-aging therapy needs to focus on one's mental health as much as on one's physical health. An international collaboration led by Deep Longevity with US and Chinese scientists has measured the effects of being lonely, having restless sleep, or feeling unhappy on the pace of aging and found it to be significant. Feeling hopeless, unhappy, and lonely was shown to increase one's biological age more than smoking.
Observation - that is why we believe Sage Stream is so important to bring to people. This study has a corollary. I believe a previous study said that loneliness has the equivalent impact of smoking 15 cigarettes a day.
Seniors are stuck home alone as health aides flee for higher-paying jobs
WAPO - In a related article, the country’s shortage of home-care workers worsens is jeopardizing the independence of a generation of elderly Americans who had banked on aging in place rather than spending their twilight years in nursing homes.
Observation - It is interesting that they are positioning this in a way that alludes to home care no longer being an option for many. That said, is going into a community, which is short-staffed, any better?
Going to bed too early or sleeping too much can increase dementia risk, study says
UPI - The time at which people go to bed and how long they sleep may affect their risk of developing dementia and cognitive decline, a new study suggests.
The results were published in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society.
CMS reveals more nursing home ownership information
McKnight’s - The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services made more nursing home ownership data available as part of the White House’s push to increase transparency in the sector.
The new batch of data, posted at data.cms.gov and updated monthly, will give state licensing officials, state and federal law enforcement, researchers and the public “an enhanced ability to identify common owners of nursing homes across nursing home locations,” CMS officials said in a release this afternoon.
Observation - This is consistent with the scathing report nursing homes received last week.
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Like what you read?
The report on coffee was reassuring!