News of the Week (Last of the Year) Happy Holidays!
Observations About Some Things That Caught My Eye
This Popular Activity Helps Slow Cognitive Decline, New Study Confirms
Best Life - A study from Columbia University and Duke University published in the Oct. 2022 edition of the NEJM Evidence journal confirms that one popular activity in particular could keep our brains sharp as we age. For this recent study, researchers split 107 participants with MCI into two groups: one trained in web-based crossword puzzles, and one trained in cognitive video games. After 78 weeks, the crossword puzzle group showed greater cognitive improvement and less brain shrinkage.
Got to Hang with Roster Members Acute Inflections When They Appeared in Charlotte Last Sunday.
Sage Stream 16-Program Bundle
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The 2022 Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards are a good laugh
NPR - From a salmon punching a bear in the face to a penguin that seems to have no head, the Comedy Wildlife Photography Awards announced its winners this year.
More older adults have Parkinson’s than previously thought: study
McKnight’s - A new study finds the incidence of Parkinson’s disease (PD) among older adults in the United States is 50% higher than previous estimates, and rates of the disease are higher among males and in certain geographic regions of the country.
3 THINGS TO DO WHILE VISITING AGING PARENTS FOR THE HOLIDAYS
Daily Caring - This year, use some of your time at home to do 3 things: make sure your older adults are doing well, make simple home safety updates, and start important conversations about the future.
Unmet social needs linked to linked to mental illness in seniors, study finds
McKnight’s - A new study links mental illness in older adults to unmet social needs, including inadequate housing and food insecurity. Health-related social needs addressed in the study included financial strain, food insecurity, housing instability, severe loneliness, transportation problems and utility affordability.
Assisted living too often fails older, sicker residents, report says
WAPO - Assisted-living communities too often fail to meet the needs of older people and should focus more on residents’ medical and mental health concerns, according to a recent report by a diverse panel of experts.
71 years after starting college, a 90-year-old woman is graduating
CNN - A 90-year-old woman will finally walk across the stage and receive her diploma, 71 years after she first enrolled in college.
Joyce DeFauw, then Joyce Viola Kane, started her freshman year at Northern Illinois University in 1951 with a plan to graduate with a degree in home economics.
As Gen X and Boomers Age, They Confront Living Alone
NYT - In 1960, just 13 percent of American households had a single occupant. Today it is approaching 30 percent. For households headed by someone 50 or older, that figure is 36 percent.
Nearly 26 million Americans 50 or older now live alone, up from 15 million in 2000. Baby boomers and Gen Xers make up a bigger share of the population than at any time in the nation’s history.
But while many people in their 50s and 60s thrive living solo, research is unequivocal that people aging alone experience worse physical and mental health outcomes and shorter life spans and they are generally more lonely than those who live with others.
Compounding the challenge of living solo, about 1 in 6 Americans 55+ do not have children, raising questions about how elder care will be managed in the coming decades.
6 WAYS TO ADAPT HOLIDAY ACTIVITIES FOR SENIORS WITH DEMENTIA
Daily Caring - Even though your older adult has Alzheimer’s disease or dementia, you still want them to feel included in the holiday festivities. But you also don’t want them to get overstimulated or agitated. Whether you’re hosting the get-together or taking them to someone’s house, these 6 tips help you modify holiday activities for seniors with dementia so they’ll be able to participate comfortably.
How to Know if You Have a Genetic Risk for Alzheimer’s
NYT - The actor Chris Hemsworth announced last week that he’s taking a break from acting to focus on his health. The news came after Mr. Hemsworth learned through genetic testing that he has two copies of the APOE4 gene variant, which is associated with increased odds of developing Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia. Should you, like Mr. Hemsworth, undergo genetic testing to assess your risk for Alzheimer’s? And if you have the variant, what options are available to prevent or delay the condition? Here’s what to know.
Secrets of ‘SuperAgers’ who possess brains as sharp as people 20 to 30 years younger
CNN - The Northwestern SuperAging Research Program has been studying the elderly with superior memories for 14 years. The program is part of the Mesulam Center for Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine in Chicago.
To be a SuperAger, a term coined by the Northwestern researchers, a person must be over 80 and undergo extensive cognitive testing. Acceptance in the study only occurs if the person’s memory is as good or better than cognitively normal people in their 50s and 60s.
Exercise does not boost cognitive function in seniors with memory concerns, study finds
McKnight’s - Exercise is known to greatly benefit the overall health of older adults. But a new study of nearly 600 seniors has found that neither exercise nor mindfulness improved cognitive function.
Observation - what to believe any more?!
The Empty Brain
AEON - Your brain does not process information, retrieve knowledge or store memories. In short: your brain is not a computer. No matter how hard they try, brain scientists and cognitive psychologists will never find a copy of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony in the brain – or copies of words, pictures, grammatical rules or any other kinds of environmental stimuli. The human brain isn’t really empty, of course. But it does not contain most of the things people think it does – not even simple things such as ‘memories’.
Walking linked to lower dementia risk
Harvard Health Publishing - There is no medication yet invented that can cut your risk of dementia by 50%. But walking about 10,000 steps per day might, suggests a study published by JAMA Neurology. Researchers analyzed health and activity information for more than 78,000 healthy people (ages 40 to 79) who wore fitness trackers 24 hours a day, for at least three days, and were then followed for seven years. Compared with people who didn’t walk much at all, people who walked about 9,800 steps per day (about five miles) were 51% less likely to develop dementia. People who walked just 3,800 steps per day (about two miles) were about 25% less likely to develop dementia.
‘Villages’ for the aging coming to more Black communities
WAPO - The villages movement started in Boston two decades ago as a way for seniors to find what they need to age in their communities. Nearly 300 have sprouted across the country.
NIH: ‘Good’ cholesterol may not universally predict heart disease risk
McKnight’s - A new study may upend long-standing assumptions about the role of high-density lipoprotein (HDL), or “good cholesterol,” in predicting heart disease risk across patient groups, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Low levels of HDL cholesterol predicted an increased risk of heart attacks or related deaths for white adults. But the same was not true for Black adults, they found. In addition, higher HDL cholesterol levels, historically thought to be beneficial, were not associated with reduced cardiovascular disease risk for either study cohort, the investigators reported.
Observation - Here we go again!
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