Boot Camp After 60: 10 Steps To Turn Around Unhealthy Habits — Kaiser Health News

It takes moxie to flip an unhealthy lifestyle to a healthy one — particularly for folks over 60. Most baby boomers approach retirement age unwilling to follow basic healthy lifestyle goals established by the American Heart Association, said Dr. 683 more words

via Boot Camp After 60: 10 Steps To Turn Around Unhealthy Habits — Kaiser Health News

Frail Seniors Find Ways To Live Independently — Kaiser Health News

Navigating Aging Navigating Aging focuses on medical issues and advice associated with aging and end-of-life care, helping America’s 45 million seniors and their families navigate the health care system. To contact Judith Graham with a question or comment, click here. Join the Navigating Aging Facebook Group. See All Columns DENVER — Pauline Jeffery had let things slide…

via Frail Seniors Find Ways To Live Independently — Kaiser Health News

Older Adults Should Eat More Protein

Even healthy seniors need more protein than when they were younger to help preserve muscle mass, experts suggest. Yet up to one-third of older adults don’t eat an adequate amount due to reduced appetite, dental issues, impaired taste, swallowing problems and limited financial resources. Combined with a tendency to become more sedentary, this puts them at risk of deteriorating muscles, compromised mobility, slower recovery from bouts of illness and the loss of independence.

Here’s the link to the full article.

The KHN article has a number of useful links.  Go check it out.

Whey Better

While exercise buffs have long used protein supplements to gain muscle, new research from McMaster University suggests one protein source in particular, whey protein, is most effective for seniors struggling to rebuild muscle lost from inactivity associated with illness or long hospital stays.

Source article here.

Daily low-dose aspirin found to have no effect on healthy life span in older people

In the total study population, treatment with 100 mg of low-dose aspirin per day did not affect survival free of dementia or disability. Among the people randomly assigned to take aspirin, 90.3 percent remained alive at the end of the treatment without persistent physical disability or dementia, compared with 90.5 percent of those taking a placebo. Rates of physical disability were similar, and rates of dementia were almost identical in both groups.

For the full NIH news release click here.

Need a Grandchild? There’s an App for That

More than 40% of the elderly experience loneliness on a regular basis, according to a 2017 study. That loneliness puts them at a higher risk of cognitive decline, depression, stroke, and multiple other problems; even the symptoms of the common cold are more severe when someone is lonely. Seniors who report feeling lonely also have a 45% increased risk of mortality.

This is one of the coolest start ups I’ve read about.  Check it out here.

Happy Older Asians Live Longer

Happy older people live longer, according to researchers at Duke-NUS Medical School in Singapore. In a study published today in Age and Ageing, the scientific journal of the British Geriatrics Society, the authors found that an increase in happiness is directly proportional with a reduction in mortality.

This is one of the few Asian studies to have assessed the association between happiness and mortality among older people, while accounting for several social factors, such as loneliness and social network, therefore extending the generalisability of the findings to non-Western populations.

Stay happy my friends.  Check out the entire article here.

5 Myths About Older Workers Debunked

  1. I can’t learn new things.
  2. I am less productive.
  3. I take more time off sick.
  4. I will retire and leave the organization.
  5. I am overqualified.

For obvious reasons I loved this article. 

The stereotypes of older workers persist.  May you live long enough to understand the truth.

  1. I learn something new every day.
  2. I am as productive in my work currently as I was years ago.
  3. I haven’t taken a sick day off in years.
  4. I will eventually retire and leave but not just yet, and
  5. YES I AM OVERQUALIFIED.  You’re getting a helluva lot of experience and expertise CHEAP.

 

Many older adults are deficient in vitamin B12 and folate

Key findings:

  • One in eight adults over 50 were low to deficient in vitamin B12 while one in seven were low to deficient in folate

  • The prevalence of low or deficient folate increased with age, from 14% among those aged 50-60 years to 23% among people over 80 years old. Low folate status was also more common in smokers, the obese, and those who lived alone

  • Low or deficient vitamin B12 was more common in smokers (14%), people who lived alone (14.3%) and those from lower socio-economic backgrounds (13%)

  • Use of both vitamin B12 and folic acid supplementation was low, with higher rates among women than men but less than 4% overall taking supplements of either vitamin

Read the source article here.