Exactly when does old age begin? Which health markers best predict who will live a long and healthy life versus a life spent in poor health? Developing metrics to help answer these questions and to understand the tradeoffs between lifespan and health span is the subject of a June 2017 paper by MDI Biological Laboratory… Continue reading Living Long and Living Well: Is It Possible to Do Both?
Tag: Aging Well
Life Skills Are Important for Well-being in Later Life
Life skills such as persistence, conscientiousness, and control are as important to wealth and well-being in later life as they are when people are much younger, according to research led by University College London and published in the journal PNAS in April 2017. A release from the university notes that five life skills – emotional… Continue reading Life Skills Are Important for Well-being in Later Life
Patterns of Biomarkers Predict How Well People Age
Levels of specific biomarkers, or chemicals found in the blood, can be combined to produce patterns that signify how well a person is aging and his or her risk for future aging-related diseases. That is the finding of a research done at the Boston University Schools of Public Health and Medicine and Boston Medical Center.… Continue reading Patterns of Biomarkers Predict How Well People Age
Reinventing Yourself Can Restore The Passion And Purpose To Your Life
Many Americans in the latter stage of a career – or even already in retirement – have discovered that it’s never too late to reinvent themselves. Folk artist Grandma Moses was in her late 70s before she began her painting career. Colonel Harland Sanders was in his 60s when he launched Kentucky Fried Chicken. Arnold… Continue reading Reinventing Yourself Can Restore The Passion And Purpose To Your Life
The Interaction Between Two Genomes Is the Key to Healthy Aging
The way we age might be determined long before the aging process starts and the first signs appear. Scientists at the Centro Nacional de Investigaciones Cardiovasculares Carlos III (CNIC), in partnership with groups at the universities of Zaragoza and Santiago de Compostela and the UK’s Medical Research Council, have uncovered how the combination and interaction… Continue reading The Interaction Between Two Genomes Is the Key to Healthy Aging
Redefining Health and Well-Being in America’s Aging Population
Chronological age itself plays almost no role in accounting for differences in older people’s health and well-being, according to a large-scale study done in 2016by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at the University of Chicago. The paper was published in the May 2016 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. A release… Continue reading Redefining Health and Well-Being in America’s Aging Population
Age and Mobility Predict Death Better Than One’s “Molecular Clock”
Advances in technology allow scientists to measure intricate details about the human body that greatly enhance understanding of health, disease and aging. Yet, when it comes to predicting death, more rudimentary measures—like a person’s age or a person’s ability to climb stairs or walk a short distance—are much more powerful predictors of survival than certain… Continue reading Age and Mobility Predict Death Better Than One’s “Molecular Clock”
Telomeres – A Key to Aging?
In each of the human body’s cells there are 23 chromosomes, which are twisted, double-strands of DNA molecules. Chromosomes are vital as they provide our singular genetic map to every cell within our body. Lucky for us, on the ends of each of our chromosome strands sits a protective cap called a telomere. This cap… Continue reading Telomeres – A Key to Aging?
New Insight Into Aging Cells
It’s been known for decades that telomeres, “caps” at the end of each DNA strand, protect chromosomes – and that telomeres shorten with age, weakening the DNA strands. But now researchers say they have discovered the role of an enzyme that’s crucial to telomere length. And that may speed the discovery of other proteins and… Continue reading New Insight Into Aging Cells
Dying at Home: Pros and Cons
Dying at home could be beneficial for terminally ill cancer patients and their relatives, according to research published in October 2015 in the open-access journal BMC Medicine. On the other hand, an article published the same week in the British Medical Journal (BMJ) contends that home is not always the best or preferred place to… Continue reading Dying at Home: Pros and Cons
Mapping the Genes That Increase Lifespan
Scientists at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging and the University of Washington have identified 238 genes that, when removed, increase the replicative lifespan of S. cerevisiae yeast cells. This is the first time 189 of these genes have been linked to aging. These results provide new genomic targets that could eventually be used… Continue reading Mapping the Genes That Increase Lifespan
Surviving Longevity
Age 85+ is becoming the fastest growing demographic in the U.S. And those of us (the so called “boomers”, aged 51-69) who may be caregivers for those elderly parents may still be at the tail end of funding college kids or starting to babysit grandkids. They don’t call us the “sandwich generation” for nothing. As… Continue reading Surviving Longevity
Massage Therapy Could Help You Live Longer
Aging well requires you to constantly be in check with your mind and body. How often do you take time to really relax? If you sit staring at a computer screen all day at work, and then go home and “relax” in front of the TV for a couple hours, you’re still staring at a… Continue reading Massage Therapy Could Help You Live Longer
Older Adults Possess Important Forms of Expertise
Just in time for Grandparents’ Day 2015, coming up on September 13th, researchers at Chapman University in California published an article in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology showing that as adults continue to age beyond their reproductive years, despite physical frailty setting in, they are often regarded as experts in areas such as in… Continue reading Older Adults Possess Important Forms of Expertise
ThirdAge Health Close-Up: 71 and Going for the Gold
Faster than a speeding bullet. More powerful than a locomotive. Able to leap tall buildings in a single bound. Okay, perhaps 71-year-old Minnesotan Pat Lillehei lacks super powers, but the recently retired financial executive comes close. Cited as one of 13 Humana Game Changers, Pat is one of 10,000 athletes set to compete at the… Continue reading ThirdAge Health Close-Up: 71 and Going for the Gold
“Successful Aging” Linked to Harmful Drinking Aming Over 50s
The over 50s who are “successful agers”– healthy, active, sociable, and well off–are more at risk of harmful drinking than their less successful peers, concludes research published in July 2015 the online journal BMJ Open. A release from the publisher notes that the researchers warn that harmful drinking is a “middle class phenomenon” which may… Continue reading “Successful Aging” Linked to Harmful Drinking Aming Over 50s
For Older Adults, Life Review Writing Shared with College Students = Renewed Sense of Purpose
A unique program combining a life review writing workshop with conversations between seniors and college students enhances the sense of meaning in life for older adults living independently. That is the finding of a study done at by New York University’s Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development and published in the July/August 2015… Continue reading For Older Adults, Life Review Writing Shared with College Students = Renewed Sense of Purpose
Can You Drive Safely with Arthritis
Although you might think of poor vision as the most common factor in seniors’ impaired driving ability, arthritis can also be an obstacle. According to NIH SeniorHealth, a division of the National Institutes of Health, arthritis can make joints swollen and stiff, thereby limiting movement of the shoulders, hands, head or neck. That can make… Continue reading Can You Drive Safely with Arthritis