Aging Well FDAΓÇÖs Adult Stem Cell Research By article Scientists who are part of the Food and Drug Administration’s MSC Consortium, are studying adult mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) that could eventually be used to repair, replace, restore or regenerate cells in the body, including those needed for heart and bone repair. According to the FDA, the investigational work is unprecedented: Seven labs at FDA's Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research formed the consortium to fill in gaps in knowledge about how stem cells function.
Aging Well We Feel Younger Than Our Years! By Sondra Forsyth article Good news about Boomers and Beyond! The ninth annual 100@100 survey by UnitedHealthcare reported that Americans at age 65 say they feel 55 on average. Not only that, but our hardy centenarians say they feel as though they are 83 “years young” on average, and more than half live independently without the support of a caregiver to help them with their daily activities.
Aging Well Resilient Older Women Show Compassion By Sondra Forsyth article If you’re 50+ and you’ve recently been through a tough time but you’ve bounced back, chances are you would score high on a compassion test given by researchers at the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine. The study, published in the April 2014 issue of the International Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry, reported that resilient older women who have suffered a recent major loss are more likely to be compassionate toward those they don’t even know than are other older adults.
_ Aging Well The Future of Aging, 2014 By article Here’s a link to a video of the General Session from the 2014 American Society on Aging "Aging in America" Conference in San Diego. JoAnn Jenkins (AARP); Ken Dychtwald, Ph.D. (Age Wave); Joe Coughlin, Ph.D. (MIT AgeLab); and Fernando Torres-Gil, Ph.D. (UCLA) present their views about the future of aging.
_ Aging Well Helping Boomers Age in Place By article As the Baby Boom generation ages, the number of older adults living in America will double by 2050, with nearly 19 million of those adults age 85 or older. While the needs of this older adult population continue to grow and change, the current paradigm of care—institutional settings like nursing homes and assisted living facilities—is an inflexible and expensive way of caring for older adults with physical limitations or chronic health conditions.
_ Aging Well Watch: 5 Reasons Getting Older Rocks By article Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
_ Aging Well Helping Us Use Age-Friendly Technologies By article Both public and private entities must consider the needs of older adults in order to help them optimize the use of new technologies from smart phones to smart cars, according to the latest issue of Public Policy & Aging Report (PP&AR), entitled “Aging and Technology: The Promise and the Paradox.” A total of eight articles, all from authors affiliated with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab, are featured.
_ Aging Well More Proof Protein Is Good as We Age By Sondra Forsyth article On March 5th 2014, I posted an item on ThirdAge.com that dealt with the misleading title of a press release that went viral: “Meat and cheese may be as bad as smoking”. The study the release referred to actually showed that for people over 65, animal protein is protective.
_ Aging Well Driving? Better Not Drink -- At All By Jane Farrell article For older drivers, as little as one drink may be too much, according to new research. Investigators from the University of Florida analyzed how drinking legally non-intoxicating levels of alcohol affect the driving skills of people aged 25 to 35 and those aged 55 to 70.
_ Aging Well Over 65? High Protein Diet Is Protective By Sondra Forsyth article This morning a news release from the University of Southern California entitled “Meat and cheese may be as bad as smoking” hit my inbox. Since then, numerous sites around the web have picked up the eyeball-grabbing headline and the accompanying story. If you encountered any of those posts and you’re over 65, don’t be alarmed and don’t cut back on the percentage of protein you eat.
Aging Well Hispanics Live Longer Than Whites By article One in every six people in the U.S. is Hispanic/Latino and as a group they live longer than non-Hispanic whites -- 81.4 years vs. 78.8 years. Yet despite their strong representation and relative longevity, little is understood about this group's health conditions and behaviors, according to a release from Albert Einstein College of Medicine of the Yeshiva University in the Bronx, NY.
Aging Well Restoring Strength in Aging Muscles By article A stem cell based method may restore strength to damaged skeletal muscles of the elderly, according to a study done at the University of Toronto and published in a February 2014 issue of the journal Nature Medicine describes. A release from the university notes that skeletal muscles are some of the most important muscles in the body, supporting functions such as sitting, standing, blinking and swallowing. In aging individuals, the function of these muscles significantly decreases.
Aging Well With Age, Body Image Gets Better By article Boomers worry less about their appearance than Gen-Xers or Millenials do, according to a national online survey done by TODAY and AOL in February 2014. The results showed that 35% of Boomers aged 50 to 68 worry that people are judging their appearance, compared to 51% of Gen Xers aged 35 to 49 and 62% of millennials aged 16-34. Also, while 80% of women under age 24 worry about their appearance regularly, that number drops steadily with age. Among those who are 55+, 52% worry about appearance regularly.
_ Aging Well Senior Health Stress Management Stress-Free Living Stress Hormone Linked to Frailty By article Low levels of cortisol in the morning and high levels in the evening are associated with declining grip strength and walking speed, which are indications of frailty in older adults. That is the finding of research done at Helmholtz Zentrum München in Neuherberg in Germany and published in the March 2014 issue of the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism.
_ Aging Well Older Women Self-Employed by Necessity By article Older women most often turn to self-employment because of financial need while older men typically choose self-employment. That is the sobering but not surprising finding of research done at the University of Missouri in Columbia. The study will be published in the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare in March 2014.
Aging Well As We Age, Loneliness Is a Major Health Risk By article Feeling extreme loneliness can increase an older person's chances of premature death by 14 percent. That’s the finding of a team of researchers at the University of Chicago led by by John Cacioppo.
Aging Well Rejuvenated Stem Cells Help Aging Muscles Heal By article Researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine have pinpointed why normal aging is accompanied by a diminished ability to regain strength and mobility after muscle injury: Over time, stem cells within muscle tissues dedicated to repairing damage become less able to generate new muscle fibers and struggle to self-renew.
_ Aging Well Watch: Top 6 Ways to Re-imagine Your Life By article Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!