Out-of-pocket expenses keep many Medicare patients from taking needed drugs, study suggests Source: HealthDay
Category: aging
U.S. Breast Cancer Cases Could Rise 50 Percent by 2030
Elderly women will account for growing proportion of cases, study predicts Source: HealthDay
Technology for seniors – dial down passion, dial up market readiness
<!– google_ad_section_start –>The passion of innovation for seniors. Rant on. It’s the most I have seen in the past five years: the halo that surrounds finding new companies that could, perhaps, help older adults, even if they were designed for some other purpose. Many assess them, invite them to networking events, cultivate and encourage their expectations about future opportunity and even award them prizes. The criteria for selection/participation of these entrants are not always disclosed, but phrases about criteria are on the sponsoring entities' websites. New entrants will "have an already developed, scalable and financially sustainable product/service" or they will be "capable of scaling" or they will judge "how easy is it to get the product?" Or the product/
Making Healthcare Decisions for Me, Part 2
Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA Chief Executive Officer American Geriatrics Society Health in Aging Foundation In my last post, I shared some personal reflections on the importance of completing an advance directive—what the process has taught me about my needs, my wishes, and the type of voice and control I want to have should I ever need someone else to make healthcare decisions on my behalf. That last point is quite important, and—in honor of today being National Healthcare Decisions Day—I thought I’d walk through some of the questions and considerations that helped drive my own search for a healthcare proxy. These are built on discussions I’ve had with this person—one who knows me well—about the questions, answers, and decisions that are important to me. While these points
Americans Get Too Many Tests Before Cataract Surgery
Costs for unnecessary blood work, urine tests and EKGs add up Source: HealthDay
Making Healthcare Decisions for Me, Part 1
Nancy E. Lundebjerg, MPA Chief Executive Officer American Geriatrics Society Health in Aging Foundation Have you ever imagined a time when you are unable to make decisions for yourself? Who knows how you would make decisions? What information would you want? What do you think about life-prolonging treatments? Who knows how you feel about dying? Who knows you? Have you looked at that moment through the eyes of family who may have no—or every—legal authority to make decisions for you? Have you thought about the range of decisions that might need to be made for you—each decision likely leading to another decision and accompanied by concern that someone might not be doing what you would do if you were making this decision for yourself? We don’t
Why Does Human Post-Reproductive Longevity Exist?
Human life span is quite unusual in that it includes a prolonged post-reproductive period in females and the existence of menopause. This is observed in some other species in captivity, provided with the benefits of life-long veterinary care, but in the wild very few species indeed share this characteristic with us. Of these, killer whales are the nearest to us in the evolutionary tree of life. None of our closer relatives, such as other primates, experience menopause. They are in addition short-lived in comparison to our length of life. Chimpanzees and gorillas top out at 50-60 years of age in captivity, and a decade or more less in the wild. Much of current thinking on the topic of unusual human longevity, at least when compared
A Null Result for Vigorous Exercise and Telomere Length
Telomeres are the caps at the ends of chromosomes, shortening with each cell division in normal cells. When very short a cell self-destructs or falls into a senescent state and ceases further replication. Stem cells maintain long telomeres via the activity of telomerase, and provide fresh new long-telomere daughter cells to replace those lost over time in tissues throughout the body. Average telomere length in a cell sample is thus a reflection of stem cell activity and consequent cell replacement rates, as well as the pace of cell division. It is commonly measured in immune cells from a blood sample, and tends to fall during periods of ill health and be lower for older people. This should not be surprising given that stem cell activity
To Protect Your Aging Brain, Start with Exercise
New report also suggests quitting smoking, managing health conditions and socializing Source: HealthDay
The accelerating pace of useless technology upgrades
<!– google_ad_section_start –>Tech companies want consumers who can be herded forward. There was the magic of the iPhone 6 and the 6-plus. By the time those came out, the old iPhones were tired, maybe too slow — Apple fans were eager, if not desperate for a better device. Then not so long after Samsung introduced its Galaxy S4 in May 2013, it announced the S5 in February 2014. The Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy Edge (and their updates) showed up this week — hustled out the door to keep pace with media mega-hype of the Apple Watch. How wonderful and different are the new Samsung gadgets from the S3 and S5? Wait for it – startup with a finger swipe, a curved edge and again imitating Apple… no removable
How to Travel with Technology
Travel websites make the planning a breeze The post How to Travel with Technology appeared first on Healthy Aging ®.