sacredhands on Apr 20th, 2008Power Plate Vibrates Your Joints So You Can Boogie into Old Age Gracefully
Falling in old age usually means bad things happen shortly after. Research shows that breaking a hip portends the end for some. How can you prevent that inevitable end from coming before its time? Hint: think Beach Boys! Good vibrations, man! Check out the “Power Plate” that exercises your joints to give you a better [...]
sacredhands on Apr 20th, 2008The Happiest People On the Planet Are Senior Citizens
Feeling chipper today? Well, a new study by Yang Yang, a sociologist, suggests that senior citizens are pretty darn happy as they grow older. Here’s the happiness factor: “the odds of being happy increased 5 percent with every 10 years of age.” So hang, man, the bend in the road ahead is the garden of [...]
sacredhands on Mar 17th, 2008Pssst! Want to Live to 90 Then Read About the Magic 5 Steps to Longevity
Psssst! Wanna live longer? Here’s the magic formula: abstain “from smoking, weight management, blood pressure control, regular exercise and avoiding diabetes.” That’s it. So stop going to Dunkin Donuts, quit having that “social” cigarette, avoid screaming at every driver who cuts you off, play tennis instead of golf, and step on the scale to [...]
sacredhands on Jan 30th, 2008Pop Quiz: Growing Older Hurts Decision Making (Hint: John McCain)
The presidency is one of the most demanding jobs on the planet in terms of physical and mental stress. Just check out before and after photos of presidents and you’ll discover the job has its downside. Today’s NY Times’ has an article that suggests growing older impairs decision making skills.
So here’s the pop quiz [...]
sacredhands on Nov 26th, 2007Boo Hoo: Men Show Empathy When They Know Movies Are Fiction Instead of Fact
New research shows that men fail to show emotion unless they think that which they are expressing emotion about is pure fiction. What’s that mean? It means if a man is watching a movie, he won’t cry if he knows the story is based on reality. If you tell him it’s all a fantasy, then [...]
sacredhands on Nov 22nd, 200725 Percent of Seniors Provide Financial Support to Adult Children and Relatives
Science begins with a hypothesis and then proceeds to test it according to rigorous standards. How you frame the question usually determines the outcome of the results. Some researchers asked the question: Are the elderly a burden to society? Nice question, huh. I’ll bet that makes you feel like a million bucks.
Their answer: the [...]
sacredhands on Nov 19th, 2007Out-Of-Pocket Caregiving Costs Add Up To Expensive Hobby
Pay attention, caregivers! Someone has finally produced a study about the cost of providing caregiving to family members. The upshot: “These caregivers, spending on average 10 percent of their household income, manage the financial burden by taking out loans, skipping vacations, dipping into savings or ignoring their own health care.” The average out-of-pocket amount is [...]
sacredhands on Nov 17th, 2007Global Warming Likely To Cause Most Suffering to the Elderly
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report says: “The document says recent research has heightened concern that the poor and the elderly will suffer most from climate change; that hunger and disease will be more common; that droughts, floods and heat waves will afflict the world’s poorest regions; and that more animal and plant species [...]
sacredhands on Nov 3rd, 2007Japanese Prison Inmates Get Preferential Treatment (Underwear-Like Diapers)
Who knew that doing time for a crime would lead to prisons providing “prescription drugs, wheeled walkers, a stretcher and a box of discreet, underwear-like adult diapers.” Such is the life of elderly prison inmates in Japan. They still are required to perform manual labor tasks for 6 hours a day. One inmate is 88. [...]
sacredhands on Oct 25th, 2007Sleep Deprivation Caused by Illnesses and Medications Not Lack of Sex
Can’t sleep at night? Worried about the banker down the street who sold you a high-priced mortgage buried in hidden details? Did you take a out a second mortgage to live the good life only to discover you actually could lose your home entirely? Well, researchers have learned that “sleep does not change much from [...]
sacredhands on Oct 20th, 2007You Love The Beach Because You Evolved From the Ocean
Has it ever occurred to you that you love the beach so much because human beings actually evolved out of the ocean? New research suggests that our love of the beach might also have something to do with the fact that the ocean served as our meal ticket in the early days of our homo [...]
sacredhands on Oct 19th, 2007Listen to Grandma Money Buys Happiness If You Have Health And Friends
The one thing researchers seem incapable of figuring out is what makes the human mind happy. Is it money? Expensive objects? A house on the beach. Is it material versus spiritual? The answer, my friends, is not the leaves falling off the money tree in your background. It all boils down to one thing: social [...]
sacredhands on Oct 15th, 2007Chemical Signals Confirm Presence of Alzheimer’s Disease Danka
Scientists have shown some success at “screening for a set of 18 chemical signals that consistently turn up in the blood of people suffering from the Alzheimer’s disease.” Sure glad they can confirm the bad news, but wouldn’t it be better if they spent their time coming up with a way to thwart the problem. [...]
sacredhands on Oct 12th, 2007Baby Boomer Generation’s Impact on Public Libraries
There’s nothing like coming across an article that offers up a point of view that otherwise never would have considered. Maureen Kahlert from Australia questioned whether Baby Boomers are likely to have an impact on public library systems. She reached some provocative conclusions, including:
Currently libraries offer a range of services for both active and [...]
sacredhands on Oct 10th, 2007Longevity in the Age of Baby Boomer Demographics
Check out this cover image of the New York Times Sunday Magazine! The story: “Are we prepared for many more people living to 100 and beyond - for parent-child dynamics, sibling rivalries and other relationships that go on and on and on?” Date: February 23, 2004. It’s still a relevant question that is only going [...]
sacredhands on Oct 10th, 2007Do Menopausal Grandmothers Offer Survival Advantage to Offspring
Hypothesis: A post-menopausal woman has more time to spend with her kids and grandkids, thereby providing them with support and love that gives them a survival advantage.
This sounds good in theory. Getting the proper love and nurturing sure as hell can’t hurt your chances of surviving but that’s no guarantee for those of you still [...]
sacredhands on Oct 9th, 2007Gay Seniors Aging Bias Discrimination For Beginners
Did you require a night light as a kid? Did the dark frighten you so bad that falling asleep seemed more like an episode of the Twilight Zone instead of a Disney nursery rhyme? Since fear is hard-wired into our emotional system (don’t get all academic on me), it’s no surprise that our experience of [...]
sacredhands on Oct 8th, 2007Alzheimer’s Disease Risk May Depend on How Conscientious You Are
How do you define conscientiousness? According to a couple of researchers, it’s mostly those “things our parents told us to do.” You know, like finish all the food on your plate regardless of portion size. Or take out the trash. Or mow the lawn. Why does it matter? Because your level of conscientiousness just might [...]
sacredhands on Oct 1st, 2007WHO Age-Friendly Cities Report Advantages and Barriers in Delhi India
There’s been a lot of talk lately about how Baby Boomers are migrating to big cities for retirement. The idea is simple: buy a condo, walk everywhere, and live in close proximity to culture. HelpAge India conducted a survey to find out just how welcoming Delhi India was to seniors. The results: not good. “The [...]
sacredhands on Sep 27th, 2007Average NPR Listener is 53 Whipper Snappers AOL
With everyone giving up on reading newspapers in print, and most younger people gobbling up most of their information online, what’s a poor NPR radio station to do in order to attract younger listeners? Here’s a fact: “the median age of people listening to NPR’s newsmagazine programs is 53.”
Wow! I never would have guessed [...]