Despite fears that dementia rates were going to explode as the population grows older and fatter, and has more diabetes and high blood pressure, a large nationally representative survey has found the reverse. Dementia is actually on the wane. And when people do get dementia, they get it at older and older ages.
Read the full article at The New York Times.
Scientists looked at the brains of eight people older than 90 who had superior memories until their deaths. They were surprised to find widespread and dense Alzheimer’s plaques and tangles that were, in some cases, considered full-blown Alzheimer’s pathology.
Read the full article at Futurity.
An online game following the journey of an elderly former sea explorer who has lost his memories has helped scientists lead a vast international dementia study and given important preliminary results about human orientation skills.
Read the full article at Reuters.
A new survey of caregivers finds that about 37% of seniors have experienced financial abuse — almost double the estimated 20% that Allianz Life found when it last conducted its survey in 2014. And many of them aren’t talking about it.
Read the full article at Money.
Dementia is the fifth-biggest cause of death in high-income countries, but it is the most expensive disease to manage because patients require constant, costly care for years. And yet, research funding for dementia pales in comparison with that for many other diseases.
Experts say that the coming wave can be calmed with the help of just three things: more money for research, better diagnostics and drugs, and a victory — however small — that would boost morale.
Read the full article at Nature.
“What strategies does a retirement expert employ for his personal use? I bet you could learn a thing or two from a professional who has studied retirement all his life and is now in his early 60s, planning for his own retirement years.
That’s me — I’ve worked as a consulting actuary helping employers and workers with retirement issues for more than 40 years. Along the way, I’ve written five books on retirement planning, been a weekly retirement columnist at CBS MoneyWatch for over seven years and conducted research on retirement topics for the Stanford Center on Longevity for almost four years.”
Read the full article by Center on Longevity Research Scholar Steve Vernon at CBS MoneyWatch.
As our social lives have moved onto social media sites like Facebook over the past decade, there’s been a lot of hand-wringing over what all that screen time might be doing to our health.
But according to a new paper, time spent on social media could be associated with a longer life.
Read the full article at The New York Times.
Mandatory retirement is still in the workforce, and it’s causing problems as people live — and work — longer.
Being compelled to leave a job because you’ve hit a certain age could impose significantly negative consequences on older employees, and experts say such a requirement shouldn’t exist at all.
Read the full article at MarketWatch.
A preventative Alzheimer’s pill is the ideal end game for researchers studying the disease from many angles. While we’re not yet close to the goal, new research shows a way that it may be possible, using an approach similar to what has worked for managing other chronic conditions.
Read the full article at Forbes.
A recent survey from Fidelity Investments offers a wide-ranging portrait of millennials’ money-related habits. And while some of its results show that many millennials do indeed mooch off mom and dad and often move back home to live with them, it also provides a different spin on those “boomerangs” who return to the nest after initial attempts to fledge fail.
And it belies the stereotypical image of the unemployed millennial who plays video games in their parents’ basement.
Read the full article by Center on Longevity Research Scholar Steve Vernon at CBS MoneyWatch.