"The capacity to effectively manage one's finances is among the first things to go in individuals with emerging cognitive impairment, the authors note in their report. Patients with MCI may start by having trouble balancing their checkbook and paying bills; then, often within a year, they'll have trouble with more basic financial skills, such as counting coins and paying in cash.
"When a patient is diagnosed with MCI or mild dementia, the patient and family should be told that the patient's ability to manage their finances is going to decline probably relatively rapidly over the next couple of years," Dr. Widera said."
Financial Health of the Cognitively Impaired May Be Forgotten: Report
Friday, February 25, 2011
Thursday, February 24, 2011
Save your brain--exercise!
"Exercise training increases size of hippocampus and improves memory, "
PNAS 2011 108 (7) 3017-3022; published ahead of print January 31, 2011
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study, "scientists started with 120 elderly volunteers who were relatively inactive but did not have dementia. Half were randomly assigned to begin walking 40 minutes a day, three days a week for a year while the remainder only stretched and performed toning exercises for the same time period. After 12 months, the group that walked showed an average 2% growth in the hippocampus compared with when they began, while the control groups suffered a more than 1% shrinkage in the same region compared with when the study started.
“If you estimate the change at an individual level,” says study co-author Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois, “a yearlong exercise program can turn back the clock about two years with respect to the volume of the hippocampus.” "
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/31/want-to-improve-your-memory-take-a-walk/#ixzz1Euftky36
PNAS 2011 108 (7) 3017-3022; published ahead of print January 31, 2011
In the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences study, "scientists started with 120 elderly volunteers who were relatively inactive but did not have dementia. Half were randomly assigned to begin walking 40 minutes a day, three days a week for a year while the remainder only stretched and performed toning exercises for the same time period. After 12 months, the group that walked showed an average 2% growth in the hippocampus compared with when they began, while the control groups suffered a more than 1% shrinkage in the same region compared with when the study started.
“If you estimate the change at an individual level,” says study co-author Arthur Kramer of the University of Illinois, “a yearlong exercise program can turn back the clock about two years with respect to the volume of the hippocampus.” "
Read more: http://healthland.time.com/2011/01/31/want-to-improve-your-memory-take-a-walk/#ixzz1Euftky36
Monday, February 21, 2011
Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Short
You have to read to the midsection or botton to see why: many boomers started too late with too little. Vanguard now recommends 15% be set aside for retirement. Also, I'm not sure who came up with that idea that retirement life requires less than your working life. It's very expensive to do the things you waited all your life to do--or in my case, didn't know you wanted to do until you got there. And no, you can't retire early if you are paying off your kids college loans, got a divorce in mid-life, still have a mortgage, or you want to go out to eat a lot and travel more. Increase your savings, decrease your want list.
Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Short - WSJ.com
Boomers Find 401(k) Plans Come Up Short - WSJ.com
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