Older Americans are healthier and wealthier

"Though you'd never guess it from our youth-centric culture, older Americans are actually happier than younger folks. Americans 55 and older eat more fresh produce, smoke less, and have less worry and stress than their younger counterparts, a Gallup Survey[1] found. They also have a greater sense of purpose and well-being.

Older Americans also do particularly well when it comes to financial well-being, the study found, thriving at a rate of 53%, compared with 33% for younger people. They are happier with their standard of living, worry less about money, and say they have enough money to do what they want — all at significantly higher rates than those under 55."

http://www.businessinsider.com/sc/why-older-americans-are-happier-2017-7?

How healthy do you feel?

. . . the researchers looked at 65 different mortality risk factors as they tracked participants through the later years of their lives. Once the number crunching was finished, the factor that rose to the top was surprisingly simple and straightforward.

The most sensitive measure of longevity was the individual’s own subjective evaluation of how healthy he or she felt. In other words, a person reporting that he or she feels healthy outweighed any other single predictor of a long life, including any medical measures such as cholesterol levels and blood pressure.'

It's hard for someone with diabetic neuropathy or COPD to report "I feel healthy." Unless they lie.  Unless they just haven't been to the doctor in years and don't know better.  Having a positive attitude and a fulfilling life is different.  I have a friend about 80 with a wonderful sense of humor, bright fulfilling volunteer life, and so many ailments she should be in a text book.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/out-the-ooze/201605/the-surprising-factor-can-predict-long-life

Health and Fitness: Keeping Your Golden Years Golden, guest blogger Helen Hilton

As they approach retirement, many people choose to stop focusing on health and fitness, instead leading increasingly sedentary lifestyles. This is a grave mistake. Exercise and healthy eating can actually help to slow many of the effects of the aging process. As our God-given bodies begin to age many of us choose to accept and embrace this aging process, but many more struggle to accept their changing abilities and those extra aches and pains that they feel at the end of the day. The good news is that you can choose to minimize the effects of the aging process on your body and that it is much easier to achieve than you might think: Staying healthy and feeling your best is important as you age, and the two sure-fire ways to ensure that you remain as active and health as possible are to eat well and to exercise regularly:

Eat Well, Live Well

Healthy home grown fruits and vegetables should be at the heart of every meal you eat (the five a day rule has been in place for a long time and it continues to hold true), but there is more to eating well as a senior than simply maintaining the same healthy diet that you have enjoyed during your younger years. You should begin to opt for low fat dairy products in order to lower your blood pressure and reduce your risk of hypertension. You should also avoid too much red meat, instead opting for plenty of low fat but protein rich chicken and fish instead. Finally, it’s important that you do remember to eat three healthy meals every day: as we age our appetites tend to get smaller, and whilst it is OK to eat smaller portions to suit your appetite, you should avoid skipping meals which can have a massively detrimental effect on your overall health and wellbeing.

Exercise and Repair Your Muscles

Exercise is important at any age, but it becomes increasingly important as we age. As well as benefiting our physical fitness and health levels, exercise can also improve how you feel mentally and emotionally, and generally contribute to your quality of life. As we age our physiology begins to change, leaving us with reduced muscle mass and weaker and more brittle bones. After the age of forty the metabolism also slows down, which can lead to weight gain. All of these factors combined serve to make exercise vital to the aging population. Exercise can improve your core strength, rebuild your muscle mass, and help you feel more supple and revitalized. The more you exercise now, the easier you will find it to continue having good mobility as you age. Despite this all being good, common sense, an incredible 78% of men and women over the age of 40 either don’t get an adequate amount of exercise or simply choose not to exercise at all. You only get one body, and it’s an important responsibility to take care of it to the best of your ability for the full length of your life.

Active Minds Lead to Active Lives

As well as ensuring that you take good care of your body, it is also essential to ensure that you take care of your mind and nourish your mental, emotional, and spiritual wellbeing. Mental health issues and alcohol abuse are common problems that affect women of the baby boomer generation, though these issues are largely unreported by the press. The fact is that as they age their pace of life slows and for many women this can lead to a sadness brought on by an inability to cope with change. Depression also affects one in five seniors living within the United States: many older people are lonely and struggle to cope with their new position in society. It is therefore important to keep your mind as active as your body and remain active within your church and your wider community. As well as protecting your mental wellbeing, this proactivity can also help to keep dementia at bay and ensure you can continue to serve and support those around you.

Six ways to prepare to age well

Well, when I saw that heading, I said, “Too late.”  But these are good reminders published in Health Beat, Harvard Medical School.

1. Adapt your home. Stairs, baths, and kitchens can present hazards for older people. Even if you don't need to make changes now, do an annual safety review so you can make necessary updates if your needs change. [When we remodeled our bathrooms we put in taller base cabinets and “comfort height toilets. Some recent changes in the kitchen, although not sure those will make any difference.]

2. Prevent falls. Falls are a big deal for older people - they often result in fractures that can lead to disability, further health problems, or even death. Safety precautions are important, but so are exercises that can improve balance and strength. [I’m nagging my husband a lot about the ladder and yard work.  We have hired a service for our lake house. We’re both in exercise classes and balance and strength are part of the routine.]

3. Consider your housing options. You might consider investigating naturally occurring retirement communities (NORCs). These neighborhoods and housing complexes aren't developed specifically to serve seniors - and, in fact, tend to host a mix of ages - but because they have plenty of coordinated care and support available, they are senior-friendly. [We’ve been living in a NORC since 2002 and love it. We wanted a one floor plan, but have 3, and so far it hasn’t been a problem.  The grounds are gorgeous, and the neighbors the best.]

4. Think ahead about how to get the help you may need. Meal preparation, transportation, home repair, housecleaning, and help with financial tasks such as paying bills might be hired out if you can afford it, or shared among friends and family. Elder services offered in your community might be another option. [I have some friends in their 90s, and am watching carefully. Elder services seem to be quite good in our area. The kitchen repainting was done by professionals this winter.]

5. Plan for emergencies. Who would you call in an emergency? Is there someone who can check in on you regularly? What would you do if you fell and couldn't reach the phone? Keep emergency numbers near each phone or on speed dial. Carry a cellphone (preferably with large buttons and a bright screen), or consider investing in some type of personal alarm system. [We recently got new phones; bigger numbers, but I still like phones with a little heft.  These feel like they’d break if dropped, and the sound quality isn’t that great. We aren’t in the habit of carry cell phones.]

6. Write advance care directives. Advance care directives, such as a living will, durable power of attorney for health care, or health care proxy, allow you to explain the type of medical care you want if you're too sick, confused, or injured to voice your wishes. Every adult should have these documents. [We’ve got the funeral/burial stuff purchased, and wills, and power of attorney, but best of all, our children live close buy.  A family is the best safety net.]

Tips for your pre-retirement years

• Life tips for my friends and readers who are 45-ish.
• Put away about 15% in your retirement account, above what your employer or government is contributing.
• Take good care of your relationships--they are like gold.
• Ignore all the food fads and scares; eat all the colors, eat less and move more. Just like mom said.
• Everything in moderation; especially alcohol and coffee and just pitch the cigarettes. They've never been found to benefit anything in your body.
• Don't be a pot head even if it is legal--you need every brain cell you have working at full capacity.
• Take care of your ears--turn down the music--and your teeth. Don't become a deaf senior citizen with ugly teeth--it's not pleasant. Take out the ear buds and see a dentist twice a year.
• Go to church. There are thousands of denominations as a result of squabbles that happened years ago. One should meet your needs. The world is actually more religious now than ever before--don't lose out on the benefits.
• Enjoy the many pleasures of owning a pet, but they are not family--don't kid yourself.
• Think about the benefits and responsibilities of being a citizen of the United States. It's not perfect, but it's the only one ever created with idea that the state/monarch/king/president doesn't own the people.

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

Healthy Lifestyles Related to Subsequent Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration

Another reason to exercise, not smoke, and eat all the colors, just like mother said. Age related macular degeneration might be reduced as much as 3-fold.

Archives of Ophthalmology -- Abstract: Healthy Lifestyles Related to Subsequent Prevalence of Age-Related Macular Degeneration, December 13, 2010, Mares et al. 0 (2010): archophthalmol.2010.314v1

Does Retirement Kill You? No.

Didn't think so. All the retirees I know are too busy to die. Now, retirement accounts. That's another matter.

Abstract:
The magnitude of the effect that health has on the retirement decision has long been studied. We examine the reverse relationship, whether or not retirement has a direct impact on later-life health. In order to identify the causal relationship, we use unexpected early retirement window offers to instrument for retirement behavior. They are legally required to be unrelated to the baseline health of the individual, and are significant predictors of retirement. We find that there is no negative effect of early retirement on men's health, and if anything, a temporary increase in self-reported health and improvements in health of highly educated workers. While this is consistent with previous literature using Social Security ages as instruments, we also find some evidence that anticipation of retirement might also be important, and might bias the previous estimates towards zero.

"Does Retirement Kill You? Evidence from Early Retirement Windows"
by Norma B. Coe, Maarten Lindeboom
(November 2008) IZA DP No. 3817

Cross posted at Collecting My Thoughts

Arthritis and exercise

It may seem counterintuitive, but a recent study confirms that people with osteoarthritis can improve mobility and enhance their quality of life with modest levels of exercise. Take a look at the summary at the Johns Hopkins Health Alert Good News about Exercise and Arthritis

Time to Talk campaign

The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), has launched Time to Talk, an educational campaign to encourage patients—particularly those age 50 or older—and their health care providers to openly discuss the use of complementary and alternative medicine (CAM). CAM is a group of diverse medical and health care systems, practices, and products that are not presently considered to be part of conventional medicine, such as herbal supplements, meditation, naturopathy, and acupuncture. Read more