Recent evidence suggests the rate of dementia within the United States may actually be declining, but this appears to be somewhat paradoxical. During a time in which the life expectancy in the United States has increased to approximately 78 years of age, and since dementia in its various forms is often associated with greater levels of age, the rate reduction coupled with increasing life expectancy ...

I have addressed this issue previously, but due to its importance, it needs to be revisited in greater detail. As we age, we tend to become increasingly less active. Furthermore, many health issues that we incur are often blamed on our aging process when, in fact, they are problems of inactivity.

How often do we hear these types of statements? "My blood pressure ...

A recent study reported in the Journal of the American Medical Association found a sobering trend: An apparent increase in the usage of prescription medication over a decade-long period. The study was done respectively, analyzing data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey database from 1999 to 2012. It contained the survey results of approximately 38,000 individuals. ...

In Chris Farrell's August 21st, 2015 article, entitled, "What Japan can Teach us About Long-Term Care," he paints picture that demonstrates our need to not only speak about the breakdown of our national healthcare indictors, our fragile national healthcare policy and the problems faced in the acute care health settings, but also the need to address the breakdown ...

In a recent study in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, some interesting findings as it relates to Alzheimer's disease and race were found that may have implications for further research and treatment. There have been some assumptions that the brain changes found in Alzheimer's disease among different racial groups are not uniform. In the recent study Lisa Barnes, PhD, of Rush ...

I was watching a major professional golf tournament a few years back. Many of the golfers were having a very difficult day. In fact, many would hit their shots and get into trouble. What followed for many of them was an attempt to make too much out of an already bad situation, which in turn led to even more problems for many of these golfers. A frequent commentator for many of the major professional ...

Aging is often accompanied by the dreaded sagging midsection. This is not an evitable consequence of aging.  It typically happens due to engaging in more sedentary activity. Unfortunately, as we age, the tendency to become less active not only has consequences for the abdominal area, but for the entire body. Add to this the tendency for many Americans to eat poorly and it is not so much age, but ...

Over two decades ago the report from the Institute of Medicine (IoM) led the way for monumental changes to take place within the nursing home industry. The report of the IoM basically stated that nursing homes needed significant reform and that it was an industry that was loosely regulated, potentially compromising the lives of many who reside within our country's nursing homes. What subsequently followed ...

Living longer. Many individuals are often attempting to find some fountain of youth that can enhance their lives. Commercials and advertisements abound with supposed remedies that will increase one's life. Yet, a very simple technique that dentists have been advocating for years can be an important enhancement for one's longevity. Research has been finding that oral care is very important for not only warding off ...

One of the buzzwords in long-term care is looking for the "root-cause" for various problems that arise. Many of these "root-cause" searches are often based on resident care. Others are often facility-based, especially related to financial information, staffing, and general supplies and facility maintenance. However, many of these supposed "root-cause" analyses often fall far short of ever finding the ...

The European Journal of Public Health has found some important news: Many medications prescribed to the elderly may potentially lead to more harm due to falls, which subsequently can lead to certain life-threatening injuries. It was found that one-half of the 20 most commonly prescribed medications that are used frequently among the older adult population increase the risk of falls. This is very sobering ...

Dementia is a prominent concern among the older adult population. As the elderly population continues to increase, the number of those with dementia also will increase in number. Recent research on dementia and cognitive impairment in the aging has targeted a new disorder and with it, a new symptom that may be related to the likelihood of acquiring dementia. 

A recently newly defined disorder found among ...

The baby boom cohort, those who were born between 1946 and 1964, is the largest birth cohort that has ever been produced in the United States.  As soldiers returned home from the war, the birth rate increased and subsequently for a decade and a half, we witnessed a very large number of children being born. Furthermore, we also have witnessed an increasing life expectancy as many acute illnesses that formerly ...

Oxytocin, secreted by the posterior pituitary, is not a new hormone.  Nor is its importance for the biological health of the organism something new. Oxytocin has been known about for many years. It was known to be instrumental in helping uterine contraction during childbirth, for enhancing breast contraction during breast feeding, and even more recently, it has been found to be instrumental in helping to establish ...

Generally speaking, fasting is often viewed quite negatively. However, a new study done by the University of Southern California has found that fasting could help the body fight disease, showing that a two day fast may actually regenerate the immune system. The study sheds some hope for those with compromised immune systems such as those receiving chemotherapy and the elderly.

Studies were done on both mice ...

Recent research that has been conducted at Washington University Medical School and the University of Pennsylvania has found that the use of an commonly prescribed antidepressant medication may help prevent or reduce the likelihood of acquiring one of the most feared diseases-Alzheimer's disease.

Beta amyloid is a protein that has been instrumental in the development of plaques that has been found to exist ...

In a recent survey, when centenarians were asked how old they felt, they stated they felt approximately 17 years younger, on average 83 years of age. Also, when those who were 65 years of age were surveyed on how old they felt, they said they felt on average 10 years younger than their chronological age, or approximately 55 years of age. 

The results sound somewhat unwieldy. One may ask how ...

It has been known for some time that nursing home care is not the same in every nursing care facility.  In a recent study published by a nonprofit advocacy group, Families for Better Care, the group's review looked at nursing homes and care found in these facilities found in each state.  The Families for Better Care state that it is the first state-by-state review of nursing home care that has been ...

[Editor's note: the following blog post was written by Brian Garavagli] 

A national report on nursing homes, conducted by the Office of the Inspector General of the United States Department of Health and Human Services, has found some very sobering, if not frightening, results. The study found that as many as one-third of all nursing home residents were harmed by their treatment!

The ...

In a recent study conducted by the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, a high percentage of Medicare residents who are discharged from nursing homes often are re-hospitalized within 30 days. Individuals receiving care within nursing homes in which the care is being paid for by Medicare are often there after they have been discharged from the hospital and are in continued need of receiving rehabilitative ...

[Editor's note: this is only a portion of the complete article]  

A current book that is on the New York Times best seller list, Grain Brain: The Surprising Truth About Wheat, Carbs, and Sugar-Your Brain's Silent Killers, written by Neurologist Dr. David Perlmutter, asserts that a diet high in carbohydrates can actually be instrumental in the development of dementia.  Perlmutter, who ...

Recent research over the last few decades has paid increasing attention to aging at the molecular level. In particular, a genetic component called telomeres, has garnered much attention over the last few decades. Chromosomes are long strands of deoxyribonucleic acid or DNA. DNA is our molecular blueprint of who we are, being the genetic blueprint for forming our genome. Telomeres are found at the end of ...