Here are some common scams targeted towards older adults:

• Lottery phone scams in which callers convince seniors that a large fee or taxes must be paid before they can receive lottery winnings
• Grandparent scams which convince seniors that their grandchildren have been arrested and need bail money
• Romance scams which lull victims into believing that online paramours need funds for a U.S. visit or some other purpose
• IRS imposter schemes which defraud victims by posing as IRS agents and claiming that victims owe back taxes

Protect yourself and your loved ones with these tips:

• Emails requesting personal information such as Social Security numbers, bank routing numbers and credit card information should be considered suspicious. NEVER provide this information via e-mail!
• Verify information provided by callers: if a caller says a loved one is in jail and needs help, call that loved one to verify the information.
• Internal Revenue Service officials never call or email demanding immediate payment or threaten to call law enforcement for an outstanding tax bill.
• Utility companies do not offer to come to your home to pick up cash for outstanding bills.
• Ask callers demanding money for outstanding bills for their supervisor’s contact information so you can determine if the call is legitimate.
• Don’t believe promises of prizes. Don’t provide personal information to anybody promising lottery or contest winnings.

Melissa Negrin-Wiener is a partner at Cona Elder Law. Ms. Negrin-Wiener manages the Government Benefits Department, concentrating her practice in the areas of asset protection, Medicaid eligibility planning, estate planning, mediation, guardianships and Veteran benefits. She supervises the preparation of Medicaid Applications for nursing home care, home health care and community benefits, resolves complex Medicaid issues and represents families facing a reduction in Medicaid home care hours and services.

Cona Elder Law is a full service law firm based in Melville, LI. Our firm concentrates in the areas of elder law, estate planning, estate administration and litigation, disability planning and health care facility representation. We are proud to have been recognized for our innovative strategies, creative techniques and unparalleled negotiating skills unendingly driven toward our paramount objective – satisfying the needs of our clients.

I counsel patients on cosmetic procedures, maintaining results, optimizing their skincare, and preventative measures. While skin treatments, injectables, and surgery can help maintain the visual appearance, your basic skincare goes a long way toward preventing premature aging.

You Are Washing Your Face Incorrectly If You Do the Following:

Using too much toner

Facial toners are an essential part of any beauty routine. However, using too much toner can dry out the skin and may even lead to more sebum production as your glands attempt to overcompensate. If you find your skin feeling tight or irritated after applying toner, you may be using too much, and this is especially true if you have sensitive or combination skin. Some toners come in a spray bottle, which is great for applying a light layer over the skin after cleansing. If not, simply pour a few drops of toner on a cotton pad and gently glide it across the face.

Also, many toners have alcohol-based ingredients, such as denatured alcohol, in them. Avoid toners with these ingredients at all costs as they will dry the skin completely and remove natural oils needed to keep the skin moist and healthy.

Products that are too harsh

As consumers become more sophisticated, they inquire about ingredients such as retinol. They know it is super hydrating and great for the skin, but they don’t understand that skincare needs to be sustainable, so they ask for the strongest, most active form of prescription retinoid. This is a mistake.

Any credible doctor will first assess the condition of your skin alongside the products and treatments you are already using in order to determine if you need prescription retinol or if a less active form sold over-the-counter is better for you. Retinol in less active forms will have similar effects without irritating the skin as much, which will be helpful to you as you continue using a product on your skin over time.

Scrubbing too hard

Instead of rubbing and scrubbing your face to try to get it squeaky clean, your motions with your cleanser should be as gentle as possible. Your hands should not be doing all the work! Scrubbing the skin too harshly or with materials that add exfoliation can cause micro-tears in the skin as well as excessive elimination of essential oils, which leaves the skin dry.

Over exfoliating

While gently exfoliating a few nights a week can do wonders for the skin, it’s easy to go overboard. What keeps your skin looking fresh, young, and hydrated is preserving the outer layer’s glow by lightly helping it shed old skin cells and moisturizing to help cell turnover. However, the danger is that many people don’t think to consider their loofah or washcloth as an exfoliation tool. Even if you are only using an exfoliant a few days a week, if you are scrubbing with a harsher material every day you could be exfoliating more than you intend and that can cause dryness, red patches, dehydration, and hyperpigmentation.

Washing with hot water

Though it might feel good, using hot water to cleanse your face can actually dehydrate it. Hot water can be abrasive, stripping the skin of its natural oils, leaving it dry and flaky. This can also lead to acne flare, breakouts, and skin irritation. For best results, rinse your face with lukewarm or cool water – not cold either – to help constrict blood vessels. Hot water enlarges your pores, and this can affect the oil production of the skin as well as the texture of it.

Washing more than twice a day

You may be thinking, the cleaner, the better, right? Think again. Overwashing your face can actually damage the skin’s natural protective system, which then can affect how easily the environment irritates your skin, how efficiently you retain moisture, and—over time—cause you to show early signs of aging such as fine lines and dry patches. As a general rule of thumb, you should not be washing your face more than twice a day. If you have an activity like working out or an outdoor sport in the middle of the day, try to use a bland soap or cleanser to wash away dirt and sweat without further irritating the skin.

Forgetting to follow up with a moisturizer

The best times to apply moisturizer are after the shower or after applying toner. This will help prevent excessive dryness, and it will help skin to retain moisture. Moisturizers also come with a combination of vitamins and lipids that help the skin heal irritations, strengthen its protective functions, and look smoother and healthier.

Washing with whatever soap is available.

Many people are guilty of this one. People may think that soap is soap and a clean face is just a clean face, but you could be damaging your skin and aging yourself by washing your face with any available hand soap. Soaps with fragrances can be especially irritating to the skin. Overall, these soaps are not made for the face, and while this may be a minimalist approach, it borders on detrimental as hand soaps are dehydrating and lack many of the ingredients that optimize your skin’s complexion.

Manish Shah, M.D., F.A.C.S. is a Clinical Assistant Professor of Surgery at the University of Colorado Health Sciences Center teaching cosmetic surgery to the plastic surgery residents. He is a past Chief of Plastic Surgery at Denver Health Medical Center. He also maintains a private practice in Aesthetic and Plastic Surgery in Cherry Creek. For more information, visit http://www.drmanishshah.com.

For instance, a decrease in lactase (an essential enzyme for breaking down lactose in products like milk and butter) production is very common for aging adults. In fact, about 65 percent of the global population has a reduced ability to digest lactose after infancy, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). Slowing or weakening of contractions in the large intestine, bacterial overgrowth in the small intestine and slower emptying of the stomach are among other common symptoms associated with changes in digestive function that come with age. Medications and age-related illnesses might also trigger such symptoms.

You might find that foods that were once a guilty pleasure eventually become a great threat for discomfort. So what does this mean? How do you pinpoint what foods your body is not reacting well to and what should you do about it? Because the different causes of digestive track issues can produce many of the same symptoms, it can be tricky to get to the root of the problem.

Although an aging digestive system may have a harder time breaking down certain foods due to slower enzyme production, it is possible to develop food intolerances, sensitivities and allergies later in adulthood. More than 20 percent of the population in industrialized countries suffer from food intolerance or food allergy. Although many of the symptoms mirror each other, food intolerances and allergies are two different things:

An allergic reaction occurs when the immune system mistakes a food ingredient as a foreign invader and therefore attacks it, producing high levels of the antibody immunoglobulin E and releasing histamines. The reaction can be life threatening and presents itself through hives, swelling, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain, bloating, inflammation irregular heartbeat or restricted breathing. An allergic reaction often requires medical attention. The most common food allergens include milk, wheat, tree nuts, soy, peanuts and shellfish.

Food intolerance is a digestive issue. Although not life threatening, intolerance may result in some of the same symptoms, including bloating, cramping, gas, diarrhea, nausea and joint inflammation and pain. Other symptoms might include headache, brain fog, nervousness and irritability. Intolerance to a food is usually due to a lack of the enzyme needed to break down the particular food. For example, those with a lactose or dairy intolerance don’t produce the enzyme lactase. Those with gluten sensitivity have difficulty digesting the gluten protein. While each individual can lack different enzymes to break down the relative food, some of the more common food intolerances are to dairy, gluten, eggs, caffeine, peanuts and corn.

Food intolerances and sensitivities can be as problematic as an allergy. If you suffer from any of the symptoms mentioned above, or suspect that you may have a food allergy, intolerance or sensitivity, the following suggestions are recommended:

1. Allergy testing

   If you are experiencing more serious reactions such as those identified above as being associated with allergies, please see your primary care doctor or an allergist immediately. Skin and blood tests can help detect allergies, which could potentially save your life.

1. Reduce serving portions

   Overeating can cause feelings of discomfort, bloat, nausea and even acid indigestion. As our stomachs empty out more slowly and our elasticity weakens with age, we should reduce our portions accordingly to avoid becoming too full and provoking these symptoms.

1. Get tested for food intolerance or sensitivities

   The elimination diet, eliminating foods and slowly reintroducing them back into your diet one at a time, although helpful, can be a long, grueling process that doesn’t always lead to clear results. Cyrex Laboratories, a clinical laboratory specializing in functional immunology and autoimmunity, offers advanced, innovative tests designed to detect and monitor autoimmune reactivities and their possible triggers. The Array 2 – Intestinal Antigenic Permeability Screen – measures intestinal permeability to large molecules, which trigger the immune system. This is a fast and easy way to determine if you have developed an immune sensitivity to specific foods.

   

1. Rule out disease

   Because of the crossover in symptoms, digestive system issues can be mistaken for more serious conditions. For example, what seems like lactose intolerance can actually be celiac disease or irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). Inflammation and joint pain, which are common symptoms of food allergies and sensitivity, could also be caused by arthritis. Cyrex also offers The Array 8 – Joint Autoimmune Reactivity Screen – which assists in the early detection of connective tissue disorders, and in monitoring the effectiveness of related treatment protocols. It is best to see a doctor who can take the initial, necessary steps of testing for more serious conditions.

Identifying or diagnosing the cause of your digestive-discomfort symptoms is important. While allergies and disease are more serious causes, food sensitivities can be managed by simply decreasing or eliminating the amounts consumed; it doesn’t always require total elimination. Either way, staying in tune with your body and being proactive with self-care and good health are the first steps to keeping your older years golden.

Dr. Chad Larson, NMD, DC, CCN, CSCS, Advisor and Consultant on Clinical Consulting Team for Cyrex Laboratories. Dr. Larson holds a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine degree from Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine and a Doctor of Chiropractic degree from Southern California University of Health Sciences. He is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist and a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist. He particularly pursues advanced developments in the fields of endocrinology, orthopedics, sports medicine, and environmentally-induced chronic disease.

Here are five common health mistakes typically made by people over 40 and suggestions for fixing them.

1. You think you’re taking care of your heart. But you’re not! As cardiologist Steve Sinatra, MD and I wrote in our best-selling book, “The Great Cholesterol Myth,” watching your cholesterol is not an effective way to prevent heart disease. In fact, cholesterol levels don’t even predict heart disease very well. More than half of those admitted to hospitals for cardiovascular disease have perfectly normal cholesterol.

We need to be thinking about the lifestyle changes that account for 80 percent of disease, including heart disease.

That means the right foods, exercise (like walking, above) and the right supplements. Some of my favorite supplements for supporting heart health are omega-3 fats, magnesium, vitamin D and a special form of vitamin K known as K2, which is very difficult to get from food. K2 actually acts as a traffic cop keeping calcium in the bones where it belongs and OUT of the arteries where it doesn’t. My favorite way to get K2 is through Weider’s Artery Health, available everywhere. It’s vitamin K2 in its longest lasting form, MK7.
2. Ignoring mouth breathing People who breathe through their mouths, especially while exercising and sleeping, are setting themselves up for problems. The nose filters and warms the air and supports the immune system. Mouth breathing may lead to higher blood pressure, posture problems, depression and fatigue. It may also cause snoring! Mouth breathing may be the result of something as simple as having a bottleneck in his nasal airway. Try a comfortable, over-the-counter nasal dilator called Mute. It goes unobtrusively into the nose and keeps the nasal airway from closing. Sometimes something simple can make a big difference.”
3. For guys only (and the women who love them!) Ignoring your leaking, dribbling and urgent bathroom dashes. “Frequent urination, especially in the middle of the night, is the signature of an annoying but essentially harmless condition called benign prostatic hyperplasia (BPH). BPH is one of those conditions where using nutritional and herbal supplements can really make a noticeable difference. Herbal medicines for BPH are used widely in Europe, and for very good reason.
4. You’re not making a much-needed oil change. “Virtually all of us need what I call an “oil change,” meaning a big shift in our use of edible oils. First, we thought all fat was bad; then we realized that there are good fats and bad fats, but we weren’t clear on which was which. Now, we’ve come a long way towards identifying what oils are pro-inflammatory, which oils are anti-inflammatory and which oils are neutral. Most of us are consuming a huge number of omega-6 (pro-inflammatory) oils such as corn, soybean, vegetable oil, canola oil and peanut oil, and relatively little of the healthiest oils on the planet such as fish oil, extra-virgin olive oil, coconut oil and Malaysian palm oil. These oils do not contribute to inflammation. In fact, quite the opposite. And many of them are loaded with nutrients. Malaysian red palm oil, for example, is loaded with nutrients such as carotenoids and tocotrienols.”
5. You’re not taking walking seriously. I was a personal trainer at Equinox for many years, so I know full well how important things like weights and high-intensity interval training are. In the fitness world, it’s easy to forget about walking, a low-intensity exercise that isn’t as glamorous as Hollywood spin classes and extreme skateboarding. But walking — simply walking — is one of the most-researched activities in the world. And the findings are very clear and consistent: More so than any other physical activity, walking is actually associated with significant risk reduction for a baker’s dozen of diseases (like cancer, depression and heart disease). You don’t need any special equipment. Just about anyone can do it. If you’re competitive, you can even track your speed and distance using a FitBit or the stopwatch feature on your phone. Or, you can ignore such things, relax and just get the enormous metabolic benefits of a slow, leisurely walk, preferably where you can see greenery!

Try these easy fixes first. See how well they work. You may find that you’re far more willing to make these simple changes when you see how good you feel and look.

Jonny Bowden, PhD, CNS, (aka “The Nutrition Myth Buster”) is a nationally known expert on weight loss, nutrition and health, and the best-selling author of 15 books on health. Dr. Jonny earned six certifications in personal training and fitness, has a Master’s degree in psychology, a PhD in holistic nutrition and is board certified by the American College of Nutrition. He has written, contributed to or consulted on hundreds of articles in print and online publications as diverse as the New York Times, People, Us, O the Oprah Magazine, In Style, Vanity Fair Online, People, GQ, Forbes Online, Clean Eating, the Huffington Post and many others.

The delicate skin around our eyes is usually the first place to get noticeable fine lines/wrinkles and even brown discoloration. The causes are exposure to sun and pollution, stress, and late nights. Here are some doable tips:

Be preventative– Botox and fillers can dramatically improve the appearance of the eye area without surgery. If a patient has a volume loss or tear trough (deep groove) under the eyelids, we inject fillers such as Juvéderm or Restylane. This produces volume to the area and provides support and lift to smooth out lines and wrinkles.

Botox and other neuromodulators relax muscles to soften lines and to slow down their deepening by weakening the way they wrinkle the skin like an accordion. The cost depends on amount injected and number of injection sites.

No Injection Cosmetic Procedures- There are a variety of laser treatments available that allow skincare professionals to target certain areas and treat certain conditions. Resurfacing lasers, like Fractionated Erbium or CO2 can tighten the skin around the eyes with up to a week of downtime.

The Surgical Route- Eyelid surgery, or blepharoplasty, is a surgical procedure to improve the appearance of the eyelids. Surgery can be performed on either the upper and lower lids, or both.

Whether you want to improve your appearance or are experiencing functional problems with your eyelids, eyelid surgery can rejuvenate the area surrounding your eyes.

EYELID SURGERY CAN TREAT:

1. Loose or sagging skin that creates folds of the upper eyelid, sometimes blocking   vision
2. Excess fatty deposits that appear as puffiness in the eyelids
3. Bags under the eyes
4. Drooping lower eyelids that reveal white below the iris
5. Excess skin of the lower eyelid

Target Key Spots: There’s a muscle under the tail of the eyebrow that pulls the brow down, so a tiny drop of Botox, placed very precisely, helps pop up the brow and give you more of an arch in a few days. I also like Juvederm under the outer half of the brow. We lose fat in our eyebrows over time, which makes everything sag. Replacing the fat pad with filler helps prop up the brows and lids back where they used to be.

NON-SURGICAL ROUTES

Protect yourself from the Sun- Wear a broad-brimmed hat and use UV-protective sunglasses with lenses large enough to protect the eyes and the eyelids. Polarize lenses reduce glare and are particularly important when driving. Use sunscreen designed specifically for around the eyes to avoid stinging and burning. UV rays can penetrate clouds, so protect your eyes and eyelids every day.

Eye Cream- In addition to moisturizing, eye creams can offer other benefits, as well. Dr. Poulos says to, “Eye creams with growth factors and retinal can help increase cell turnover. Retinol helps to combat wrinkles, thicken the dermis, boost collagen, and distribute pigment more evenly. Use an eye cream containing retinol at night because it’s light-sensitive.”

Avoid eating too much salt– Some people notice their eyes get puffy when they eat a lot of salt.  Under eye bags are intensified when you have a diet that is high in sodium. To reduce puffiness and swelling, put something cool over eyelids, like cucumber slices, slices of raw potatoes, moist, refrigerated tea bags, or chilled spoons.

Avoid over plucking your eyebrows– Repeated tweezing can result in scarring of the hair follicles, preventing hair from ever re-growing. “Be judicious when plucking,” says Dr. Poulos.  “With age, eyebrow hairs become thinner.”

Eat an Iron-Rich Diet

An iron deficiency could be the reason for your under-eye bags and dark circles. Make them go away by incorporating iron-rich foods like spinach, kidney beans and dark chocolate into your diet.

Relax With Green Tea

Fight eye bags with tea bags! Resting cold green tea pouches will help reduce the appearance of puffiness. The combination of a cool compress with the tannins in the tea may help constrict the blood vessels and reduce swelling. Caffeine in the tea also helps reduce swelling.

To Minimize Dark Circles

Seek Out Vitamin C. Look for an eye cream with ascorbyl glucoside, a potent vitamin C derivative that lightens dark circles and reverses aging dyspigmentation. Also, if you have volume loss under the eyes, light can get trapped in the folds and give the impression of shadows. In this case, we will often utilize a transfer of your own fat from abdomen or hips, mix it with your centrifuged blood (protein rich plasma or prp) and inject via a tiny needle to add thickness and minimize the light reflex “erasing”  the dark circles.

Strengthen With Retinol: “Dark circles can be caused by the under-eye skin getting thin over time, so the underlying muscle is visible. Dr. Poulos often prescribes Renova to build collagen and help thicken the skin around the eyes. If you have sensitive skin, start with an over the counter retinol-containing product.

Dr. Poulos is a Board Certified Plastic Surgeon and Co-Founder with Yngvar Hvistendahl, M.D of Plastic Surgery Specialists recognized as one of the premier aesthetic surgery clinics in Northern California.

In fact there’s a common belief in cardiology is that blood pressure (BP) increases with age. However, studies find little evidence of that among non-Western adults in isolated communities.

But does the association between age and BP differ in two isolated communities with different levels of Westernization? In a 2018 study done at Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health and published in JAMA Cardiology, researchers examined the association between age and BP in two communities in a remote area of the Venezuelan rainforest inaccessible by land.

COMPARING THE TWO COMMUNITIES

The Yanomami community is made up of hunter-gatherer-gardeners who are among the least assimilated people in the world. The Yekwana people live near the Yanomami but they have been exposed to missions and an airstrip has allowed for delivery of medicine and other features of Western lifestyle, including occasional exposure to processed foods and salt. Blood pressure measurements were taken for 72 Yanomami and 83 Yekwana participants between the ages of 1 and 60 over about five months.

Researchers found no age-associated rise in BP in Yanomami children and adults, whereas there was an age-associated rise in BP in the more Western-exposed Yekwana community that began in childhood.

These results add to findings that suggest the rise in BP with age may not be natural but rather a consequence of unnatural Western exposures. A limitation of the study was its small sample size.

THE TAKEAWAY

If your blood pressure has increased with age, maybe you’d better not write that off a a natural process.

Talk with your doctor and see if lifestyle changes could lower your BP to the new recommended numbers.

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Authors: Noel T. Mueller, Ph.D., M.P.H., Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, Maryland, and coauthors

The team also now has advanced scientific understanding of the diseases and cellular pathways involved in aging. Their findings were presented at the American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) 2018 Annual Meeting in San Diego, Calif.

Presenting author Paul Timmers, MRes, a graduate student at the University of Edinburgh and collaborators set out to identify key genetic drivers of lifespan. In the largest ever genome-wide association study of lifespan to date, they paired genetic data from more than 500,000 participants in the UK Biobank and other cohorts with data on the lifespan of each participant’s parents. Rather than studying the effects of one or more selected genes on lifespan, they looked across the whole genome to answer the question in a more open-ended way and identify new avenues to explore in future work.

Because the effect of any given gene is so small, the large sample size was necessary to identify genes relevant to lifespan with enough statistical power, Mr. Timmers explained. Using this sample, the researchers validated six previously identified associations between genes and aging, such as the APOE gene, which has been tied to risk of neurodegenerative disease. They also discovered 21 new genomic regions that influence lifespan.

A RICK SCORE FOR LIFESPAN

They used their results to develop a polygenic risk score for lifespan: a single, personalized genomic score that estimates a person’s genetic likelihood of a longer life. Based on weighted contributions from relevant genetic variants, this score allowed the researchers to predict which participants were likely to live longest.

“Using a person’s genetic information alone, we can identify the 10 percent of people with the most protective genes, who will live an average of five years longer than the least protected 10 percent,” said Mr. Timmers.

In addition, the researchers wanted to know whether genetic variants were affecting the aging process directly or affecting risk of individual diseases that could lead to death. They found that among common variants – variants found in at least 1 in 200 people – those associated with Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease, and smoking-related conditions were linked to overall lifespan.

NO LIFESPAN ASSOCIATIONS FOR OTHER CANCERS

Notably, they did not find lifespan associations for other cancers, suggesting that susceptibility to death caused by other cancers is due to rarer genetic variants or the environment.

“This was an interesting result,” Mr. Timmers said. “We suspect that the variants we found, such as for smoking and Alzheimer’s disease, pertain uniquely to the modern period of human history. For example, a genetic propensity to smoke wasn’t harmful before we discovered tobacco, but it is now. Since natural selection has not yet had many generations to act on these variants, the variants are still fairly common,” he explained.

In addition, the researchers examined the cell types and protein pathways in which the genetic variants associated with lifespan had the strongest effect. They found that the genes played key roles in fetal brain cells and adult prefrontal cortex cells, with particular effects in pathways related to fat metabolism. Together, Mr. Timmers noted, these findings highlight the brain as an important organ in determining lifespan and present a good opportunity for follow-up studies.

To build on their findings, the researchers plan to investigate how the variants and functional pathways they identified affect lifespan. For example, they plan to study whether these pathways are associated with single diseases that have implications for longevity or a broader spectrum of age-related diseases. By better understanding how these pathways interact with one another, they ultimately hope to identify ways to slow aging and disease onset that will improve the length and quality of life.

This work was supported by the AXA Research Fund and the UK Medical Research Council.

Berlinger, a research scholar at The Hastings Center, and Solomon, president of The Hastings Center, are co-editors of the report, with Kate de Medeiros, the O’Toole family professor in the department of sociology and gerontology at Miami University. The report is a product of a two-year grant-funded initiative at The Hastings Center to begin to determine how bioethics can better reflect and meet the needs of our aging society. It features 16 essays by leading scholars and practitioners in architecture and design, bioethics, disability studies, economics, gerontology, health policy, housing studies, medicine, philosophy, political science, and urban planning.

Takeaways from the report include:

Many older people face economic and other forms of insecurity that stem from changing social policies, not a personal failure to plan.

Increasing numbers of older adults grapple with precarious financial, environmental, and social conditions in late life. In “Precarious Aging: Insecurity and Risk in Late Life,” Amanda Grenier and Christopher Phillipson describe how economic insecurity accrues over the course of a person’s life due to factors such as declining access to pensions and inadequate coverage of the full cost of health care. These social factors expose older people to risks they cannot mitigate on their own. Reductions in social welfare programs worsen these problems. Amanda Grenier holds the Gilbrea chair in aging and mental health at McMaster University; Christopher Phillipson is a professor of sociology and social gerontology at the University of Manchester.

Aging societies must respond to the challenges that older adults face in their communities.

Despite policies and programs that aim to help older adults age in a familiar environment, an older person’s housing may not align with his or her changing needs, write Jennifer Molinsky and Ann Forsyth in “Housing, the Built Environment, and the Good Life.” Community planners, developers, policymakers, and others responsible for how communities plan and build should acknowledge what our aging society needs and work toward consensus around design and facilities that serve older as well as younger residents. Molinsky is a senior research associate at the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies; Forsyth is a professor in the department of urban planning and design at the Harvard Graduate School of Design.

In “Age-Friendly Initiatives, Social Inequalities, and Spatial Justice,” Emily A. Greenfield recommends that local efforts to make communities more supportive of people as they age also embrace opportunities to reduce socioeconomic disparities that affect older adults and others in that community. Greenfield is an associate professor in the School of Social Work and a faculty affiliate of the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy and Aging Research at Rutgers University.

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Also in this special report:

Kate de Medeiros: “What can Thinking Like a Gerontologist Bring to Bioethics?”

Lauren Taylor: “How Do We Fund Flourishing? Maybe Not through Health Care”

Bonnie Steinbock and Paul T. Menzel: “Advance Directives for Refusing Life Sustaining Treatment in Dementia”

Daniel Callahan: (“Aging: Drawing a Map for the Future” https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/hast.920)

Joel Michael Reynolds: “The Extended Body: On Aging, Disability, and Well-Being”

The full text of the report, What Makes a Good Life in Late Life? Citizenship and Justice in Aging Societies, can be found here.

A release from APA quotes presenter Jennifer Bellingtier, PhD, of Friedrich Schiller University, as saying, “Research suggests that a younger subjective age, or when people feel younger than their chronological age, is associated with a variety of positive outcomes in older individuals, including better memory performance, health and longevity. Our research suggests that subjective age changes on a daily basis and older adults feel significantly younger on days when they have a greater sense of control.”

Bellingtier and co-author Shevaun Neupert, PhD, of North Carolina State University, enlisted 116 older adults (ages 60 to 90) and 106 younger adults (ages 18 to 36) and had them complete surveys each day for nine days. Participants were asked to respond to a series of statements on the level of control they felt they had each day (e.g., “In the past 24 hours, I had quite a bit of influence on the degree to which I could be involved in activities,”) and were asked how old they felt that day.

The researchers found significant day-to-day variability in subjective age in both groups over the course of the study. They also found a significant association between perceived level of control each day and subjective age in the older adult group but not the younger group.

“Shaping the daily environment in ways that allow older adults to exercise more control could be a helpful strategy for maintaining a youthful spirit and overall well-being,” said Bellingtier.

“For example, some interventions could be formal, such as a regular meeting with a therapist to discuss ways to take control in situations where individuals can directly influence events, and how to respond to situations that they cannot control. Smartphone apps could be developed to deliver daily messages with suggestions for ways to enhance control that day and improve a person’s overall feeling of control,” said Bellingtier. An intervention could also be something as simple as giving nursing home residents the opportunity to make more choices in their daily lives so that they can exercise more control.

In addition to amping up perceived control, another strategy for maintaining a younger subjective age and enjoying the benefits that go with it may be as simple as increasing physical activity, according another study presented in the same session.

“Our results suggest that promoting a more active lifestyle may result in a more youthful subjective age,” said Matthew Hughes, PhD, University of North Carolina, Greensboro, who presented the study.

Hughes and his colleagues recruited 59 adults in the Boston area between the ages of 35 and 69 who were not engaged in routine physical activity. All participants were given a FitBit fitness tracker and researchers monitored their daily step counts for five weeks. Individuals with greater increases in their step counts at the end of the study reported lower subjective ages, the researchers found.

While promising, the results are still preliminary, cautioned Hughes.

“As this was part of a pilot study, our sample size was small,” he said. “While the results suggest that walking may contribute to feeling younger, further research with a larger sample in a more controlled setting is needed to confirm.”

1.  Sarcopenia is the loss of skeletal muscle mass due to aging
   The functions of skeletal muscle include control of movement and posture; regulation of metabolism; storage of energy; acting as a primary source of amino acids for the brain and immune system; and acting as a substrate for malnutrition/starvation, injury/wound healing and disease. Maintaining skeletal mass is critical not only for remaining physically independent but also for survival.

1. Sarcopenia affects half of all older adults
   More than 18 million Americans suffer from sarcopenia. One in three adults over 60 have sarcopenia, and that number increases to over 50 percent by the time they reach age 80.
2. Muscle loss from sarcopenia begins in the 30s
   Beginning in the 30s, every human being on earth develops sarcopenia. Every year we get weaker and weaker unless we proactively work against the muscle loss. The erosion of strength accelerates in our 50s and continue to increase as we move into our 60s. By our mid-70s, there is an exponential increase in the loss of lean tissue
3. Sarcopenia can cause muscle weakness, frailty, and loss of independence
   The loss of strength that accompanies sarcopenia will dramatically impact your physical health. This loss of strength makes it hard to recover is we lose our balance. As we become weaker, we become more cautious and less physically active. When we are less active, we are weaker. The downward spiral continues.
4. Strength training is the only treatment for Sarcopenia

You can counteract this loss of muscle tissue with strength training, which will also have a positive effect on many other chronic diseases. We’re living longer. Strength is critically important to enjoying the extra four or five decades that we each have been given through medical science advances over the last century. Strength training at least three times a week as you age is the recognized treatment for combating the devastating effects of sarcopenia.

Of all of these important facts, the last one is the most important. Medical scientists at Harvard Medical School, Tufts University, the Academy of Royal Colleges, and dozens more respected medical research institutions have all concluded that intense strength training is the only way to combat the downward spiral of physical health and loss of strength that sarcopenia causes.

StrongPath founder, 86-year-old Fred Bartlit, has been strength training since his 50s and, working with recognized medical scientists, has been studying Sarcopenia’s cause and treatment. His book Choosing the StrongPath has more information for you as you start on your journey to reverse the downward spiral of aging.