What do the Beatles, Oprah, and Stephen Curry all have in common? Meditation. All found meditation beneficial and helped make it mainstream. Today, meditation is popular, with over 14% of Americans practicing some type of meditation. In 2017, more than 5% of children aged 4 to 17 years were participating
It would be understandable to have never heard of—or know much about—Lewy body dementia. It is a form of dementia that has only received global scientific attention in the last few decades. Scientists did not fully understand how common this form of dementia is until the 1990s. October is Lewy
With more than six million Americans living with Alzheimer’s disease and more than 11 million providing unpaid care, the impact of dementia is huge. Between 2000 and 2019, while death from heart disease was declining, death from Alzheimer’s disease increased 145%. But that doesn’t mean people want to talk about
The weather is beginning to change. Leaves are falling and pumpkin spice season is just around the corner. Fall is in the air! Many people enjoy the changing of the seasons as summer ends. But for others, the impending season change brings about emotional changes. Some seasonal changes are normal
During the past decade or so, evolutionary biologists have been looking at an interesting question: Why do humans, unlike almost every other species in the animal kingdom, survive long beyond their reproductive years? Despite the ageist stereotype that older adults are a “burden,” anthropologists agree that living in social groups
September is Healthy Aging Month. Beginning in the 1960s, experts began predicting that the baby boom generation would be healthier than their parents and grandparents. The boomers were into jogging and aerobics and health food, and benefited from advances in health care. But as the decades passed, it became apparent
Making your own healthcare decisions can be tough. Making healthcare decisions for someone you care about — especially at the end of life — can be overwhelming. Even if an advance directive, such as a living will, explains your loved one’s wishes, it probably won’t cover all possible medical treatments.
The end of summer is a particularly great time to shop the local farmer’s market. Here are four reasons you should enjoy the bounty of the harvest at your nearest farmer’s market: Buy from your neighbors! There’s a reason it is sometimes called “community-supported agriculture.” When growers sell their produce themselves,
A miracle brain power supplement? Superfood capsules? Herbal shakes with mysterious “cognitive health” enzymes? If you watch TV or go on the internet or read magazines, you are likely bombarded with commercials for products claiming to protect the memory and stave off dementia, even to “boost brain power.” Then there
Older Americans grew up in an era when smoking was portrayed as glamorous and sophisticated. Look through a stack of old magazines from the 50s and 60s and you are likely to find glossy full-page advertisements featuring doctors and nurses lighting up while they speak approvingly about the health benefits
