The more isolated seniors are, the more likely they are to have dementia, a recent study shows. Researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm came to this conclusion after following a group of more than 500 people. The seniors, who were all at least 78 years old, had no signs of dementia prior to the study. Researchers say that a person’s lifestyle plays a role in determining if they wind up with dementia.
To come to the conclusion, researchers tracked the participants over a six-year period. During the onset of the study, the elderly people answered questions about their lifestyle and completed a survey about their personality.
Then, over the next six years, they completed medical exams and checkup interviews, focusing mainly on the same things as the initial interviews. After the end of the six-year process, about 150 people had dementia out of the original 500.
Then, researchers broke down the data of those 144 seniors to determine predictors and warning signs of dementia.
They found that uptight and worried people were much more likely to develop dementia than people who were relaxed. Seniors who were active and around other people were three times less likely to develop dementia than those who were alone and not active, researchers reported. Researchers lauded their results, as it indicated that dementia might actually be avoided by changing one’s lifestyle. While some conditions are genetic or biological, researchers suggested that by being engaged with others and active, seniors could actually reduce their risk of dementia.
Financial Troubles Affect Prescription Orders
The hard economic times are hitting everyone, including our nation’s seniors. A recent study from the University of Pittsburgh Graduate School of Public Health shows that seniors cut back their medications by about 14 percent as a result of financial hardships.
The study looked at about 11,000 elderly people who got their medication through the Part D Medicare Advantage prescription program.
The study, which is published in Health Affairs magazine, also included researchers from Harvard University. The way the Medicare Part D plan works is seniors have a $295 deductible for their prescription drugs. After that, they have a 25 percent co-pay until they have accumulated $2,700 worth of payments for their medication. After that $2,700 is met, though, seniors have to pay for 100 percent of their medication.
Then, once they surpassed $6,153, they are covered 95 percent. So, between $2,700 and $6,153, seniors have no help. The study found that about one-fourth of all seniors on the Part D plan fell into this gap, and therefore received little help. Many seniors stopped taking their medicine because they couldn’t afford them.
Potassium Combatant In Heart Disease
If you are a senior and have hypertension, consuming copious amounts of sodium is never a good idea. A new study may have found salt’s counterpart, though. A study from researchers at Loyola University Health System suggest potassium has the opposite effect of sodium and can go a long way in helping seniors fight hypertension. The study indicates adding potassium to your diet can help seniors counteract the negative effects of sodium. Research shows that about one in three adults in the United States suffers from high blood pressure.
That’s where potassium can come in to play, researchers said.
To come to their conclusions, researchers tracked almost 3,000 elderly participants. They recorded their sodium and potassium levels through urine tests. They collected urine samples over an 18- or 36-month period to gauge their levels. The participants were then followed for 10 to 15 years to see if they developed cardiovascular disease. Their results proved that sodium had a negative effect and potassium did the opposite. The elderly who had the highest levels of sodium in their urine were found to have a 20 percent increased likelihood of heart attacks, cardiovascular disease and strokes. However, when researchers broke the levels down by potassium to sodium ratio, the results were even more astounding.
They found the people who had the best potassium to sodium ratio — or the elderly who had high amounts of potassium and low amounts of sodium — were 50 percent less likely to have hypertension and cardiovascular disease. This was the first major study of its kind that tracked levels of sodium and potassium. Previous studies simply asked respondents to recall what they ate and then conclusions were drawn from there.
Seniors Encouraged To Drink Moderately
Young people are often encouraged not to drink. Seniors, on the other hand, may be encouraged to start hitting the bottle.
A recent study by researchers at the University of California Los Angeles suggests that seniors who consume a light to moderate amount of alcohol can fight off age-related pains that would otherwise hinder everyday movement. Some of the debilitating conditions include having trouble walking, getting dressed, gripping things or even doing chores. To come to this conclusion, researchers tracked more than 4,300 people in the quarter-century-long study. Over the course of the study, researchers monitored their diet and their general health.
The study, which was published in the American Journal of Epidemiology, found that moderate drinkers had about a 3 percent decreased risk of developing a debilitating disorder compared to heavy drinkers.
The moderate group actually had a 7.5 percent decreased risk of debilitating medical conditions than nondrinkers.
The study defined moderate drinking as someone who didn’t have more than 15 drinks a week or more than five drinks a day. Heavy drinkers were categorized as having either more than 15 drinks per week or more than five drinks per day. A 12-ounce beer, 5-ounce glass of wine or 1 ounce of hard alcohol was classified as a drink.
