We live in one of the most socially connected societies in history, or so the experts tell us. Facebook alone claims an astonishing 1.5 billion users worldwide, and it along with a constantly-growing collection of other sites and apps is supposed to ensure that we’ve always got a “friend” there to talk to or connect…
What if you heard of an epidemic that was causing up to 125,000 deaths each year in the U.S.? What if this epidemic was also responsible for 10 percent of all hospitalizations in the country, and was costing the American health care system well over $100 billion annually? And what if you discovered that this…
Here at AgingOptions we’ve read a lot (and written a lot) about dementia. Staying as mentally sharp as we can in old age is a goal we all share, just as the fear of cognitive decline is a phobia common to most of us. Is there one single strategy to help us avoid the onset…
We were surprised just a few days ago by a news story on National Public Radio revealing a disturbing statistic: barely one in every seven seniors is getting routine, regular screening for cognitive impairment. This is in spite of the fact that almost every primary care physician surveyed – and a huge majority of patients…
You’ve probably heard the familiar statistic that 10,000 baby boomers turn 65 every day. And even though many of today’s boomers are working well past 65, the fact is that the leading edge of that post-World War II population bulge is now well into their 70s. What happens as these experienced workers retire? A lot…
When it comes to sleep, are you a lark or a night owl? It turns out, according to a research study in Great Britain that was the subject of a report last spring in this article on the BBC website, that those of you who fall into the “late to bed, late to rise” group…
Alzheimer’s disease is on the rise in the U.S. We’ve shared the statistics before: today about 6 million Americans live with dementia, mostly Alzheimer’s, and by 2050 that number will soar to more than 14 million. The typical narrative describes Alzheimer’s disease using familiar adjectives, such as devastating, tragic, catastrophic. But who would ever describe…
We’re always a bit skeptical here at AgingOptions when we encounter an article – especially in a financial website like MarketWatch – with a title like, “Everything You Need to Do Before You Retire.” Nine times out of ten, it’s an article about saving more, spending less, adjusting your portfolio, and so on. In other…
Every so often we think it’s a good idea to revisit a common topic that is both vitally important to retirees and widely misunderstood: Social Security. These benefits constitute the bulk of the income for millions of retirees, yet year after year people make mistakes that end up costing them and their surviving spouses tens…
Some time back, we ran an article here on the AgingOptions blog warning our readers to beware of Facebook – it might be ruining their retirement. (You can find that article here.) Then just a few months later we came across a similar article on the popular financial website MarketWatch. This piece isn’t warning retirees…