Healthy Living 2012

A Supplement to

PLUS

June 24, 2012

Move It or Lose It

A new study find that exercise may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s

PLUS: Why Caregivers Need Care, Too I’m Happy, You’re Happy We’re Happy

TAKE CHARGE Good health is achievable at any age.

Learn how to get stronger and feel happier today

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LIFESTYLE HEALTHY LIVING 2012

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A new study finds that exercise, at any age, may reduce the risk a person’s risk of developing Alzheimer’s

Physical activity, even

simply cooking or washing dishes, may reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease, even in people over the age of 80, according to a study by neurological researchers from Rush University Medical Center.

The study recently was published in the online issue of Neurology, the medical journal of the American Academy of Neurology.

Rush researchers had 716 older individuals without dementia wear an actigraph, a device that monitors activity, on their non-dominant wrist for 10 days.

All exercise and non-exercise was recorded, and study participants also self-reported their physical and social activities.

“This is the first study to use an objective measurement of physical activity in addition to selfreporting,” says Dr. Aron S. Buchman, lead author of the study and associate professor of neurological

sciences at Rush. “This is important because people may not be able to remember the details correctly.”

Over a mean of 3.5 years of follow up, 71 of the participants developed Alzheimer’s disease.

The study showed that people in the bottom 10 percent of daily activity levels were more than twice as likely to develop Alzheimer’s disease as people in the top 10 percent of daily activity.

Those individuals in the bottom 10 percent of intensity of the physical activities were almost three

times as likely to develop Alzheimer’s as the people in the top 10 percent of intensity.

“Since the actigraph was attached to the wrist, activities like cooking, washing the dishes, playing cards and even moving a wheelchair with a person’s arms were beneficial,” Buchman says. “These are low-cost, easily accessible and side-effect free activities people can do at any age, including very old age, to possibly prevent Alzheimer’s.” © CTW FEATURES

“These are low-cost, easily accessible and side-effect free activities people can do at any age, including very old age, to possibly prevent Alzheimer’s.”

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By Renee Lee CTW FEATURES

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LIFESTYLE HEALTHY LIVING 2012

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Care and Care Alike WHEN A LOVED ONE IS ILL, TAKING CARE OF THE SELF IS OF EQUAL IMPORTANCE

BY ANNA SACHSE CTW FEATURES

time, the ill person’s condition, if you have help or if they are at home or at an assistedn “A Bittersweet Season: Carliving facility. But even if they ing for Our Aging Parents – and are at a nursing home, you’re Ourselves” (Vintage, 2012), not off the hook – you’re still newly out in paperback, author visiting, advocating and on-call Jane Gross chronicles the difmentally. If you tend to get ficult final years of her mother’s colds, you will probably get a life, weaving together intimate lot of colds. If you tend to get experience and practical advice. migraines, then you will likely Here, the founder of The New get a lot of migraines. If stress York Times blog, The New Old typically makes you over-eat or Age, talks about the hardunder-eat, then it will likely be earned lessons she’s learned a problem. along the way.

How can one use the expeWhat consequences can rience of watching a parent age caring for an ailing loved one to make better decisions about have on the health of the care- their own health future? giver?

Well, I don’t want to There’s a mess of reblame the victim – our parents search on this. The issues are grew up in a different environprimarily stress-related, actual ment than we live in now. I diseases, depression and not never saw my mother riding a caring for oneself physically, bicycle or even wearing sneakbut there is wide variation. ers, and her worst problems In general, the health of the initially were mobility issues. caregiver correlates to whether Had she exercised and not they are responsible full or part been overweight, it probably

I

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would have changed her particular trajectory. No matter what you do, you are still going to age, but watching someone fall apart and knowing how they ate, didn’t exercise or smoked certainly ought to give you pause.

pen. It’s preordained. The end point is that the person is going to die, whether it’s five years or a week from now. You have to think of it like a marathon, not a sprint – maybe then you won’t rush at the beginning, when you tend to make mistakes.

You must have had many realizations during There’s a whole school of geriatric medicine your mother’s decline. What stands out? called slow medicine: Just because you can, Caretakers get a lot of advice about being doesn’t mean you should. Mother didn’t want healthy, but this can be difficult and becomes a lot of stupid things done, and said no after a just another burden. That said, I started docertain point. In my experience, it’s not the old ing yoga when my mother was sick, and it was people who want to keep going, but rather the an enormous help. I got more massages and children or medical professionals who ram it became a mani-pedi junkie because, at the nail down your throat or don’t explain alternatives. salon, I didn’t know anyone, there were no ques- Rather than viewing death as a medical problem tions, I was in suspended animation. with a solution, you can see it as a natural part These things were helpful, but more important of life. The kindest thing you can do is just be was making adjustments inside my head. If I had present. Focus on quality of life, talk about your to do it over, I would have done quite well to memories and ask stories about their lives. For think about the process differently. My brother me, that was the epiphany: “I can’t make her and I were running ourselves ragged, almost well or young, but I can make the time very rich as if we thought, “If we just do everything on for both of us.” It’s a very different kind of caring our to-do list, everything will get better and we for yourself that really can take the stress away. can get back to our lives.” That doesn’t hap© CTW FEATURES

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LIFESTYLE HEALTHY LIVING 2012

I'm Happy, You're Happy,

We're Happy ‘Gray divorce’ is on the rise, but experts say the key to a healthy marriage once the nest is empty is to find purpose, happiness and stability

BY DARCI SWISHER CTW FEATURES

study notes that divorce rates, in general, stayed steady during that time period. ith divorce rates for couples But it’s empty-nest syndrome – over 50 at record levels, the term commonly used for when couples need to work hard- children move out and leave their er than ever to keep their marriage parents at home, alone, for the first – and themselves – happy as they time in many years – that is often enter their senior years. attributed to post-50 relationship “Fifty is like a watershed issues. moment in a lot of people’s lives,” “Couples who are doing the says Gina Ogden, Ph.D., author of demanding, stressful job of raising “The Return of Desire: A Guide to children have a tendency to stop Rediscovering Your Sexual Passion” focusing on their personal relation(Trumpeter, 2008). ship and instead see each other At a half-century, changes only as co-parents,” Tina B. Tessina, abound: Children begin leaving Ph.D., psychotherapist and author home. The body’s aging process is of “Money, Sex and Kids: Stop in full swing. Careers can be at a Fighting about the Three Things demanding level.

That Can Ruin Your Marriage” And all of these changes have (Adams, 2008). “When the kids the potential to affect a marriage – leave the house, the couples are even long-term relationships. A faced with a moribund couple relarecent study from Bowling Green tionship.”

State University found that a quarThe next major life event for ter of the couples who divorced in many, retirement, may only com2009 were over the age of 50. That pound issues, Tessina adds. “Not number is double what it was just only do the couple lose their two decades ago, when less than parental roles, they also lose the one in 10 people who divorced structure of work – it drastically were over 50. Interestingly, the changes the amount of time they

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have together, and highlights the lack of connection between them.”

She notes a common reason people over 50 cite for divorcing is a lack of connection. A wife may not feel her husband listens to her anymore, a husband might not think his wife cares about him, or both may feel bored with their relationship, she points out.

But all is not lost. Happiness may be the key to staying together.

But spouses shouldn’t just be happy with their marriage, Tessina says, they also should be happy with themselves.

“All three work together,” she explains. “A happy wife or hus-

©2012 HARVEST MANAGEMENT SUB, LLC 16944

tionship with each other, because the person they fell in love with may have morphed over the years, according to Ogden.

The key is for spouses to identify who they are and what they want, both together as a couple and separately, Ogden notes. They should do so with an awareness of balancing their bodies, minds, hearts and spirits, she stresses.

Those who find themselves dissatisfied with their partner should try to create a new partner before looking outside the marriage to fill that need, adds Ogden. For example, those dissatisfied with their love life might consider writing an ad for an ideal partner – together, or alone, and then sharing it – and then owning all those qualities for themselves. Or someone looking for a partner who is more sensitive should try to be more sensitive.

“Become the partner you want to be,” she says. © CTW FEATURES

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band has more to contribute to the partnership, and more to give the partner. If both parties sincerely desire a happy, committed relationship, it isn't difficult to figure out what they need to do to be happy, to make each other happy and reap the benefits of a happy relationship.”

Ogden agrees, pointing out the importance of people determining what makes them happy, and how they bring self-esteem to themselves. Perhaps it’s shopping, gardening or making money, she says; regardless, knowing how selfesteem is achieved and whether the method is healthy and nurturing is essential to achieving happiness.

Thankfully, there’s good news ahead for 50-somethings in the happiness department: A May 2011 study for the Gallup-Healthways Well-Being Index found that Americans over age 65 have the highest overall well-being and are less sad and depressed than other age groups.

To find happiness as a couple, spouses need to realize that they may be entering into a new rela-

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