It was a dark and stormy House M.D. Last night, Princeton-Plainsboro was in a state of near-dissolution: besieged by a thunderstorm (a slightly odd choice for February in New Jersey), the hospital was home to furious outbursts, …
Aging
Brain Changes May Explain Driving Problems in the Elderly
Worsening vision and dulled reflexes might explain why some older folks have trouble behind the wheel. But researchers from the University of Rochester may have uncovered another possibility: the aging brain may be better at …
Life Expectancy Lags in the U.S., But It May Be on the Upswing
On average Americans don’t live as long as people in many other wealthy nations, and they’re less healthy overall — this, despite the fact that the U.S. spends more on health care than any other nation in the world. A new …
Study: Fish Oil Pills Don’t Stall Alzheimer’s
There was good reason to believe that fish oil, which has been linked to health benefits for the heart, might also work its medical magic on the brain, particularly with Alzheimer’s disease. Preliminary studies hinted that …
Here’s the Secret About Long Life: It Doesn’t Come in a Pill
Good news travels fast, but dubious news travels faster, especially if it heralds a possible nostrum to vanquish age. An article in the Oct. 21 issue of the British mass-market newspaper, the Daily Mail, suggested that DHEAS, a …
Are Unrealistic Life Expectations to Blame for Baby Boomer Suicides?
Recent news has focused attention on suicides in teenagers and children, and while early deaths in this group can be harrowing, the overall rates of suicide in young people are not especially high. Rather, it is the elderly who …
Potential for New Blood Test for Alzheimer’s
With the Alzheimer’s Association preparing to release new guidelines for diagnosing the degenerative brain disease ever earlier in a patient’s lifetime, the race is on to find new and simpler ways of testing for the disorder. …
Even More Evidence for the Health Benefits of Drinking
After TIME.com ran my story about how moderate and even heavy drinking are both associated with living longer than average, lots of readers e-mailed me their skepticism.
What does head size have to do with Alzheimer’s?
According to a new study published in the July 13 issue of the journal Neurology, Alzheimer’s patients with larger heads may experience a slower progression of cognitive decline symptoms, possibly because they have more of what researchers call “brain reserve” — or the ability to adjust to changes within the brain. The theory is based
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Active youth linked to lower risk for cognitive decline
A new study analyzing physical activity at different phases of life for more than 9,000 elderly women finds that routine exercise at any age was associated with a reduced risk for cognitive decline or dementia, but that regular physical activity during teenage years was most strongly linked to a lower risk for mental deterioration later
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Alzheimer’s: new methods for diagnosis, preserving memory?
In the ongoing effort to better understand, diagnose, treat and hopefully one day even prevent the devastating mental decline of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers are taking a broad range of approaches — and some are even finding clues in unlikely places. As the New York Times reports, a new technique that combines a dye and brain scan
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Spouses of dementia patients at higher risk themselves
Compared with other aging married individuals whose husbands or wives do not suffer from dementia, those whose spouses are diagnosed with the condition are six times more likely to develop dementia themselves, according to new research published today in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society. Researchers suggest that the stress
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Study: Canadians live longer and in better health than Americans
On average, Canadians enjoy 2.7 more years of “perfect health” than their southern neighbors, according to new research published in the journal Population Health Metrics. In the new study, a team from Kaiser Permanente Center for Health Research in Oregon analyzed data from the 2002-2003 Joint Canada/United States Survey of Health to
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