Sleep and Aging
... More than half of men and women over the age of 65 years complain of at least one sleep problem. Many older people experience insomnia and other sleep difficulties on a regular basis. As we get older,...

Should Everyone Over Age 75 Take a Multivitamin?
... From the Cleveland Clinic Journal of Medicine Cindy Moore, MS, RD, LD, FADA, Director, Nutrition Therapy, Cleveland Clinic Should everyone over age 75 take a multivitamin? Age should not be the sole c...

Falls and Balances
... My mother-in-law has fallen several times in her home and we’d like to make her home safer. What are some ways we can make her home more "fall-proof"?If your mother-in-law is living alone, then you an...

Pain in the Elderly
... Pain in the elderly The elderly are more likely to experience pain than the general population. In many cases, the elderly are under-treated for pain. Reasons for under-treatment include patient attit...

Treating High Blood Pressure in the Elderly
... Managing hypertension in the elderlyHigh blood pressure is one of the most important modifiable risk factors for cardiovascular disease. It is an extremely common finding in the community and a risk f...

Hip Surgery and Delirium
... My 78-year-old dad is considering hip replacement. I am concerned that general anesthesia might cause his mental state to deteriorate. My mother was never the same after surgery. She had hallucination...

Seniors and Heart Disease
... What classes of medicines are used in the treatment of coronary artery disease? (Fig to right: Coronary atherosclerosis [coronary artery disease] is caused by narrowing of the arteries that supply blo...

Aging and Your Eyes
... Age sometimes brings changes that weaken your eyes, but there are things you can do to maintain life-long eye and overall health. The solution may be as simple as using brighter lights around the hous...

Maintaining Healthy Bones and Staying Fit for Life
... The aging process As people age, changes take place in the nervous and muscular systems that make the body less able to activate the muscles. Studies show that this process can be slowed considerably ...

Regular Physical Activity Can Help Older Adults Stay in Their Prime
... Stereotypes of aging include a noticeable slowing down of mental and physical function. But it doesn’t have to be that way, most medical experts agree. Numerous studies have documented that physical a...

Depression in the Elderly
... Depression is not a normal part of aging; but, unfortunately, it is very common in the elderly. Late-life depression affects about 6 million Americans age 65 and older, but only 10% receive treatment....

When Memory is Normal and Not-So-Normal
... "Memory, the warder of the brain." --William Shakespeare Macbeth Act 1 Memory and aging Memory: "The power or process of reproducing or recalling what has been learned and retained&quo...

Anemia and Aging
... Q: I''m 80 years old, and I''m always very tired and short of breath. My doctor says I have low hemoglobin, but my iron level is OK. The problem is my bone marrow is not producing. What should I do no...

When It May Not Be Related to Aging: Normal Pressure Hydrocephalus
... Linda Craig had been on medication for Parkinson’s disease for about eight months when her symptoms rapidly worsened. She experienced increased difficulty walking and talking, had a harder time contro...

Aphasia and Aging
... Q: My mother is 73 and in good physical health. In the past few years, however, she has developed a worsening word-finding problem. This has progressed to the point where sometimes she can barely get ...

Exercise Guidelines for Seniors
... Why exercise? Exercising is the single most important thing that you can do to keep yourself healthy and to delay the aging process. Keeping physically fit may add up to two to three years to an indiv...

Shortness of Breath
... I am 84 years old, but I have always been physically active. I received a pacemaker in 1988, and both hips were replaced in 1999. Recently, I find myself getting out of breath with mild activity, such...

Advance Directives: The Documents
... What are advance directives? Advance directives is a general term that describes two types of legal documents that "speak" for you in the event you cannot speak for yourself: A Living Will a...

Safety Tips for Adapting Your Home
... Here are some tips for adapting your living areas that might help prevent falls or other accidents. Living rooms and bedrooms Place furniture with wide spaces in between, giving you enough room move a...

Challenges and Choices of Aging
... The challenges of aging Life expectancy is increasing for Americans. The fastest-growing segment of the population is the 85-and-older age group. Despite advances in health care, however, many elderly...

Aging and Cognitive Function
... How does aging affect the nervous system? Almost all of us become aware of changes in memory and thinking (cognition) as we get older. We begin to have difficulty recalling names of persons and places...

Aging: Falls and Fractures
... Falls are common, often dreaded events in the lives of older people. Aside from the obvious injuries and even death that may result, falling can cause wide-ranging consequences including loss of indep...

Vision Problems in Aging Adults
... There are several eye problems that are more common among people as they age, although they can affect anyone at any age. They include: Presbyopia: This is the loss of the ability to clearly see clos...

What is Geriatrics?
... What is geriatrics? Geriatrics is a medical subspecialty that focuses on diagnosing and treating conditions that lead to disease and disability of older adults. What is a geriatrician? A geriatrician ...

Nutrition in Your Golden Years
... Who needs vitamin/mineral supplements? Some people may have slight nutrient deficiencies due to illness, surgery or other conditions. These people may need vitamin or mineral supplements because their...

Foot Problems Don''t Need to Play Havoc With Older American''s Lifestyles
... "Exercise, exercise, exercise" has become the battle cry of many older Americans. If they are not hearing it from their doctors, they are imposing an exercise regime on themselves. Exercise ...

Alcohol Use and Abuse
... Anyone at any age can have a drinking problem. Great Uncle George may have always liked his liquor, so his family may not see that his drinking behavior is getting worse as he gets older. Grandma Bet...

Senior Dental Care (Part 1)
... What are the general oral health issues related to advancing age? Common teeth and mouth problems seen in seniors include: Darkened teeth is caused, to some extent, by changes in dentin -- the bone-li...

Senior Dental Care (Part 2)
... As a senior adult, do I really need to be concerned about cavities any more? Actually, cavities can be more frequent in adults for a number of reasons. Life-long exposure to fluoride through community...

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease Information Page
... Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) is a rare, degenerative, invariably fatal brain disorder. Typically, onset of symptoms occurs at about age 60.. There are three major categories of CJD: sporadic CJD, h...

Presbycusis
... Presbycusis is the loss of hearing that gradually occurs in most individuals as they grow older. Hearing loss is a common disorder associated with aging. About 30-35 percent of adults between the ages...

Vocal Cord Paralysis
... Vocal cord paralysis is a voice disorder that occurs when one or both of the vocal cords (or vocal folds) do not open or close properly. Vocal cord paralysis is a common disorder, and symptoms can ran...

Older Adults: Depression and Suicide Facts
... Depression, one of the most common conditions associated with suicide in older adults,1 is a widely underrecognized and undertreated medical illness. In fact, several studies have found that many olde...

Prostate Enlargement: Benign Prostatic Hyperplasia
... The prostate is a walnut-sized gland that forms part of the male reproductive system. The gland is made of two lobes, or regions, enclosed by an outer layer of tissue. As the diagrams show, the prosta...

Incontinence Can Be Controlled
... by Carolyn J. Strange No one wants to talk about it. Patients don't bring it up. Physicians don't ask. Meanwhile, millions suffer in silence as urinary incontinence erodes their quality of lif...

Osteoporosis
... Things that can increase your chances of developing osteoporosis include: being female small, thin body (under 127 pounds) family history of osteoporosis being postmenopausal or of an advanced age Cau...

Osteoporosis: Progress and Promise
... Osteoporosis is a skeletal disorder characterized by compromised bone strength predisposing to an increased risk of fracture. Bone strength reflects the integration of two main features: bone density ...