MATURE MARKET HEADLINES 9/28/2000
Late Life Left-Handedness All Right for Elders
There's not much left in the older population, left-handedness, that is. Since there are not many left-handed older people, you might conclude that being left-handed might reduce your chances of living to a ripe old age. Afterall, life is frustrating for lefties. Consider all the right-oriented tools we use everyday. Things like scissors, pencil sharpeners, can openers, and door handles. Does all that stress lead to a shorter life? No. In fact, new research says "it's all right to be left-handed". So when it comes to understanding left-handedness, let's not get off on the wrong foot ... which is, by the way, the left foot. Yes, there are more right footed elders, too. But that's another story.
Although the percentage of left-handed people among those over age 60 is lower than in the rest of the population, there is no indication that left-handedness leads to an early demise. Rather, a complex
combination of factors combine so that fewer of the elderly report left-handedness, say researchers at Penn State and the University of Victoria.
Factors that appear to be related to the predominance of right-handedness in the older population include:
- social pressure to switch hands,
- more women than men in the older population,
- adaptation to a predominantly right-hand world, and
- a rightward trend caused by the aging process.
"Recent work reports that over 80 percent of left-handers older than 75 remember an attempt to switch hand preference to the right side as compared with a report rate of 24 percent among young adult left-handers," says Dr. Clare Porac, professor of psychology and director, School of Humanities and Social Sciences, Penn State Erie, the Behrend College. When those over 75 years were children, pressures to change preference from left-handed to right-handed, especially for writing, were strong. Since then, these pressures have lessened greatly.
Researchers, Dr. Porac and Ingrid C. Friesen (University of Victoria) looked at 1,277 elderly people to determine the incidence of left versus right handedness. The elder participants were asked which hand they used for five actions: writing, picking up an object, throwing, striking a match and eating with a fork without a knife. These particular activities were chosen to encompass both skilled and unskilled actions (writing and picking up an object) and culturally pressured and unpressured behaviors (writing and throwing). Overall, the researchers classified nearly 7 percent of the individuals as left-handed and 93 percent as right handed.
As age increased, so did the incidence of right-handed writing. Dr. Porac suggests that with increasing age, there is a biologically-related shift toward right-sided preference. This is exhibited in a shift toward right footedness as well. The researchers believe that the shift to right-handedness is not caused by a propensity for accidents or premature death.
So what does all this mean, especially for lefties. Well, more research is needed to better understand the relationship between hand preference and successful aging. But, at least for the time being, if you happen to be left-handed, you're got the "right stuff" for living a long, long time. Who knows, maybe by then society will be better designed to accommodate lefties, right?
AgeVenture News Service, www.demko.com
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Exercise Fatal Attraction say Older Women
Exercise may be a fatal attraction, or at least risky business according to a new study of older women. Researchers say these elders fear that even a moderate workout might result in injury and death. University of Alberta professor Sandra O'Brien Cousins says mature women worry more about having a heart attack than getting in shape. Sounds like these elders are simply saying, "We're not fit to get fit."
The researchers surveyed more than 300 women over the age of 70 about benefits and risks for six fitness activities: brisk walking, aerobic exercise in water, cycling, stretching slowly to touch the toes, modified push-ups from a kneeling position and supine curl-ups.
In considering what is appropriate exercise, older women are suspicious or even afraid of exercises that challenge their muscle strength or makes them bend in ways to which they are not accustomed. "My heart would hemorrhage." "Muscle seizure." "I would be carried out on a stretcher."
Other women said they stayed away from aerobic exercise in water because they were concerned they would slip on the deck, get dizzy or lose their balance. Others feared "being seen in a bathing suit or in the shower room. I do not undress in public." Many women avoided curl-ups because of back and neck injuries: "It would finish me." "Heart attack and headache." "Snapping my neck." "Death."
Since so many women feel vulnerable in exercise settings, it is an issue the fitness industry must address, says O’Brien Cousins, who includes recommendations in her study which appears in the September 2000 issue of the Journal of Gerontology. The journal is published by the Gerontological Society of America, a national organization of professionals in the field of aging.
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Pushy People Have Better Immune Systems
Men who are moderately aggressive have stronger immune systems, according to new study by a team of researchers from Penn State and the University of Nebraska. "We have observed this relationship in animal studies but this is the first time that a connection has been made between aggression and immunity in
humans," says Penn State professor Douglas Granger.
The researchers explain that aggressiveness was seen throughout history as being vital for gaining access to food, protecting the young, battling predators, and fighting other communities over resources and territory. Engaging in aggressive behavior, however, has a high likelihood of leading to trauma, wounds and exposure to new diseases. Therefore, a strong immune system is highly beneficial.
Men who have been in occasional fights or been in trouble with the law, either as an adult or youth, have immune systems that may be ready to marshal a more rapid and intense response to pathogens associated with
disease or injury than do men who are seldom aggressive, according to the researchers. "However, higher levels of aggression do not convey additional immune benefits," says Alan Booth, Penn State University.
Men reported on 12 different acts of aggression ranging all the way from playing hooky twice a year or more to fights involving weapons. Here are some of the findings. Those engaging in
- two aggressive acts were 30 percent more likely
to have a stronger immune system than those reporting no aggressive acts;
- five aggressive acts were 7 percent more likely
to have a stronger immune system than those reporting three aggressive acts;
- eight aggressive acts were 4 percent more likely
to have a stronger immune system than those reporting six aggressive acts.
"The strength of the finding is that we controlled for all types of factors that could impact the subjects' immune systems, such as whether the subjects smoked or consumed alcohol, their level of health and their testosterone scores," says Booth. "While testosterone was associated with aggressive behavior, it was not the hormone that accounted for the higher immune cells found among aggressive men."
Penn State's Douglas Granger and Alan Booth, along with University of Nebraska's David R. Johnson, published their findings in a recent issue of Psychosomatic Medicine. "Our study suggests that differences in people's aggressive behavior influence how their immune systems are prepared to deal with infections,
viruses and bacteria," says Booth.
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Federal Workers Given Long-Term-Care Benefit
This week President Clinton enacts legislation to provide Long-Term Care Insurance to federal workers, and urges Congress to assist all families with long-term care needs. The new Long Term Care Security Act, authorizes the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) to negotiate with private insurers to offer more affordable, high-quality, long-term care insurance policies to Federal employees, retirees, and their families.
This initiative will provide a new insurance option to 13 million Americans, and will serve as a model program for private employers throughout the nation. OPM anticipates that approximately 300,000 Federal employees will participate in this program. The President will also urge the Congress to take additional legislative steps this fall to provide assistance to the millions of Americans of all ages who currently have extraordinary unmet long-term care needs and who can not purchase private long-term care policies at any price.
Specifically, the President will call on the Congress to pass his $3,000 tax credit for the chronically ill; to reauthorize and strengthen the Older Americans Act by adding a new caregivers initiative; and to pass a long-overdue and voluntary Medicare prescription drug benefit.
This new Federal initiative is being driven by several elder care and demographic trends.
- Five million Americans have significant limitations
due to illness or disability. Two-thirds are elderly.
- Millions of adults and children
have long-term care needs due to birth defects and chronic illness.
- The aging of Americans will only increase
the need for quality long-term care options.
- Americans age 65-plus will double by 2030
from 34 to 70 million. 1-in-5 Americans will be elderly.
- Americans 85-plus will grow from 4 to 9 million,
half of whom need assistance with everyday activities, .
- Elder care costs family caregivers
between $4,800 to $10,400, an enormous economic burden.
- Family caregiving responsibilities continue to drain
financial, physical, and emotional resources.
- The new $3,000 tax credit
could cover up to 60 percent of families’ costs.
Because employers are only beginning to learn how to provide these benefits to their workers, only 4 million individuals, about one and one-half percent of all Americans, have private long-term care insurance. Those interested in following senior market trends will want to keep an eye on this new area of phenomenal growth, says AgeVenture News editor, Dr. David Demko. "I haven't seen such a watershed period in eldercare since the 1980 White House Conference on Aging which ushered in a new era of attention to the special needs of older women."
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TIAA-CREF Offers LTC Insurance to Public
TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company now offers affordable, tax-qualified long-term care insurance to the general public. The new product covers custodial and skilled care in a wide-range of settings, including the home, adult day care centers, Alzheimer's and assisted living facilities, hospice facilities, and nursing homes.
Coverage includes daily benefit maximums up to $300 per day, an unlimited benefits period (or the choice of a three-year, five-year, or seven-year benefit period) and a choice of waiting periods (30 days, 90 days, and 365 days). Inflation protection options are also available.
In addition, since most people prefer to receive care in the comfort of their own home, TIAA-CREF Life's Long-Term Care Insurance provides benefits to cover care at home for as long as possible. These benefits include, at no extra cost, caregiver training, emergency response systems, durable medical equipment, respite care, care management services, and alternate care services.
TIAA-CREF Life also offers the flexibility of choosing a home health care provider who is licensed and certified, but not affiliated with a home health care agency. "We wanted to provide the most flexible policy to address all
circumstances," said John McGovern, vice president at TIAA-CREF. "With this product, people don't have to pre-select and lock into the type of care they will use. Once they're eligible to receive benefits, they decide what options to choose."
The national average cost for nursing home care is presently $46,000 a year, with some areas of the country showing costs as high as $92,000. Even care provided at home averages more than $12,000 a year. When people are shopping for a policy, they should examine the benefits and premiums, but also check the company's financial stability and history of raising premiums.
TIAA-CREF Life Insurance Company is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association, the insurance company component of TIAA-CREF. For additional information, readers can call TIAA-CREF's Planning and Service Center at 1-800-223-1200 weekdays between 8:00 a.m. and 11:00 p.m., Eastern Standard Time.
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Mall-Walkers March to Beat Heart Better
If you know what's good for you, take a walk. That's not a brush off. It's an invitation to step into a healthy lifestyle by literally walking into your local shopping mall and "running for your life". You won't have to go it alone. Mall walking has a national champion in the person of Sara Donovan, a former O.R. Nurse and expert on, you guessed it, "walking". Donovan is leading a national, 30 city, mall-walking campaign to promote heart health.
The dapper Donovan coordinates the Mall Walking campaign through WalkSport America, her health and fitness company. The whole idea is to help fight heart disease by promoting mall-walking programs across the United States. WalkSport America also advocates exercise and a healthy diet as the first steps to reduce the risk of heart disease, the number one cause of death in the United States.
Donovan plans to incorporate an exclusive electronic card-reading technology into the Mall-Walk campaign. The electronic card allows mall walkers to track their walking time at any participating location across the country. In addition, Donovan also offers mall-walkers tips on the role that exercise and diet play in living a longer, healthier life.
Because heart disease claims the lives of nearly one million Americans annually, the WalkSport America program educates and motivates people to discover health and fitness through walking. Walking helps reduce the risk of heart disease by improving blood circulation throughout the body. In addition, walking helps lower blood pressure, burn body fat, reduce anxiety and stress as well as reduce LDL, or "bad cholesterol," and raise
HDL, or "good cholesterol."
For a complete WalkSport America Fall kick-off schedule as well as a list of malls that currently host the program, readers may visit the WalkSport web site at www.walksport.com. The program is currently sponsored by New Balance (tm) and Bristol-Myers Squibb, makers of the cholesterol-lowering drug Pravachol.
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Herbal Meds Benefit Countless ... salesmen
There is absolutely no question that dietary supplements have given extraordinary benefits to the lives of untold thousands of people ... those who sell the stuff. Whether or not so-called botanical dietary supplements do indeed result in the sometimes miraculous benefits attributed to these over-the-counter chemicals is another question all together. So what's the big deal anyway? We live in a free country, don't we? Consumers have a Constitutional guarantee for the "pursuit of happiness". We can buy whatever legal substance we want, and that includes dietary supplements.
Increasing consumer use of botanical dietary supplements, sometimes called herbal medicine, has Congress worried that consumers may not know all they need to know in order to make informed decisions. As a result, Congress has funded two Centers for Dietary Supplement Research under the direction of the Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) and the National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM). Both ODS and NCCAM are components of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
According to national surveys, approximately one-third of Americans use botanical dietary supplements. "The popularity of supplements such as soy isolates, green tea extract, garlic, echinacea, St. John's wort and ginkgo has increased dramatically in the last decade. However, current standards regulating use of these supplements, coupled with sparse information concerning their safety or effectiveness, pose problems for health practitioners and consumers," says Stephen Straus, M.D., Director of NCCAM.
Funding for the establishment of the two new research centers will go to Purdue University in West Lafayette, Indiana, and the University of Arizona at Tucson. This will bring the total to four NIH-supported Centers studying the health effects of botanicals. In 1999, ODS and NCCAM funded two dietary supplement research centers at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA) and the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC).
The Purdue Center will focus on the role of dietary supplements in heart disease, cancer, osteoporosis and cognitive decline. Specifically, the center proposes to study the health effects of polyphenols, a chemical found in soy, grapes, green tea, and several herbs. Health consumers speculate that polyphenols are beneficial to health because of their antioxidant action. Soy, for example, may play a role in bone metabolism.
The University of Arizona Center will focus on three botanicals (ginger, turmeric, and boswellia) widely used in Ayurvedic medicine for the treatment of inflammatory diseases. The researchers propose to identify the active constituents of these three herbs and study their pharmacological activity. This research will lead to clinical studies of arthritis and other chronic inflammatory conditions including respiratory diseases such as asthma.
The Office of Dietary Supplements (ODS) strengthens knowledge and understanding of dietary supplements by evaluating scientific information, stimulating and supporting research, disseminating research results, and educating the public to foster an enhanced quality of life and health for the U.S. population.
The National Center for Complementary and Alternative Medicine (NCCAM) is dedicated to exploring alternative healing practices to make sure they meet the tests of science, training researchers, and providing consumers with authoritative information.
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Women's Health and Aging Resource Guide
These days, more and more attention is given to women's issues, and that's no accident. That's because women represent an ever-growing majority of the senior population, and those women live longer than their male counterparts. In fact, women live, on average, seven years longer than men. But length of life isn't everything. The quality of one's life is just as important as the quantity of one's life. So, learn how to get the most out of life by using a free, 36-page guide to resources on women's health.
Women as young as 45-55 years of age, a group that now consists of 19 million Americans, are beginning to experience age-related changes such as reduction in bone density and rising body weight. These changes are significant because they have been linked to chronic diseases and conditions in later life, including heart disease, osteoporosis, bone fractures, and diabetes.
"Who, What, Where: resources for women's health and aging" offers practical information that helps women stay healthy. In addition to medical topics like osteoporosis, urinary incontinence, and heart disease, the guide covers issues related to menopause, caregiving, finances, and widowhood. The guide helps readers contend with these changes by listing over 90 resources on women's health.
Women's health issues are a growing concern in the U.S. because four out of five people over the age of 100 are women. That's about 53,000 women the year 2000, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. It's also important to note that on a global scale, older women represent one of the fastest growing segments of the world population. The guide will help those women delay or diminish health problems as long as possible.
"Who, What, Where: resources for women's health and aging" is available free-of-charge by contacting the National Institute on Aging Information Center at: 1-800-222-2225, or 1-800-222-4225 (TTY) for the hearing impaired. The guide is a joint effort of the National Institute on Aging and the Alliance for Aging Research.
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