To reap the brain benefits of physical activity, just get moving!

Everyone knows that exercise makes you feel more mentally alert at any age.
The study compared the effects of different training methods on the cognitive functions of people aged 62 to 84 years. Two groups were assigned a high-intensity aerobic and strength-training program, whereas the third group performed tasks that targeted gross motor activities (coordination, balance, ball games, locomotive tasks, and flexibility).
"For a long time, it was believed that only aerobic exercise could improve executive functions. More recently, science has shown that strength-training also leads to positive results...
I would like seniors to remember that they have the power to improve their physical and cognitive health at any age and that they have many avenues to reach this goal," concluded Dr. Nicolas Berryman, PhD.


This study was funded in part by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
Contact: William Raillant-Clark


http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-10/uom-trt102914.php

“LEAVE NO ONE BEHIND PROMOTING SOCIETY FOR ALL”

AGING IS AN INTEGRATIONAL JOURNEY: THE SUB-COMMITTEE ON INTERGENERATIONAL

RELATIONSHIPS OF THE CONGO COMMITTEE ON AGING,

October 9, 2014 :  24^th Annual Celebration of the International Day of Older Persons.

Promote the idea of building a better world with lasting bonds among people of all ages, learning from the past, increasing values among generations.

The idea was to raise awareness of appreciation; promote programs; advocate intergenerational relationships and to validate the worth of life experience to build a sense of community for all.

The workshop demonstrated the importance of finding spaces, both literal and functional for opportunities for multiaged groups to meet and work together on mutual concerns and interests.

http://www.un.org/en/events/olderpersonsday/index.shtml

AGEING

The global population is ageing rapidly. The growing numbers of elderly people challenge our societal structures, not least the health sector, which is why authorities in most countries encourage elderly to lead active and healthy life styles. But to equate active ageing strictly with health is too narrow a focus. New research from University of Copenhagen shows that elderly can reap social and health benefits from activities that do not necessarily conform to official life style recommendations – billiards for instance.

Billiards and beer can also be active ageing.

One of the everyday activities Aske Juul Lassen observed was billiards: In one of the activity centers for the elderly, in which he conducted field work, 10-15 men between the ages of 70 and 95 meet to play billiards four times a week.According to Aske Juul Lassen, one of the positive side effects of the activities at the activity centers for the elderly is that the activities take their minds off illness; they do not focus as much on their ailments when they are engaged in billiards or some of the other activities that the centers have on off

http://news.ku.dk/all_news/2014/10/active_ageing_is_much_more_than_exercise/

25. "Active ageing is much more than exercise," (University of Copenhagen
via Eurekalert [American Association for the Advancement of Science],
October 8, 2014).

Nearly Half of All Seniors Need Help With Daily Activities, Far More Than We Thought

Research based on a new national survey, the National Health and Aging Trends Study (NHATS), which did in-depth, in-person interviews with more than 8,000 older adults beginning in 2011.
23. "Nearly Half of All Seniors Need Help With Daily Activities, Far More
Than We Thought," by Howard Gleckman (Forbes, October 8, 2014).

Nearly all seniors living in the community who need assistance get some help from family members or friends. About 60 percent of those caregivers are spouses, partners, or children.
This important study will surely set off a strong debate about how many older adults need care and how much assistance they require…

Share your comments…….

U.S. Life Expectancy Hits Record High of Nearly 79 Years

For people 65 years old in 2012, life expectancy was an additional 19.3 years, up slightly from the year before. Women age 65 and older in 2012 can expect to live another 20.5 years, while men may get around an additional 18 years, Xu said.

Average life expectancy in the United States reached an all-time high of 78.8 years in 2012, federal officials reported

Overall, the U.S. death rate dropped just over 1 percent between 2011 and 2012, according to the report.

"We can stop being a treatment-oriented country, and become a prevention-oriented country and extend life tremendously," Steinbaum said.

The little girl who challenged a nation!

Mafalda first appeared in a comic strip in 1964 when she was six years old. Despite her age, she was a child with a big heart and an awareness of the world she lived in. She cared about humanity and world peace and, in her own way, she struggled against the problems she saw around her. She also liked The Beatles… but I guess everyone did back then.

http://www.timetravelturtle.com/2011/11/mafalda-statue-buenos-aires-argentina/
Quino, stopped the series. In those ten years she had gained only five years of age but a huge following in Latin America. Readers were drawn to her in a way that, in this region, had never been seen before with a cartoon. She spoke to a community that needed to question the state of the world but lived in a time when it was safest for a fictional child to do the questioning.