P.A. MacLean,  January 20, 2009

If you can remember President Kennedy's call for school fitness programs, you're a boomer. You also may recall having to run around the track to meet an eight-minute-mile cut-off to pass the test. If you can't do that today, consider giving it another go because you're probably more out of shape than you think. Today we're a sedentary society and it's costing us dearly in high health care costs at a time when our country - and aging boomers - cannot afford it. Obama's call volunteer service could start at hone with getting healthier and saving money. Nearly one in five Medicare recipients have diabetes, and diabetes-related health costs account for one-third of all Medicare expenses, according to University of Washington research. Exercise and losing weight can control much of this and cut the need for drugs and reduce disabilities related to diabetes. And that's just one disease. Consider what the country could do by going on a collective diet and exercise program.  

Cecily O'Connor,  January 13, 2009

Old Man Winter is shedding new light on a serious health care issue. What happens to people who rely on life-supporting home medical equipment when the power goes out? The question became more relevant after ice downed electric lines in New Hampshire, leading to the death of a 60-year-old who relied on an oxygen machine. Now emergency workers are scrambling to identify power-dependent patients, although better critical-care lists are not foolproof when significant outages strike. That's a scary reality for older adults who are choosing to age in their homes, rather than a nursing facility. Sometimes even a generator and back-up batteries can't keep up with ventilators and other equipment - a lesson learned by at least one family when Hurricane Ike knocked out power to Houston residents. One thing is clear: patients need to keep conversations going with utilities companies and emergency workers to discuss emergency plans and ensure that this problem doesn't slip through the cracks. Ohio, for example, is trying-out a project that gives life-support users cards to hang in their windows during a flood or tornado to signal rescuers if they need help. That's one step in the right direction

Robin Evans,  December 30, 2008

I used to love sitting across from Dorothy and Kathy, two sisters in their 80s whose repartee entertained many a gathering at their home. One was a sweet but very sharp former librarian, the other a lively, wise-acre former Latin teacher. But when Kathy's hearing began to go, so did her quick retorts. In fact, she said less and less. Her hearing aid only made the cacophany of voices louder, not clearer. Her interest in life declined, then so did her health. Scientists studying why hearing declines with age have discovered that a dimmer switch in the brain that protect your ears from sound overload (say, at a rock concert) may play a role. Sound overload can harm the inner ear cells that convert sound to nerve signals. That doesn't bode well for the boomer generation, for whom rock concerts were a rite of passage. Given the near uselessness of cheap hearing aids, and the $6,000 or so cost for a pair of good ones, perhaps there's a new market brewing for sign language schools. Better yet, as we rethink so many policies under a new administration, including health care, let's take a look at why hearing aids aren't covered by most health plans.

Aaron Crowe,  December 8, 2008

The idea by a group of scientists that healthy people should take drugs to improve their brains goes a little too far, I think. Getting a prescription to improve your memory will probably do a lot to help pharmaceutical companies sell more products, but I wouldn't want to take the chance until long-term studies on the effects are done. Ritalin, a legal drug, can help college students take tests, and I've read that methamphetamine can help housewives keep a house clean. But that doesn't mean it's needed by baby boomers looking to improve their memory. I've already written about the brain boosting powers of gingko biloba and how it made my dreams too vivid to want to continue taking it. But to take some drug to improve my everyday memory, at the urging of scientists? I'm all for drugs when they're necessary, but not as a trivial option. It reminds me of being in college during finals and how some people would take pills to keep them awake all night so they could cram for the test the next morning. I figured a good night's sleep was worth more, and that if I hadn't learned the material by then, a few extra hours of cramming wasn't going to do it. Same goes for a fit brain, I think. Exercise it every day and it will be in good shape to get you over the hurdles - without drugs.

Aaron Crowe,  November 22, 2008

OK, so the dietary supplement ginko doesn't help prevent Alzheimer's disease, according to a federally funded study. You know something is up with a herb that is promoted to slightly improve your memory but has about the same effect as eating a candy bar. I've had my own experience with gingko biloba, and it was a bit hallucinogenic. Back in the early 1990s I tried it for a few months in an unscientific study of my own to see if the grand claims for improving memory and cognitive ability were correct. They were, for me at least, but not to the extent I had hoped they would be. After taking one pill a day, I quickly noticed that my dreams were a lot more memorable and vibrant when they were happening. The dreams became so real that I would often wake up in a fright. After awhile I couldn't take it any more and stopped taking the pills, putting my "gingko dreams" on hold. I started taking the pills a few months later to see what would happen, and sure enough the vivid dreams returned. I have since been gingko free for years, although I did try it for a week or so recently to see if it would happen again - it did, and I went cold turkey. Dreams are meant to be forgotten, I think, so while gingko did improve my memory of them, it turned out to be overwhelming memories that I'd rather forget.

Tom Murphy,  November 9, 2008

There are lot of things we can and are doing to live longer, but it seems like too many of them involve pills. Millions of people take statins - those anti-cholesterol drugs - and they have been shown to dramatically reduce heart attacks, even in people who don't have high cholesterol. That's a good thing. But it's not a license to be overweight, eat junk food or gobble down a lot of red meat. Good health should start with common sense. Many people with high cholesterol wouldn't have high cholesterol if they weren't overweight and if they put more thought into their diet or if they worked out four or five times a week. It's easier to eat a pill, but it's not necessarily healthier. These are personal decisions you should make with your doctor. But the next time he offers you a prescription, maybe you should ask if there's a natural way of achieving the same result.

Cecily O'Connor,  November 2, 2008

I think I'm one of a few people that enjoys turning the clock back in the fall. Most people lament the fact that they lose hours of daylight, but as a mother, I'm happy to be in the dark. That's because it's much easier to get my toddler into bed at 7:30 p.m. when it's pitch black outside. I feel like daylight savings ushers in a new world of possibility. Once 7:30 hits, I have more time to spend with my husband, can read a book or catch up on shows that have been clogging my DVR's memory since last summer. And it turns out, the benefits of "falling back" can include more than time for some, too. Swedish researchers pulled 20 years or records and found that the number of heart attacks actually dropped the Monday after clocks were set back an hour, possibly due to the extra hour of sleep. Meanwhile, "springing forward" had the opposite effect. The more you slumber, the better!