Healthy aging and longevity Archive

News briefs

Catching a ride to the doctor or grocery store has never been easier, thanks to rideshare services like Uber or Lyft. You simply download an app to your smartphone and enter your credit card information. Then you can just tap a button whenever you need a ride. But if you're not comfortable with the concept, take heart: the United States now has about a thousand rideshare services that cater to older adults, according to a CDC-funded study conducted by NORC, a nonprofit research organization based at the University of Chicago. The results were released Dec. 5, 2019. Researchers found more than 900 individual nonprofit rideshare services and three for-profit rideshare companies (with a total of 888 locations) available for older adults in the United States. The rides weren't just for doctor or grocery store visits. Many rides were for other errands, work, or fun (an important point, since older adults are at risk for isolation). Also appealing: about two-thirds of the rides were free, and about a third of the services provided help in and out of the vehicle. Want to give it a try? Contact your local Area Agency on Aging (www.health.harvard.edu/aaa) to find groups that offer rides for older adults.

Image: adamkaz/Getty Images

News briefs

The FDA is urging consumers to use caution with products infused with cannabidiol (CBD), the cannabis-derived extract that's touted as a cure-all. CBD is widely available in creams, tinctures, oils, patches, gummy bears, capsules, and more. But some products are being sold illegally, with claims that CBD can treat health conditions. In November, the FDA cracked down on 15 companies that were making such claims, or that were illegally adding CBD to food or selling it as a dietary supplement. "We remain concerned that some people wrongly think that the myriad of CBD products on the market, many of which are illegal, have been evaluated by the FDA and determined to be safe, or that trying CBD can't hurt.' Aside from one prescription drug approved to treat two pediatric epilepsy disorders, these products have not been approved by the FDA, and we want to be clear that a number of questions remain regarding CBD's safety," says FDA Principal Deputy Commissioner Amy Abernethy. Even legal CBD products have potential health risks such as liver injury, drug interactions, sedation, diarrhea, decreased appetite, and mood changes. Talk to your doctor before trying any new supplement, especially if it contains CBD.

Image: Alena Okunkova/Getty Images

Between 1959 and 2014, average life expectancy in the United States rose astoundingly by nearly a decade. Then it began declining. A recent report examining this situation raises tough questions about that unexpected change.

Exercises that promote strength and flexibility can help you improve your stance over time.

Chances are you do a lot to sabotage your posture during the course of an average day: reading a good book with your head down, sitting at a computer, or scrolling on your phone.

Activities like these can get your body in the habit of hunching or slouching. Over time this may lead to physical changes that make it harder to stand up straight and cause a curvature in your upper back, which doctors refer to as kyphosis.

Research we're watching

People who run — even in small amounts — are less likely to die during a given period compared with those who don't run, according to an analysis published online Nov. 4, 2019, by the British Journal of Sports Medicine. The benefit appears even among people who run for less than 50 minutes once a week, at speeds below 6 mph.

Researchers began their review of 14 studies, involving more than 200,000 people, in hopes of determining whether running can stave off deaths from heart disease, cancer, and other causes. They also sought to find out how much running people need to do to benefit. The studies tracked participants for periods ranging from five-and-a-half to 35 years. Over the course of these studies, 25,951 of the participants died. When comparing those people to those who lived until the end of the study, the researchers found that people who ran, no matter the amount, were 27% less likely than nonrunners to die from any cause during the study period. Runners also had a 30% lower death rate from cardiovascular disease and a 23% lower death rate from cancer. While running was linked with longer life and less disease in these studies, this doesn't necessarily prove that it was the running that actually caused better health. But the results suggest that lacing up those sneakers and going for a quick jog might improve your health.

Research we're watching

Need another reason to quit smoking? Smoking may increase your chances of developing schizophrenia or depression, says a study published Nov. 6, 2019, in Psychological Medicine. It's long been known that people with mental illness are more likely to smoke than those without mental illness. But no one ever looked at what came first — the smoking or the mental illness. Researchers decided to find out using a database containing data from more than 462,000 people, of whom 8% were current smokers and 22% former smokers. The team found that people who smoked not only had a higher risk of developing depression and schizophrenia, but that people with either conditions were also more likely to smoke (although the association was not as strong for schizophrenia). The bottom line: Smoking may be bad not only for your lungs, but also your mind.

Image: Zhang Rong/Getty Images

Research we're watching

People living in rural areas of the country appear to be more likely to die from preventable causes compared with people in more urban locations, says a CDC report. The report looked at deaths from 2010 to 2017 and found that people in rural locations were more likely to die from preventable conditions, including cancers and heart and respiratory diseases. In 2010, about 29% of cancer deaths in rural areas were potentially preventable, compared with 18% of cancer deaths in urban areas. In addition, 45% of heart disease deaths in rural locations were deemed preventable, compared with 24% of heart disease deaths in urban areas. The authors suggested several strategies to reduce disparities, including better screening programs and initiatives to encourage better eating and exercise habits, as well as smoking cessation.

Image: shaunl/Getty Images

Ask the doctor

Q. My family tends to be long-lived. I hear longevity is due to our DNA, and I also hear it's due to lifestyle. Which is it, and how do they make us live longer?

A. Both DNA and lifestyle can affect longevity, and they both do so in the same way: by altering our body chemistry. DNA controls the production of each of the natural chemicals in our body. It controls both the shape (and, hence, the effectiveness) of each chemical, and also controls how much of that chemical is made. So, it's not surprising that DNA could affect longevity. In the past 20 years, astonishing progress has been made in understanding the body chemistry that controls the aging process. And that knowledge has allowed scientists to extend the life of various animals through simple genetic manipulations.

Careful planning may help you avoid side effects.

It's always concerning when the doctor says you need a procedure that requires anesthesia. On top of worries about the procedure itself, you may wonder how you'll react to anesthesia, especially now that you're older. The answer is complicated.

Aging changes everyone's basic physiology. Anesthesia introduces some risk, but less so than the risk from underlying health conditions, the surgical procedure itself, and the care you receive after surgery," says Dr. Angela Bader, an anesthesiologist and founding director of the Weiner Center for Preoperative Evaluation at Harvard-affiliated Brigham and Women's Hospital.