Or maybe just something to do. But this seems like a fair idea … or at least a good try. NPR’s health blog, Shots, reports on a nursing home in New Hyde Park, New York, that began offering midnight snacks to their patients who wandered around at night.

After beginning to offer the snacks, the number of falls reduced and the patients became calmer.

One could speculate about the reasons, but that may be difficult ever to know for sure. But it seems like a great idea. Give the wanderers a little bit of something to eat, and they’ll be satisfied. Click through for an interesting little read.

Midnight Munchies Keep Elderly Safer In NY Nursing Home – Shots – Health News Blog : NPR

She reported that, since the snack program began, they saw falls and related injuries decrease by 50 percent. And, they also saw a decrease in pressure sores (also known as bed sores, or nosocomial ulcers). Now, she says, there are no sores in all of 8 South.

The boomers have proved that, if nothing else, they are interested in themselves. And while this has had its shortcomings, it also has a certain advantage sometimes. In the case of aging, the boomers’ exaggerated self-interest will lead to new products, services, and ideas for living a healthy life during their 9th and 10th decades.

Tom Mann at Mature Market Experts (see link below) says that one of the important trends coming in the next few years is the increased amount of attention prevention will get as a way of ensuring good health. It is less expensive and better in the long run to maintain good health and prevent ill health than to cure sickness, disease, and injury after the fact.

This is going to be especially important in the area of brain health, where for now there seem to be few alternatives that can cure dementia or Alzheimer’s. The best way to treat those diseases is to maintain good brain health, and nothing short of active preventative steps will do in this important area of health for seniors.

Mature Market Experts » Mature Market Experts Gem of The Day: 5 Important Trends for The Ages

Brain fitness will be a key component of this plan, as the costs of Alzheimer’s and dementia threaten to ravage the US health care system (there are now nearly a half million new cases of Alzheimer’s each year; and by 2050, it is expected that there will be nearly a million new cases per year).

So we are going to be using this technology more and more to keep track of our children and our parents. Especially our elderly parents who may be suffering from dementia or Alzheimer’s patients.

Eldercare ABC Blog gives us a rundown of the advantages of telephone-based GPS locator devices. Good read, and really important for those who are concerned about the issue of safe aging in place for older seniors.

“Aging in Place” Technology – Locating the Wanderer | Elder Care ABC

Technology offers some wonderful opportunities in this regard. Geo-positioning technology can locate a person or object accurately and immediately almost anywhere on the surface of the planet. Almost one-third of North Americans already use some form of GPS. We are most familiar with “dedicated portable navigation devices” that we use to provide us with directions when we travel. However, telephone-based navigation is quickly becoming the dominant form of navigation.

The first thing one needs to know is — how to sign up.

Consumer Boomer offers a little primer on how and when to sign up for Medicare medical payment benefits.

When Should You Sign Up for Medicare

If you’re coming up on 65 and not receiving Social Security benefits, SSDI or benefits from the Railroad Retirement Board, you can still apply for Medicare coverage. You can visit your local Social Security Administration office or dial (800) 772-1213 or go to www.ssa.gov to determine your eligibility.

With most of these things, the problem is moderation. But in moderation, it seems, a little wine really does a lot of good.

We have another study that seems to indicate the good of moderate consumption of alcohol, and, as usual, red wine seems to be the best drink for the desired effect.

NPR’s health blog, Shots, tells us that women who 1) enjoyed good health and normal weight; and 2) reported drinking a glass or so of wine, beer, or a cocktail most days of the week were less likely to gain weight than the teetotalers.

This fact alone would be pretty good. But there have been studies that indicated that wine was good for preventing heart disease and diabetes. There must be something good in that stuff.

Remember the moderation!

And click through for the whole story.

Glass Of Wine A Day May Keep Pounds At Bay – Shots – Health News Blog : NPR

A new report out of the Women’s Health Study at Harvard suggests that women who drink lightly or moderately may gain less weight as the years go on than those who don’t drink alcohol at all.

[T]he women who reported having a glass or so of wine, beer or a cocktail most days of the week were less likely to get fat. And wine, especially red wine, seemed to be the drink of choice among those with slightly less weight gain.

One of the trends that Mann identifies is the postponement of retirement or the foregoing of retirement altogether. The alternative, Mann suggests, is “mini-retirements.” The idea is that instead of retiring completely (which can lead to a loss of a sense of meaning, ill health, and even early death), seniors can opt for lifelong employment interspersed with periodic vacations of one month or more.

Click through to get more of the idea.

Mature Market Experts » Mature Market Experts Gem of The Day: 5 Important Trends for The Ages

Boomers tell us they’re going to work far beyond age 65, for two reasons; necessity and fulfillment. Yes, boomers and seniors have been hit extremely hard by the recent recession … but I also believe that people are beginning to understand that life “engagement” is essential to good health (this is particularly important for the brain). As a result, I believe many boomers who would have previously turned to retirement will turn to “mini-retirements”….

She had had an experimental surgery that used a clip device and did not require open heart surgery.

This is just one of the new techniques for treating heart disease that medical science is experimenting with. Heart disease is still the most deadly killer in America, taking over 600,000 lives every year. Click through to read the advances that are being made in treating heart disease in this very interesting article from Forbes.com

The Most Promising New Heart Devices – Forbes.com

“It’s very new and involves repairing my leaky valve using a clip device, without open heart surgery, so that my heart will function better,” she wrote. Heart device aficionados immediately recognized the device as the MitraClip, from Abbott Laboratories ( ABT – news – people ), which is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Taylor was apparently in one of several ongoing research studies. Two days after the surgery she twittered again: “It’s like having a brand new ticker.”

We know this already. When we’re tense or upset, we don’t think as well. We think better when our minds are relaxed. This study seems to suggest that we also form memories better when we’re relaxed.

Exactly how that helps us doesn’t readily appear from the study. But the important thing to realize is that scientists are working and making strides in understanding how the brain works. The more they know about this mysterious organ, the more they’ll be able to devise treatments for limiting or conquering Alzheimer’s and dementia.

Click through to read the article from Reuters. Beware that the article is slightly technical.

Scientists find how relaxed minds remember better | Reuters

The findings suggest that if doctors were able to optimize the state of the brain, by ensuring it was relaxed, and then synchronize the delivery of the things it needed to learn, the outcome, or memory, might be better, she said.

The research team studied eight volunteers who were shown 100 photos of a range of objects and allowed to view each for one second. Fifteen to 30 minutes later they were shown another 100 photos — 50 new ones and 50 from the first set — and asked to recall which ones they had seen before and say how confident they were in their answers.

This ability to communicate so much information so freely will allow seniors in the coming years to have a degree of freedom we never before imagined.

According to Tom Mann at Mature Market Experts, one of the trends (he identifies five important ones) of the coming years is the increased use of technology to communicate. This will impact seniors in two important ways:

• Technology will allow constant monitoring (and reporting) of vital statistics and other health metrics;
• Technology will allow for increased social networking.

Both these trends are already in the early stages of explosive growth. Facebook has gone from a college phenomenon where students in a college or university kept in touch with one another to a major forum for people from all walks of life to get in touch with one another. And the over-fifty crowd is one of the fastest growing demographics on Facebook (or so I have read … you might want to check me on that).

In addition, technologies such as the growing personal emergency response system market will allow seniors to notify their physician immediately, and without doing anything beyond setting the system up in the first place.

If you’re interested in the trends that are going to affect the senior market, click through for this important read.

Mature Market Experts » Mature Market Experts Gem of The Day: 5 Important Trends for The Ages

[T]echnology now allows for the monitoring of a senior’s vitals (and non-vitals).

Again, just as important is the use of technology for social contact, for example email and Facebook. Recently, my children introduced visual Skype to their grandparents. It is advances like these that mitigate some of the risks associated with social isolation.

The ailment is the normal consequences of aging … loss of muscle, bone density, weight gain, etc., compounded with the sedentary lifestyle of America, mixed with a bit of strenuous activity that we like to engage in to recapture our youth.

The way to counteract the injuries that seem to afflict us a little more often in our advancing years is … of course … more activity. The right kind of activity.

Slightly less vigorous, more time warming up, and more frequent exercise should do the trick. Add in a bit of dieting and maybe a touch of new medicines and treatment regimens … who knows? Getting old might even be fun.

Jay S Bender, MD explains a new term, “Boomeritis” in SENIOR Magazine | Senior Magazine

Normal aging is associated with muscle loss, osteoporosis, and mechanical degeneration of tendons and ligaments. Routine exercise helps to reverse these changes by increasing muscle mass and bone density. Cardiovascular endurance, pulmonary capacity, weight control, and the state of mind all improve as well. Ironically, the antidote to Boomeritis is more activity, albeit the right kind. The old saying about an ounce of prevention being better than a pound of cure certainly rings true when talking about staying active.