Generation Alzheimer's

The good news is that death rates for many major diseases - HIV, stroke, heart disease, prostate cancer, and breast cancer - are declining. Sadly, the same can't yet be said about Alzheimer's. This year, the first of the Boomer Generation turns 65. To bring urgently-needed attention to the risk facing the Boomers, Alzheimer's Association recently released a groundbreaking study Generation Alzheimer's: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers.

The new report, "Generation Alzheimer's: The Defining Disease of the Baby Boomers," sheds light on a crisis that is no longer emerging – but here.

• Many baby boomers will spend their retirement years either with Alzheimer's or caring for someone who has it.
• An estimated 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's.
• Starting this year, more than 10,000 baby boomers a day will turn 65. As these baby boomers age, one of out of eight of them will develop Alzheimer’s – a devastating, costly, heartbreaking disease. Increasingly for these baby boomers, it will no longer be their grandparents and parents who have Alzheimer’s – it will be them.
• "Alzheimer’s is a tragic epidemic that has no survivors. Not a single one," said Harry Johns, president and CEO of the Alzheimer’s Association. "It is as much a thief as a killer. Alzheimer’s will darken the long-awaited retirement years of the one out of eight baby boomers who will develop it. Those who will care for these loved ones will witness, day by day, the progressive and relentless realities of this fatal disease. But we can still change that if we act now."
• According to the new Alzheimer’s Association report, "Generation Alzheimer’s," it is expected that 10 million baby boomers will either die with or from Alzheimer’s, the only cause of death among the top 10 in America without a way to prevent, cure or even slow its progression. But, while Alzheimer’s kills, it does so only after taking everything away, slowly stripping an individual’s autonomy and independence. Even beyond the cruel impact Alzheimer’s has on the individuals with the disease, Generation Alzheimer’s also details the negative cascading effects the disease places on millions of caregivers. Caregivers and families go through the agony of losing a loved one twice: first to the ravaging effects of the disease and then, ultimately, to actual death.
• "Most people survive an average of four to six years after a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, but many can live as long as 20 years with the disease. As the disease progresses, the person with dementia requires more and more assistance with everyday tasks like bathing, dressing, eating and household activities," said Beth Kallmyer, senior director of Constituent Relations for the Alzheimer’s Association. "This long duration often places increasingly intensive care demands on the nearly 15 million family members and friends who provide unpaid care, and it negatively affects their health, employment, income and financial security."
• In addition to the human toll, over the next 40 years Alzheimer’s will cost the nation $20 trillion, enough to pay off the national debt and still send a $20,000 check to every man, woman and child in America. And while every 69 seconds someone in America develops Alzheimer’s disease today, by 2050 someone will develop the disease every 33 seconds - unless the federal government commits to changing the Alzheimer’s trajectory.
• "Alzheimer’s – with its broad ranging impact on individuals, families, Medicare and Medicaid - has the power to bring the country to its financial knees," said Robert J. Egge, vice president of Public Policy of the Alzheimer’s Association. "But when the federal government has been focused, committed and willing to put the necessary resources to work to confront a disease that poses a real public health threat to the nation – there has been great success. In order to see the day where Alzheimer’s is no longer a death sentence, we need to see that type of commitment with Alzheimer’s." The full text of the Alzheimer’s Association’s "Generation Alzheimer’s" report can be viewed at www.alz.org/boomers.

The Republic - A Look at the World Over 50

Image via Wikipedia
By Jane Glenn Haas The Orange County Register

We know baby boomers are turning 65 at the rate of one every seven seconds, but what about the 50-year-olds?

The millions turning 50 will reshape the "active aging" market to meet their own needs and desires, says Colin Milner, CEO of the International Council of Active Aging, based in Vancouver, B.C.

Full Article

British Boomers Looking for Advice on Retiring Abroad

Many people entering their golden years have decided to move abroad to find a more affordable way to retire. However, one survey conducted by website Shelter Offshore has found that 42 out of 50 British expats lack confidence when it comes to financial planning, according to The Telegraph.

The study indicates that companies marketing to baby boomers may want to offer an organized and refined consulting approach to retiring abroad.

Full Article

Some Boomers 'Retire' to Jobs that Allow Them to Help Others - USATODAY.com

By Richard Wolf

After college, Pat Daly wanted to "save the world" by working with children, but the money wasn't there. So she went into investment banking, became a director of her firm and opened offices around the world, eventually earning in the "high six figures."

Along the way, Daly got involved in philanthropy, took a course in fundraising and began to volunteer. When her job at Credit Suisse was eliminated in 2008, she chose to pursue a second career — working with kids.

WHAT GENERATION ARE YOU? Take the quiz

MORE BOOMERS: Stories, photos, videos, graphics
Full Article

Daily Number: 80% - Boomer Gloom - Pew Research Center

As the first members of the Baby Boom generation reach the age of retirement, pessimism and gloom are pervasive on a number of fronts. While some of the negativity is related to aging -- the demands and stress related to middle age are not pecular to any generation -- Boomers have long trailed other age cohorts in life satisfaction. Currently, Baby Boomers are the most downbeat on the state of the nation. Fully 80% of adults ages 46 to 64 are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today -- just 15% are satisfied with the direction of the nation. While still substantial, such concern is significantly lower among other age groups: 60% of those ages 18 to 29 (Millennials) and 69% of those ages 30 to 45 (Generation Xers) are dissatisfied with the country's trajectory. Boomers also have little optimism about their personal state or their children's future. Some 21% of Baby Boomers say their own standard of living is lower than their parents' was at the age they are now, while more than a third (34%) believe their own children will not enjoy as good a standard of living as they themselves have now. Far fewer non-Boomer adults -- both younger and older -- expressed such gloom and doom. Read more

Italy Plans Pharmaceutical Reforms for Baby Boomers

Image via Wikipedia
from AARP Global Network

With countries around the world recovering from the recession, many have resorted to austerity measures to keep their economies afloat. Some also face unprecedented issues due to aging baby boomers, who will require more resources from national healthcare systems.

Italy, the country with Europe's oldest population, is just now enacting sweeping reforms that have cut the costs of healthcare, according to InPharm.com. Some of the spotlight has been on the pharmaceutical industry, where the government has announced there will be 17.156 billion euro worth of cuts in 2011.

One way that the Italian Ministry of Health is strategically planning for baby boomers is by reducing the price of generic drugs by 12.5 percent so that they cost around the same as those in other European countries. The organization also hopes to tighten control on hospital spending.

While some predict that the savings can be contributed to the development of new medications, many others are skeptical of the effectiveness of these initiatives.

"The Italian national health service might be able to save a certain amount on the reimbursement of generics, and this might free up funds for the purchase of more expensive drugs," IHS Global Insight analyst Brendan Melck told the news source. "But, considering the huge debts in the Italian regional healthcare authorities, this would be only a small contribution."

Still, Melck added that the plan may help with this boomer trend because it will encourage doctors to prescribe more affordable generic drugs instead of brand-name alternatives. In fact, the new measures restrict the reimbursement of prescription medication to the cheapest option, the news source reports.

In addition, if pills have not visibly improved a patient after six weeks, the pharmaceutical company will have to pay back 50 percent of the reimbursement cost. This may prove extremely helpful when it comes to finding the best way to aid boomers with chronic conditions, but many in the industry suggest that it will stifle innovation and experimentation.

This pay-for-performance system was initially launched in 2007, but its effects are just starting to emerge. One study found that the new regulations encourage the development of new drugs, because pharmaceutical companies greatly benefit if the medication proves to be beneficial.

Dr. Onofrio Lamanna, the chief medical director of a recent hospital built near Venice, applauds the overall approach, despite some reservations.

"All of the austerity measures are useful and bound to generate substantial benefits for patients, doctors and hospitals," he told the news provider.

Pharmaceutical industries across Europe have been affected by similar austerity measures as countries have tried to create more sustainable models for pharmaceuticals.

In the Netherlands, the aging population seems to be at least partially responsible for significant growth in healthcare spending - in 2009, the total expenditure rose by 7 percent, costing 57.69 billion euro. There is also worry that, as boomers retire, there will be fewer workers to contribute to social services.

These facts have pushed the Dutch government to propose a spending cut of 3.2 billion euro, partially by making taxes higher on tobacco and reducing medical benefits.

Full Article

Working on Some Ideas « ChangingAging.org

by Dr Bill Thomas

I am putting together a summary of a book I am starting to write and I’m inviting ChangingAging readers into the process. Here is the opening to the overview.

The people who were born after World War II, the people we have long called the “Baby Boomers,” have exercised an extraordinary influence over American society. During the fifties, their overwhelming numbers led Gerber to introduce baby-sized portions of pre-cooked meats and vegetables. As mobile teenagers they developed a taste for fast food that transformed a single California hamburger stand into the global McDonalds corporation. When, as adults, they decided to lose some extra pounds jogging became a national craze and an Oregon sneaker company named Nike joined the Fortune 500. Now, the Post War generation, is embracing social media on a mass scale. Social media use among older adults grew 100 percent last year, so that one in four (26 percent) people in that age group online are now logging in to Facebook, Twitter and the like, reports the Pew Internet and American Life Project in a recent study. Not coincidentally, Facebook is now a 500 billion dollar company.

Global aging is a well established phenomenon. Indeed, among all the human beings who have lived to see old age, in all of human history, more than half are living among us right now. This demographic trend is destined to explode within American society as the Post War generation races toward late adulthood. Already, an American turns 65 every 10.8 seconds. These numbers, while staggering, are easily understood. Much more difficult to comprehend are the personal and cultural consequences of this shift. A massive population, with a proven ability to transform society, is about to encounter the boundary between life’s second and third stages. Unlike all previous human generations, they will struggle to find their way forward as members of a youth obsessed society and without access to the ceremonial initiations or guiding rituals that have historically smoothed the passage out of adulthood and into elderhood. This radical unpreparedness will make this, the Post War generation’s second crucible, much more challenging than its first.

Tomorrow: What is a Crucible?

Working on Some Ideas « ChangingAging.org

Poll Spotlights Perceptions of Boomers on Aging, Retirement, Work - AARP Bulletin

Image by Flicrk via Flickr
by: Carole Fleck | from: AARP Bulletin

They came of age starting in the turbulent 1960s amid the Vietnam War, the fight for civil rights and women's rights. Today, America's largest generation, the boomers (those born 1946-1964), still question authority and have a strong social conscience, according to an AARP Bulletin poll on perceptions of boomers.

The oldest of the boomers are turning 65 this month. Yet at least two in three boomers — who were 46 to 64 years old when the poll was done in November — fear aging, think that the term "senior" doesn't apply to them and believe that they'll be healthier in retirement than their parents were, the survey found.

But they may not be better off financially. Only 43 percent of 1,507 people age 18 and up surveyed say they believe that boomers will have more money in retirement compared with their parents' generation. Among the boomers polled, 45 percent of those ages 46 to 53, and 54 percent of those ages 54 to 64, agree.

Full Article

Baby Boomers Turn 65, With Another Milestone to Redefine - NYTimes.com

Image via CrunchBaseBy DAN BARRY

In keeping with a generation’s fascination with itself, the time has come to note the passing of another milestone: On New Year’s Day, the oldest members of the Baby Boom Generation will turn 65, the age once linked to retirement, early bird specials and gray Velcro shoes that go with everything.

Though other generations, from the Greatest to the Millennial, may mutter that it’s time to get over yourselves, this birthday actually matters. According to the Pew Research Center, for the next 19 years, about 10,000 people “will cross that threshold” every day — and many of them, whether through exercise or Botox, have no intention of ceding to others what they consider rightfully theirs: youth.
Continue Reading

Real Life Among the Old Old - NYTimes.com

Image by Getty Images via @daylifeBy SUSAN JACOBY - Op-Ed Contributor New York Times

I RECENTLY turned 65, just ahead of the millions in the baby boom generation who will begin to cross the same symbolically fraught threshold in the new year to a chorus of well-intended assurances that “age is just a number.” But my family album tells a different story. I am descended from a long line of women who lived into their 90s, and their last years suggest that my generation’s vision of an ageless old age bears about as much resemblance to real old age as our earlier idealization of painless childbirth without drugs did to real labor.
Continue Reading

AP-GfK Poll: Baby boomers fear outliving Medicare - Yahoo! News

Image via CrunchBase

By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR and JENNIFER AGIESTA

The first baby boomers will be old enough to qualify for Medicare Jan. 1, and many fear the program's obituary will be written before their own. A new Associated Press-GfK poll finds that baby boomers believe by a ratio of 2-to-1 they won't be able to rely on the giant health insurance plan throughout their retirement.

The boomers took a running dive into adolescence and went on to redefine work and family, but getting old is making them nervous.

Now, forty-three percent say they don't expect to be able to depend on Medicare forever, while only 20 percent think their Medicare is secure. The rest have mixed feelings.

Yet the survey also shows a surprising willingness among adults of all ages to sacrifice to preserve Medicare benefits that most Americans say they deserve after years of paying taxes into the system at work.


Continue Reading

Related articles

• First Baby Boomer to Turn Age 65 in 2011 (boomercafe.com)
• Poll: Baby boomers fear outliving Medicare (msnbc.msn.com)
• Baby boomers worry about medicare (capitolhillblue.com)
• Baby Boomers Fear Outliving Medicare (boomercafe.com)
• On Medicare and Social Security, Be Unfair to the Boomers (newsweek.com)

Baby Boomers Approach Age 65 -- Glumly - Pew Research Center

Image by thinkpanama via FlickrBy D’Vera Cohn and Paul Taylor, Pew Research Center

The iconic image of the Baby Boom generation is a 1960s-era snapshot of an exuberant, long-haired, rebellious young adult. That portrait wasn't entirely accurate even then, but it's hopelessly out of date now. This famously huge cohort of Americans finds itself in a funk as it approaches old age.

On Jan. 1, 2011, the oldest Baby Boomers will turn 65. Every day for the next 19 years, about 10,000 more will cross that threshold. By 2030, when all Baby Boomers will have turned 65, fully 18% of the nation's population will be at least that age, according to Pew Research Center population projections. Today, just 13% of Americans are ages 65 and older.

Perched on the front stoop of old age, Baby Boomers are more downbeat than other age groups about the trajectory of their own lives and about the direction of the nation as a whole.

Some of this pessimism is related to life cycle -- for most people, middle age is the most demanding and stressful time of life.¹ Some of the gloominess, however, appears to be particular to Boomers, who bounded onto the national stage in the 1960s with high hopes for remaking society, but who've spent most of their adulthood trailing other age cohorts in overall life satisfaction.

At the moment, the Baby Boomers are pretty glum. Fully 80% say they are dissatisfied with the way things are going in the country today, compared with 60% of those ages 18 to 29 (Millennials), 69% of those ages 30 to 45 (Generation Xers) and 76% of those ages 65 and older (the Silent and Greatest Generations), according to a Pew Research Center survey taken earlier this month.

Boomers are also more downbeat than other adults about the long-term trajectory of their lives -- and their children's. Some 21% say their own standard of living is lower than their parents' was at the age they are now; among all non-Boomer adults, just 14% feel this way, according to a May 2010 Pew Research survey. The same survey found that 34% of Boomers believe their own children will not enjoy as good a standard of living as they themselves have now; by contrast, just 21% of non-Boomers say the same.²

The 79-million-member Baby Boomer generation accounts for 26% of the total U.S. population. By force of numbers alone, they almost certainly will redefine old age in America, just as they've made their mark on teen culture, young adult life and middle age.

But don't tell Boomers that old age starts at age 65. The typical Boomer believes that old age doesn't begin until age 72, according to a 2009 Pew Research survey. About half of all American adults say they feel younger than their actual age, but fully 61% of Boomers say this. In fact, the typical Boomer feels nine years younger than his or her chronological age.³


Continue Reading

Related articles

• Pew Piece on Baby Boomers Nails It (oklahomawomen.blogspot.com)
• Baby boomers near 65 with retirements in jeopardy (sfgate.com)
• Baby boomers facing retirements in jeopardy (msnbc.msn.com)
• The future ain't so bright for boomer retirees (capitolhillblue.com)
• Boomers feeling groovy, poll finds (financialpost.com)
• Leading edge of U.S. baby boomers content: survey (reuters.com)

Transcendent — This Old Brain

Image via WikipediaBy Mike
Transcendent – Friday Quote From Agatha Christie

I have enjoyed greatly the second blooming that comes when you finish the life of the emotions and of personal relations; and suddenly find – at the age of fifty, say – that a whole new life has opened before you, filled with things you can think about, study, or read about…It is as if a fresh sap of ideas and thoughts was rising in you.

I keep hearing a refrain. The baby boomer population is different. Aging ain’t what it used to be.

But what is it then? And what can we do when we have it?

Read More

Seniors and Social Security: The solution, not the problem

Image via WikipediaBy Jim Gries

America — who are you, where are you going, how will you get there, and who will you be when you arrive?

America is the G.I. Generation, 1900-1925; the Silent Generation,1926-1945; the Baby Boomer generation, 1946-1964; the Generation Xers, 1965-1981; the Millennial Generation, 1982-2001; and the Futuristic Generation, born after 2002. A wonderful collection of experiences, knowledge, creativity, enthusiasm; each generation different in their own unique way, yet so alike in sharing the bond that binds us all — "We are Americans."

The AmeriCareToday, or ACT plan, promotes an intra-generational merger based on two mutually beneficial goals. The first "securing today," meaning current Social Security retiree obligations are fully funded without revision until the day the retiree expires. The second "unlocking tomorrow," meaning a new retirement account for millions of average-working Americans whose paychecks are subject to Social Security taxation.
Full Article

Related articles by Zemanta

• New Aide, New Direction: Answers From Matt Bai, Part II (thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com)
• Social Security: Ribble's real position (brvanlanen.wordpress.com)
• Boehner Admits No Solutions on Social Security, Medicare (politicalwire.com)
• The End of Social Security as We Know It (wallstreetpit.com)
• Cutting Benefits Isn't the Way to Save Social Security (politics.usnews.com)
• PolitiCrap - Social Security Solvent? (brvanlanen.wordpress.com)
• At 75, Social Security is Showing Its Age (politicsdaily.com)
• Generation X'ers Looking At Big Financial Problems As They Reach Retirement (realestateradiousa.com)
• Social Security Con Artists Are Lying About One of the Strongest Arms of the Program (alternet.org)

Baby Boomers Are 40 To 50 Percent More Likely To 'Disaffiliate' From Their Faith

Generation X, the set of Americans who came of age in the late 1980s and early 1990s, is often branded as a rules-rejecting, authority-questioning group.

But when it comes to religion, new research has revealed that Gen-Xers are surprisingly loyal to their faith - a finding that also suggests the rising non-religious tide in the United States may be leveling off.

In a study published in the latest edition of The Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, University of Nebraska-Lincoln sociologist Philip Schwadel showed that Gen-Xers are, in comparison with their Baby Boomer predecessors, far more likely to adhere to their religion. In fact, Boomers are 40 to 50 percent more likely than Gen-Xers to "disaffiliate" from their faith.

As Generation X continues to grow older, this loyalty may translate into a more stable nation in terms of its religiosity, he said.

Schwadel examined General Social Survey responses from more than 37,000 Americans from 1973 to 2006. Using age, period and cohort models, the research zoomed in on two aspects of U.S. religious behavior through the decades:

• Non-affiliation, which is the total percentage of Americans not involved with any particular religion; and
• Disaffiliation, which measures those who had a religious affiliation while they were adolescents but then had no affiliation at the time they were surveyed.

"The proportion of Americans with no religious affiliation doubled in the 1990s and has continued to rise in the 21st century," Schwadel said. "With the decline in religious disaffiliation among post-Boomer cohorts, it is possible that this growth in non-affiliation may soon level off."

Though Generation X's religious adherents are relatively durable, the generation as a whole is still more likely than previous ones to be raised with no religious preference, according to the research. Religious non-affiliation in the United States grew from between 6 percent and 8 percent in the 1970s and 1980s to nearly 16 percent by 2006.

Like previous researchers, Schwadel attributes this to the so-called "1960s effect" -- Americans who were children and young adults in the 1960s were disproportionately likely to disaffiliate with religion compared with previous generations. Consequently, many Boomers raised their Gen-X children in a non-religious environment.

Schwadel's research, however, shows that Gen-Xers are behaving differently than their parents. Although Gen-Xers are relatively likely to be raised with no religious affiliation, those who are raised with a religious affiliation are considerably less likely than their parents to separate from religion.

So why are religious members of Gen-X so much less likely to leave religion? For one, Schwadel said, the American religious scene is more dynamic and textured than it was when Baby Boomers were coming of age in the '60s and '70s, which has left the younger generation more choices. If they aren't happy with a particular religion, they can more easily find a substitute instead of falling away entirely.

"Social scientists have noted that what we call the 'religious marketplace' has greatly expanded in recent decades," Schwadel said. "Historically, it was thought that this religious pluralism was detrimental to the vitality of American religion. While many still hold this view, others suggest that more choices lead to greater religious affiliation and commitment."

The long-term impact of the decline in disaffiliation among post-Boomers remains to be seen, he said.
"While this trend is good news for those who worry about declining religious adherence, the Boomers' enmity toward organized religion is still evident in the relatively large proportion of their children and grandchildren who are raised with no religious affiliation," Schwadel said.

Source: Philip Schwadel - University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Related articles by Zemanta

• Space For Spiritual Growth (andrewsullivan.theatlantic.com)
• Generation X More Loyal To Religion Than Previous Generation (scientificamerican.com)
• May 2010 Gallup poll: More Americans choose "no religion" (secularnewsdaily.com)

25 Defining Images in Baby Boomer History | Online Colleges

Baby Boomer? Looking back over your life, what are the defining images in your life? Are they the same as those included in the Open Education Library?

Continue Reading

The MetLife Study of Boomers in the Middle

Image via Wikipedia

This report is an in-Depth look at Americans born 1952 - 1958.

The Baby Boomer generation, typically, has been characterized as a bloc of people who think and act as one monolithic generation, when it actually comprises three separate cohorts. This study found that there are distinct differences between these Middle Boomers and their older and younger generation mates.
Continue Reading

Download Report

Related articles by Zemanta

• Middle Boomers: A Separate Demographic Group (eon.businesswire.com)
• Tom Brokaw Looks at Baby Boomers (boomercafe.com)

Bong Hits for Boomers: Marijuana Smoking on Rise for Seniors - Crimesider - CBS News

Image via Wikipedia

Some Baby Boomers aren't giving up smoking pot as they age. Others are coming back to it as they retire.

A survey by the federal government found the percentage of people 50 and older using marijuana went from 1.9 percent in 2002 to 2.9 percent in 2008.

The rise was most dramatic among 55- to 59-year-olds. Their reported marijuana use more than tripled from 1.6 percent in 2002 to 5.1 percent. Observers expect further increases as 78 million boomers born between 1945 and 1964 age.
Read More

Related articles by Zemanta

• Marijuana use among older Americans soars (telegraph.co.uk)
• Boomers Smoking More Pot? (boomercafe.com)
• Senior Marijuana Use Up as Boomers Age (abcnews.go.com)
• Substance Abuse and Mental Health Study Finds Baby Boomers Use Marijuana (brainz.org)

Characteristics of the Future Aging Population

AAHSA has posted an updated version of a Digest section entitled “Characteristics of the Future Aging Population.” This section presents a concise demographic picture of the elderly who will seek our services in the next decades, describes the anticipated attitudes and expectations of these older consumers, and outlines the special challenges that older women and minorities will face. An additional report examines the unique attitudes that members of several generations – from the GI Generation to Generation X – bring to aging.

Link to Report

New Finding May Foil Age-Related Muscle Loss

Image via Wikipedia

from Medical News Today

If you're an aging baby boomer hoping for a buffer physique, there's hope. A team of American scientists from Texas and Michigan have made a significant discovery about the cause of age-related muscle atrophy that could lead to new drugs to halt this natural process. This research, available online in the FASEB Journal, shows that free radicals, such as reactive oxygen species, damage mitochondria in muscle cells, leading to cell death and muscle atrophy. Now that scientists understand the cause of age-related muscle loss, they can begin to develop new drugs to halt the process.

Continue Reading