Higher Levels Of Social Activity Decrease The Risk Of Developing Disability In Old Age

Afraid of becoming disabled in old age, not being able to dress yourself or walk up and down the stairs? Staying physically active before symptoms set in could help. But so could going out to eat, playing bingo and taking overnight trips.

According to research conducted at Rush University Medical Center, higher levels of social activity are associated with a decreased risk of becoming disabled. The study has just been posted online and will be published in the April issue of the Journal of Gerontology: Medical Sciences.

"Social activity has long been recognized as an essential component of healthy aging, but now we have strong evidence that it is also related to better everyday functioning and less disability in old age," said lead researcher Bryan James, PhD, postdoctoral fellow in the epidemiology of aging and dementia in the Rush Alzheimer's Disease Center. "The findings are exciting because social activity is potentially a risk factor that can be modified to help older adults avoid the burdens of disability."

The study included 954 older adults with a mean age of 82 who are participating in the Rush Memory and Aging Project, an ongoing longitudinal study of common chronic conditions of aging. At the start of the investigation, none of the participants had any form of disability. They each underwent yearly evaluations that included a medical history and neurological and neuropsychological tests.

Social activity was measured based on a questionnaire that assessed whether, and how often, participants went to restaurants, sporting events or the teletract (off-track betting) or played bingo; went on day trips or overnight trips; did volunteer work; visited relatives or friends; participated in groups such as the Knights of Columbus; or attended religious services.

To assess disability, participants were asked whether they could perform six activities of daily living without help: feeding, bathing, dressing, toileting, transferring and walking across a small room. They were also asked whether they could perform three tasks that require mobility and strength: walking up and down a flight of stairs, walking a half mile and doing heavy housework. Finally, they were asked about their ability to perform what are referred to as "instrumental" activities of daily living, such as using the telephone, preparing meals and managing medications. Difficulties with household management and mobility are more common and represent less severe disability than difficulty with self-care tasks, so the measures represented a range of disability.

Results showed that a person who reported a high level of social activity was about twice as likely to remain free of a disability involving activities of daily living than a person with a low level of social activity, and about 1.5 times as likely to remain free of disability involving instrumental activities of daily living or mobility.

Why social activity plays a role in the development of disability is not clear, James said. Possibly, social activity may reinforce the neural networks and musculoskeletal function required to maintain functional independence.

Future research is needed to determine whether interventions aimed at increasing late-life social activity can play a part in delaying or preventing disability, James said.

Other researchers at Rush involved in the study were Patricia Boyle, PhD, Dr. Aron Buchman and Dr. David Bennett.

Source:
Rush University Medical Center

It Starts Here « ChangingAging.org

by Dr. Bill Thomas

Lately I’ve been writing about the impending collision between the Post War generation (often referred to as the “Boomers”) and the Iron Law of Aging.

Let’s review that Iron Law…

Every day we all wake up one day older.
The problem is that the generation that lionized youth, the generation that once pledged to “never trust anyone over thirty” is now caught in the jaws of a cultural vice they helped construct.

This will create a challenge of massive and sustained cultural challenge— how do we dismantle the mythology that our youth obsessed culture has constructed around normal aging? How can we re-establish the virtues currently hidden within aging?

Under normal circumstances we might turn to the mass media and ask them to help us tell our story. These outlets (print, broadcast and electronic) reach hundreds of millions people everyday.

We are saved!

Ummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm. Except we’re not.

The mass media is the most ageist element of our society. These outlets would rather suffer anaphylactic shock than commit time, resources and energy telling a pro-aging story. Regular readers who have been following Kavan’s news digest posts know exactly what I am talking about.

Well– we could cry the pro-aging message from the rooftops.

Except- it’s cold and windy up there and nobody will hear us. Rooftops!

There is one more option… It’s BIG. It’s powerful. It’s under our control. The answer is…
Social Media.

Social Media is the catchall name for things like Blogs, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube– you know, the most popular parts of the internet.

One little problem. Although Social Media provides us the tools it does not tell our story.

We have to tell the story.

Three things makes this hard to do.
1) What are all these blinky things, buttons, widgets and toggles? How do they work? Who has the time to figure all this stuff out? Uggh.

2) “Sure,” you say, “I’ve got things to say but dang how do you come up with new and interesting things everyday?” Building an audience– like the one here at Changing Aging requires a fresh, regular supply of new content. Hmmmm.

3) People ask, “If I put my stuff out there, how do I can I get people to read it/watch it/use it?”

The answer to each of these problems is embodied in a new approach that Kavan and I have been working hard to develop.

The answer is…
The Changing Aging Blogstream

The blogstream is a cooperative effort by people with a pro-aging vision that facilitates the creation, sharing and distribution of pro-aging content within the social media universe.

Working together magnifies our voices and maximizes our influence.

We will all create interesting social media content and then share that content with each other.

As a result, your blog will have access to the ideas and creations of the best and coolest pro-aging thinkers and your insights and ideas will also wind up on their blogs as well.

The blogstream will also include regular web-based instruction in how to use social media tools.

We will have instruction that will help elders and the people who love them use social media tools to tell THEIR stories.

We will have beginning, intermediate and black belt social media courses that will help the people who learn these skills become masters of social media.

There is more….

Right now I want folks to think about the power and wisdom of cooperation, sharing and learning.

Our cause is just,
the time is right,
now we must take hold of the tools that will help us
change the world.
Get a sneak preview here.

It Starts Here « ChangingAging.org

Social Media and the Online Lives of Baby Boomers: A Conversation with Jeff Taylor, Eons.com

Much to the dismay of their children, baby boomers are online and doing more than checking out pictures of family members and exchanging recipes. Boomers are moving to online communities to help them with the daily ‘jobs’ of midlife and older age. Certainly these online jobs include the common activities of shopping and email. However, an increasing number of midlife-plus users are using social media as an important platform to research, choose, validate and adopt products and services. Living online for older users (in sharp contrast to most younger digerati) includes using the web and making new ‘friends’ to help with critical choices and behaviors that support health, caregiving, financial services, retirement planning, employment hunting and networking and yes, even fun and leisure.

Dating Sites Focus on People With Health Problems - NYTimes.com

Image via WikipediaBy KAREN BARROW

Sherry Nevius, single and 52, is looking for a mate with all the important adjectives — caring, sincere, intelligent, funny. Oh, and one more thing: disabled.

Born with cerebral palsy, Ms. Nevius uses a wheelchair. She is independent and mobile, but would prefer to meet a man who could roll alongside her.

“That way we’re on equal ground,” she said.
Ms. Nevius has dated several perfectly nice able-bodied men, but none seemed willing to start a serious relationship.

“I think they were a little bit scared because they didn’t know how to treat me,” she said. She lives in Normal, Ill., a town with few single men around her age, let alone familiar and comfortable with disability.

“It’s hard enough to find someone with similar interests,” she said. “Finding someone O.K. with your disability just makes it harder.”

So this fall Ms. Nevius took her search online.

Several dating Web sites for singles with health problems have started up in the last few years.
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Online Social Networks Bridge Gaps for Chronically Ill - NYTimes.com

By CLAIRE CAIN MILLER

A former model who is now chronically ill and struggles just to shower says the people she has met online have become her family. A quadriplegic man uses the Web to share tips on which places have the best wheelchair access, and a woman with multiple sclerosis says her regular Friday night online chats are her lifeline.

For many people, social networks are a place for idle chatter about what they made for dinner or sharing cute pictures of their pets. But for people living with chronic diseases or disabilities, they play a more vital role.

“It’s really literally saved my life, just to be able to connect with other people,” said Sean Fogerty, 50, who has multiple sclerosis, is recovering from brain cancer and spends an hour and a half each night talking with other patients online.
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How Jane Fonda Became the Face of the Aging Adult Social Media World | Geek Sexy | Fast Company

Image by t_a_i_s via Flickr

BY James Andrews

Over the past year I was introduced to Jane Fonda and have become known as her "tech guy" (a funny term she referred to me as on NBC's Today Show). In truth, I am a part of a trio that included my blogging wife, who gave a 71-year-old Jane Fonda a really great rationale at our first breakfast together as to why she should be using social media and by the end her lightbulb went off.

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