Those of us a bit further along the winding and oh-so-interesting path of life than we used to be ... yes, I'm talking older, but euphemisms go a long way toward taking the sting out of the reality ... can find that the part of the trail that wanders on past the middle offers some bumps, health-wise, we need to be aware of if we're to negotiate them well enough to raise kids as we move along. There are not only bumps of the painful shingles variety,... more

Continued from here, where we've been talking about the nasty and painful effects of shingles.

There is, apparently, some stress component to shingles, as a recent study has shown that people who practice the relaxing combination of mind and muscle that is tai chi have a significantly high level of immunity to the Varicella zoster virus. The... more

With an outbreak of chicken pox in the schools in town being all the talk among parents in Seychelles at the moment, the varicella zoster virus (VZV) sounded like perfect blog fodder. VZV is the miserable little creep that causes chicken pox, then can rear its ugly head years later and bring about a very painful case of herpes zoster, otherwise known as shingles. Although as older parents we could experience the double whammy of having both versions crop up at home at the same time, if we do come down in shingles we can't blame... more

Continued from here ...

The picture is not totally dim, however. This study shows that the aging process actually improves some visual abilities.

Older people appear to be better and faster at grasping the big picture than their younger counterparts.

This has to do with the older brain not inhibiting information. This... more

A story in the New York Times about aging eyes opened mine this morning. It says, right there in black and white, that, "the typical 50-year-old driver needs twice as much light to see as well after dark as a 30-year-old."

But ... but ...

My vision has actually improved as I've aged. Really. The correction I need gets weaker every year. Seems my life-long affliction with myopia has run into age-related... more

Continued from here where we've been talking science stuff ...

While we're thinking and learning, how about pondering this for a while? Researchers have been able to "decode" secret intentions ... those hidden thoughts that may or may not come true ... by looking at brain activity.

It has never before been possible to read out... more

It's time again for the Older Parent Blog to feature one of my favorite topics for fun fodder: science that addresses geezers. We'll start off with a study on nutrients that may influence cognition in the 'more mature'.

It's looking like folate and vitamin B12 may work together to keep older people thinking clearly.

Using data collected from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) between 1999 and 2002,... more

Remember that story I wrote about a while back about the study of Mormons in the 19th century that found that having lots of kids takes a toll? Well, articles are still coming out about the topic, this one looking at the effect a large family has on dads.

It's not only moms getting years whittled off their life spans by bigger broods apparently, at least... more

Continued from here, where we just learned that menopause is nothing more than a wrinkle in time.

It's the two-to-ten-year slog through perimenopause that's a bear of a burden to bear, causing sleep problems, irritability (who? me? shutup!), a drop in libido, mood swigs, cramps, fibroids, swollen feet, sweater pilling, lost socks, and multiple math mistakes. (Okay, so I added a few.) Not made up by me, however, is statistical proof that after age 50, 65% of... more

For all you youngsters, spring chickens, wet-around-the-ears babies ... you know, you girls in your forties, here's a report about change. It's about THE Change, and change in general, and points out that the really big changes don't happen at THE Change, but before, during that wonderful period of periods known as "perimenopause".

... the rockiest time isn't age 12, with the flood of hormones associated with the beginning... more