Former President Joesph Biden has what a spokesman described as a “small nodule” in his prostate. How worried a patient should be by such a finding depends on the circumstances, urologists said. In some cases, nodules are caused by inflammation, which can make the prostate feel firmer, or can lead to calcifications in the prostate that feel like nodules. These …
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Honey, Sweetie, Dearie: There Are Perils in ‘Elderspeak’
A prime example of elderspeak: Cindy Smith was visiting with her father in his assisted living apartment in Roseville, Calif. An aide who was trying to induce him to do something — Ms. Smith no longer remembers exactly what — said, “Let me help you, sweetheart.” “He just gave her The Look — under his bushy eyebrows — and said, …
Read More »How Nearly a Century of Happiness Research Led to One Big Finding
When Lyubomirsky arrived at graduate school for social psychology at Stanford in 1989, academic research on happiness was only beginning to gain legitimacy. Ed Diener, a psychologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign who would eventually be known for his work in the field, waited until he was granted tenure before tackling the subject, despite harboring a longstanding interest …
Read More »Young People Are Not As Happy As They Used to Be, Study Finds
The happiness curve is collapsing. For decades, research showed that the way people experienced happiness across their lifetimes looked like a U-shaped curve. Happiness tended to be high when they were young, then dipped in midlife, only to rise again as they grew old. But recent surveys suggest that young adults aren’t as happy as they used to be, and …
Read More »Dementia May Not Always Be the Threat It Is Now. Here’s Why.
Joan Presky worries about dementia. Her mother lived with Alzheimer’s disease for 14 years, the last seven in a memory-care residence, and her maternal grandfather developed dementia, too. “I’m 100 percent convinced that this is in my future,” said Ms. Presky, 70, a retired attorney in Thornton, Colo. Last year, she spent almost a full day with a neuropsychologist, undergoing …
Read More »Why Older People May Not Need to Watch Blood Sugar So Closely
By now, Ora Larson recognizes what’s happening. “It feels like you’re shaking inside,” she said. “I’m speeded up. I’m anxious.” If someone asks whether she would like a salad for lunch, she doesn’t know how to respond. She has had several such episodes this year, and they seem to be coming more frequently. “She stares and gets a gray color …
Read More »Aging Women’s Brain Mysteries Are Tested in Trio of Studies
Women’s brains are superior to men’s in at least in one respect — they age more slowly. And now, a group of researchers reports that they have found a gene in mice that rejuvenates female brains. Humans have the same gene. The discovery suggests a possible way to help both women and men avoid cognitive declines in advanced age. The …
Read More »New Insights Into Older Hearts
It turns out that the Isley Brothers, who sang that 1966 Motown hit “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You),” were onto something when they linked age to an aching and flagging heart. Heart disease, the nation’s leading cause of death and disability, has been diagnosed in about 6 percent of Americans ages 45 to 64, but in …
Read More »New Insights Into Older Hearts
It turns out that the Isley Brothers, who sang that 1966 Motown hit “This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You),” were onto something when they linked age to an aching and flagging heart. Heart disease, the nation’s leading cause of death and disability, has been diagnosed in about 6 percent of Americans ages 45 to 64, but in …
Read More »Cancer’s New Face: Younger and Female
More Americans are surviving cancer, but the disease is striking young and middle-aged adults and women more frequently, the American Cancer Society reported on Thursday. And despite overall improvements in survival, Black and Native Americans are dying of some cancers at rates two to three times higher than those among white Americans. These trends represent a marked change for an …
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