Health & well being

Listen to Dementia Elevator Project lead, Dr Kate Irving dispell the four myths of dementia in her compelling TED x talk in Dublin City University. Watch here.

The International Federation on Ageing (IFA) is pleased to announce its brand new website design at www.ifa-fiv.org. The new look site continues to be a repository of information surrounding the IFA and its associated networks with up to date news, resources, projects and initiatives.  

Today’s older people are pretty good at paying attention to their general physical health and fitness. But it’s worth knowing that paying attention to social relationships and networks also pays off in maintaining a healthy life, writes Padraig O' Morain Irish Times. For example, people with good social relationships live longer than those who are isolated.

Doctors and scientists want drug regulators and research funding agencies to consider medicines that delay ageing-related disease as legitimate drugs. Such treatments have a physiological basis, researchers say, and could extend a person’s healthy years by slowing down the processes that underlie common diseases of ageing — making them worthy of government approval.

Britain’s public transport system is failing older people, according to a new study. A third of British pensioners never use public transport despite being eligible for a free bus pass, and half use it less than once a month. The most common complaint from those aged 65 and over was that public transport is “not convenient and does not go where you want”, the report (pdf) by the International Longevity Centre thinktank and charity Age UK found.

The ROI Government is forcing older people into nursing homes by failing to provide support to allow them to continue living at home, according to a charity that provides services for older people. The Alone organisation said a third of those in nursing home care with low to medium dependency needs could live at home if they were supported to do so. Official policy supports the concept of ageing at home but sufficient funds are not being invested, it claimed.