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Greetings,
As the nation is becoming grayer, we are taking notice of some interesting trends with seniors. The days where our parents didn't know how to access the Internet are swiftly coming to a close. Likewise, the resurgence of the multi-generational household has brought about interesting new dynamics and issues. These trends have also been noted by those studying the effects of how seniors can benefit from these changes. We hope you can take a few moments to relax and review the articles in this newsletter that we trust you will find informative and beneficial.
Thank you,
Vicki Paul
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 Fighting Loneliness and Depression in Seniors Online
 Who would have thought that the Internet would play such an important part in each and every life, regardless of age and socioeconomics? Last year Dr. Gary Small, a professor of psychiatry at the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior at UCLA, reported that middle-aged and older adults with little Internet experience were able to trigger key centers in the brain that control decision-making and complex reasoning after just one week of surfing the Web. For the elderly, Internet use may be an effective, low cost way to expand social interactions, reduce loneliness, get health information and treatment, and, consequently, reduce depression.
Read about Project GOAL (Getting Older Adults Online).
Download a 35-page PDF detailing positive effects of the Internet against depression in the older adult population.
Visit the UCLA Memory & Aging Center Web site.
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Multi-Generational
Homes Making a Comeback
 After rising steeply
for nearly a century, the share of adults ages 65 and older who live
alone flattened out around 1990 and has since slightly declined. It
currently stands at 27%. This report, based on the Pew Research Center's
analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, shows that family household living
arrangements have changed over the last three decades.
Some
findings:
- In 2008, an estimated 49 million Americans, or 16%
of the total U.S. population, lived in a family household that contained
at least two adult generations or a grandparent and at least one other
generation. In 1980, this figure was just 28 million, or 12% of the
population.
- This trend has affected adults of all ages,
especially the elderly and the young. For example, about one in five
adults ages 25 to 34 now live in a multi-generational household. So do
one in five adults ages 65 and older.
Read the full report here.
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Caring
for Spouse With Dementia May Cause Dementia
 A 12-year study led
by Johns Hopkins, Utah State University, and Duke University reports
findings that husbands or wives who care for spouses with dementia are
six times more likely to develop the memory-impairing condition than
those whose spouses don't have it.
A strength of the findings of
this particular study is that the participants are highly
representative of a community, and not just memory centers and their
caregivers. It is speculated that the stress of caregiving might be
responsible for the increased dementia risk for spouses, although more
research is needed to identify what that mechanism might be. If this is
correct, doctors who treat dementia patients should pay more attention
to efforts to decrease stress for spousal caregivers.
Read about the study here.
Read the full article here.
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Play
the Retirement Game
 Want some hands-on experience
at retiring and the retirement planning process, beforehand? Play Get Rich Slow (for free) to make
decisions for a fictional couple at four life stages. Experience the
implications of their decisions and also chance events.
Click here to play the game.
Get more information.
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