OUR MISSION

SageHealth Network is dedicated to promoting the sexual health, socialization and positive aging of older adults and seniors. We offer unique health promotion workshops and social events focusing on older adults and seniors' needs and overall wellbeing.




Saturday, April 25, 2009

Just Say No to Aging?

Newsweek
April 14, 2009

Imagine that you could rewind the clock 20 years. It's 1989. Madonna is topping the pop charts, and TV sets are tuned to "Cheers" and "Murphy Brown." Widespread Internet use is just a pipe dream, and Sugar Ray Leonard and Joe Montana are on recent covers of Sports Illustrated.

But most important, you're 20 years younger. How do you feel? Well, if you're at all like the subjects in a provocative experiment by Harvard psychologist Ellen Langer, you actually feel as if your body clock has been turned back two decades. Langer did a study like this with a group of elderly men some years ago, retrofitting an isolated old New England hotel so that every visible sign said it was 20 years earlier. The men—in their late 70s and early 80s—were told not to reminisce about the past, but to actually act as if they had traveled back in time. The idea was to see if changing the men's mindset about their own age might lead to actual changes in health and fitness.

Langer's findings were stunning: After just one week, the men in the experimental group (compared with controls of the same age) had more joint flexibility, increased dexterity and less arthritis in their hands. Their mental acuity had risen measurably, and they had improved gait and posture. Outsiders who were shown the men's photographs judged them to be significantly younger than the controls. In other words, the aging process had in some measure been reversed.

I know this sounds a bit woo-wooey, but stay with me. Langer and her Harvard colleagues have been running similarly inventive experiments for decades, and the accumulated weight of the evidence is convincing. Her theory, argued in her new book, "Counterclockwise," is that we are all victims of our own stereotypes about aging and health. We mindlessly accept negative cultural cues about disease and old age, and these cues shape our self-concepts and our behavior. If we can shake loose from the negative clichés that dominate our thinking about health, we can "mindfully" open ourselves to possibilities for more productive lives even into old age.

Consider another of Langer's mindfulness studies, this one using an ordinary optometrist's eye chart. That's the chart with the huge E on top, and descending lines of smaller and smaller letters that eventually become unreadable. Langer and her colleagues wondered: what if we reversed it? The regular chart creates the expectation that at some point you will be unable to read. Would turning the chart upside down reverse that expectation, so that people would expect the letters to become readable? That's exactly what they found. The subjects still couldn't read the tiniest letters, but when they were expecting the letters to get more legible, they were able to read smaller letters than they could have normally. Their expectation—their mindset—improved their actual vision.

That means that some people may be able to change prescriptions if they change the way they think about seeing. But other health consequences might be more important than that. Here's another study, this one using clothing as a trigger for aging stereotypes. Most people try to dress appropriately for their age, so clothing in effect becomes a cue for ingrained attitudes about age. But what if this cue disappeared? Langer decided to study people who routinely wear uniforms as part of their work life, and compare them with people who dress in street clothes. She found that people who wear uniforms missed fewer days owing to illness or injury, had fewer doctors' visits and hospitalizations, and had fewer chronic diseases—even though they all had the same socioeconomic status. That's because they were not constantly reminded of their own aging by their fashion choices. The health differences were even more exaggerated when Langer looked at affluent people: presumably the means to buy even more clothes provides a steady stream of new aging cues, which wealthy people internalize as unhealthy attitudes and expectations.

Langer is not advocating that we all don uniforms. Her point is that we are surrounded every day by subtle signals that aging is an undesirable period of decline. These signals make it difficult to age gracefully. Similar signals also lock all of us—regardless of age—into pigeonholes for disease. We are too quick to accept diagnostic categories like cancer and depression, and let them define us. Doing so preempts the possibility of a healthful future.

That's not to say that we won't encounter illness, bad moods or a stiff back—or that dressing like a teenager will eliminate those things. But with a little mindfulness, we can try to embrace uncertainty and understand that the way we feel today may or may not connect to the way we will feel tomorrow. Who knows, if we're open to the idea that things can improve, we just might wake up feeling 20 years younger.

Original link: http://www.globalaging.org/elderrights/us/2009/just.htm

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Older Lovers at Increasing Risk for Aids Virus: Experts

By Steven Edwards, Calgary Herald
March 3, 2009
Canada

The number of people over 50 with the AIDS virus appears to be rising, but public health campaigns remain largely focused on the young, global experts warned Tuesday.

One reason for the increased incidence is "older" people are more likely to have unprotected sex than younger people, the experts say in an article published in the World Health Organization's Bulletin.

This is coupled with the belief the over 50s are having more sex than people of that age group in decades past because of the availability of erectile-dysfunction drugs like Viagra and Cialis.

"It's certainly true that we in public health concentrated our attention and efforts in terms of the AIDS epidemic and screening on younger individuals because those are the ones who are at most risk," said Dr. George Schmid, a scientist with WHO's HIV/AIDS department in Geneva, and one of nine authors of the article.

"But it doesn't mean that people who are 50 and older are at no risk, and we think there is an under-appreciated number of individuals in that age group who are becoming infected."

In The Unexplored Story of HIV and Aging, the experts say the extent of the problem is difficult to define because "older individuals" are rarely included in government population health surveys. But there also has been insufficient discussion of the issue even at the patient-care level.

"Physicians don't think the (over-50s) are at risk, so they don't ask, or else they may be a bit uncomfortable asking," said Schmid. "Patients are somewhat uncomfortable talking about these things, as well."

Erectile dysfunction drugs have been around for about a decade, extending the sex life of an increasing number of people.

But the experts say the increased sexual activity may be "extending the HIV epidemic" into old age.

"No study has been done of their possible impact on the HIV epidemic, although their use in industrialized countries has been associated with risky sexual practices," the experts write.

Many separate studies have shown older people are more likely than younger ones to shun "safer" sex -- which can increase the risk of HIV infection.

The experts say a greater focus on the problem will lead to earlier diagnoses. The global average life expectancy after diagnosis is four years in those over 65, compared to 13 in people infected between the ages of five and 14. Part of the short life expectancy, however, would be due to a person's waning immunity with age, the experts say.

Public Health Agency of Canada does not separate data about HIV infection rates for people older than 49 in its HIV/AIDS Surveillance Report 2007, the most recent available.

"Seniors are not a target population" of federal HIV/AIDS programs, which focus on eight "at-risk" groups, including homosexual men, women, youth and intravenous drug users, said one PHAC official. But literature is available to all age groups.

Friday, April 10, 2009

Success for Senior Speed Dating Event

April 9, 2009

(Scarborough, ON): Companion Connections, a social networking event for 55+ was held at St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre in Scarborough on Saturday, April 4, 2009. The event was a huge success and participants spent an enjoyable afternoon making new friends and possible love matches. In total, 34 participants attended and 21 matches were made, a good indication of how receptive this age group is to the matchmaking process.

Companion Connections is modeled on a typical speed dating event in which women stay seated and men rotate every 6 minutes. If individuals hit it off and both indicate an interest in the other by checking their name, their personal contact info will be given to their match. Contact info is only given out if both parties have checked off each other’s name. This fun, exciting and innovative introductory event allows participants to meet up to 20 other single seniors in one day. St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre has also built in a safety feature to ensure participants’ safety and wellbeing by doing follow ups with all matches. Participants’ experiences were very positive and indicated a need for such a social event. One male participant, aged 68, stated, “The experience was good in terms of getting out and meeting interesting people and some you’d like to see more than once. I had a good time.”

The purpose of Companion Connections is to bring together groups of people from across the city to meet and expand their social horizons. Henry, 68, reported, “It was worth the drive from downtown. I put a lot of ‘yeses’ on my sheet.’” Speed dating also seems to be more of social phenomenon in addition to a matchmaking event for the older set. Margot, 62, stated, “This was the first time I ever heard about speed dating for 55+. I called my friend and said, ‘you have to go with me!’”

When individuals get older, it becomes more of a challenge to meet others outside their everyday circle of family and friends. Social networks tend to be more static than dynamic after retirement. A fact echoed by Sharon, 62, who explained, “When you get older, the tendency is to stay with the norm and stay reclusive. There are no opportunities to reach out and meet people. This opportunity was perfect.”

Companion Connections was collaboration between St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre and several partners in the non profit and for profit sectors. Special thanks go out to Steeles Deli Warehouse in Thornhill, Ontario, who provided the participants with lunch and also helped promote the event. Other agencies that helped promote Companion Connections to their clients include North York Seniors Centre, Bernard Betel Centre for Creative Living, Taylor Place, Markham Seniors Centre, West Hill Community Services, Scarborough Support Services, Harmony Hall Centre for Seniors and Revera Living.

Judging by the positive feedback from clients and partners, St. Paul’s has scheduled another event for early September 2009. There are also plans to schedule future events for multicultural groups.

For more information on Companion Connections or recreation events, please contact St. Paul’s L’Amoreaux Centre at 416-493-3333.