Healthy Aging

While air quality nationwide has improved markedly since the turn of the century, recent research highlights the cognitive damage that even low levels of pollution can exact on the aging brain.

More than a half century after health-food activists began promoting the notion that food is medicine, public and private initiatives are finally taking shape. But formidable obstacles — some political, some institutional, and some purely personal — loom on the horizon.

The latest longevity research suggests that calorie restriction may slow the pace of aging, but questions about the design of these types of studies — and the threat of sparking eating disorders — muddle its conclusions.

Barely one in three U.S. seniors is vaccinated against shingles, despite their vulnerability to the often-dangerous virus. One reason for their hesitancy became all too clear when I got the bill for my shot.

Sitting may be the new smoking, but recent research suggests that what you happen to be doing while parked in a chair — or on the couch — may mitigate its effect on your aging brain.

The latest revelations from a leader in the antiaging industry promise a treatment that could dial back the years, perhaps extending our lifespans indefinitely. But is the goal a longer life or something even more elusive?

While I only occasionally wonder whether Parkinson’s awaits me somewhere down the road, recent research provides some calming evidence that lifestyle changes may help keep the disease at bay.

U.S. seniors undergo about a million major surgeries every year, often without fully considering the risks. The consequences can be deadly.

An 18-month congressional investigation turned up plenty of dirt on the FDA’s dealings with Biogen during the agency’s controversial approval of the company’s Alzheimer’s drug, but its recommendations suggest the status quo will likely remain unchanged.

Growing old without the support of a spouse, children, or siblings can present daunting health challenges, but some who choose that path find it to be more blissful than you might imagine.

As Big Pharma’s latest Alzheimer’s drug faces renewed skepticism, a new study suggests that avoiding ultraprocessed food may be a more promising approach to maintaining healthy cognitive function as we age.

A growing proportion of U.S. seniors are struggling with too much debt, and a recent study suggests that it’s making them sick.

As the most recent — and virulent — of COVID variants spreads across the country, U.S. seniors have mostly ignored the available boosters. Is it time to increase our vigilance against a pandemic that refuses to retreat?

Medicare scam artists — and the agency’s own complacency — make the annual enrollment season more hazardous than it needs to be.

Recent research suggests heavy sleepers like me may avoid cognitive dysfunction and multimorbidity as we age — with some notable caveats.