Aging Parents
LATEST STORIES
PUMPING IRONY: Broken Homes
The sudden closure of a Pennsylvania nursing home highlights the postpandemic challenges facing an increasingly troubled industry.
Caring for Caregivers
Whether you’re in a position of caregiving for loved ones or in an industry in which it’s your job to do so, caring for others can take an invisible toll on one’s health. It’s made even more challenging by the lack or absence of societal systems to support caregivers.
Laura van Dernoot Lipsky, MSW, explains the effects of caregiving, including the corresponding struggles you may experience — such as trauma, decision fatigue, and overwhelm. She also shares ideas for how caregivers can care for themselves and support their well-being.
How to Keep Your Brain Healthy as You Age
Our brains age just like the rest of our bodies, and just like it’s important to care for our bodies so we can move functionally well for as long as possible, it’s also essential to do everything we can to maintain and support healthy brain function as the years pass by. With the current absence of effective treatment options for most neurological diseases, prevention really is the best treatment for them, and it’s never too early — or too late — to start. Edward Park, PhD, explains what to know about normal and abnormal brain aging, as well as the lifestyle strategies we have control over to support our brain health and help reduce the risk of decline and disease.
PUMPING IRONY: It’s Your Move
The vast majority of older adults prefer to stay in their own home as they age, but a recent survey suggests most of us haven’t done the necessary planning to age in place. Thankfully, there are plenty of companies that make the relocation process more palatable.
The Lessons Our Moms Teach Us
The cofounder of Life Time’s ARORA program reflects on the lasting influence her mom has had on who she is and continues to strive to be.
How to Establish Healthy Boundaries With Grandparents
Supportive grandparents can be a godsend for you and your kids — but disagreements about parenting may create tension. Setting healthy boundaries can help you find a balance.
The Hidden Costs of Family Caregiving
Here’s a closer look at the financial and emotional costs of providing care for your loved ones.
PUMPING IRONY: Operating Principles
U.S. seniors undergo about a million major surgeries every year, often without fully considering the risks. The consequences can be deadly.
Mia Huynh’s Success Story
While pursuing a dramatic career change, a former nursing student learns how to prioritize herself and her needs.
PUMPING IRONY: The Postmortem Muddle
While the Federal Trade Commission works to tighten regulations on the funeral industry, which often uses obscure pricing policies to prey on grief-stricken mourners, seniors like me need to start thinking more seriously about how we want to be laid to rest.
Coping With Ambiguous Loss
How do we find closure when we’re not even sure the door has closed?
PUMPING IRONY: A Formula for Frailty
An outing with an elderly friend seems to corroborate recent research weighing the impact of social isolation on the physical fitness of seniors.
PUMPING IRONY: Home Healthcare Shakeup: Palliative or Predatory?
Health-insurance conglomerates are gobbling up home-healthcare companies, despite the industry’s inability to attract and retain workers. Early signs suggest that few of the benefits of these mergers will accrue to caregivers and their elderly clients.
PUMPING IRONY: Surveillance State
Surveillance technologies can make it easier for the elderly to age in place, but will it mean we’ll see our kids even less often than we do now?
PUMPING IRONY: A Man Without a Plan
I’ve been putting off drafting a healthcare directive for no better reason than my general aversion to planning. Some palliative-care experts — and plenty of horrific tales — have now delivered some excellent reasons to avoid it altogether.
PUMPING IRONY: Headed for a Fall
Millions of elderly Americans land in the hospital each year after taking a tumble. So why are doctors continuing to prescribe drugs that increase that risk?
PUMPING IRONY: Your Place or Mine?
Concerned that they may be called upon to provide full-time caregiving someday if a late-life romance leads to cohabitating, many older couples are choosing to follow their hearts — while maintaining separate residences.
The Good-Death Movement
Death-positivity can help us reframe the end of life.
PUMPING IRONY: An ER for the Elderly
A promising wave of geriatric emergency departments, designed to cut hospital costs and better accommodate seniors, has been slowed by a lack of support from insurers — including Medicare.
The Talk You Haven’t Had: End-of-Life Planning
We’re all going to face end-of-life decisions eventually. Why not start talking about them now?
5 Tips to Become a Better Listener
Here’s how to hone your listening skills.