Healthy aging
21 articles carry this tag. Tags group articles across topics; each article still sits under one topic in the contents.
- Sleep duration and mortality · How habitual sleep length, sleep regularity and sleep disorders relate to the risk of death in long-term population studies.
- Naps · A nap is a short sleep taken during the daytime; short naps improve alertness, while regular naps of an hour or more are linked to a higher risk of death.
- Muscle mass · Muscle mass is the amount of skeletal muscle in the body; it grows with resistance training and adequate protein and declines with age.
- Grip strength · Grip strength is the maximum force of a hand squeeze, measured with a dynamometer and widely used as a marker of overall muscle strength and health.
- Sarcopenia · Sarcopenia is a progressive muscle disease marked by low muscle strength and mass, most common in older adults and linked to falls, disability and death.
- Balance training · Balance training is exercise that challenges the ability to stay upright; in older adults it is the best-studied way to reduce falls.
- Functional fitness · Functional fitness is the capacity to carry out everyday physical tasks, measured with simple tests such as grip strength, walking speed and chair rises.
- Fall prevention · Fall prevention covers exercise, home safety, medication review and other measures that reduce falls and fall injuries in older adults.
- Dietary patterns · Dietary patterns are the overall combinations of foods people habitually eat, studied for their links to heart disease, cancer and lifespan.
- Hydration · Hydration is the body's water balance; chronic low fluid intake is linked to chronic disease, and heavy drinking in endurance events can cause hyponatremia.
- Cardiovascular disease · Cardiovascular disease is the group of disorders of the heart and blood vessels, mainly heart attack and stroke, and the leading cause of death worldwide.
- Blood pressure · Blood pressure is the force of circulating blood on artery walls; persistently high blood pressure raises the risk of stroke, heart disease and early death.
- Body weight · Body weight relative to height, usually measured as body mass index, has a J-shaped link with risk of death, lowest at a BMI of about 20 to 25.
- Heat exposure · Heat exposure, or passive heat therapy, is whole-body heating by sauna, hot tub or infrared cabin, studied mainly for links with heart health.
- Dementia risk factors · Dementia risk rises with age and genes, and about 45% of cases worldwide are attributed to 14 factors across life that could potentially be changed.
- Cognitive aging · Cognitive aging is the gradual change in memory, reasoning and speed of thinking with age, measurable from midlife and linked to health and lifestyle.
- Hearing and vision loss · Hearing and vision loss become common with age and are linked to cognitive decline, dementia and earlier death; both are among the most treatable dementia risks.
- Mental health conditions and lifespan · Mental disorders are linked to about twice the usual death rate, mostly from physical disease, with the largest losses in substance use and schizophrenia.
- Social connection · Strong relationships are linked to 50% higher odds of survival, and isolation and loneliness to higher risk of heart disease, stroke and dementia.
- Oral health · Oral health is the condition of the teeth and gums; gum disease and tooth loss are linked with heart disease, dementia and earlier death.
- Family history and genetics · Family history records which diseases occurred in close blood relatives and at what age; it predicts several diseases far better than it predicts lifespan.