On the Other Foot

When to Relinquish the Reigns

While ascertaining the competency of your potential borrower could be a bit sticky, exponentially more challenging is turning this searchlight inward and asking, “Is it time for me to consider retiring?”

Just as elders don’t want to give up the car keys that signify independence, recognizing it may be time to stop working can be particularly difficult for those who are self-employed, even more so if you work with a vulnerable class of people such as seniors seeking a reverse mortgage. To put it plainly: how and when should a loan officer relinquish the reins?

A HECMWorld reader posed this inquiry: “How do you gracefully stop doing business with someone who has become too old to continue doing a good job for you? How can you prevent losing a long-lasting friendship because you know they are not the right person to do the job?

“We are facing this problem now in selling a deceased relative’s house. A family friend who is in her late 70s, not in the best of health, and almost deaf (even with hearing aids) wants the listing. She has only sold three properties in the first half of this year, versus a Realtor who is number 1 in town and has closed over 50 deals in the same timeframe.”

Telling the truth with heart

This is a blockbuster question. At issue are not only the real estate professional’s feelings, but her competency, the delicate matter of age, and the fact that she’s a longtime friend and not simply a business associate.

Lisa Genova, the author of Still Alice, the gripping novel about early-onset Alzheimer’s Disease, wrote a Huffington Post essay describing the day a casual acquaintance asked how she was, and instead of replying, “Good,” she told the devastating truth: “I just asked my husband for a divorce, and I’m so scared.” From this raw admission grew a strong friendship with a woman who not only had been there and could mentor Genova through a difficult transition but who matched Genova’s honesty with her own. Genova emphasizes that had she responded with a glib answer, this dear friend would still be a casual acquaintance, and Genova would be struggling through her divorce alone. Telling the truth from her heart made the difference.

Of course, a chasm lies between telling the truth about one’s own life, however painful, and telling a difficult truth to someone else about their life. One way to approach the subject is to help a business colleague (whether or not they are also a friend) recognize and acknowledge a limitation that affects their ability to serve clients.

For instance, the LO whose real estate agent friend has hearing loss might comment about how hearing loss is becoming a huge problem as the number of older people grows, mentioning how challenging this can make working with reverse mortgage prospects who either don’t realize they have a hearing problem, or don’t want to acknowledge it. If the real estate agent references her own hearing impairment, it would then be appropriate to wonder whether this could be having an effect on her ability to show houses and interact with clients.

A long, clear look

Some mature workers choose to retire rather than try to keep pace with technology. Sally Shelburne, 73, decided to relinquish her job as a lecturer at the National Gallery of Art. Though she holds a doctorate in modern art, is eminently qualified and still able to do her job well, she chose to retire rather than learn ever-evolving technologies. (To be balanced, 74-year-old Joan Sotkin was an Internet early adopter, and continues to maintain a thriving virtual business at 74.)

The media has also gotten into the Third Act. In a new intergenerational comedy, The Intern, 72-year-old Robert De Niro plays a retired executive who signs up for a “senior” internship to get back in the game — and whose business expertise and endearing personality win the hearts of his much younger colleagues. Yes, it’s Hollywood, though Tinseltown does have its collective finger on the pulse of later life reinvention.

It behooves all of us, especially those who are self-employed and/or in service professions, to think about a time when we might need to let go of daily involvement in the business, or perhaps remove ourselves from client-facing interaction and reimagine our role. While some people stay healthy, active, and working well into their eighties and even nineties, these are still the exceptions. Taking a long, clear look at yourself as you grow older is one of the best gifts you can give to the seniors you serve.

 

For more reverse mortgage information, tools and technology visit ReverseFocus.com today.

The Triple-Digit Club

Resources to Usher Elders into the Triple Digit Club


The recent White House Conference on Aging confirms how the silver tsunami is changing healthcare, housing and technology across the globe, with no fewer than five technology announcements, the most impressive of which may be the mobile-friendly, easy to understand Aging.gov. Administered through the Department of Health and Human Services, Aging.gov is a one-stop resource providing older adults, their families, friends and caregivers information to help seniors live fulfilling, independent lives.

The Housing Issues segment contains a link to HUD’s portal for Home Equity Conversion Mortgages, so your prospects and clients are assured accurate information. The same housing section contains links to mortgage relief scams via the Federal Trade Commission, and important information about housing and disabilities. Because the new site is designed with seniors in mind, it’s easy to navigate and the language is clear and simple, a boon for both seniors and their loved ones.

reverse mortgage newsOne major companion feature is the Aging Well Hub, a unique collaborative research and development initiative aimed at delivering innovative, connected solutions and services for aging well across the continuum of care. Its goals are to drive open innovation in the aging journey, share thought leadership to foster transformation, and promote a positive image of aging.

The Hub’s initial collaborators form an impressive cross-disciplinary roster that includes Georgetown University’s Global Social Enterprise Initiative (GSEI); MIT’s AgeLab (which we profiled in this post on Gerontechnology); Netherlands-based Philips, a diversified health tech company; the American Architectural Foundation; ReACT (Respect A Caregiver’s Time), an employer-focused coalition dedicated to addressing the challenges faced by employee caregivers; real estate developer Smart Living 360, and non-profit eHealth Initiative, whose goal is to drive improvements in the quality, safety, and efficiency of healthcare through information and information technology — representing all of the stakeholders in the healthcare industry.

Another tech announcement is Uber’s move into Driving Miss Daisy. While robocars are one option for seniors who ought to relinquish the keys for their own safety — or who prefer not to drive, especially after dark — UberAssist could be an even better option. The ride company is expanding into the senior space with pilot programs in Florida, Texas, Ohio, Arizona and California that will partner with senior community centers and other advocates to provide free technology tutorials and free or discounted rides to older Americans. For the digitally savvy silver set, it’s a double boon.

Then again, driving may be a longevity key, at least if an elder used to drive a school bus like Zilpha Nowlin, a member of the triple-digit club who still swims daily at 101. One trait centenarians seem to share is an indomitable spirit: retired psychologist Donald Smitherman used to play tennis, but after he lost sight in one eye, he took up golf, “which is a lot more relaxing.” All the centenarians remain active, engaged with life and upbeat, three of the main ingredients for cooking on all burners at every age.

 
Looking for more reverse mortgage news, commentary and technology? Visit ReverseFocus.com today.

The Art of Playful Aging


We’ve discussed the connection between aging and creativity, especially when accessing one’s creative well can enhance memory. But creativity can go even deeper: helping to transform communities and heal generational rifts.

reverse mortgage newsIn Portugal, an organization known as LATA 65 turns seniors into street artists, complete with spray paint cans, masks and gloves — but instead of defacing property, the mission-motivated elders search out run-down areas in Lisbon and make art! It’s fun and fruitful for the participants, who get to exercise a creative impulse for good, beautifying their city while exemplifying how street art can serve a positive purpose.

Speaking of exercise and play — who says playgrounds, like spray paint, are just for kids? Reverse mortgage prospects and clients (as well as the loan originators who serve them) can now stay fit in playgrounds designed with mature bodies in mind. Senior play parks are already popular in Europe and Asia; stateside the concept is taking shape as multigenerational playgrounds. Sarah Pinsky, Director of Client Services at KaBOOM!, the nonprofit organization partnering with the Humana Foundation to build cross-generational playgrounds nationwide, calls play the “great connector” for adults and the children in their lives. In addition to cognitive and physical benefits, it reduces stress in all age groups.

The project is especially relevant as more retirees become caretakers for children while their parents are at work. Senior playgrounds are also a fiscally smart move for a globally aging population: keeping elders alert and active will postpone and hopefully reduce health care costs.

Out of the Mouths of Babes

Asking kids how to make senior facilities more child-friendly is in the mix: a Texas-based senior living community developer has formed an advisory committee to ensure their planned communities will feel welcoming to the grandchildren who come to visit.

The consultants are all 5-12 years old.

The children have suggested everything from menu options that appeal to kids (e.g., frozen yogurt) to how-to art classes. Given that art and aging go together like pie and ice cream (or pie and frozen yogurt) the project sounds destined for success.

“I know the importance of having the younger generation around the older generation,” says Avanti co-founder and chief operating officer Lori Alford. “The younger generation learns so much from their grandparents, and the older generation gets inspired and is entertained by the grandchildren. It’s important to connect the two.”

Because we age at dramatically different rates (only 20 percent of aging can be blamed on genes), art, physical activity and generational closeness all play a role. And seniors can still affect their genetic destiny going forward, says Mitchell Gaynor, M.D., author of The Gene Therapy Plan, by harnessing the power of food to change their predisposition to disease. One source of aging is the acronym AGE, for advanced glycation end products, which are created by free radicals in deep fried or heavily processed foods, for example. AGE-bound tissues, says Gaynor, become brittle, rigid and prone to breakdown, setting the stage for serious illness such as heart disease, cancer, and diabetes.

His prescription to get out of the high-AGE pool is surprisingly simple: eat healthful foods that reduce inflammation and oxidative stress in the body. While the book includes more than 60 pages of recipes, they aren’t truly necessary if someone simply makes a commitment to eat fewer “convenience” foods and instead focus on fruits, vegetables, fish, grass-fed poultry, nuts and seeds. After expending energy spray-painting the town or playing with the kids in a multigenerational playground, an AGE-free meal is just the ticket to restore a senior’s body, mind and spirit for the next adventure.

App-solutely Easy: Visionary Elder Tech

New Technology Making Senior’s Lives Easier

As we explored last year in Caring for the Caregivers, technology can make aging easier on both sides of the care equation. Here are some exciting new ways technology is fueling a positive aging experience:

  1. Doc-in-a-Box. The days of house calls have vanished along with corded landline phones, but technology is returning doctor visits to the home — via Skype and similar videoconference service providers. Just as seniors have embraced technology in droves, video visits will replace (or at least supplement) in-person office visits, with their typical long waits.reverse mortgage news
  2. Share and share alike. Complementing video doctor visits is an exponential rise in online medical records sharing. While privacy and information pirating are also growing concerns, an inappropriate medical record release isn’t likely to prove fatal, whereas lack of access to vital information in an emergency could mean the difference between life and death.
  3. Alfred, the Robo-butler. A tech-savvy reverse mortgage client might visit her doctor online, order groceries from the local market via their website, and Facebook regularly with grandkids. But wouldn’t it be nice to have someone like a trusted butler to handle all of a senior’s household needs, including setting appointments, or reminding them when to buy more milk? A real-life Alfred (like a personal assistant you never see) will handle all the particulars in the background of someone’s life — if they live in New York City or Boston. For everyone else, a virtual version, Hello Alfred, functions as an on-demand one-stop service portal. Because, as today’s seniors are proving by their behavior, rocking out means a concert, not a porch chair.
  4. Lights, camera, action: No matter how healthy an older person may be, certain faculties tend to decline with age — particularly hearing and vision. Fortunately, merchants everywhere are recognizing that if a senior can read what’s on offer, they’ll be that much more likely to buy. LED lights have begun showing up in unexpected places, such as on restaurant menus. Fashion designer Ralph Lauren, who at 75 understands this demographic, has gone one better: designing a tote bag with LED lights on the inside, to help a mature woman find the pen to sign her credit card receipt.
  5. Can you smell that? One company has developed an “electronic nose” based on nanotechnology that will interface with any smartphone. Creator Samuel M. Khamis explains how, with just a whiff, the e-nose will be able to provide information about a person’s metabolic state and the number of calories being burned, in real time. This data can help people lose weight — or warn users well in advance of a potential asthma attack. As his company refines the technology, it will be useful for many additional health care applications based around breath analysis.

What’s certain is that the number of elder apps will continue to flourish, helping seniors to track illnesses, along with medications and potential side effects. My Recovery, designed by a surgeon, helps patients prepare for their operation, understand what to expect during and after the hospital stay, and even guides them through rehabilitation exercises. The Flowy app uses games to help people manage panic attacks — and a pilot study has already demonstrated a significant decline in symptoms.

So while tomorrow’s tech-savvy seniors may have to contend with a bit less personal privacy than in the past, the flip side is the promise of greater independence in the home, for longer — possibly even to the end of their lives.

Looking for more reverse mortgage news, commentary and technology? Visit ReverseFocus.com today.

I Knew You Looked Familiar


Brightening, Boosting, Reimplanting Our Brains

Alzheimer’s disease is costly, both in terms of what we lose to the illness, and in terms of treatment. The sixth leading cause of death, by 2050 the number of people affected by Alzheimer’s is projected to reach 16 million. It’s currently the most expensive health condition in the U.S., and the only one in the top ten without cure or prevention. But there may be some ways to slow its progress.

Blog-Inset-July-28We’ve explored aging and memory from a number of perspectives, from the cutting edge health and creativity steps reverse mortgage professionals can share with clients and prospects to help keep malleable minds in tip-top shape, to viewing dementia from an expanded dimension. Now we’re poised to be able to back up our grey matter the same way we do our devices — or even implant a new “hard drive” when the existing one falters.

In Still Alice, a Harvard linguistics professor relies on her Blackberry to remember appointments — a prompt many of us need in these information-laden times, regardless of the condition of our personal RAM (random access memory). In the novel, Alice writes herself a letter on her computer that contains key brain health information, such as the number of children she has and her eldest daughter’s birthday, with instructions to her future self: when she is unable to answer all the questions correctly, she will no longer be of sound mind. The question is, would she know when her answers weren’t accurate?

Backup Your Memories

A new app helps Alzheimer’s patients stave off this unsettling shift. Backup Memory acts as a memory stimulator for people who are exhibiting early signs of Alzheimer’s. “Recent studies have shown that mental stimulation in the form of regular reminders of past events could potentially slow down the progression of Alzheimer’s disease. This is where we saw an opportunity,” says Azer Jaafoura, one of the product’s developers. The app “helps patients become aware of their immediate surroundings by identifying nearby family members and friends, and also reminds patients about their relationship with each person and memories they’ve shared in the past through photographs and videos.”

While memory loss is the acknowledged hallmark of Alzheimer’s disease, it’s by no means the only symptom. Scientists from University College London analyzed data on nearly 8,000 members of the US National Alzheimer Coordinating Center (NACC) database, an ongoing registry of people who receive care at an Alzheimer’s treatment center in the United States. Each participant had been formally diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease, and recorded the first signs that something was wrong in their brain.

Yet a fourth of those who developed Alzheimer’s before age 60 reported initial symptoms that had more to do with spatial awareness, problem solving and judgment — early warning signs that drop off significantly as the age of diagnosis rises.

What if memory itself could be implanted? Scientists are researching how brain plasticity might one day lead to the ability to change the way we remember events. While the research is initially focusing on helping to erase or replace traumatic memories, the work carries implicit possibility for those whose memories are fading with time. And neuro-optometric rehabilitation (redirecting cognitive pathways through visual adaptation), which has proven successful with traumatic brain injuries such as concussions — where other treatments did little more than provide temporary symptom relief — may hold out promise for Alzheimer’s patients as well.

Brain Trauma Can Mimic Alzheimer’s

It’s also valuable to know that what looks like Alzheimer’s disease may not be dementia at all, but a TBI (traumatic brain injury). As DePaul University professor Clark Elliott explores in his eight-year odyssey with TBI, The Ghost in My Brain, a concussion can cause symptoms that masquerade as Alzheimer’s due to cognitive processing problems. He describes how a football player with TBI became progressively less able to schedule appointments, until “it got to the point where you couldn’t tell him the day before an event and expect him to remember.”

Elliott devised a brain assessment self-test that mirrors that of the fictional Alice: he would ask himself, “What are the names of my children?” and gauge his brain’s functionality for the day based on how long it took him to answer: anywhere from six seconds on good days to more than three minutes on “bad brain days.” So if any of your reverse mortgage clients or prospects have fallen and hit their head, they need to make sure they aren’t suffering from a TBI, especially if they fear they may be developing dementia.

Those who do have Alzheimer’s recognize what is happening to them. This poignant series of self-portraits provides a visual record of a man with Alzheimer’s disease over an eight-year period, until the year he forgot to send an image to care facility management. Like the blog Watching the Lights Go Out, the memory-impaired person gives us a rare glimpse into what losing one’s mental acuity is like from the inside.

 

Looking for more reverse mortgage news, commentary and technology? Visit ReverseFocus.com today.

 

Live Long & Prosper: Part 2


A Good Life Until the Very End

Old age is not a disease, though modern medicine has been treating it as one, argues Harvard Medical school professor and surgeon Atul Gawande in his compelling new book, Being Mortal: Medicine and What Matters in the End.

“You don’t have to spend much time with the elderly or those with terminal illness to see how often medicine fails the people it is supposed to help,” he writes. “The waning days of our lives are given over to treatments thatreverse mortgage news addle our brains and sap our bodies for a sliver’s chance of benefit. They are spent in institutions — nursing homes and intensive care units — where regimented, anonymous routines cut us off from all the things that matter to us in life. Our reluctance to honestly examine the experience of aging and dying has increased the harm we inflict on people and denied them the basic comforts they most need. Lacking a coherent view of how people might live successfully all the way to the very end, we have allowed our fates to be controlled by the imperatives of medicine, technology, and strangers.”

Strong language from a medical professional. And useful information for reverse mortgage experts, or for anyone who serves people in the Third Age.

Once upon a time not that long ago, Gawande explains, life went along at a relatively even keel until something happened and the bottom dropped out, like a trap door opening. One minute you were healthy, the next you were felled by an illness or accident, and usually died shortly thereafter.

Assisted Living Was Designed to be Different!

Today, we’re often able to stave off even severe health conditions such as cancer or heart disease for quite a while, so while the downslope levels off after each drop, patients rarely return to their original degree of health and well being. That’s one main reason assisted living facilities have exploded in popularity — though they were never intended to be an intermediary step on the road to nursing homes, says Gawande, but an alternative that would eliminate the need for nursing homes. Although it may seem like assisted living has been around a long time, Keren Brown Wilson only originated the concept in 1983 with Park Place in Portland, Oregon, which she called a “living center with assistance.”

Wilson’s design did not resemble what we now term “assisted living”, however. Her pilot project was a 112-unit apartment building where tenants (not “patients”) had their own units with doors they could lock, their own kitchens, bathrooms, furniture, even pets. The only differences from a regular apartment complex were an onsite nurse, call buttons in each unit for emergencies, and help with all the basics: food, personal care, medication.

Widely attacked as dangerous, the assisted living experiment proved to be an unqualified success: five years after move-in, the residents of Park Place had maintained their health status (physical and cognitive functioning actually improved), life satisfaction had increased, depression had declined — and the government-subsidized cost was 20 percent lower than it would have been in a nursing home. Clearly, independence with support enables older adults, even those with serious disabilities, to enjoy quality of life right to the very end — which is why aging in place, within community, is an ideal model — and why a HECM can be one key to creating and maintaining a rewarding senior lifestyle.

Paying Attention Pays Off in Improved Health

One of the biggest keys to successful aging is simply being able to talk about their lives with someone who actively listens and cares, says Gawande: in one study, patients who saw a geriatrician for eighteen months versus a general practitioner were “a quarter less likely to become disabled and half as likely to develop depression. They were 40 percent less likely to require home health services.” These are stunning results.

He writes, “We’ve been wrong about what our job is in medicine. We think [it] is to ensure health and survival. But really it…is to enable well-being. And well-being is about the reasons one wishes to be alive. Those reasons matter not just at the end of life, or when debility comes, but all along the way.”

Thus, the importance of having what Gawande calls “hard conversations” at life’s bifurcation points cannot be overstated. “People die only once. They have no experience to draw on. They need doctors and nurses who are willing to say what they have seen, who will help prepare for what is to come — and escape a warehoused oblivion that few really want…If end-of-life discussions were an experimental drug, the FDA would approve it.”

Wherever you meet them on their life journey, encouraging seniors to talk about their lives and what matters most to them is a positive, crucial step.
Looking for more reverse mortgage news, commentary and technology? Visit ReverseFocus.com today.

Live Long & Prosper: Part 1


How Will We Fill The Bonus Years?

“I’m grateful for every age I’m blessed to become.” 

~ Oprah Winfrey, from What I Know For Sure

reverse mortgage newsAs we’ve discussed previously, while dying is feared in Western culture, there is often more trepidation about the aging process itself. A group of Silicon Valley billionaires, all years from collecting Social Security, is working to change both perceptions by exploring the outer limits of life extension. The tech titans are putting their money where their minds are, supporting leading-edge research into expanding how long and how well we might live.

We’ve explored how we might be able to turn back the hands of time by turning on our telomerase gene, but the founders of such game-changing digital empires as Google, PayPal, eBay and Facebook are funding research that goes further, “hunting for the secrets of living organisms with insanely long lives; engineering microscopic nanobots that can fix your body from the inside out; figuring out how to reprogram the DNA you were born with; and exploring ways to digitize your brain based on the theory that your mind could live long after your body expires,” driven by a certitude that “rebuilding, regenerating, and reprogramming patients’ organs, limbs, cells, and DNA will enable people to live longer and better.”

There’s a lot we can do in our own low-tech lives, however, as centenarians demonstrate. Diets ranging from protein and calcium rich to vegan with fish lengthen lives at ten times the national average, according to a researcher who studied those 100 years old in “Blue Zones” around the world. It seems that to a great extent, when it comes to aging, you are what you eat.

How to Live Longer and Better

Beyond the ethical issues of extending life by tinkering with nature, the larger question remains: what will we do with all those extra years, assuming we’re healthy enough to enjoy them?

Just living longer isn’t enough, says encore career expert Marc Freedman, author of The Big Shift: Navigating the New Stage Beyond Midlife. “Aside from the mind-boggling prospect of saving for 50- or 75-year retirements, how do we make these new chapters both fulfilling for individuals and sustainable for society?

“Life extension without social innovation is a recipe for dystopian disaster — what one critic characterizes as ‘the coming death shortage,’ invoking images not only of endless (and unaffordable) retirements but of a society loaded down by a population explosion of the idle old.”

Reverse mortgage may be one viable answer to the financial requirements of an extended retirement. Life enrichment and retooling for the next life stage should be its cornerstone, says Freedman. Someone turning 65 today can expect to live an additional 19.3 years, and in a recent Centers for Disease Control study, nearly 70% said they want to continue working in order to stay active and involved. They also say it’s “very important” to them to leave the world a better place.

One of the best opportunities longer lives offer is the chance to follow your dreams, cited as the number one regret of the dying. Using a HECM to follow your heart, travel, retool to do work you love or simply spend more time with friends and family minus money worries may not banish our final bow forever, but it can make these extra years a bonus instead of a burden, and that’s what positive aging is all about.

Looking for more reverse mortgage news, commentary and technology? Visit ReverseFocus.com today.

Thanks for the Memories

reverse mortgage newsAt a certain point, most of us start to feel it: the reaching for a word just beyond our grasp, the mental note to do something we forget by the time we enter the next room. It’s not necessarily dementia; more likely a severe case of digital overload and multitasking mania. Yet books and films like Still Alice, in which a Harvard linguistics professor descends into early onset Alzheimer’s Disease (EOAD) at age 50, can hit a little too close to home. Who are we if we can’t remember?

In Memory and Emotion: The Making of Lasting Memories, memory expert James McGaugh of the University of California/Irvine writes: “We are, after all, our memories. It is our memory that enables us to value everything else we possess. Lacking memory, we would have no ability to be concerned about our hearts, hair, lungs, libido, loved ones, enemies, achievements, failures, incomes or income taxes. Our memory provides us with an autobiographical record and enables us to understand and react appropriately to changing experiences. Memory is the ‘glue’ of our personal existence.”

Michael Gambon understands McGaugh’s dictum viscerally: after portraying the wise Hogwarts headmaster in six Harry Potter films, the 74-year-old actor announced his retirement from live theatre, citing an inability to remember his lines. He doesn’t have Alzheimer’s, fortunately. But there are a surprising number of unsuspected causes of memory loss, including sleep apnea, vitamin B12 deficiency (which can also lead to pernicious anemia), medications, and urinary tract infections, which can mimic dementia in the elderly.

How can a reverse mortgage specialist or senior client (or their loved ones) determine whether memory loss is a symptom of underlying disease?

  • Flamingo pose. If someone can’t balance on one leg for at least 20 seconds, their brain health may be compromised. Scientists found those unable to sustain a one-legged stance to have cerebral small vessel disease, which can lead to vascular dementia (i.e., stroke). But seniors shouldn’t assume they are at risk if they fail the balance test: as we age, vision can become cloudy, hearing may decline, joints stiffen, and proprioception (the sense of where your body is in space) worsens. All of these factors need to be checked before drawing any conclusions about balance — which is more challenging for older adults for these very reasons.
  • Skin test for Alzheimer’s Disease. Scientists have discovered the abnormal proteins that accumulate in the brain are also present in skin, and a skin test is in development.

The good news? While we’ve explored how to care for your brain before, especially the deep value of lifelong creativity, today there are a plethora of ways to age-proof your brain at any life stage:

  1. Be the belle of the ball. One longtime reverse mortgage specialist is also a longtime ballroom dancing devotee. Turns out his passion for dance is ensuring a healthier brain as he ages! Seniors who danced three to four times a week — especially those who ballroom danced — had a 75% lower risk of dementia compared with people who did not dance at all, according to a study reported in the New England Journal of Medicine. That’s a pretty impressive health score. The lead geriatrician on the study says, “Dancing is a complex activity that improves blood flow to the brain, which has been shown to improve brain connections. It also provides mental challenges.”
  2. Tickle the ivories. Playing any instrument — piano, guitar, sax, etc. for ten years or longer correlates with better memory in old age than those who played for fewer years — but any musical enjoyment is better than none; even listening to music boosts the brain.
  3. Parlez Francais. Learning a foreign tongue stretches the gray matter and builds cognitive reserve.
  4. Make a fourth for Bridge. Bingo and card games aren’t simply the province of older adults because they have the time to play; games that engage the brain, such as chess, checkers, bingo, Scrabble, and Monopoly, buy us more quality mental time.
  5. Read deep. Skip the link-happy online browsing and settle down with a good book or some in-depth magazine articles. Focused attention promotes better brain health, because new information is absorbed rather than overflowing down the mental fatigue drain.
  6. Stay social. This is a confirmed memory-protector: take a leaf from Star Trek Captain Jean-Luc Picard and “Engage!”

What if, despite someone’s best efforts, their brain succumbs to dementia? In this inspiring TEDtalk, one teen shares his simple invention, now in beta, designed to keep his night-wandering grandfather safe: a sensor-based technology that tracks where a senior goes from the moment their feet touch the floor, and sends ongoing updates to a caregiver’s smartphone. Clearly, many Millennials have their elders’ welfare at heart.