Good morning and welcome to agebuzz… Headlining today’s topics:

-Put To The Test: An At Home Exam To Detect Early Dementia

-Don’t Google That: Seniors Look Elsewhere For Health Info

-Are You Nuts? Consuming Essential Nutrients As We Age

-Read All About It: The Survival Advantage Of Regular Book Readers

-Don’t Miss The Boat: Will Medicare Follow You When You Travel?

-Race Against Time: These Very Senior Athletes Play To Win

-The Last Word

Put To The Test: An At Home Exam To Detect Early Dementia: We all sometimes feel like we’re losing it: “it” being our minds or at least our memories. For most of us, it’s just the distraction of everyday life or “normal” aging. But some cognitive decline can’t be dismissed that easily. To help begin to sort out the normal from the not, there is a downloadable exam from The Wexner Medical Center of Ohio State University.  Called The SAGE test, the results of this 4-page self-administered exam can give your physician clues as to whether further, in-depth testing is needed. To better understand the test and how it works, take out your # 2 pencil and Read This.

Don’t Google That: Seniors Look Elsewhere For Health Info: Going to the doctor these days, it’s very likely that you arrive chock full of info about what you think is wrong with you. In fact, data from Google is now used to track public health concerns based on internet searches undertaken when people feel sick. For seniors, however, not so much. It turns out that older people resort to online searches for health information at substantially lower rates than the general adult population. While rates differ depending upon the race and socioeconomic categories of those studied, it seems that senior citizens may not be accessing the vast health and wellness resources available at the click of a mouse. Surprised? To find out more, Click Here.

Are You Nuts? Consuming Essential Nutrients As We Age: Researchers at Harvard hope so…at least they hope you are eating nuts on a regular basis. In a new study published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, these nutritional experts make the case that regular nut consumption provides enormous benefit to counteract health concerns as weage. From contributing to better heart health to easing joint pain, nuts contain essential ingredients to prevent chronic disease and combat inflammation. So, whether you like plain or dry roasted, Read This.

Read All About It: The Survival Advantage of Regular Book Readers: Contemplating what your next summer book should be? No matter what you choose, you can’t go wrong, at least according to a new study. Published in the journal Social Science & Medicine, this research from the Yale School of Public Health documents that, on average, there’s a two-year survival advantage for those who read books. Even as they controlled for other factors that might skew their results, these researchers found that reading a book for as little as ½ hour a day would provide real longevity benefit. So put down that remote, pick up your book and Read This.

Don’t Miss The Boat: Will Medicare Follow You When You Travel?: Packing for a trip, the last thing you want to think about is what happens if I get sick while traveling. Will I have trouble finding a doctor or getting appropriate care? If you are on Medicare, you’ll probably be able to access care as long as you are traveling within the US, though not every physician accepts Medicare. The same holds true with a Medigap supplemental policy. But overseas? It’s less clear, and it may be wise to investigate travel insurance before you leave. To understand what’s covered, what’s not, and where, Read Here.

Race Against Time: These Very Senior Athletes Play To Win: It’s Olympics time right now, and incredibly fit and chiseled young athletes are all over the TV. But these millennial athletes are not the only ones competing to win. The CBS Sunday Morning show recently featured several athletes over the age of 90 who are still active athletic competitors and who are regularly posting new world records. In addition to the physical and mental health benefits of regular and strenuous exercise, these athletes demonstrate that boundary pushing athleticism knows no age barriers. For inspiration and perspiration, Watch This.

THE LAST WORD: “The years between fifty and seventy are the hardest. You are always being asked to do things, and yet you’re not decrepit enough to turn them down.” TS Eliot