Articles
The Journal on Active Aging brings articles of value to professionals dedicated to older-adult quality of life. Content sweeps across the active-aging landscape to focus on education and practice. Find articles of interest by searching the article archives in three ways: Enter a keyword in the articles search bar; click on search by topic; or type a keyword or phrase in the general search bar at the top of the page.
Topic- Environmental wellness
Creating "next gen" memory care: Thoughtful design to help people live better longer by Andrew Carle, BS, MHSA
At The Virginian life-plan community, an award-winning memory care renovation promotes resident wellness with a "Safe-Directional-Therapeutic" environment. Family members and staff also benefit.
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Indoor air quality, part two: Reducing pollutants to improve health outcomes by Regina Vaicekonyte, MS, WELL AP, and Bing Bing Guo, MPH
Older adults and their families are more aware of the importance of indoor air quality since the emergence of COVID-19, according to a 2021 Delos Consumer Insights Survey. For organizations that serve older adults, including senior living communities and other residential settings, safety is often now the lens through which they view this issue. Yet efforts to provide healthier, safer indoor environments also support health and wellness. How does air quality in indoor spaces affect physiological health outcomes in older adults? This review of air purification interventions reveals their impact on pollutants and participants.
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Indoor air quality, part one: Why it matters and how to improve it by Regina Vaicekonyte, MS, WELL AP
Awareness has increased in recent years about the health impacts of indoor air quality. Recent survey results reveal consumer insights on the importance of indoor air quality across environments serving older adults. Read on to learn more, plus gain a trio of strategies for cleaner air.
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Community environments link to cognitive aging
People are living longer than ever before, but cognitive decline threatens the quality of those later years. Now, new evidence suggests that where older adults live may help protect against dementia and Alzheimer's disease. A trio of studies from the University of Michigan (U-M) found that urban and suburban neighborhoods with opportunities for socialization, physical activity and intellectual stimulation may help preserve older adults' cognitive health. "Neighborhoods matter," says lead author Jessica Finlay, PhD. "They are important spaces for older adults, and they really impact opportunities or barriers to age well in place." A research fellow at the U-M Institute for Social Research [ISR] Survey Research Center in Ann Arbor, Finlay comments that the papers "think through how neighborhoods might encourage healthy behaviors that could in turn benefit the brain, and for Alzheimer's and dementia risks, which are among the greatest fears and greatest burdens that our aging population faces."
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Environment impacts aging at a genetic level
The places we live can change us -- in many cases, down to the molecular level. Exposure to chemicals and other harmful substances in our environment can affect our health in myriad ways over time, aggravating existing health problems, contributing to new disease such as cancer and even impacting how our genes work. Scientists are studying the way our genomic and biological processes change in response to the environment or other external factors in the growing field of epigenetics. In a pair of 2020 studies, [scientists from the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)] found that 1) epigenetic changes related to aging and mortality are impacted by the environment, and 2) epigenetic changes may reveal whether a person is more susceptible to health risks in their environment. The studies are among the first to link these biological indicators of accelerated aging, called molecular biomarkers, to both the quality of the environment and environmental health risks. [Reprinted from the US Environmental Protection Agency's Science Matters newsletter, April 19, 2021.]
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Embracing nature, parks and outdoor spaces to age well: COVID-19 and beyond by Pazit Levinger, PhD, and Keith Hill, PhD
As the United Nation's Decade of Healthy Ageing (2021–2030) commences, active-aging advocates may look back on 2020 as a year that illuminated the real-world importance of healthy aging. Older people have been adversely impacted by the current coronavirus pandemic, with a high proportion of deaths reported in those ages 65 and over. A new study from Kaiser Permanente, a California-based integrated healthcare system, suggests that physical activity levels are a significant factor in COVID-19 outcomes. Physical activity is a key lifestyle factor that positively impacts health and well-being across the life span, including in older age. Further, being physically active in the outdoors offers mental, physical and social health benefits for all age groups. In light of the pandemic, being outdoors also offers a safer option to engage in physical activity due to the lower transmission risk for the virus. Parks and outdoor leisure spaces are often designed...with little focus on the older demographic. It is timely to make sure the needs of older people are catered for in any future park refurbishments or new outdoor design. Seniors centers, retirement communities and other organizations that serve this population may also increase use of their outdoor spaces for activity through improvements.
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