New research affirms seniors' mental abilities
[22 December 2003 - Boston Globe] It is one of the greatest fears of aging: losing the ability to think quickly, remember accurately, and reason clearly. Years of laboratory testing indicate that these skills decline beginning in young adulthood. But a growing body of research is challenging the depth of this deterioration and its impact, suggesting that most healthy seniors can work, drive, and live independently well into their golden years. "Older adults function much better in life than we give them credit for," said Thomas M. Hess, a psychology professor at North Carolina State University who has conducted some of the new research. "It's providing a more realistic picture of what happens when people age." The research indicates that testing conditions have exaggerated some of the mental declines, and that many older adults compensate easily for the modest changes in their brains with greater vocabulary and world knowledge. ...

A little stress may be good for you
[10 December 2003 - EurekAlert] We've often heard that red wine and dark chocolate in moderation can be good for you. Now it appears that a little stress may be beneficial, too. Northwestern University scientists have shown that elevated levels of special protective proteins that respond to stress in a cell (known as molecular chaperones) promote longevity. Acute stress triggers a cascading reaction inside cells that results in the repair or elimination of misfolded proteins, prolonging life by preventing or delaying cell damage. The findings are published online by Molecular Biology of the Cell, a publication of the American Society for Cell Biology. The article will appear in print in the journal's February 2004 issue. ...

Seattle man invents test to detect early Alzheimer's
[8 December 2003 - Seattle Times] ... Alzheimer's disease, because, like a thief in the night, it robs us of our ability to think, crack jokes, pay bills, dress, drive, and ultimately, our ability to live independently, often requiring a decade or more of care. Its cost to society is enormous � an estimated $100 billion a year, not to mention the profound psychological and personal toll on those it afflicts and those who love and care for them. Its estimated annual cost to U.S. businesses is an additional $61 billion in absenteeism, insurance and productivity losses as employees struggle to care for aging parents who have the disease. But the news gets worse. The fastest-growing population in this country is people 85 years and older, and almost half of all people over 85 have Alzheimer's � now estimated to affect 4 million Americans (with a similar prevalence worldwide). By 2050, these numbers are expected to explode to 14 million people. ...

Earlier retirement hurts later: Baby boomers' exit creates void as businesses face dearth of young workers
[8 December 2003 - Akron Beacon Journal] Early retirement policies and frequent cutbacks that target older workers help companies reduce costs, but could ultimately backfire when a big wave of baby boomer retirements creates a labor shortage. For decades, the policies of governments and private employers have encouraged early retirements. The thinking has long been that these policies are good for older employees, who should enjoy the fruits of a long working life, and they're good for younger workers, who are making their way up the corporate ladder. ...

Baby Boomers' Retirement Prospects: An Overview
[November 2003 - United States Congressional Budget Office] Over the past 15 years, the retirement prospects of the baby-boom generation (people born from 1946 to 1964) have become a source of public concern. Some experts contend that low saving by boomers could limit economic growth in the United States and compound the financial pressures that face government programs such as Social Security and Medicare. This Congressional Budget Office (CBO) study--prepared at the request of the Chairman of the Senate Budget Committee--updates and expands on a 1993 CBO report on the retirement preparedness of boomers. It places the baby-boom retirement issue in historical and policy context, describes the methodologies used to analyze that issue, reviews numerous studies of retirement preparedness that have been published since 1993, and draws general conclusions from their findings. ...

Coping with ageing: a dynamic approach to quantify the impact of alternative policy options on future labour supply in OECD countries
[November 2003 - ORGANISATION FOR ECONOMIC CO-OPERATION AND DEVELOPMENT] In the face of the substantial ageing of population expected to occur in OECD countries over coming decades, policies that boost labour-force participation attract considerable interest. There remain large cross-country divergences in participation rates that are largely accounted for by differences in participation of specific groups, in particular prime-age women, older workers and also youth. This suggests that policies targeting these groups could have important effects. The aim of this paper is to examine whether the potential impact of several policy reforms is able to attenuate or to offset the adverse trend in aggregate participation rates that would otherwise occur because of ageing population. It uses a simple dynamic modelling framework that generates longer-term projections of participation rates and labour supplies in OECD countries and alternative scenarios of policy reforms. The main outcome of this analysis is that the combined effect of possible reforms targeting prime-age women, older workers and youth might suffice to stabilize the average participation rate in OECD countries over the next 25 years but will be insufficient to offset the additional reduction of participation likely to be caused by demographic changes beyond 2025. ...

Active or Passive Ageing?
[17-19 September 2003 - Iiris Niemi - The IATUR Conference on Time Use Research Comparing Time] Baby-boomers are approaching retirement age. In Finland this change occurs earlier than in most other European countries. This is because in Finland the baby-boom generation peaked during the few post-war years between 1946 and 1950 while in most other countries this happened over a longer period from 1946 to 1965. Political leaders of the European Union launched the expression �active ageing� as a phrase mainly referring to policies designed to enable older people to remain in the labour force longer than nowadays. National strikes opposing the policy of delayed retirement reflect the deviating wishes of the general public. The purpose of this study is to analyse the daily life of elderly people during the years after retirement. Does time use reflect active or passive ageing? The data are based on European time use surveys, especially the Finnish one relating to 1999/2000. The preliminary results show that young pensioners allocate time quite differently from older ones. A society where the majority of retired people are aged under 75 enjoys the resources of active pensioners giving volunteer and informal help. Most young pensioners cope well with the daily life, taking care of themselves as well as of the people and organisations close to them. With increasing age and weakening health their daily life becomes more passive and the elderly become receivers of care services. From the point of the society this means that the social burden of the ageing society is postponed to later decades when the majority of the pensioners will have reached very old age. ...

Passive ageing exists
[3 December 2003 - By Miles King - The Star - South Africa] London - Just as smokers affect people around them, it seems that in the very same way, old people can cause symptoms of old age to appear in the people round them, however young they are. British Professor Ivor Knutsford feels he has enough evidence to show that ageing not only affects old people themselves but the people who have to mix with them, look after them and live with them. "We've done surveys of people who see a lot of old people daily, and we find that their living patterns tend to change under the influence of old age round them. Not only old people tend to talk louder, and slower, but also people who mix with them. They tend to eat slower and less. They also dribble slightly more than the average. The inference is inescapable. Passive ageing exists."

In with the old as companies find 'bench strength' failing
[3 December 2003 - Financial Times] When the going gets tough, the grey get going. Such is the message from US companies that are turning to retired executives for leadership. ...

Making the most of retirement
[2 December 2003 - Star-Ledger - New Jersey] When three paperback books -- each exploring diverse ways to resume life after retirement -- are released by different publishers almost simultaneously, you can be sure there's a hefty demand from seniors for such suggestions. ...