“Not only is caregiving becoming more prevalent [and] more stressful, it’s also lasting longer,” said Jason Resendez, president of the National Alliance for Caregiving. “This is not a looming crisis. This is something that people are living through right now every day.”
Growing old with type 1 diabetes (T1D) is a relatively new positive phenomenon, thanks in part to more physiologic insulin formations and increasingly sophisticated glucose management technology. Such advances have dramatically reduced acute and chronic complications that historically shortened life expectancy. Drs. Medha Munshi and Nuzhat Chalisa are working to advocate for the aging demographic of Type 1 Diabetics along with members of the community like Joanne Milo who are creating day-to-day hubs of information.
As we age, we tend to have more aches, pains, and diseases. Researchers believe that some of these may be related to persistent inflammation. They call it “inflammaging” — age-related inflammation, which is present even in the absence of injury or illness.
Super-agers are a diverse bunch; they don’t share a magic diet, exercise regimen or medication. But the one thing that does unite them is how they view the importance of social relationships.
By being more social in old age, super-agers may be able to avert some of the atrophy. An analysis included in the new paper supports this finding: The brain volume of super-agers tends to be more comparable to that of 50- and 60-year-olds than to their octogenarian and nonagenarian peers.