Health Links

Roberta McReynolds writes: Since aging tends to go hand-in-hand with a gradually fading resistance to illness, it makes sense that the likelihood of getting shingles tends to strike people age 60 and over. In a cruel twist of fate, I developed the first symptoms of shingles just 23 days after my 60th birthday; merely weeks after I became old enough to obtain the shingles vaccine. Did my warranty just expire? Each day that passed the complex pain became more brutal and impossible to ignore; the ‘electric shock treatments’ intensified.   more »

Women across the lifespan appear to report elevated levels of dissatisfaction with their bodies, although women in older adulthood (60 years and older) may report less dissatisfaction in some domains such as a perception that weight and shape negatively affected life, in comparison to younger women. more »

Nurse practitioners, registered nurses with advanced degrees, are capable of providing primary-care services such as diagnosing and treating illnesses, prescribing medication, ordering tests and referring patients to specialists. But only 18 states and the District of Columbia currently allow nurse practitioners to perform these services independently of a doctor. more »

While research into the impact of musical training on aging processes is a new avenue of investigation, our results indicate a positive role of lifelong musical training on auditory perception and cognitive processes. more »