A study in JAMA Network Open found caregivers of people with dementia lose between 2.5 to 3.5 hours of sleep each week due to difficulty falling asleep and staying asleep, reports EurekAlert . The researchers reviewed 35 studies with data from 3,268 caregivers. "Losing 3.5 hours of sleep weekly on top of all the stress, grief, and sadness can have a really strong impact on caregivers' cognition and mental and physical health," said Baylor University's Chenlu Gao. "But improving caregivers' sleep quality through low-cost behavioral interventions can significantly improve their functions and quality of life." The researchers noted nighttime awakenings by a person with dementia also can exacerbate disturbed sleep in caregivers. "With that extra bit of sleep loss every night, maybe a caregiver now forgets some medication doses or reacts more emotionally than he or she otherwise would," said Baylor Professor Michael Scullin. Improved sleep was seen in caregivers after such simple behaviors as getting more morning sunlight, establishing a regular and relaxing bedtime routine, and participating in moderate physical exercise. "Given the long-term, potentially cumulative health consequences of poor-quality sleep, as well as the rising need for dementia caregivers worldwide, clinicians should consider sleep interventions not only for the patient but also for the spouse, child, or friend who will be providing care," Gao recommended.

The Genworth Cost of Care Survey estimated that the median annual cost for homemaker-type senior care services in the case of an individual requiring daytime or full-time care in shifts is $183,960, reports Forbes . The cost totals $100,375 for private-room nursing community care. The U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services reported that Americans spent $9 billion on out-of-pocket home healthcare from home health agencies in 2017, in addition to $44 billion on care communities, out of $263 billion in total expenditure. Meanwhile, Medicaid spent another $111 billion on Long-Term Services and Supports for seniors. All in all, $109 billion was spent out-of-pocket and $629 billion was spent altogether. Compounding these trends is a soaring "old age dependency ratio," which has climbed from 20 retirees per 100 employees throughout the 1990s and 2000s to 35 to 100 today. Available solutions to this crisis range from improving Americans' health to reduce the need for caregiving to making do with less in other areas of government investment.

A study in the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society suggests most seniors sent to long-term acute-care hospitals (LTACHs) die within five years, having spent most of their remaining life as an inpatient, reports Reuters Health . The researchers investigated 14,072 people on Medicare who were transferred from regular acute-care hospitals to LTACHs, with the average beneficiary spending 66 percent of their remaining life in a hospital or inpatient environment. Moreover, 37 percent died in an LTACH without ever returning home, and often without getting any hospice care in their final days. "Even before going to the LTACH, you should have an honest discussion with your doctors and those closest to you about whether staying in a hospital setting and undergoing invasive procedures is most closely aligned with your values and goals," recommends the University of California, San Francisco's Anil Makam. "For some the answer will be yes, but for others, they might prefer to focus on relieving their symptoms and optimizing their quality of life, even if that means they might not live as long."

Federal action to hold telemedicine companies, durable medical equipment providers, and doctors and corporate executives accountable for a major scam that has cost U.S. taxpayers nearly $1 billion has not apparently curtailed phony robocall offers for free medical braces directed at seniors, reports ABC11TV . The scam was exposed last fall, when seniors in Raleigh, N.C., received medical braces they never ordered. Seniors are still billed despite their refusal, with Medicare or insurance plans having to pick up the tab. The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services has published a fraud alert about the nationwide brace scam.

A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics survey found young baby boomers born between 1957 and 1964 have held more than 12 jobs on average during their working lives, reports Considerable . Most of the 9,964 polled boomers' job-switching occurred early in their careers, and they held an average 5.7 jobs from ages 18 to 24. Job numbers also varied with age, education, and ethnicity. Over 33 percent of respondents said they spent less than a year at a job they started between the ages of 25 and 34, while 66 percent reported changing jobs in less than five years during that period. "Women, African-Americans, and Latinx boomers" each spent longer average periods of unemployment compared to white males with bachelor's degrees, the publication adds.

A theater company in South Sioux City, Neb., is launching a new program for seniors, which will offer acting workshops, scene studies, and theatrical productions of new Broadway show adaptations, reports KMEG-14 . "There are just so many ways we can take this program to all kind of age levels and to all kind of ability levels," said New Stage Players Program Coordinator Deborah Morgan. "You can play any part you want, your age does not matter." Morgan added that the program will offer seniors a venue to express their talents and stay active. "Our mission statement is to bring theater to this area of Nebraska to all people who live here, not just the abled ones, and not just the ones who are terrific actors," she said. "Everybody should experience the wonder of theater and how great it is and how much it does for people."

A study in Nature Medicine found adults at low or intermediate genetic risk of dementia who practiced healthy lifestyle habits had lower odds of being diagnosed with dementia over the next 15 years, reports United Press International . However, these habits had no apparent impact on subjects with high-risk genes, leading Erasmus MC-University Medical Center's Silvan Licher to suspect the age of study participants may be a variable. Study subjects were about 69 years old, on average, when their lifestyle habits were quantified. But it might be healthy habits earlier in life that are essential for offsetting a high genetic risk for dementia. "These results should not alter the message about the importance of a healthy lifestyle to lower the risk of dementia," Licher said. In fact, he suggested the findings provide "an extra incentive" to start practicing healthy habits immediately.

Research in Scientific Reports from 2018 found seniors with irregular sleep patterns weighed more, had higher blood sugar and blood pressure, and an elevated projected risk of heart attack or stroke within 10 years, compared to those who went to sleep and woke up at the same times every day, according to KOMO 4 News . Those exhibiting irregular sleep patterns also were more likely to report depression and stress than regular sleepers. Both conditions are linked to heart health. However, these findings fail to demonstrate a cause-and-effect relationship between regular sleep and cardiovascular health. The researchers did observe that seniors with irregular sleep patterns experienced more sleepiness during the day and were less active, possibly because of tiredness.

The U.S. National Institute on Aging has awarded Wake Forest University researchers a grant to study why some older adults' mobility does not improve after losing weight, reports Wake Forest News . "We know obesity is a risk factor for reduced physical function," says Wake Forest's Kristen Beavers. "And on average, when older adults with obesity lose weight, they can typically get out of a chair a little easier and walk a little faster. But within that 'average,' there is always a subset of folks who don't improve, or who even show declines in physical function." Analysis of gait speed determined about 25 percent of older adults who lost what would be considered a clinically meaningful amount of weight did not improve their walking speed. The study aims to better gauge the risk/benefit ratio by ascertaining predictors of an older adult improving or not improving in physical function after a standard weight-loss course. Afterwards, interventions would be designed to extract the maximum benefit for each group. "The strength of a large dataset like this is that we can look at many participant characteristics to identify the 'type' of person most — and least — likely to benefit from a weight-loss intervention," said Wake Forest's Daniel Beavers.

Reports of rampant social isolation, rising prescription medicine costs, evaporating affordable housing options, and poor oversight for professional guardians have made Florida seem like a very unfriendly state for U.S. seniors — but there are signs of hope, reports the Orlando Sentinel . Several local and national advocates recently cited positive changes on the horizon, including state authorization of autonomous vehicles on state roads, which could serve as a future transportation option for many older Americans. Florida legislators also added another $1.7 million toward the Alzheimer's Disease Initiative to serve 151 more individuals on the statewide wait-list, while Community Care for the Elderly saw $2.1 million in extra funding to service 256 more people on the waitlist. A severe lack of reasonable salary for public guardians remains endemic, while the advent of electronic wills is inexorably moving forward. State Gov. Ron DeSantis' signing of legislation that would allow Floridians to use drugs from Canada and the International Drug Importation Program is considered a key victory for consumers, although federal approval is pending.