A study published in the Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2018 supports the concept of viewing older people not in terms of their chronological ages, but in terms of their remaining life expectancy, reports The Conversation . The goal of the research was to determine whether population aging will come to an end in the foreseeable future, especially in wealthier nations where public concern about population aging is most pronounced. Countries with a gross national income per capita at or above $4,000, including Barbados, Croatia, the United States, China, Russia, and South Africa, were considered. A computer program generated 1,000 random possible future populations for these countries, extrapolated from the United Nations' forecasts of population sizes and age structures. The probability that population aging would come to an end this century was computed by analyzing the proportion of the population above a certain age, using an adjusted measure cutoff of 65 (based on a remaining life expectancy of 15 years). The median age of the population was studied, and the use of unadjusted measures revealed that population aging persists through the end of the century. However, usage of adjusted measures found population aging generally ends well before then. According to the second measure, in more than 95 percent of 1,000 simulated futures, populations stopped growing older by 2050.

MindVR reports that its virtual reality (VR) platform for seniors is being improved in association with HTC, launching MindVR 2.0 with HTC's Vive X accelerator, according to VentureBeat . Earlier MyndVR iterations were used on mobile-based headsets. The latest version operates on HTC's standalone VR kit. The Mynd-branded device features a tablet that can control VR experiences for the user by caregivers. The use of a standalone device instead of a headset requiring a smartphone offers more convenience. "The ease-of-use with HTC Vive's Focus enhances the user experience and helps provide a world of immersive content for seniors who are no longer able to physically travel," said MindVR co-founder Chris Brickler. The curated platform is seen by Brickler and his colleagues as a kind of Netflix of VR content for a specific demographic, with content provided by partners like Disney. MindVR's platform is already online in 20 U.S. states and Canada.

A study published in JAMA Network Open suggests even small amounts of exercise can make a difference in combating dementia, reports Inverse . A combination of fitness tracker data and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans demonstrated how light exercise can reduce biomarkers of aging in the brain. Each hour of light exercise was associated with brain volume measurements equivalent to 1.1 fewer years of brain aging, and reaching basic step-count thresholds also appeared to be significantly associated with maintaining the brain's youth. The researchers examined 2,354 individuals who had fMRI scans of their brains, and also wore accelerometers to keep track of their steps. Step counts had strong associations with lower rates of brain aging, and people who averaged 10,000 steps or more each day tended to have 0.35 percent higher brain volume than those who averaged less than 5,000 steps a day. That additional activity was linked to the equivalent of 1.75 fewer years of brain aging.

A study published in Neurology suggests brain stimulation may help seniors recall things better, reports Philly Voice . The technique involves exposing the brain to an electromagnetic pulse, which might restore the memory capabilities to levels more commonly associated with young adults. Memory loss is related to age-related shrinkage of the hippocampus, and although this brain region is too deep to be directly stimulated by magnetic fields, researchers were able to stimulate a portion of the parietal lobe that communicates with the hippocampus. Before stimulation, 16 seniors aged 64 and 80 received a memory test evaluating their ability to remember arbitrary relationships between paired items. After their parietal lobe was stimulated in 20-minute durations for five straight days, the subjects scored as well on the same test as a cohort of young adults. Future studies will use stimulation on individuals with mild cognitive impairment and also stimulate the brain for longer periods.

Clinical neuropsychologist John DenBoer believes doctors and relatives of people with dementia need to rethink their strategy to cope with the disease and its effect on their loved ones, according to MarketWatch . DenBoer criticizes the assumption that dementia is just a part of aging, calling it "a deep-seated philosophical myth because people tend to base a lot of their actions around that. They don't take action, they don't treat dementia like they would treat heart disease or diabetes, they don't do a lot of the prevention or intervention because they don't believe anything can be done," he asserts. DenBoer says this mindset reinforces the myth that nothing can be done to stop the disease, as well as the falsehood that simple brain activities will encourage prevention and intervention. He stresses the need to reengineer the conversation about dementia that doctors, caregivers, and recipients should have. "We should really be having the conversation of what we can do to help people when they get into their 60s and 70s," DenBoer argues. "What can we do to promote optimal brain health so they don't develop the disease at all." This should start with a neuropsychological evaluation and magnetic resonance imaging study of the brain, to be repeated every two years after age 65. Compassion and emphasis on brain health, rather than deterioration, should then be the focus of the caregiver-recipient conversation.

MarketWatch cites new data released by United Van Lines, which found that New Mexico was the No. 1 state where retirees moved. Tracking its customers' state-to-state migration patterns in 2018, the company found that more than four in 10 (43 percent) of the moves to New Mexico were related to retirement. In addition, almost 60 percent of the people who moved to the state were between the ages of 55 and 74. This marked the first time New Mexico landed in the top spot. Meanwhile, Florida placed second with 39 percent of the moves to the state related to retirement followed by Arizona, South Carolina, Idaho, Maine, Vermont, Nevada, and Montana in that order. Separately, data from the Census Bureau that personal finance site Smart Asset analyzed shows that with regards to net migration, Florida continues to rank as the No. 1 spot for retirees, with 84,600 more retirees moving to the Sunshine State than leaving. It was followed by Arizona in second place (28,600) and North Carolina in third (15,600). Nevertheless, there remains a compelling case to be made for retiring to the Land of Enchantment. Chiefly, New Mexico is affordable with a lower than average cost of living, median home prices under $200,000, and a tax environment that is moderately friendly to retired households. "For seniors (age 65 or older) there is an $8,000 deduction on retirement income if the household Adjusted Gross Income (AGI) is less than $28,500 for single filers or $51,000 for marrieds filing jointly," SmartAsset concluded.

Among the problems facing Maine's aging labor force is a lack of support for re-training Baby Boomers who wish to stay employed, reports WGME-TV 13 . According to the CBS affiliate, one program in Portland — dubbed The Boomer Institute job board — is seeking to connect older job seekers with compatible employers. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, men and women 65 and older face the highest projected workforce participation rate increases — 74 percent — through 2022. "'Retain older workers? Aren't they leaving? Aren't they supposed to leave?' But in fact, we need them. We need them to get the job done," remarked The Boomer Institute founder Barbara Babkirk said. Through such programs as Live + Work Maine, there has been a lot of statewide attention to retain graduating students and attract new workers. "I'm not hearing a lot of strategy to retain older workers," Babkirk observed. "And yet, that group is growing at 74 percent, whereas 35-40 year-olds are growing at about 9 percent. And 4 out of 5 people approaching retirement plan to continue working after they retire from a primary career." The Boomer Institute job board addresses this phenomenon.

Summit Hills Senior Living community in Spartanburg, S.C., has been awarded the National Best of the Best from Argentum for its JOY Program, confirms WSPA-TV . According to the local CBS affiliate, JOY stands for "Joining Older and Younger." The program pairs up children and seniors for simple, but impactful activities such as Easter egg hunts and Christmas programs. The 2010 US Census reports that more than 28 percent of South Carolinians will be over the age of 60 by 2030. Summit Hills Executive Director, Regina Fargis, notes that it is not just young kids who visit. Middle schoolers and young college students have made trips to the community to spend time with seniors. "To have this interaction for this younger generation, who is so segregated themselves and so isolated themselves, it's making an impact on them. They're learning how to interact when they're with our seniors," Fargis remarked.

A multi-institutional study published in Science Advances details a potential blood test for identifying early-stage Alzheimer's, reports Medical Xpress . The researchers determined that adding the EPPS molecule to a solution containing amyloid-beta (Aß) peptide concentrations would break them down, suggesting that testing the broken samples from persons diagnosed with early-stage Alzheimer's against control groups would uncover differences. According to the team, this test reliably differentiates between people diagnosed with the disease and the control group. They also demonstrated that the method could be used as a way to monitor disease progression. Looking ahead, they are planning to make the technique available to doctors in clinical practice.

A study published in Neurology suggests a potential treatment for reversing memory decline in older adults, reports Earth.com . Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation (TMS) of the hippocampus improved memory to such a level that older adults achieved the same scores as younger groups on memory tests. Sixteen participants, aged 64 to 80, were administered TMS to the hippocampus, with the researchers applying the procedure to a target above the left ear by the parietal lobe. "We stimulated where brain activity is synchronized to the hippocampus, suggesting that these regions talk to each other," said Aneesha Nilakantan with the Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine. Prior to stimulation, all participants completed memory tasks to assess memory ability, learning relationships between paired items and later remembering these pairings. The older subjects recalled less than 40 percent of the correct pairings. After high-frequency stimulation for 20 minutes a day over five consecutive days, the same test yielded identical scores, regardless of participants' age.