Wall Street Journal columnist Glenn Ruffenach writes that strength or resistance training may be just as important as cardio workouts for older adults' health. He suggests that the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's "Growing Stronger: Strength Training for Older Adults" publication is a good introductory resource on strength training. Ruffenach also recommends the Exercise and Physical Activity page on the National Institute on Aging's (NIA) website. "The article '4 Types of Exercise' provides a good overview of the subject, and 'Exercise and Physical Activity Tracking Tools' can help you record your progress," he notes. Ruffenach further highlights the book "Weights for 50+" by Karl Knopf, as well as NIA's "Exercise & Physical Activity: Your Everyday Guide." To start a strength training regimen, Ruffenach says "lifting something as simple as bottled water or soup cans, according to the National Institute on Aging, can give you the exercise you need."

News8000 reports that University of Wisconsin-La Crosse economics Professor John Nunley has been awarded a $131,000 grant from the U.S. Social Security Administration to study how the shifting work environment is affecting older workers. He thinks workers may rethink retirement as a result of both technological changes and the current pandemic. "COVID-19 is very likely to induce people to work longer than they would have," Nunley said. "And it was already forecast that the baby boomers would likely . . . work beyond the social security retirement age." Nunley hopes that the study will help inform policymakers, and he expects to complete it by the middle of next summer.

The South Florida Reporter suggests strategies for seniors as they recover after workouts. One tip is to cool down afterwards by walking for five minutes, stretching gently, and breathing deeply. Another recommendation is to drink water every 10 to 15 minutes during a workout, while eating extra protein shortly after exercise is advised as well. Meanwhile, wearing compression socks after workouts can ease pain from cramps and strains, help prevent injuries, relieve cardiac pressure, and speed up muscular recovery. Seniors also should take care to target another muscle group for the next workout, trying upper-body exercise one day and lower-body the next, or alternating strength training with cardio. Two to three days a week should also be set aside to relax or just take a recreational walk.

A study in Science Advances suggests an arthritis drug may lower the risk of dying for older patients with COVID-19, reports News-Medical . The study involved 83 COVID-infected patients, median age 81, who were given the rheumatoid arthritis drug baricitinib. Subjects had a 71 percent reduced risk of death versus those who had not taken the drug. Moreover, 17 percent of subjects given the drug died or needed to go on a ventilator, compared to 35 percent of controls who were not given the medication. "The study suggests this drug can aid recovery of patients with moderate to severe COVID-19, and may provide a new weapon in our arsenal against the virus," said Imperial College London Professor Justin Stebbing. "Large-scale clinical trials of this drug, to further investigate its potential, are now under way." The results indicated that baricitinib may reduce organ damage caused by inflammation, and block the virus' infiltration of human cells.

Deaths from COVID-19 among vulnerable nursing-community residents are resurging, with the virus spreading to rural communities hit by staff shortages and other challenges. Analysis of U.S. Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) data by the Wall Street Journal indicates that nursing communities reported more than 1,900 resident deaths from the virus in the last week of October, and more than 32,000 confirmed and suspected cases among staff and residents. These are the highest numbers since early August, when states including Texas and Florida were seeing spikes. An increasing number of deaths are occurring in rural and small-town communities in states like Wisconsin, North Dakota, and Montana, indicating how the virus is spreading more widely throughout the nation. Communities in rural counties reported 18 percent of nursing-community coronavirus deaths in the week ending Nov. 1, though only 10 percent of the overall population reside there. Small-town counties witnessed 17 percent of those deaths, though communities there have just 12 percent of the total residents. Generally, U.S. long-term-care communities have been associated with more than 90,000 COVID-19 deaths since the pandemic began, with such fatalities tending to account for roughly 40 percent of all COVID-19 deaths. A CMS spokeswoman said the agency has "taken an unprecedented number of public health actions to support nursing homes on COVID-19," including initiatives to smooth staffing crunches and permit more use of telehealth.

PRNewswire reports that PAR Inc. has made available an all-digital informant rating scale that enables providers to assess mental status in patients aged 55 to 90, which can help with follow-up determinations, including initiating or referring patients for comprehensive diagnostic tests. PAR's Older Adult Cognitive Screener (OACS) has the advantage of rapid test time, with administration and scoring taking only five to 10 minutes. The questionnaire is completed online by someone close to the patient, while its digital format corresponds well with current telehealth models and allows providers to continue testing even when social distancing is necessary. Test items are aligned directly with the six principal domains of neurocognitive function identified in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 5th Edition: executive function, complex attention, language, perceptual-motor, social cognition, and learning and memory. They also include a measure of activities of daily living. The OACS also can be administered and scored by nursing staff and clerical staff, and is helpful for clinical psychologists, neuropsychologists, and others who treat older adults clinically in mental health environments, including nursing communities and community mental health centers.

The Wall Street Journal reports that with a third surge of COVID-19 erupting in the United States, many public-health authorities warn the virus is so spread that pervasive new measures are needed to contain it. Johns Hopkins University said new infections topped 177,224 last Friday, while the COVID Tracking Project estimated that people hospitalized with COVID-19 reached 69,455 on Saturday. Surge factors cited by epidemiologists include colder weather driving people indoors; the return of students to college campuses; recommended but not mandated public-health measures like mask-wearing; mixed messages about the dangers of the virus; and pandemic fatigue. Now people are spreading the virus not only at large gatherings, but when they let their diligence slip by not wearing masks, going about their daily routines, or in smaller social settings they considered safe. Although most new cases are centered in the Midwest, even states and cities that had reduced the virus to low levels are struggling with spiking infections. Some state officials have imposed tougher measures, including stricter mask regulations and tighter limits for gatherings. Officials in Wisconsin and Chicago issued stay-at-home advisories, while Vermont's governor banned all public and private social gatherings outside of members of the same household. "I think at this point we actually know enough — we've learned a lot — that we're not going to have to be quite so draconian in our measures," said Celine Gounder at New York University Grossman School of Medicine and Bellevue Hospital.

Docwire News reports that older adults who regularly eat nuts have seen reduced inflammation than those who do not, according to a new study in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology . The researchers considered changes in circulating inflammatory molecules in 634 participants in the Walnuts and Health Aging trial, who were split into 324 people with walnuts in their diet and 310 controls. Walnut consumption was associated with significant reductions in the concentration of six of 10 inflammatory biomarkers versus the control diet. "Walnuts have an optimal mix of essential nutrients like the omega-3 alpha-linolenic acid, or ALA (2.5g/oz), and other highly bioactive components like polyphenols2, that likely play a role in their anti-inflammatory effect and other health benefits," said Emilio Ros with the Hospital Clinic of Barcelona. He added that the study's findings "suggest walnuts are one food that may lessen chronic inflammation, which could help to reduce the risk for heart disease — a condition we become more susceptible to as we age."

A University of Queensland (UQ) study in Nature Human Behavior suggests brain training combined with electrical stimulation may not improve cognition in older adults, reports Medical Xpress . UQ Professor Paul Dux said the results indicated that older adults did not enjoy the same benefits from brain training and electrical stimulation as their younger peers. The researchers looked at an extensive range of cognitive abilities and everyday functioning of 131 people, age 60 to 75. "Older participants improved their performance on most tasks over time whether they received brain training paired with stimulation or not," Dux noted. "There were some improvements in working memory and episodic memory for a small group of participants at follow-up assessments, but this came down to their aptitude for performing the training task and genetic factors." According to UQ's Kristina Horne, "The results continue to show that effective methods for younger adults do not necessarily translate to older adults, which could be due to structural and functional neural differences. More work will need to focus on optimizing research methods for older adults and testing individual differences to figure out those most likely to benefit."

Occupational therapist Sarah Bence writes in Healthline that virtual communication can be a tremendous benefit for people to engage with loved ones with Alzheimer's. "The first step to easier telecommunication with someone who has Alzheimer's disease is to call at the right time of day," she says. "That's when your loved one is rested and most alert." Bence also recommends against calling after sunset, and to use simpler language while avoiding open-ended questions. She further suggests speaking much more slowly and deliberately, using hand gestures, and concentrating on the present. Bence adds that photos, music, and other sensory experiences can be beneficial as well. Finally, Bence writes that "when communicating with someone who has dementia, you need to enter their reality."