Frequently, I receive calls from referring physicians or family members of older persons asking if an individual should see a geriatrician. Although I would love to say that every person over age 65 should have a primary care physician with training in geriatric medicine, this is not always possible.
Women develop as many heart attacks and strokes as men, but on average they develop them 10 years later than men do. This lag-time between the genders makes it difficult for cardiologists trying to decide which middle-aged and older women—none of whom have any symptoms of coronary heart disease (CHD)—should start taking aspirin or cholesterol-lowering medication.
Driving an automobile in today’s society has come to symbolize youth and independence, and it can often even form an important part of one’s personal identity. For many people, few things in life are more upsetting than losing one’s driving privileges. For older adults, ceasing driving after a lifetime of cruising around on the roads can lead not only to a sudden lack of mobility, but also to a sense of isolation and even depression, and other health problems.
Exercise can even benefit our eyes without us knowing it.
“WYSIWYG” (pronounced “wizzy-wig”) stands for What You See Is What You Get, which was first made popular by the late comedian Flip Wilson when his wonderful character “Geraldine” used the phrase to excuse her goofy and outrageous behaviors. WYSIWYG is used these days to describe the ability of a computer to print out onto paper an exact replica of whatever you are seeing on the monitor’s screen. The phrase is also popular beyond the computer world (for example, “What U See (Is What You Get)” by Britney Spears).
In the course of our day-to-day lives, we need to remember many things, often for only a few minutes or seconds at a time. Maybe it’s the next point we want to make during a conversation, or a number that we need to carry while solving an addition problem. Both of these are examples of short-term memory. Perhaps the most extreme example of good short-term memory is a chess master who can mentally explore several possible moves before choosing one that leads to checkmate.
Cognitive decline and dementia are among people’s most feared problems as they get older. We often think that brief memory lapses, or so-called “senior moments” are a sure sign of oncoming Alzheimer’s disease, the most common form of dementia.
I just saw a patient in my office who had a really inspiring story that highlights the potential benefits of exercise. Briefly: He is a 78-year-old man retired from a desk job, whose wife called me a year ago because she was afraid he was developing Alzheimer’s disease. She felt that his memory was beginning to fail.
I use the expression “give me a break” far too often. We all know what is meant by that turn of phrase, but a few people I know have taken this saying far too literately: Just in the past month, I know of three people who broke a bone—broken foot bones in two and one wrist bone in the third.