Worship Is Good for Your Health

Newswise, July 10, 2017 — People who attend services at a church, synagogue or mosque are less stressed and live longer, according to new research from Vanderbilt University.

“Sometimes in health science we tend to look at those things that are always negative and say, ‘Don’t do this. Don’t do that,’” said Marino Bruce, a social and behavioral scientist and associate director of the Center for Research on Men's Health at Vanderbilt and an ordained Baptist minister.

The new research findings, however, are “encouraging individuals to participate in something,” he said.

According to the study, middle-aged (ages 40 to 65) adults – both men and women -- who attend church or other house of worship reduce their risk for mortality by 55 percent.

“Our findings support the overall hypothesis that increased religiosity – as determined by attendance at worship services – is associated with less stress and enhanced longevity,” said Bruce, a research associate professor of medicine, health and society at Vanderbilt. He is also a Baptist minister.

“We’ve found that being in a place where you can flex those spiritual muscles is actually beneficial for your health,” Bruce said.

The study, Church Attendance, Allostatic Load and Mortality in Middle-Aged Adults, was published May 16 in PLOS ONE, a multidisciplinary open access journal, using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES), collected by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Center for Health Statistics. The data are available to the public. Bruce is the main author of the study with Keith Norris, professor of medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. There are nine other co-authors.

The researchers analyzed subjects’ attendance at worship services, mortality and allostatic load. Allostatic load is a physiological measurement of factors including cardiovascular (blood pressure, cholesterol-high density lipoprotein ration and homocysteine), nutritional/inflammatory (albumin, C-reactive protein) and metabolic (waist-hip ratio, glycated hemoglobin) measures. The higher the allostatic load, the more stressed an individual was interpreted as being.

Of the 5,449 people of all races and both sexes who were surveyed, 64 percent were regular worshipers, Bruce said. Non-worshipers had significantly higher overall allostatic load scores and higher prevalence of high-risk values for three of the 10 markers of allostatic load than did church-goers and other worshipers.

The effects of attendance at worship services remained after education, poverty, health insurance and social support status were all taken into consideration, Bruce said. The study did not address the effects of frequency of worship.

“We found that they go to church for factors beyond social support,” Bruce said. “That’s where we begin to think about this idea of … compassionate thinking, that we’re … trying to improve the lives of others as well as being connected to a body larger than ourselves.”

Designing The Future Internet

 Credit: Shutterstock/monicaodo

Rutgers’ Dipankar Raychaudhuri in the forefront of creating a mobile-friendly internet that can handle billions of devices and smart gadgets

The Internet of Things includes smart objects like fitness monitors, smart watches, smartphones and home thermostats.

Newswise, October 24, 2016 — This century, our world will be flooded with hundreds of billions of smartphones, gadgets, sensors and other smart objects connected to the internet.

 They will perform myriad services, such as monitoring our health, helping run households and boosting driver safety. At Rutgers, Dipankar “Ray” Raychaudhuri is at the forefront of efforts to redesign the internet to handle the enormous increase in traffic.

“The traffic that comes from mobile devices into the internet has been increasing exponentially. It used to be 10 percent five years ago – now it’s over 50 percent,” said Raychaudhuri, a distinguished professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering in the School of Engineeringand director of the WINLAB (Wireless Information Network Lab).

“As a result, mobile wireless capacity is beginning to run out,” he said.

“That’s why cellular operators have to give you data limits. When you try to use a mobile phone and you’re downloading a web page, it stalls unexpectedly at times and you have to wait for the signal to improve. Also, there are all kinds of holes in the security system that need to be fixed.”

In 2010, the National Science Foundation (NSF) launched a Future Internet Architecture initiative and invited academics to take a fresh look at the internet. Raychaudhuri and colleagues proposed a“MobilityFirst” project aimed at reimagining the Internet, winning major NSF funding.

The MobilityFirst project, now in its sixth year, includes experts at Rutgers, the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Duke University, University of Michigan, University of Wisconsin-Madison and University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

The NSF provided $3.275 million to Rutgers from 2010 to 2014 and $2.9 million since 2014, said Raychaudhuri, the project’s principal investigator.

“The internet has a lot of duct tape on it,” he said. “It works very well, but it has some limitations, especially when you try to do more mobile communications. How to re-architect the internet is a very ambitious goal.”

The MobilityFirst project is centered on shifting from the current internet protocol (IP) – an elegant, address-based routing technology designed in the 1970s – to name-based routing, he said.

An IP address is a unique number for an internet device, according to the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN), which allocates the numbers used to route internet traffic to devices.

MobilityFirst’s name-based approach would be a fundamental change. Names would represent people, mobile phones, internet devices, small sensors or any other objects connected to the internet, said Raychaudhuri, a native of India who received his master’s and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering from the State University of New York, Stony Brook.

The benefits of MobilityFirst include more flexible services, better security, support for mobility across many technologies, efficiency and the ability to handle large volumes of traffic and data.

“We are not expecting to rip out the old internet,” Raychaudhuri said. “The internet has a lot of nice properties that we don’t want to lose.

“But one of the challenges for today’s internet is that with all these different modes of communication, some of them such as mobility services, broadcasting or content delivery are not handled very efficiently, and this could lead to flooding the network with too much data.”

The different modes of communication include the “Internet of Things” – a swiftly flowering field featuring smart objects, such as fitness monitors and smart watches, home thermostats and lighting, smartphones and devices with sensors.

Smart objects are expected to become pervasive in society, managing energy use in homes, monitoring food consumption, diagnosing health problems, monitoring cybersecurity and making driving safer, among other benefits.

Some 50 billion smart objects are anticipated by 2020, and 1 trillion sensors soon thereafter, according to the NSF.

“The Internet of Things has a lot of potential, but it needs fast and low delay networks that can ensure that data are received in time,” Raychaudhuri said.

“A lot of people are working on how to make cellular networks faster – so-called '5G' – and more functional, and many of the goals are similar to what we have in the MobilityFirst project.”

Three MobilityFirst trials are underway or planned, including one with SES, a satellite services company with a Princeton office. SES is using the MobilityFirst system to deliver content closer to its users, reducing the cost and improving user experience.

The second trial – with the University of Wisconsin-Madison – will show how an internet service provider’s circuits can be extended to offer mobile service.

The third trial, led by the University of Massachusetts-Amherst in Texas, will look into how to do targeted emergency messaging in a disaster-recovery scenario, such as following a terrorism incident or a major hurricane like Katrina in 2005.

The Internet of Things also covers virtual reality and augmented reality, with people wearing special glasses that, for example, provide directions as they walk or show the stores in a shopping center, said Raychaudhuri, who joined Rutgers in 2001 after working at a startup company called Iospan Wireless in Silicon Valley, as well as the NEC USA C&C Research Laboratory and Sarnoff/ RCA Laboratories, both in Princeton, New Jersey.

Small business owners: U.S. is facing a retirement crisis Workers have help on the way thanks to sales, economic outlook

COLUMBUS, Ohio, Feb. 5, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- A recent survey of U.S. small business owners (SBOs) reveals contradictory views on the retirement preparedness of the country's workers – yet offers an optimistic economic outlook for the next two years.

An overwhelming majority of SBOs believe that the country is in the midst of a retirement crisis. The online study, commissioned by Nationwide and conducted by Harris Poll, found that 84 percent of small business owners believe American workers are facing a retirement readiness crisis.

However, 60 percent of SBOs believe that their own employees are on track to retire.

Nearly two-thirds (63 percent) of small business owners say it's important for a business owner to provide retirement benefits, but, in reality, only a third (34 percent) of small business owners offer these benefits to their employees.

Small businesses play an outsized role in helping workers prepare for retirement.

Consider this: According to the U.S. Small Business Administration, small businesses make up 99.7 percent of all employers, employ nearly 50 percent of all private-sector workers (48.5 percent) and create 63 percent of the net new private-sector jobs in the country.¹

"Small businesses are the lifeblood of our economy and keep our communities moving forward," said Joe Frustaglio, vice president and leader of private sector retirement plan sales at Nationwide. "All workers deserve access to retirement savings options, and it is evident that we've reached a point in this country where people are starting to pay attention to the fact that a retirement savings problem exists. Employers need to provide access and education, and workers need to take advantage of what's available to them."

Help is on the way

Workers should have hope that their retirement-readiness outlook will improve. Of the SBOs who offer retirement benefits, including 401(k) plans, to their employees, 67 percent say they plan to increase their company contribution to employees' 401(k) plan.

Of the SBOs who do not currently offer retirement benefits, 30 percent say they plan to offer these benefits in the future. If that happens, then more than half (54 percent) of SBOs will offer their employees retirement benefits.

A positive economic outlook is a driving force behind this. Half of SBOs who plan to start offering retirement benefits say they will do so because they expect sales or revenue to increase in the next 12 to 24 months (50 percent), and 32 percent believe the U.S. economy will improve in the same timeframe.

Small business owners who currently offer 401(k) plans and say they will increase contributions have an even more positive outlook: 56 percent expect company sales or revenue to increase in the next 12 to 24 months, and 53 percent believe the U.S. economy will improve in that same period.

"In spite of recent market volatility, economic indicators are pointing toward continued growth for the U.S. economy in 2016," said David Berson, senior vice president and chief economist at Nationwide. "Small business owners should see Main Street benefit from the economic stability that we've enjoyed during the last few years."

Affordable Care Act: making its impact

The Affordable Care Act (ACA) is indirectly affecting workers' retirement preparedness.

Of SBOs who plan to offer retirement benefits in the future, 25 percent say the ACA has made health benefits less attractive to employees, and 18 percent say the ACA has decreased company health care costs.

Of SBOs who currently offer retirement benefits and plan to increase company contributions to their employees' 401(k) plans, 33 percent say the ACA has made health care benefits less attractive to employees, and 30 percent say the ACA has decreased the company's health care costs.

"Lower health care costs means small business owners have the option of contributing more to their employees' retirement," said Frustaglio.

As the ACA makes health care benefits less relevant to small business employees, business owners have to find a new way to recruit and retain employees. There is mounting evidence that 401(k) plans are filling that role.

Among small business owners, 59 percent disagree that retirement benefits are not important for attracting and retaining employees.

More than two in five (42 percent) of small business owners who said they plan to increase contributions agree their company's 401(k) plan is now more important for attracting and retaining employees as a result of the ACA. Similarly, about one-quarter (24 percent) of small business owners who will offer retirement benefits in the future say their company's 401(k) plan is now more important for attracting and retaining employees because of the ACA.

"As the health care insurance marketplace becomes more commoditized, employers are looking for new tools to attract and retain key employees," said Frustaglio. "Employers who are using 401(k) plans as a recruitment tool are ahead of the game because we're seeing more company owners asking how they can do this."

Access to 401(k) plans

Small business owners who are not currently offering a 401(k) plan to their employees should talk to a financial advisor about finding a plan that's right for their employees and business.

A vast majority, 80 percent, of small business owners say they cannot compete with a Fortune 500 company's benefits, and nearly half, 48 percent, feel they could afford a customized 401(k) plan to meet their small business needs.

"Small companies not being competitive with large corporations in terms of employee benefits is just not true in today's world," said Frustaglio. "No matter the size of the business, from one with 33,000 associates like Nationwide to the corner grocery store, today's 401(k) plans allow for customization and access to the same options with the same tools for all employees."

Frustaglio recommends that small business owners who already offer retirement benefits to their employees should do a plan review every year with their advisor. The review should include an analysis of the plan's components and investment options for their employees.

Methodology:
The 2015 Small Business Owner Study was conducted online by Harris Poll on behalf of Nationwide between June 8 and June 19, 2015, among 500 U.S. small business owners, defined as companies with less than 300 employees. Results were weighted to be representative of small business owners in the U.S. Research participants were drawn from the Harris Poll Online (HPOL) research panel and partner sample. Because the sample is based on those who were invited to participate in the HPOL panel, estimates of theoretical sampling error cannot be calculated. Percentages were rounded to the nearest whole percent. Differences in the sums of combined categories/answers were due to rounding.

About Nationwide
Nationwide, a Fortune 100 company based in Columbus, Ohio, is one of the largest and strongest diversified insurance and financial services organizations in the U.S. and is rated A+ by both A.M. Best and Standard & Poor's. The company provides a full range of insurance and financial services, including auto, commercial, homeowners, farm and life insurance; public and private sector retirement plans, annuities and mutual funds; banking and mortgages; pet, motorcycle and boat insurance. For more information, visit www.nationwide.com.

Nationwide, Nationwide is on your side, Join the Nation and the Nationwide N and Eagle are service marks of Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. ©2015

Forgetfulness or Alzheimer's? How to Tell the Difference When Visiting Elderly Loved Ones This Holiday Season

Newswise, December 29, 2015-- The holidays are a time when families get together -- sometimes after long periods apart.

"If you haven’t seen your elderly loved one in a while, you might be more likely to notice changes in their memory and behavior that worries you," said Gregory Jicha, M.D., Ph.D., of the UK Sanders-Brown Center on Aging.

Look for these early signs of dementia in an elderly loved one:

• It's normal for someone to forget a date or a name but suddenly remember it later. However, pay attention if they ask for the same information repeatedly, or struggle to recall important dates (like their own birthdate).

• Are they having trouble following a recipe? Problem-solving skills can deteriorate in someone with Alzheimer's.

• Do they get lost when driving to a familiar location? If they have difficulty completing familiar tasks, it might be a sign of AD.

• Healthy people occasionally struggle to find the right word, but using the wrong word -- particularly if they call something by the wrong name -- merits further scrutiny.

• Poor judgment: are they giving lots of money to telemarketers or charities?

• Poor hygiene.

• Personality changes: are they suddenly irrational, fearful, or suspicious?

If you see any behavior that worries you, talk to your doctor.

AARP Brain Health Survey Reveals Nearly Half of People Are Not Doing the Most Important Activities to Support Brain Health New Survey Results Released with the Launch of the Global Council on Brain Health

WASHINGTON, Oct. 28 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- In AARP's latest survey on brain health, it found that although virtually every adult age 40 and over (98%) believes it is important to maintain or improve their brain health, only about half (56%) are doing one of the two most important activities to support their brain health—engaging in exercise and eating a healthy diet. 

According to a 2011 study by the Mayo Clinic and a 2010 study published in the Nature Reviews Neuroscience Journal, engaging in aerobic exercise regularly and eating a healthy diet are the two most important activities to maintain and improve brain health. 

To help empower people to maintain and improve their cognitive health, AARP is launching the Global Council on Brain Health (GCBH)—an independent collaborative of scientists, doctors, scholars and policy experts. This collaborative will provide trusted information on what actions people can take to support their brain health through quarterly white papers, scientific reviews and other research.

"It's clear that people want to know how to keep their brains active and healthy as they age, but they need a trusted source that can help them make sense of all the latest developments in brain health science," saidSarah Lock, AARP Senior Vice President, Policy, Research and International Affairs. 

"The Global Council on Brain Health will help people understand what real-life approaches work best and empower them to live brain-healthy lifestyles."

The GCBH is an independent collaborative convened by AARP working together with Age UK—the United Kingdom's largest charity dedicated to helping everyone make the most of later life—that will address a critical social issue and help people live their best lives. 

The collaborative will build on the Institute of Medicine's Cognitive Aging report from April 2015, which provided a basis for understanding the aging brain and described opportunities for actions. 

Members are eminent experts from leading research institutions working in the fields of neuroscience and geriatrics who will address the full range of factors that can impact brain health and examine key priority issue areas—such as physical exercise, mental engagement, stress levels, and medications and supplements.

Saint Louis University Launches Missouri’s First Palliative Care Fellowship

SLUCare Geriatrician: ‘Treat the Whole Person’

Newswise, September 28, 2015 — ST. LOUIS – As the number of older adults climbs at a faster pace in Missouri than nationally, Saint Louis University has started the first hospice and palliative medicine fellowship program in the state.

Palliative care physicians care for patients who need active treatment to manage a serious disease as well as those at the end of their lives. Many older adults receive palliative care, and Medicare recently announced plans to reimburse physicians for talking with their patients about end of life issues.

SLUCare Physician Group geriatrician Dulce Cruz Oliver, M.D., who is board-certified in hospice and palliative medicine and an assistant professor of internal medicine at SLU School of Medicine, directs of SLU’s new fellowship, which began in July.

“During the past five years that I have been an assistant professor of internal medicine at SLU, I’ve found that the more I worked with elders, the more passionate I have become about caring for those who are seriously ill, especially patients who are close to the end of their lives,” she said. “I love what we do and appreciate the opportunity to talk with our patients and really help them.”

The Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship will train one physician this year in the subspecialty that cares for those who have chronic, life-changing illnesses like cancer, congestive heart failure or chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Fourth year medical school students and residents also will receive training through a palliative care educational elective that is related to the program, Cruz added.

“Palliative care helps a patient adapt to all of the changes that come with a specific disease,” Cruz says. “This field creates an awareness of how important it is for doctors to treat the whole patient – not just his or her medical symptoms – to talk with and listen to patients.

“We need to hear from patients about their expectations and goals, and spend time with them to help them understand what is going on. For instance, we might explain to a patient how to complete an advanced directive or help a patient who has COPD deal with shortness of breath without taking a traditional medicine. We might help someone who is no longer able to work make that transition.”

In addition to the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship, Cruz has started the Supportive Care Clinic, a pilot program held twice a month for Saint Louis University Cancer Center patients who are referred by their physicians. “It’s not only a physician who provides the care, you need a team that might include a chaplain and social worker,” says Cruz, who is part of the treatment team.

Through specialized sessions, patients learn to experience their best possible quality of life as they deal with the emotional and psychological challenges presented by a cancer diagnosis. For example, they might explore ways to manage their pain that don’t involve taking drugs or strategies to cope with the anxiety that can accompany being diagnosed and treated for cancer. Cruz sees the service as an important addition to medical treatment, and is encouraged by how well the pilot program is being received.

Cruz’s interest in palliative care complements her medical specialty of geriatrics. As a little girl in Puerto Rico, Cruz saw her grandmother caring for members of their village who became ill, which inspired her to become a physician who takes the time to listen to the older adults she treats.

“My grandmother was a santigüera – a healer for her village in Lares, Puerto Rico. People would come to her with medical problems like joint pain or illnesses like shingles, and she prayed on them and gave them a natural remedy. I saw the impact of complementary medicine on our friends and family who looked to my grandmother for loving care.”

During her internal medicine residency, Cruz conducted research on palliative care, becoming intellectually drawn to the area of medicine. But after her medical training, her connection to the field became deeply personal as she watched a close friend battle ovarian cancer.

“The many difficulties and challenges she endured caused her and all of us around her to suffer. All of the things she went through would have been better if there had been a good palliative care program in place. I’m committed to training others to change the way palliative care is delivered in this city,” she said.

Cruz recently was selected as one of only 10 physicians or nurses in the nation into Cambia Health Foundation’sSojourns Scholar Leadership Program, which cultivates the next generation of health care providers to advance the field of palliative care.

The Sojourns Scholar program will support Cruz’s work at the Hospice and Palliative Medicine Fellowship and Supportive Care Center, in addition to funding professional development. Cruz will received mentoring in patient care from the Center to Advance Palliative Care, work on a research project at the National Institute of Aging and attend the Harvard Macy Institute to learn how to use new technologies to enhance the quality of her teaching.

Established in 1836, Saint Louis University School of Medicine has the distinction of awarding the first medical degree west of the Mississippi River. The school educates physicians and biomedical scientists, conducts medical research, and provides health care on a local, national and international level. Research at the school seeks new cures and treatments in five key areas: infectious disease, liver disease, cancer, heart/lung disease, and aging and brain disorders.

Switzerland Best Place in the World for Older People to Live

• UK enters top ten | • All regions of world represented in lower rankings | • Experts call for more age specific data about older people’s lives

September 10, 2015--Switzerland is the best place in the world for older people to live, closely followed by Norway and Sweden, according to a new report from HelpAge International, working in partnership with the University of Southampton.

The Global AgeWatch Index assesses the social and economic wellbeing of the older population in 96 countries around the world. The Index represents 91 per cent of the world’s population aged 60 and over, amounting to some 901 million people. It measures the lives of older people in four key areas: income; health; education and employment and the enabling environment.

The report highlights that:

• Switzerland (1) tops the Index, alongside Norway (2), Sweden (3), Germany (4) and Canada (5). The UK (10) is also among the top 10 this year, along with the USA (9).

• Apart from Japan (8) all the top 10 countries are advanced countries in Western Europe and North America. Afghanistan (96) is ranked last.

• Countries investing in improving the lives of older people are at the top of the Index. They are implementing policies which promote social pensions, universal healthcare and enabling physical and social environments for older people.

• All the world’s regions are represented in the lowest quarter, showing that improvements in lives of older people are required in countries across the world.

• African countries make up half of those with low income security rankings and poor health results – requiring more research and policy interventions in this region than any other.

• Greece (79), Venezuela (76) and Turkey (75) are in a similar position to sub-Saharan African and Asian countries.

Professor Asghar Zaidi, of the Centre for Research on Ageing at the University of Southampton, led the development of the Index, working alongside HelpAge International. 

He comments: “This Index is vital in representing the lives of older people in countries around the world as it enables us to compare not just their pension income and health but also the age friendly environments in which they live. The Index has also shown that a number of countries still lack vital statistics of older people and we would like to see them feature in the report in the future.

“The new post-2015 UN Sustainable Development Goals offer us a great 

opportunity to start building a better future for all ages by framing agendas and public policies over the next 15 years.

 If older people are to be truly represented in these goals, we need to see more data broken down by age and gender – to help us more effectively understand and address needs specific to this age group.”

By the time the Sustainable Development Goals reach their fruition in 2030, the proportion of people aged 60 and over globally is predicted to rise to 16.5 per cent, up to three-quarters of whom will live in developing countries.

“The Index is a step on the road to people fulfilling their potential at every stage of life,” said Toby Porter, Chief Executive of HelpAge International. 

“Today, in all countries of the world, the proportion of older people is growing. By 2050, 46 of the 96 countries in the Index will have 30 per cent or more of their populations aged 60 and over. We have just 35 years to prepare.”

Further findings:

The Global AgeWatch Index 2015, also shows us that the gap in life expectancy at age 60 between countries at the top and bottom of the Index has widened from 5.7 years in 1990 to 7.3 years in 2012. People aged 60 in Japan have the highest life expectancy and live on average an additional 26 years, while people aged 60 in Afghanistan, live on average an additional 16 years. Average life expectancy at 60 across all featured countries is 21 years.

The combination of a lifetime of gender discrimination, combined with inequality in old age, can have a devastating effect on older women. Globally 46.8 per cent of women aged 55 to 64 are economically active, compared with 73.5 per cent of men.

 In addition, women usually earn less than men, so opportunities to save for later life are limited, increasing their risk of poverty in old age.

Poverty rates among older people also vary dramatically. 

The Republic of (South) Korea currently has the highest poverty rate among older people at 48.5 per cent, followed by Venezuela at 38 per cent, Australia at 33.4 per cent, Bolivia at 30.3 per cent and Honduras at 28.9 per cent, despite significant variations in Gross National Income per capita. At the other end of the spectrum countries with low old age poverty rates are equally varied. The poverty rate among older people in South Africa is 12.17 per cent, Mauritius, 6.4 per cent, India, 5.1 per cent, Lao People's Democratic Republic, 4.5 per cent, Czech Republic, 1.7 per cent and the lowest, Iceland at 1.6 per cent.

Evidence from the Global AgeWatch Index shows governments investing in population ageing, and that are planning for the future, are at the top of the Index. These countries score highly on all four domains. 

They are carrying out research, resourcing and implementing policies which support wellbeing i.e. social pensions, accessible health care, flexible working, life-long learning and creating an enabling environment for all ages. This approach, more common in high income countries, is also apparent in some middle-ranking countries such as Chile (21), Argentina (31) and Mauritius (42).