Seniors Wield Canes in Martial- Arts Training

(NEWSER) - Seniors are wholeheartedly embracing Wii Bowling as a fun social activity mercifully devoid of the weight of an actual ball, the Chicago Tribune reports. “Can you think of anything better to do?” says the president of a league at a Chicago-area retirement community. “It's the piece de resistance of retirement.” That league, one of many nationwide, has grown to include 96 players—with a sub list 47 names long. More»

Residents with dementia get antipsychotics, boosting death risk: US report

(NEWSER) - Nursing homes are treating dementia sufferers with powerful antipsychotics despite FDA advice to the contrary, according to a Health and Human Services report spotted by Pro Publica . The FDA began requiring antipsychotics to carry warning labels in 2005 stating the increased death risk they pose for dementia patients. But 88% of 1.4 million Medicare claims for the drugs in 2007 were for those diagnosed with dementia. Drug companies are pushing the drugs to nursing home doctors for such treatment even though off-label marketing like that is illegal, the department’s inspector general said in a statement. More»

Chlamydia and syphilis rise faster than national average

(NEWSER) - Maybe it’s longer lives; maybe it’s Viagra. Either way, STDs are soaring among seniors—and climbing faster among older adults than within the population as a whole. Reportings of syphilis and chlamydia among those 55 and older jumped 43% between 2005 and 2009, the Orlando Sentinel finds in a study of CDC data. Syphilis climbed faster than the national average among those 55 to 64: Older adults saw a 70% rise in reported cases, 10 percentage points higher than the average for all age groups. More»

Tsunami survivors tell stories of heroism, selfishness

(NEWSER) - Younger Japanese aren’t familiar with the level of destruction wrought by the tsunami—but those who lived through World War II have seen it once before. Older residents of tsunami-hit areas long ago grappled with radiation risks and mass destruction. “I lived through the Sendai air raids,” one 75-year-old tells the New York Times , “but this is much worse.” More»

Elderly frequently transport weapons without knowing it

(NEWSER) - It may sound ridiculous, but swords hidden inside of canes are a disturbingly common problem for airport security. They’re almost always carried by elderly individuals more interested in walking than in stabbing, and the sword-wielding seniors generally profess to have been utterly unaware that they were carrying weapons, the Wall Street Journal reports. More»