Living Well

Grandparent – Grandchild relationship reduces depression in both

http://i.telegraph.co.uk/multimedia/archive/02242/B347Y7_2242053b.jpg

The relationship between grandparents and grandchildren has significant effects on well being of both.

Sara M. Moorman, an assistant professor the Institute on Aging at Boston College, who present this study at the 108th Annual Meeting of the American Sociological Association, said that they found that a close grandparent-adult grandchild relationship was associated with fewer symptoms of depression for both generations.

She said that the greater emotional support grandparents and adult grandchildren received from one another, the better their psychological health.

The study also revealed that giving tangible support to or receiving it from their grandchildren affected the psychological well-being of grandparents but not grandchildren.

Tangible support, also called functional solidarity or instrumental support includes anything from rides to the store and money to assistance with household chores and advice.

Moorman, who co-authored the study with Jeffrey E. Stokes, a PhD candidate in sociology at Boston College, said hat grandparents who experienced the sharpest increases in depressive symptoms over time received tangible support, but did not give it.

She asserted that there is a saying that it’s better to give than to receive.

Moorman said that their results support that folk wisdom – if a grandparent gets help, but can’t give it, he or she feels badly.

She explained that the grandparents expect to be able to help their grandchildren, even when their grandchildren are grown, and it’s frustrating and depressing for them to instead be dependent on their grandchildren.

The sample was comprised of 376 grandparents and 340 grandchildren. The average grandparent was born in 1917 and the average grandchild in 1963, making them 77 years old and 31 years old, respectively, at the midpoint of the study in 1994.

 

Are you in stress? Walk in woods or look at the green environment

Have a leisurely walk in the woods or look at the green bushes will help you to manage stress levels, lower your BP and help fight heart ailments, a new study has revealed.

The researchers at the University of Essex have made experiments, and discovered that just looking at images of forests helped to reduce strains.

Dr. Valerie Gladwell with a team of scientists carried out experiments on volunteers and measures their stress levels.

The participants in the research were asked to walk in specified “green environments” at lunchtime slept better that night.

After eight weeks, the researchers observed that the volunteers had lower blood pressure and perceived stress.

Gladwell said that her team`s research has shown that “green environments” can be an effective stress-buster.

She asserted that if they can encourage more people to enjoy the great outdoors it may help increase their levels of physical activity and, therefore, could also be a powerful tool to help fight cardiovascular disease.

Shortened lives where you live matters

A new study shows it makes a lot of difference in long and healthy living where Americans live.

For example peoples living in Hawaii are luckier because they have peaceful weather and gorgeous scenery. Here senior citizens can expect a little more than 16 years of healthy life after 65 and Women can expect more than 17 years.

On the other hand, Mississippi’s seniors have less than 11 years of healthy life. Older black Mississippians have only eight years, lower than anywhere, oddly, African-Americans in Iowa, with seven years.

The national average is 14 years. That is, the average 65-year-old American can expect good health until age 79 – a little more for women, a little less for men.

The new analysis, done by the National Center for Health Statistics, show Americans’ healthy life expectancy. But males in the Midwest, Texas and North Dakota don’t do so well either. The Northeast, Florida, Upper states and the West have more healthy seniors.At age 65, Americans can expect 14 more healthy years on average. But that varies a lot depending on where you live.

 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

The study’s authors say the life of people living in States vary so much even there is a good Environment. But doing healthy behaviors, such as exercise and avoid smoking; preventive care, such as vaccinations, cancer screening and blood pressure treatment; medical care when needed.

JAMA, the journal of the American Medical Association published earlier this month and compared the United States with 34 other developed countries. Its part of an ambitious effort by a group called the U.S. Burden of Disease Collaborators.

The U.S. rank declined on every measure of longevity and good health between 1990 and 2010. On “healthy life expectancy,” the US went from 14th place to 26th– while it’s already disproportionately high health care spending spiraled ever higher.

“Despite a massive increase in health expenditures,” wrote Dr. , editor of that volume, “the nation’s health has improved less than was promised or expected. The benefits have not appeared to justify the costs.”

The U.S. health care dilemma, Fineberg wrote, “remains strikingly unaltered” nearly four decades later.