Aging
Dear Doctor: I’m 81 and usually go to bed by 10:30 p.m. and, though I would like to sleep until 7 or 7:30 a.m., I wake up after 5 or 5 ½ hours. I’ve tried 3 milligrams of melatonin, then 5 milligrams. What else can I do?
Dear Doctor: I’ve been taking niacin for years to lower my cholesterol. Do you think it really helps? First, let’s look at niacin and its role in the body. Niacin is a B vitamin that the body needs to create the [...]
Dear Doctors: Our dad insists that he doesn’t want any heroic or extraordinary measures taken if he gets really sick, and he wants one of us children to relay this message to his medical team. Should he have a living will? Dr. Elizabeth Ko and [...]
Dear Doctor: Are there natural remedies for arthritis? Exercises that could help? My pain is in the upper arms and shoulders. Osteoarthritis, the kind that you’re describing, is the most common type of arthritis. It’s caused by degeneration of the cartilage [...]
Alzheimer’s disease is the much-feared, most common cause of memory problems in the elderly. Sometimes, however, memory problems are caused by something else entirely, including conditions that can be treated if diagnosed, according [...]
Family and professional caregivers are key to ensuring that people with Alzheimer’s disease and other forms of dementia live safely, comfortably and with dignity. Given the nation’s rapidly aging population, more people in the coming years will develop Alzheimer’s and dementia with the memory loss, agitation, behavior changes [...]
My parents, who are in their late 70s, are both now using hearing aids. This makes me wonder – when should a hearing test become part of an annual checkup? Our ears connect us to the world [...]
According to the Pew Research Center, older adults face unique barriers to using and adopting new technology. Some 34% of older internet users say they have little to no confidence in their ability to use electronic devices to perform online tasks, while 48% of seniors say they need help [...]
A study by researchers at UCLA’s Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior recently found that a healthy diet, regular physical activity and a normal [...]
There is no right age to switch to a geriatric specialist, but Dr. David Reuben, chief of the division of geriatrics at UCLA Health, says there are guidelines that can help determine whether [...]
