Ageing

In 2010 in Belgium 549 was the number of cases reporting a fraud by fake policemen against the elderly, nearly double as much as the previous year. The alert is sent out by the Federal Police that has published a series of guidelines to follow against false agents knocking on [...]

In Belgium, 3 workers between 55 and 64 years old of 4 fall ill before retiring. From a survey conducted by the Maisons Médicales appears that most suffer from a chronic disease. Then there are muscles bones problems, mental illness and cardiovascular ones.

In Belgium, it is estimated that by 2015 will be 500 thousand job vacancies. The cause lies mainly in the population aging and in the retirement of the workers majority. According to the Fédération des Entreprises de Belgique (FEB), the phenomenon will affect more the health and the catering sectors.

21% of Belgian people daily using a social network have more than 55. In total, they are over 5 million (64%) and, not surprisingly, is Facebook dominates with almost 60% of users. This was announced in a study by InSites Consulting. It points out, however, as Belgium is still below [...]

Is it right to sacrifice our life to get a pension and then being forced to share it with your ex-wife? If you think  that, that’s a real injustice,  avoid moving  to Belgium. The Costitutional Court of Brussels, in fact, has recently ruled on a divorce case, in which the [...]

Active ageing and intergenerational solidarity are the issues on which European Union focus in 2012 for the common reflection. To help to fully well participate to the debate it will be useful to introduce notions and key worlds we are coming across. Ageing: according to last surveys conducted throughout Europe, the perception [...]

In the EU the employment rate for persons aged 60-64 in ten years increased by 8%. From 23% in 2000 to 31% in 2010. It was revealed by Eurostat that also underlines how the percentage is very different between states. It ranges from 13% in Hungary to 61% in Sweden.

In Europe, 53% of citizens reject the idea of a compulsory retirement age, and 61% think that people should be allowed to continue working once they have reached the official retirement age. In addition, only one in three Europeans agrees with the idea that the official retirement age will have [...]

How can we keep the the mind of a person with Alzheimer's 24 hours of 24 always active? A treacherous challenge without increasing the already exorbitant cost of health care staff in nursing homes. A puzzle that in Scandinavia seems to have found a solution. Recently, in fact, ultra-sophisticated robots [...]

Years of life peacefully surrounded by the loved ones is the dream of all those over 70. In Austria, however, the domestic environment is often a real nightmare for many older people. Confined to the role of chintzy, threatened and sometimes even beaten, more than living like sweet guests, in [...]

Age makes a difference also in regards to the proper diet. In France, only 16% of those aged between 18 and 25 states to follow the nutrition of the health authorities. Compared to 52% of the over-65. These are the latest results of the Étude NutriNet-Santé.

They are between 50 and 65, enjoy good health and free time to do what makes them more satisfied. Here is the idyllic portrayal of French middle-aged men and women. 64% declared to be in search of pleasant emotions in what is considered to be the happiest time of a [...]

A medal for active aging. The program "Bien vieilli vivre ensemble", promoted by the Ministry of social cohesion,  decorated 38 French cities with the label “grandfather friendly" for the good practices put in place to combat the social exclusion of older people. The most virtuous villages of 2011 have invested [...]

They have more than sixty years, they are lone and  they are just looking for company, friendship and why not, love. In France, meeting  web-sites for old people are rocketing steadily. Thanks to three web portals: netSenior.fr, senior.proximeety.com, senior-rencontre.com,  retired people, widowed or just single person over sixty, of both [...]

Adapting homes to the needs of people with limited mobility, improving the long-term care system  and the home care. These are just some of the proposals put forward by the French Inter-ministries Committee for non self-sufficient people. According to the report the number of elderly with low autonomy is likely [...]

The first generation of Muslim immigrants in Germany is aging and in need of care. To try to answer this new emergency in Berlin just opened the International Hospital of Kreuzberg, reserved only for patients with dementia who have Turkish or Arab origins. Specific feature of this structure is to [...]

Those suffering from health problems hardly decide to travel. And in fact, seniors who make trips abroad are few. A German cruise company now proposes instead a route in the Baltic Sea for people suffering from various physical ailments. On board, indeed, as well as being a pharmacy and a [...]

A crossword a day keeps Alzheimer's out of the way, or at least slows down its symptoms. It is the result of a new therapy called MAKS. That replaces traditional medicinal with gardening, sudoku, song or kitchen. For a year, in fact, groups of patients have participated in such activities [...]

Against German grandparents' laziness comes the "Bewegungsnetzwerk 50 plus ". A program sponsored by the Ministry of the Family and the Olympic Committee with the aim to provide tailored services and educate elderly people to the sport. An initiative than ever necessary, especially when one considers that in Germany only [...]

Serenely accompany their guests to a better life. It is the goal of the first private intergenerational hospice opened up in Germany on the initiative of an expert in mystical traditions. In the nursing home Ursa Paul, in fact, people of all ages are physically and psychologically prepared to peacefully [...]

For most of Irish over 65 retirement comes with depression. A phenomenon that is however underestimated by relatives who mistake the real disease for bad moods typically found among seniors. The alarm is sent out by the Trinity College that has carried out an ad hoc study on a sample [...]

The number of elderly people living alone and at risk of fuel poverty in Northern Ireland this winter has risen by 20% on last year, that is according to a new survey by the Northern Ireland’s strategic housing authority, the Housing Executive. Almost two-thirds of older people will not be [...]

84% of elderly people from the age of 65 to 74 are at risk of relative poverty in Ireland. That’s according to a report released today by Queen’s University for the Older & Bolder. The latter is an NGO dedicated to developing a national strategy on ageing. Elderly people are [...]

In Rome, the deadline for the renewal of the over-70 cards issued in 2011 has been extended. This is a benefit reserved for people aged over 70 years with an income less than € 15,000. All interested parties may go, from 6 to 29 February, to ATAC ticket offices which [...]

The Emilia-Romagna is one of the oldest Italian regions. People aged over 65 years are more than 986,000. Equal to 22.3% of the total population. Of these, 517,000 are aged over 75 years. The aging index, ie the ratio between the elderly and the younger generation (0-14 years), is 167.3. [...]

In Italy, families spend, on average, up to € 1,400 per month for the charge of a residential care facility for the elderly. This was revealed by a Spi-Cgil survey, which also shows that the waiting time for the access to this type of structures is still too long: from [...]

In Rome, there is a Municipal service with the aim of helping older people to defend themselves from frauds and scams. This is a mobile camper with a team consisting of lawyers, psychologists, psychotherapists and social workers on board, which moves in the various suburbs of the city in order [...]

In Italy, the National Observatory on the Family, has produced a study that analyzes intergenerational relationships within families. What emerges above all is that the grandparents are those who mainly take care of their grandchildren. But such efforts are not rewarded by their relatives. Who, when needed, find it hard [...]

The elderly is not the same than in the past. For example, older people can now enjoy standards of living and lifestyles absolutely unthinkable in comparison with thirty years ago, thanks to increasing life expectancy and a general improvement of health conditions. The change has had obvious repercussions in every [...]

The progressive vision loss in old age may fall into a state of real depression. Many older men and women, in fact, find themselves in a short time having to deal with the loss of the known references and the inability to perform simple daily activities. As a result of [...]

In Spain, in 2009, 1438 people aged over 65 years old have lost their lives falling. Among the causes: the loss of reflexes, slow movements, arthritis, hearing problems. In addition to diseases such as Parkinson's and dementia. The Sociedad Española de Geriatría y Gerontología (SEGG)  announces, further, that an elder [...]

The lengthening of life expectancy in West countries has actually upset  the traditional social roles. Especially among the vanishing middle classes. The validation arrives from Spain. While parents are super-busy at work, with a lighter pay packet, are the grandparents the ones  who have to take care night and day [...]

In Spanish hospitals the use of straightjackets to pin down patients suffering from “psychomotor restlessness” is on the agenda. Especially towards dependant older people and dementia affected ones (60% of cases). An outdated practice in most of Westernized countries, but still fashionable in Spain due to an outright vacation legis [...]

Against discrimination towards aged homosexuals, Spain is about to introduce a gay-friendly old people’s home. Indeed, next January in the municipality of Rivas- Maciamadrid, 20 km from Madrid, is going to be inaugurated the Residencial XXIV de Diciembre. It is a real ad hoc retirement home meant for over 65 [...]

In the UK, in 10 years, the cases of sexually transmitted diseases among the over-50 are duplicates. The research, published in the British Medical Journal, shows an increase in infections such as chlamydia, gonorrhea, syphilis and herpes, up to full-blown cases of AIDS. It shows the non-use of condoms as [...]

The risk of falling is 3 times higher among older people with dementia who use psychoactive drugs. Often suffering from depression, these patients are treated with medications that, however, have side effects like dizziness and instability. These are the results of a British research that proposes the use of alternative [...]

New technologies applied to medicine may lead results unthinkable until recently. This is the case of the so-called "intelligent pill" that can indicate precisely when and how taking a particular drug. How it works is soon told. The patient simply has to swallow a special "placebo tablet" with a microchip, [...]

45 years old is the age in which our brain begins to lose the basic intellectual faculties. Researchers at University College London have found a 3.6% decline in mental thinking functions of men and women aged between 45 and 49 who were not suffering from any disease.

Thinking that bending the elbow is only a vice of youth is a fake myth. At least in United Kingdom. Where in the last decade there has been a steady increase of the number of the over 65 years old people hospitalized with problems linked to alcohol. To the point [...]

Elderly people feel more and more young. According to a survey carried out by the London School of Economics, 72% of people aged 65 and above from 11 countries (including Germany, Italy, France, Spain and the UK) do not consider themselves to be ‘old’ until the age of 80 years. [...]

An estimated 424 000 fatal falls occur each year, making it the second leading cause of unintentional injury death, after road traffic injuries. This was revealed by the World Health Organisation, which suggests that adults older than 65 suffer the greatest number of fatal falls. But who is at risk [...]

Immigration and demography are an intricate skein of problems difficult to disentangle and in which is not even easy to find one’s bearings. A brainteaser that was born from the original sin of the coarse blunder of reverend Malthus at the end of ‘700: population is necessarily limited by the [...]

The population aging will have a strong and increasing impact on the welfare systems of the Old Continent. To the point that, private investments, might significantly increase in a field that all along has always been under the expertise of the public spending. In fact, the companies that have already [...]

Alzheimer's, dementia, cognitive impairment and neurological diseases may be developed later in life more frequently in people having depression. It has been shown by a study of American Academy of Neurology, conducted on a  949 people with an average of 79, who were followed for up to 17 years. The [...]