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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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OP
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
Gifted adults can be sandwiched between raising gifted children and caring for aging gifted parents. Two studies on aging which may be of interest: Environmental Gerontology - Thinking ahead and planning home environments to accommodate common changes which occur with age may help seniors remain independent and age in place. Dunedin Longitudinal StudyThe team... found that nearly 80 per cent of adult economic burden can be attributed to just 20 per cent of the Study members.
The researchers determined that this “high cost” group accounted for 81 per cent of criminal convictions, 66 per cent of welfare benefits, 78 per cent of prescription fills and 40 per cent of excess obese kilograms.
...members of this group can be identified with high accuracy when still young children.
At age three, each Study member took part in a paediatric examination that included a neurological evaluation and assessments of verbal comprehension, language development, motor skills, and social behaviour. Looking back at the test results, the team found that scoring poorly on these tests was a good predictor of going on to be in the “high cost” group.
“We also found that members of this group tended to have grown up in more socioeconomically deprived environments, experienced child maltreatment, scored poorly on childhood IQ tests and exhibited low childhood self-control,” he says. Thinking ahead and planning home environments to nurture toddlers' social and cognitive development may also help stave off changes which occur with aging: A person's chronological age may differ from their biological age. The book The Gifted Group in Later Maturity may also be of interest. It covers the group from the Terman study, in their 60's and 70's.
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Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 3
Junior Member
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Junior Member
Joined: Oct 2016
Posts: 3 |
I would like to have an extended discussion about making aging easier. Im 61 and been in hospital 3x because of overwhelm. I dont understand why a gifted person can be so dysfunctional. I saw the study of the effect of stress on dna and the solution was support groups. Telomeres, a marker of age, actually grow back. I am in the mountains and have met another gifted person but she was my reiki healer and i cant afford her
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
Welcome! While most of the forum members are focused on education issues... as for making aging easier, I think it would be great to include "aging" as part of high school "Health" curricula, and to do so in a manner which emphasizes respect for each individual and valuing the wisdom which often accompanies the perspective of many years. Education could help build a positive foundation for a supportive view of aging in our society. This may also help young adults plan their home environments for the eventual, inevitable aging process. Many of these environmental accommodations are also handy safety features when raising children. - lever door handles, rather than round doorknobs - electric light switches at a height accessible from wheelchair (lower than I've seen many places) - electric outlets at a height accessible from wheelchair (higher than I've seen many places) - ergonomic kitchen utensils and cutlery - wider hallways - abundant use of sturdy banisters, railings, handrails, grab-bars - Here is a list of Common Types of Home Modifications for the ElderlyAs with other aspects of giftedness, each individual is unique. It is possible that a gifted person may experience cognitive decline... may be more aware of it than others... may work hard to develop coping mechanisms and new ways of doing things... and may feel overwhelmed by this. A person may need to set a comfortable pace with a bit more "downtime" for processing between activities. As you mentioned, to lower stress, support groups can be helpful, similar to healthy family relationships, or friendships... each can provide genuine interest, affirmation, validation of our experiences, and unconditional acceptance. Telomeres... interesting that they can regenerate or lengthen after shortening... making aging somewhat reversible to an extent. This article, Crucial Brain Health Tips from 15 Experts has lots of good reminders about exercise, healthy fats, food choices, and sleep. This back issue of a newsletter from a law firm features an article " Baby Boomers are Turning Gray", which reminds readers of ADA protection for disabilities acquired with age. Personally, I think it would be great if insurance could help cover the costs of alternative/preventative health services, such as your reiki healer. This old post discuses Intelligence and Aging, and features a NYT article from 2012. Here is a SENG article, Growing Old Gifted, also from 2012. SENG also has an excellent article on considering the hospital experience of gifted elders. 100 Words of Wisdom by Dr. Joy Navan foreshadowed the article " Gifted Comes of Age" and development of the SENG Gifted Elders Initiative in 2014.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
The Harvard longitudinal study on adult development... happiness... and what makes a good life yielded several papers, including this 11-page paper by Landes et al, dated 2014, on generativity and [b][i]adjustment to aging[/i][/b]. This 11-page paper is linked in point #2 of the article here: ... those who engaged in what psychologists call “generativity,” or an interest in establishing and guiding the next generation, were happier and better adjusted than those who didn’t. The correlation between generativity and adjustment was also found in study participants who experienced an adversarial childhood, such as harsh parenting or low SES: Resilience has been defined as successful adaption, or the ability to maintain healthy psychological and physical life functioning, despite the presence of significant adversity, loss, or trauma... So defined, resilience is not recovery, as the effects of adversity are not necessarily eliminated ... However, resilient individuals are able to “bounce back” after highly stressful experiences and continue to engage in positive growth, which suggests that the effects of childhood adversity might be moderated by the development of resilience in adulthood
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we use one measure of midlife psychosocial growth, generativity, as an indicator of resilience
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The achievement of midlife generativity mediated the effects of harsh parenting and lower childhood social class on later life adjustment to aging. In addition, generativity moderated the adverse effect of lower social class on adjustment to aging. TED Talk by Robert Waldinger Filmed November 2015 at TEDxBeaconStreet: What keeps us happy and healthy as we go through life? If you think it's fame and money, you're not alone – but, according to psychiatrist Robert Waldinger, you're mistaken. As the director of a 75-year-old study on adult development, Waldinger has unprecedented access to data on true happiness and satisfaction. In this talk, he shares three important lessons learned from the study as well as some practical, old-as-the-hills wisdom on how to build a fulfilling, long life.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
Why you should take a senior on a bike rideby Hailey Reissman Mar 16, 2017 ideas.TED.com Just taking daily trips out of the house — especially trips that are not by car — is associated with better health for older adults.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
Another resource which may be of interest on the topic of aging: Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation (IHME) offers an interactive US Health Map, including longevity. This was one of many links recently received through an online subscription to ScienceDaily.
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
Have you seen the Hoagies Blog Hop on Gifted Elder Issues? A few more resources which may be of interest: 1) BrainFacts.org has a collection of online articles on aging, including Aging in Different Ways and other articles linked from that article's webpage. 2) Dementia Today is an online newsletter with an extensive collection of articles. 3) Research by Dr. Bredesen, conducted through a joint effort of UCLA and the Buck Institute, indicates that memory loss associated with Alzheimer's may be reversible: article on the website of Buck Institute for research on aging. Related book, published August 2017: The End of Alzheimer's: The First Program to Prevent and Reverse Cognitive Decline, by Dale E. Bredesen, MD. 4) TED Talk, May 19, 2017: " What you can do to prevent Alzheimers", by Lisa Genova, neuroscientist and author of Still Alice. Tips include: - Avoid sleep deprivation, experience deep sleep. - Maintain cardiovascular health. High blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, smoking, high cholesterol increase risk... while aerobic exercise, heart-healthy Mediterranean lifestyle and diet can help counter. - Develop neuro-plasticity and cognitive reserve: Be a lifelong learner, engage regularly in mentally stimulating activities. This creates new alternative pathways in the brain to avoid damaged synapse pathways. Lessons observed from her grandmother include: - Diagnosis does not mean stop living. - Will retain emotional memory, understand love. - You are more than what you remember. 5) The Alzheimer's Medical Advisor, A Caregiver's Guide (July 2017) 6) These articles from ADDitude online resource: - Signs of Adult ADHD? Or Old Age?- Inside the Aging ADHD Brain7) YouTube video summarizing one adult daughter's hindsight, as her mother's caregiver through the 7 progressive stages of Alzheimer's: 8) TED Talk A mother and son's photographic journey through dementiaTony Luciani TEDx Cambridge May 2018 9) TED Talk The "dementia village" that's redefining elder care - Hogeweyk (Amsterdam) Yvonne van Amerongen TED Women 2018
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8
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Joined: Apr 2013
Posts: 5,261 Likes: 8 |
Older adults' abstract reasoning ability predicts depressive symptoms over timeScience Daily Nov 14, 2018 Decline in abstract reasoning correlates with later depression. Studies are ongoing: - to examine the potential mechanisms at work in the correlation... such as unmeasured disease processes, genetic susceptibility, and declines in daily functioning. - to try to break the correlation with interventions... such as training, treatment, and social support. Even prior to receiving research results, it may be wise to live as though taking care of one's health, simplifying the daily routine, enjoying positive social interactions, and receiving acceptance and affirmation from family and caregivers despite age-related cognitive decline... may help stave off depression symptoms in older adults experiencing cognitive decline.
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,390
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Joined: Feb 2012
Posts: 1,390 |
Without having read anything but the title, this sounds like one of those chicken-and-egg problems. Does the depression cause the decline, or does the decline cause the depression?
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