Volunteering in schools improves seniors' health, especially those with poorer health.

Seniors who volunteered in elementary schools teaching children to read for 15 hours a week for 9 months, were found to have better physical condition than before volunteering. Those in fair health prior to volunteering improved the greatest, with improved strength and energy, walking speed and stair-climbing.

PositiveTip: Volunteering to help others improves both mental and physical vitality of seniors.

Better health correlates with greater quality and interest in sex for the elderly.

A University of Chicago study has revealed that middle-aged and older men and women who perceive themselves to be in very good health are significantly more likely to have a greater interest in sexual activity, as well as having more satisfying sexual experiences.

Men seem to lose more years of sexual activity than women as a result of poor health. In fact, men’s physical health problems are the most commonly cited reason by both sexes for sexual inactivity in later life.

PositiveTip: Choosing a healthy, balanced lifestyle not only enhances sexual relationships in marriage during the later years, it also extends the overall quantity and quality of life.

Volunteering decreases risk for cognitive impairment in elders!

A study conducted at Johns Hopkins University demonstrated amazing short-term results in 17 women, age 65 or older who were at high risk for cognitive impairment. Eight of the ladies volunteered with Experience Corps to help children  for 15 hours per week in urban public schools in Baltimore. Each participant had a MRI brain scan at the start and 6 months later. Significant cognitive improvements were seen in the women who volunteered compared to the non-volunteering control group.

PositiveTip: Remove the cobwebs from your brain by volunteering to help others--it may even help you grow new brain cells!

The fabled "fountain of youth" may lie in physical exercise--literally.

Ever wanted to run from old age? New research in both mice and men demonstrates literally running regularly helps prevent cells from getting older! German investigators have found that regular physical activity helps you maintain longer telomeres--DNA sequences at the end of chromosomes that typically get shorter with age. These longer telomeres prolong the life of cells in blood vessel walls and white blood cells that circulate in the blood. Both middle-age runners and younger track-and-field athletes had longer telomeres than older sedentary controls.

New exercise guide for seniors. It's free!

You read and hear it everywhere: we all need more physical activity! Have you wondered how to get it and what to do? The National Institutes on Aging (NIA) has updated its very popular exercise guide for those over 55 years of age. It is also applicable for those younger as well--you will reach 55 some day!

Supplementation with Vitamin C and E may lower your resistance to diabetes and make you age faster.

You know exercise promotes longevity and helps control type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance? Did you think exercise and the use of antioxidants might be even better? Time to think again! A brand new study suggests otherwise.

An international team of researchers have discovered in a randomized trial, average insulin sensitivity was higher in those who were not taking any antioxidant supplements (1000-mg vitamin C and 400-IU vitamin E). Exercise raises reactive oxygen species (ROS), but also activates natural antioxidant systems. In the groups taking the antioxidant supplements the natural systems were blunted.