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MONDAY, Sept. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- As Americans age, millions end up struggling with dementia or some level of memory impairment and diminished capacity to think clearly and make decisions.Yet a new study says that despite such serious challenges, many seniors continue to manage their own finances, often alone, and despite acknowledging difficulties in doing so.“There has long been attention to the difficulty in making financial decisions faced by older adults with cognitive impairment,” noted study lead author Jing Li, an assistant professor in health economics at the University of Washington in Seattle. But her team was surprised by the high percentage — 75% or more — who appear to be managing their own finances nonetheless.“Many of them report difficulty managing...

MONDAY, Sept. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Now might be a good time to brew another cup of tea.Researchers studying the impact of tea found that drinking four or more cups of black, green or oolong tea every day was linked to a 17% lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes over the course of a decade. “Our results are exciting because they suggest that people can do something as simple as drinking four cups of tea a day to potentially lessen their risk of developing type 2 diabetes,” said lead study author Xiaying Li, from Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China.Li's team did a meta-analysis of 19 studies that included more than 1 million adults from eight countries. First, they studied nearly 5,200 adults with no history of type 2 diabetes and an average age of 42 who...

MONDAY, Sept. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- Seniors, there's good news and bad from a new study of mental health. The brain-centered research confirms that mental skills do decline with age -- but it also finds many people over 60 having better psychological health than folks in their 20s."We wanted to better understand the interplay between cognition and mental health across aging, and whether they rely on activation of similar or different brain areas," explained senior study author Jyoti Mishra. She is director of the Neural Engineering and Translation Labs (NEATLabs) at University of California, San Diego, and an associate professor of psychiatry at the university's School of Medicine.The researchers included 62 younger adults and 54 older adults in the study, evaluating their...

MONDAY, Sept. 19, 2022 (HealthDay News) -- While dental and medical care are thought to be related, researchers wondered what impact oral care might have on a serious heart condition.A University of Michigan team studied more than 2,000 patients who had a heart attack in 2017. The patients had either received periodontal care, dental cleanings or no oral care between 2016 and 2018.Those who had no dental care had the longest hospital stays after their heart attacks, the study found. Meanwhile, patients who received regular periodontal care had the shortest hospital stays and more follow-up visits in the next month."Dentistry is often practiced in isolation from overall health care," said study co-author Dr. Romesh Nalliah, associate dean for patient services at the U-M School of...