Theravive Home

A study from researchers at the University of Toronto found that those with suboptimal mental health died earlier than their counterparts with excellent mental health. Those who were in excellent mental health when the study started in the mid-1990s lived almost five months longer than their peers who were in poorer mental health. [More]

There are over five million people in the United States today who are living with dementia and 50 million around the globe. By 2050, it’s predicted that nearly 14 million people in the U.S. will have dementia and 152 million worldwide. A new study published in Journal of the American Geriatrics Society looked at whether personality traits were associated with a risk of developing cognitive decline in aging. [More]

According to the World Health Organization, autism spectrum disorder (ASD) begins in childhood. One in 160 children worldwide has been diagnosed with autism. But since autism was only recognized as a disorder in 1980, there are many adults who went through childhood without a diagnosis and without help. Now, a new study thought to be the first of its kind examining an autism diagnosis exclusively in middle age, found that adults diagnosed with autism in their fifties grew up believing they were ‘bad people’, ‘alien’, and ‘non-human’. The study is published in the Journal of Health Psychology and Behavioural Medicine [More]

Did you know that after 70 years of age, your chances of developing a mood disorder such as depression or anxiety doubles every five years? The same is true for cognitive decline such as impaired memory. Here's another fun statistic to look forward to: By age 85, one in four of us will have the luxury of suffering from both conditions simultaneously. But researchers are trying their best to prevent this from happening. [More]

In modern living, work fills a big part of life. Work has long been considered to be one of the greatest virtues of mankind as it serves critical functions in human life. [More]

Actor Christopher Lee recently died at the ripe old age of 97 leaving one to ponder what it is like to be an elderly person in America today? A myriad of thoughts pour out. As longevity increased due to access to healthcare, better nutrition, and improved hygiene, dilemmas for the elderly and their families have arisen on multiple fronts - ethical, moral, and social. Adult children are pulled between meeting their responsibilities to their own spouses, children, and employer as they struggle to meet the needs of their aging parents whose retirement finances are often woefully inadequate to cover their long-term care and medical needs. [More]

The words “rape” and “sexual assault” are powerful under any circumstances. When the alleged victim is a patient in a nursing home suffering through the late stages Alzheimer’s disease, the apparent crime takes on a certain kind of perverse nature. Add to this picture a perpetrator who is a former state senator, and even the most open-minded of us is ready to abandon the tenet “innocent until proven guilty.” [More]

Charlize Theron, on the latest cover of W Magazine, made some strong statements about women and aging. During the interview, Theron discussed that she used to be judgmental towards aging women while she was in her younger years. She discusses that, as she began aging, her own views on the process began to change and evolve. [More]

101 year old Rosa Camfield’s picture holding her newborn great-granddaughter instantly went viral across social media pages. Camfield died March 30, 2015 just after creating an internet legacy. The picture was posted by Camfield’s granddaughter, Sarah Hamm, mother of the baby pictured. It did not take long for the photo of the intergenerational duo to take storm on the internet. [More]

Midlife, also known as middle-age, is by far the longest period of a person's life, due to a recent increase in lifespan thanks to healthier lifestyles and advances in medical care, but sadly it is commonly depicted in a negative light in our culture, especially during the post-parental period of midlife (McGoldrick, Carter & Garcia-Preto, 2011). Midlife crises, menopause, empty-nest syndrome, these are some of the things we think of when we think of midlife, which lends support to the negative view we have of it, and of aging in general. [More]