By Liz DeSantis

December 12, 2014

Training older people in the use of social media improves cognitive capacity, increases a sense of self-competence and could have a beneficial overall impact on mental health and well-being, according to a landmark study carried out in the UK.

A two-year project funded by the European Union and led by the University of Exeter in partnership with Somerset Care Ltd and Torbay & Southern Devon Health and Care NHS Trust gave a group of vulnerable older adults a specially-designed computer, broadband connection and training in how to use them.

Training Elderly In Social Media

Money was no object when the time came for Joan Lunden to find a senior care facility for her 88-year-old mother.

For years, the former host of “Good Morning America” had been a long-distance caregiver to her mother and brother in California, providing them with emotional and financial support from New York. After her brother’s death in 2006 from complications from type II diabetes, Lunden needed to find a new home for her mother, who was suffering from the onset of dementia.

Caregiving For Loved Ones The ‘New Normal’ For Boomers

By E. J. Mundell, HealthDay Reporter

THURSDAY, Jan. 28, 2016 (HealthDay News) -Do you worry that forgetting names, or where you put your keys, might be a sign of impending dementia? If you’re like most older Americans, you don’t bring this up with your doctor, a new study shows.

Researchers who looked at federal government data on more than 10,000 people found that in 2011, only 1 in 4 adults aged 45 or older discussed memory problems with a health care professional during a routine checkup.

Too Few older Adults Tell Doctors About Memory Loss – STUDY