Shore up your core

Your core muscles, which are those in your torso and pelvis, help you maintain your balance, and allow you to bend, twist and reach. Strengthening them is essential, especially after age 30 when you may start to lose muscle mass. The average 50-year-old who hasn’t done strength-building exercises may have already lost as much as 10% of her muscle mass.

Content restricted. Requires subscription

Can scheduled fasting improve your health?

Skipping meals may actually be a good health practice. Intermittent fasting, which refers to limiting food intake to certain hours of the day or even restricting calories on certain days of the week, may bring numerous health benefits, including better cognitive performance, weight loss, and potentially longer life. Consult your doctor first.

Content restricted. Requires subscription

Take monitors to heart

A heart rate monitor can be a valuable fitness tool by helping people exercise better, smarter, and safer. Wearing the device can increase motivation, improve exercise benefits by ensuring workouts reach sufficient intensity, and help people with heart issues watch their exertion levels more closely.

Content restricted. Requires subscription

Give yourself a lift

Research shows that weight lifting is good medicine for active older adults. While there are many weight-lifting exercises, one move to include in a workout is the deadlift. The short, quick movement is a highly functional exercise that can increase lower-body strength and power, which improves mobility, balance, and stability.

Content restricted. Requires subscription

Testing for dementia

There is no cure for dementia, and people cannot substantially reverse its effects, but there are ways to possibly slow its progression. But first, people need to know if they may have a memory disorder. Testing to confirm Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia is a multilayered process that includes several types of neuropsychological evaluations and biomarker testing.

Content restricted. Requires subscription