A new study focuses on the alcohol choices made by those who have entered retirement status. Penny L. Brennan, Kathleen K. Schutte, and Rudolf H. Moos looked at how retired status affected older adults’ 10-year drinking trajectories.

Because the prior research on how retirement affects drinking later in life has been minimal and has also been focused on cross-sectional examinations, or on short-term follow-ups of groups, the researchers wanted to study whether a retirement status would have an effect on the trajectories of older adults.

Brennan et al. also wanted to find out whether age, gender, income, health and problem-drinker status explained or moderated the effects of retirement on 10-year trajectories of retired persons.

To gather data, the researchers examined the trajectories of 595 individuals at 62 years of age, using three successfully predictive multilevel regression models: unconditional growth, retired status alone, and retired status controlling for covariates.
The study then looked at whether Retirement Covariate interactions would change the trajectories’ predictions.

The results of the study showed that there was a moderate decline in drinking frequency during the 10 years and that a change to retirement status sped the rate of the decline. When the researchers added covariates, however, the effect was eliminated.
Baseline poorer health, lower income and current problem-drinker status predicted a steeper decline in drinking frequency. Those who were formerly identified as a problem-drinker were predicted to have a slower decline.

Likewise, lower income and current drinking problems predicted a steeper decline in the amount of alcohol consumed.

Other covariates did not produce an association with the trajectories. Retired status and age, gender, health, income, or drinking problems did not affect the prediction of 10-year trajectories.

The findings of the study suggest that other factors are more important than retirement status for predicting adults’ drinking trajectories. The researchers stressed that the three factors and taking into consideration how recent drinking problems may affect the trajectories are critical for understanding future research.

As individuals enter retirement age, it is important to understand the various transitions that exist during older adults’ later years. The explanation of different factors impacting alcohol choices is useful in helping retired adults enjoy their retirement.
 

The findings, presented Nov. 20 at a meeting in Atlanta of the Gerontological Society of America, suggest that alcohol abusers who are older than 60 consume more than 40 drinks a week, and younger alcoholics consume 25 to 35 drinks a week. Older drinkers are also more likely to binge drink, which means drinking large amounts of alcohol in one sitting.

"A combination of high levels of drinking and the physiological effects of aging are particularly problematic for older adults," said Linda Ginzer, co-author of the study and a doctoral student in social work at Ohio State University.

The researchers reached their conclusions after analyzing a national survey of more than 43,000 people taken between 2000 and 2001. People older than 60 who suffered from alcohol dependency drank in binges an average of 19 times a month, whereas younger people in the same category averaged 13 to 15 binges a month, the study found.

"More often than not, we think of binge drinking as occurring among college students or those in their 20s," said another co-author, Virginia Richardson, a professor of social work at Ohio State.

"But the fact is, binge drinking occurs among older people as well, and it is, in fact, worse among those who have problems with alcohol."

In fact, Ginzer said, binge drinking "may be a better measure of problem drinking than just the total amount of drinks someone has per week."

“It’s just a wake up call for us that we need to pay attention and begin thinking about how we’re going to address this in society," said Dr. Peter Delany with the U.S. Public Health Service Studies.

Most commonly used among those surveyed marijuana and prescription medications. "This is really being driven by people who had used drugs earlier in life and had pretty much continued to use it," Delany said. Most said they began using drugs before the age of 30.

During that same five-year period, rates of illicit drug use among all other age groups remained the same or decreased, SAMHSA said. The continued use of illicit drugs by aging baby boomers "is likely to put further strains on the nation’s health care system," said Eric Broderick, the agency’s acting administrator, the Associated Press reported.

Illegal drug use later in life may pose additional health risks. "If someone has high blood pressure we know that using drugs can affect that and using many drugs will raise the blood pressure over time," said Delany.

Health officials hope for a cultural shift to abstinence among baby boomers who may spent have much their lives using.
 

Let’s be honest—most of us have had one of those days when we were disappointed or even disgusted by the image of ourselves in a mirror. For most, this feeling doesn’t linger very long and we are able to regain confidence in our appearance. But for some, seeing an unfit, unattractive reflection staring back through the glass is a skewed perception that occurs daily—one that reveals the hidden secret of an eating disorder. What’s more shocking is that the person looking in the mirror often isn’t an adolescent girl—it’s a woman in her forties or fifties.

Generally thought to afflict teens and young adults, eating disorders—including anorexia, bulimia, and binge eating—have been on the rise over the past 20 years. Affecting both men and women, eating disorders plague at least 10 million Americans. Of this number, approximately 13 percent are adults. What has caused the upswing of eating disorders among adults? As with teenagers who suffer from the disorder, there is no single cause. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from psychological, social, biological, and behavioral factors.

Some women’s eating disorders are socially driven. Just look at television shows such as Desperate Housewives, Lipstick Jungle, and Sex and the City. All of the women portrayed in these shows are over 30 and are gorgeous and fit. In fact, they all seem to be perpetual visitors of the fountain of youth. As pressure to look young mounts, women are having a hard time dealing with the added societal demands. Instead of becoming more comfortable in one’s body, more and more older women are looking for ways to change their appearance either via cosmetic procedures and products or the more harmful route of an eating disorder.

Skewed body image is only one factor that can contribute to an eating disorder. As men and women enter middle age, they often go through other experiences that can trigger an eating disorder. For example, the breakup of a marriage, death of a spouse, and an empty nest can all lead to an eating disorder.

Eating disorders mask underlying problems of depression, anxiety, or obsessive-compulsive disorder. Having the ability to control what one eats, or doesn’t eat, gives the individual a sense of control and power that is lacking in their everyday life.

Although treatment for adult eating disorders has become more prevalent in recent years, many sufferers do not seek treatment out of guilt and shame. In order for treatment to be successful, individuals must first confront their feelings of failure and overcome their feelings of anger.

Unfortunately, most people who suffer from an eating disorder do so alone. They try to hide their harmful eating habits from their friends, their spouses, and their children, which only exacerbates their feelings of isolation and shame.

Eating disorders are deadly and have the highest mortality rates of all mental health illnesses. As more people seek treatment and as midlife eating disorders become better known to the general public, those in need of treatment may start to feel that they are not alone. If you or someone you know has an eating disorder, please contact your closest treatment facility.

Alcohol problems are largely underreported across all age groups, but adults over the age of 55 are probably the largest group to be underreported.

In a study conducted on adults aged 60 to 94 years of age, approximately 62% of them reported drinking alcohol on a regular (if not daily) basis, with 13% of them admitting to being heavy alcohol users. To put this into perspective, heavy drinking (as defined in this study) referred to the consumption of at least two alcoholic beverages per day.

The overuse of alcohol is one of the fastest rising problems in the United States today. For the most part, the abuse of alcohol by older adults not only goes unnoticed, but it also goes unreported. There are, of course, a variety of reasons for this. For one thing, most older adults live alone, or at least live away from their children and other family members. Another reason is that older adults are usually not questioned by anyone about drug or alcohol use.

Because of the various physiological changes that older adults go through, their bodies process alcohol differently than younger people. As adults age, they experience a gradual decrease in body water, a decrease in the efficiency of the metabolism of alcohol in the gastrointestinal tract, and decreased tolerance to alcohol.

Regular alcohol use (or abuse) in older adults can result in the following:
• Increased risk of physical injury.
• The initiation or worsening of medical conditions.
• A quicker decline in functionality that all aging adults experience.

It is also important to note that older adults generally take more prescription medications than younger people do. For older adults, taking prescription drugs usually becomes a normal part of their daily routines, whereas younger adults may only have to take prescription medications periodically.

Drinking alcohol in combination with certain prescription medications can cause some serious problems such as:
• Heart abnormalities
• Confusion
• Difficulty thinking
• Depression
• Increased daytime sleepiness
• Liver damage

Because alcohol consumption has adverse effects on all of the body’s organs, it is logical to conclude that excessive alcohol consumption in the elderly has even more devastating effects than for a younger adult. The elderly may also be predisposed to having balance or stability problems, as well as problems with osteoporosis. These problems are only compounded when combined with alcohol consumption.

When anyone consumes enough alcohol, he or she can lose balance easily and possibly fall, which may or may not result in injury. When this happens to older adults, they can fracture bones. Hip fractures are very common among the elderly, and often times, whether they are officially reported or not, these injuries are a result of consuming too much alcohol.

There are also a few different types of syndromes that can develop that result in impairment of brain function. These serious illnesses usually occur only in older adults who are alcoholics, and not in people who are only occasional drinkers.

It is important to emphasize that among older adults even moderate alcohol consumption can have devastating health consequences. For adults aged 55 and over, moderate drinking can dramatically increase the negative effects of hypertension, and it is also linked to the development of a variety of cancers.