Caring for yourself as you age?

The importance of keeping your function, health, strength, balance and mobility as well as your brain health as you age is becoming more and more important since the caregiver pool is getting smaller and smaller. John Hopkins reports that the caregiver pool in the United States is experiencing a significant strain, characterized not only by a growing elderly population needing care but also by a shrinking availability of younger caregivers due to their own deteriorating health and rising care responsibilities.

The health of caregivers is in an "unprecedented decline" with significant declines observed particularly among Millennials.  with these changes we already see a decrease in both the number of caregivers who can provide care in nursing homes and in the number of eligible residents. If they’re not being cared for by nursing homes or long-term care facilities, they’re coming home, which will require family members to provide additional care.

In addition, AARP reports that caregivers’ health is suffering: 1 in 5 caregivers report being in fair or poor health, and nearly 1 in 4 say they struggle to care for their own health due to caregiving responsibilities, and reports of emotional stress have risen since 2020. Family caregivers of dementia patients have a 600% chance of getting dementia themselves. Alzheimer's Disease is the leading type of dementia 60-70% of cases..

Among US adolescents aged 10-19 years, roughly 30% have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes (T2D), with boys accounting for 62% of cases. Abdominal body fat, measured by waist-to-height ratio, emerged as the strongest independent predictor of prediabetes or Type 2 Diabetes rather than BMI.

High blood sugar in the brain damages brain cells from pre diabetes and diabetes are laying the foundation of Alzheimer’s disease in these young population groups leading to a tsunami of Alzheimers patients coming. Some researchers even refer Alzheimer’s Disease as Type 3 Diabetes.

Older adults are projected to outnumber children under 18 for the first time in U.S. history by the year 2034. Staying functionally and mentally independent for as long as possible will be necessary because there will not be many people to go around that can care for those needing assisted living care especially when currently 1 out of every 5 children and teenagers and 40.3% of adults aged 20 and older are overweight and obese and will have their own set of medical conditions to deal with and physically will not be able to provide care or hold a physically demanding job.

Obesity is also a well‑established risk factor for Cardio Vascular Disease and obesity was an underlying factor inCV deaths among US adults aged ≥ 25 years determined in a study that analyzed 363,203 s, in which from 1999 to 2023. Medscape reports that Age-adjusted rates of cardiovascular disease (CVD) deaths tripled from 3.4 to 10.34 per 100,000 people between 1999 and 2023 among US adults with obesity, which is further shrinking the pool of family and paid caregivers.

Over the past two decades, the prevalence of prediabetes and Type 2 Diabetes has risen sharply among adolescents in the US, driven by higher rates of obesity, sedentary behavior, and unhealthy dietary patterns. Despite this burden, most epidemiologic research has focused on older adults, leaving important gaps in knowledge about adolescents.

As you continue to age, keeping your strength, balance, mobility and brain health function for as long as possible takes on a whole new meaning.