Want your brain excited and engaged? Walk!

The following is from the MNT Knowledge Center

I have always maintained that walking is good for us. A new study out of England confirms that walking is great for seniors. Walking between busy urban environments and green spaces triggers changes in levels of excitement, engagement, and frustration in the brain, a study of older people has found.

Researchers at the Universities of York and Edinburgh say the findings have important implications for architects, planners and health professionals as we deal with an aging population.

The study is part of a larger project looking at mobility, mood and place and the role of the urban environment in promoting lifelong health and wellbeing.

The aim of the study was to understand how older people experience different urban environments using electroencephalography (EEG), self-reported measures, and interviews.

As part of the experiment, eight volunteers aged 65 and over (from a wider sample of 95 people aged 65 and over) wore a mobile EEG headset which recorded their brain activity when walking between busy and green urban spaces.

The research team also ran a video of the routes the people walked, asking the participants to describe "snapshots" of how they felt. The volunteers were also interviewed before and after.

The volunteers experienced beneficial effects of green space and preferred it, as it was calming and quieter, the study revealed.

Dr. Chris Neale, Research Fellow, from the University of York's Stockholm Environment Institute, said: "There are concerns about mental wellbeing as the global population becomes older and more urbanized.

"Urban green space has a role to play in contributing to a supportive city environment for older people through mediating the stress induced by built up settings.

"We found that older participants experienced beneficial effects of green space whilst walking between busy built urban environments and urban green space environments. Indeed, this work is the first to be published in a series of papers understanding the impact of green and urban spaces on brain activity in older adults.

"In a time of austerity, when greens spaces are possibly under threat due to pressure on council funding, we have demonstrated that these areas are important to people's health.

"We have an aging population which places challenges on the NHS. As the cost of looking after an aging population continues to rise, maintaining access to green space could be a relatively low-cost option for improving mental wellbeing."

Dr. Sara Tilley, Research Fellow, from the University of Edinburgh, added: "To help ensure that living longer is a positive experience for everyone, we need evidence-based solutions to support lifelong health and wellbeing.

"These findings - and others from the same project which show how important places are for our personal and cultural memories, and for enabling us to stay connected socially - have implications for the way we design for people of all ages, backgrounds, and abilities so that going outdoors in younger years becomes a lifelong passion for getting out and about."

The study is published in the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health.

It was funded by the Research Councils UK under the Lifelong Health and Wellbeing Cross-Council Programme. Details about the project can be found here: http://www.mobilitymoodplace.ac.uk/

Article: Older People's Experiences of Mobility and Mood in an Urban Environment: A Mixed Methods Approach Using Electroencephalography (EEG) and Interviews, Sara Tilley, Chris Neale, Agnès Patuano and Steve Cinderby, International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, doi: 10.3390/ijerph14020151, published 4 February 2017.

Women get equal pay for equal work in New Zealand

The following is from the Otago Daily Times out of New Zealand. New Zealand just made a tremendous move toward finally giving women equal pay for equal work.  This move will help women now and will also help them save toward their retirement. New Zealanders should be proud of this move.

The government announced a $2 billion package (over five years) will substantially increase the pay of some 55,000 state-subsidised low-paid care workers (who are mainly women) in the aged residential care, home support, and disability sectors. The payments will not be backdated, but, from July, workers on the minimum hourly wage of $15.75 will get least $19, a 21% rise.

The settlement is the result of caregiver Kristine Bartlett's 2013 case to the Employment Court (it also went to the Court of Appeal and Supreme Court), which found her low hourly pay rate (then $14.32) was a result of gender discrimination under the Equal Pay Act. It reinterpreted the Act as applying to equal pay for work of equal value, not just the same pay for the same work.

The Government is now leading the world on this issue. It is certainly important to work with the private sector. Businesses will inevitably be worried about any flow-on effect which might cost jobs and close businesses.

Yet when some are posting healthy profits in a growth industry like aged care, it is hard to buy into the arguments. Likewise, the Government's surplus means it shouldn't be a case of robbing Peter to pay for Paula but redistributing the wealth in a more equitable manner.

More money to women means more money to families and children (and it is likely to be money spent locally). It also means women have more chance to put money towards vital retirement savings and the like. Surely everybody wins?

The message the settlement sends about value (of women, their work and those they look after) reaches far beyond the pay packet. In the changing world of work, private businesses will simply have to adapt - especially if their workers now have other options.

Although forced to act, the Government has again stolen the traditional social policy ground of Labour. Its announcement mere months away from the general election may help it cash in on its investment.

Oh, what a relief it is

Thanks to Ronnie over at As Time Goes By for this idea.
In one of her recent posts, she said: "Just about every day I get an email or two promising to show me how I can increase my income by growing my blog audience on Twitter or Facebook."

When I started writing my blog in 2010, I was writing for my grandson, who I hope one day will read this and begin to understand what his grandfather was like, what I thought, what I valued and what I stood for at this time. Over time, the readership started to grow, little by little more and more people were finding my words and were reading them. I have a small reading when compared to many others for which I am glad. Every now and then I will get the same email as Ronnie did or I will get a phone call from a website writer who wants me to become an "influencer"--whatever that is. I listen to them and then send them any information they would like to have, and then I don't hear back. The young are looking for others who will influence the young. My audience is not young, not old mind you, but not in the demographics the advertisers want to reach.

When I have talked to my friends about this, they laugh and wonder why I don't take advantage of this world. I always respond with "My goal was never to make money on my blog, it was to reach my grandson, and others who like what I write, and stick around, that is great, but I won't take advantage of them by writing about or for specific products"

Oh, what a relief it is to not be bothered by the need for recognition or for money that I had when I was younger. I write every day about things that I enjoy, find interesting or strange and I am just happy that one or tow people find the time to read and every now and then give me feedback. 

I recently found a new social media platform/website called Beebee, that has huge interest and followers. I have taken to writing on this platform and find it to be very rewarding. The posts I have read on this site are interesting, the people engaged and the site is growing. If you are interested here is a link to my site on Beebee.

Moving after retirement

When I was in my forties I read a study that claimed most people lived within 100 miles of where they were born or went to school. I started thinking about that and realised that it appears to be true for many of my circle.  I live, as the crow flies, within a hundred miles of where I went to school, not where I was born. Many of my friends still live within a 25-mile radius of where they were born and went to school. 

Many people move away from their roots when they start to work; work takes precedent and we need to move to where the job takes us. However, when we retire we are no longer restricted to one location. So wanderlust may overtake us. We fondly recall our youth and may decide to move back home. We move after we retire is to be close to our children, or siblings or other family members. Or we may move because we are tired of living in a "big city" or a "small town" and we want a change.  

Is it a good idea to move when you retire? I am one who believes this is not as great idea as it may seem at first. This is because I have friends who have done this and it has been a mistake from which it took them years to recover. Moving means starting new, finding new friends, new support groups, new activities. For many, these tasks are not easy. We have become locked in routine, with a support group and we know our neighbourhoods and we feel safe.

For some, this sense of security and belonging is very important and to move challenges us to a point where we will resist as hard as we can, for others this sense of security and belonging is a stifling and we will do whatever we can to lift the veil and move towards uncertainty with the knowledge it will be better than what we have now.

My daughter asked me if I would move to Australia to be with her and her family. I said no because my support group and friends are here. However, someday that may change and if it does I will look forward to that adventure with enthusiasm.