According to a fresh report, low levels of vitamin D and giant levels of a hormone secreted by the parathyroid glands as a rule increases the risk of depression in older adults.

The results of the Dutch study, published in the May subject of Archives of General Psychiatry, supports preceding speculation by researchers that vitamin D, depression and other psychiatric illnesses are linked.

The article's authors wrote that underlying causes of vitamin D deficiency - such as less sun exposure due to decreased outdoor activity, changes in housing or clothing habits, and decreased vitamin intake - may be secondary to depression. On the other hand depression may also be the consequence of poor vitamin D status. Which is more, poor vitamin D level causes an escalation in serum parathyroid hormone levels.

It was noticed that symptoms of depression often appear when the parathyroid glands are overactive and disappear after the gland context is treated. So it is supposed that as far as low vitamin D levels and high parathyroid hormone levels can be treated by increasing vitamin D or calcium in the diet and boosting exposure to sunlight, the findings can bring much hope to depressed seniors.

Actually it was estimated that about 13 percent of older individuals have symptoms of depression. Researchers at VU University Medical Center, in Amsterdam, found out that the vitamin D levels were 14 percent lower in test subjects diagnosed with major and minor depression compared with those non-depressed participants. Parathyroid hormone thyroid levels were an average of 5 percent higher in those with minor hollow and 33 percent higher in those with major depressive disorder than in those who were not depressed.

The researchers regularly measured blood levels of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone among 1,282 community residents over the age of 65. Symptoms of depression were also assessed, diagnosing 26 with a major depressive disorder, 169 with minor pit and 1,087 as not depressed. However, the authors of the study said that additional studies are needed to determine whether changes in levels of vitamin D and parathyroid hormone precede the onset of depression or follow it.

Some people ask why I pay so much attention to the question of longevity. Am I afraid of it so much that I’m trying hard to avoid it at all? I’ll bet it’s on the contrary. I believe that ages can also give us a lot, for example wisdom and peace of mind. Yet there is another side of the coin – problems with health. And I know too well that it has influence not on the elderly people along but on everybody around them.

The recent study has shown that wives and other carers of men with prostate cancer may be at risk of anxiety, tiredness and other symptoms that influence on the quality of their lives. The results suggest that many family carers want help as well - for the sake of their own health and that of the cancer patient.

40 percent out of the 60 female carers in the study had significant anxiety symptoms, 12 percent were suffering from depression, and about one-third reported fatigue or sleep disturbances. According to the Journal of Clinical Oncology Another 15 percent complained of bodily pain. The women, who were mostly wives, aged 64 years old, on average, rates of each of these conditions surpassed the average for U.S. women of their age.

Scientists are sure that a high percentage of next of family carers experienced clinically meaningful levels of a number of symptoms. And those symptoms often took a strike on the women's daily lives. Those with higher levels of depression, anxiety and fatigue further had the lowest reckoning on a criterion degree of quality of life.

It was said that in estimated 44 million Americans care for an adult family member, and that number is expected to continue growing. Yet little has been known about how many of these carers suffer from their own psychological and physical symptoms. The current findings, though based on a small study, suggest that many family carers of cancer patients have serious health problems that demand attention.

So if you have a person who needs care in your family be very attentive to your own health. It is of much importance both for you and for your patient.

At last I've got the opportunity of writing something for people of age. Actually, this article will be useful for anyone because sooner or later we will all become older than we wish to. So, I’m going to tell you how to stay younger for a longer period of time.

British studies suggest that people who are physically active in their free time may be biologically younger than couch potatoes. The thing is that a sedentary lifestyle increases the propensity to aging-related diseases and premature death. Inactivity may diminish life expectancy not only by predisposing to aging-related diseases, in a certain way it also influences the aging process itself.

As I’ve already said this statement is based on researches. The researchers looked at the physical activity levels, smoking habits and socioeconomic status of 2,401 white twins. They also collected DNA samples from participants, and examined the length of telomeres-repeated sequences at the end of chromosomes in white blood cells (leukocytes). It is known that leukocyte telomeres shorten over time and may serve as a marker of a person's biological age. Overall, the study participants had an average telomere loss of 21 nucleotides (structural units) per year. However those who were more active in their free time had longer leukocyte telomeres than those who were not.

The authors of the research wrote that "such a relationship between leukocyte telomere length and physical activity remained significant after adjustment for body-mass index, smoking, socioeconomic status and physical activity at work". Actually there work showed that the most active subjects had approximately the same length of telomeres as sedentary individuals up to 10 years younger.

The exposure of cells to oxygen and inflammation brings to their oxidative stress damage which may be a factor contributing to shorter telomere length in static people. Forcefulness has also been linked to telomere length. Practice may shorten stress and its effect on telomeres and the aging process, the study authors suggested.

It is recommended to spend 30 minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity at least five days a week. Scientists suppose it can have significant health benefits. Consequently adults who partake in regular physical action are biologically younger than sedentary individuals. It provides a powerful message that could be used by clinicians to cooperate the potential anti-aging effect of regular exercise. However more research is needed to confirm a direct link between physical activity and aging.