Susan Seliger

A breakthrough book based on thousands of scientific studies and scores of medical interviews that shows you how to take charge of your mind and body, increase your energy, and live a better, healthier life.

Hours before she fell and broke her hip, my mother, 85, lucid and whip-smart, was doing what she always did in the morning: drinking an entire pot of coffee and digesting both The New York Times and The Baltimore Sun.

The next day she came out of the hip surgery just fine. But within 24 hours, a totally different woman seemed to have taken over her capable mind and body.

She was disoriented. “This isn’t a very nice hotel,” she told us in the hospital room. “They haven’t even served cocktails....

Home builders are experimenting with prefabricated cottages designed to be erected in the backyard as stand-alone residences for elderly family members.

Tim Mueller for The New York Times
Think an elderly family member is better off with a pet? You may want to think again.
Sure, there have been hundreds of articles claiming dogs and cats can lower blood pressure, zap stress and combat depression and loneliness. But some experts say the evidence that pet companionship is healthy is not all that definitive. And for the elderly, having a dog and cat can be both stressful and dangerous.
Falls involving pets and their paraphernalia are an underapp...

If you’ve applied for the Aid and Attendance benefit from Department of Veterans Affairs — which can provide as much as $2,019 monthly for a veteran and spouse for caregiving expenses — then you are all too familiar with some of the reasons for the typical 8-to-18-month delays in getting an answer from the V.A.
As The Times reported on Sunday, the V.A. is under increasing pressure to do something about its enormous backlog of disability claims — more than 600,000 in all. But the V.A. and its ...

A Guide to Finding the Right Partner and Building a Relationship That Will Last a Lifetime

Why are elderly veterans and their spouses still waiting months, sometimes more than a year, to qualify for caregiving benefits from the V.A.?

Good news: Those parking assist systems on new cars seem to work.

Sometimes the realization comes almost too late — you sense that your parents or other loved ones may soon be gone, and it dawns on you that you don’t have any recent photos to remember them by.

Sure,...

If you’ve been rejected for the Department of Veterans Affairs Aid and Attendance (A&A) benefit, there are steps you can take to get your application reconsidered. But first, a warning: Do not do what the V.A. denial letter suggests you do, as that may only bring you years more of delays. And second, you’ll need to invoke the spirit of Winston Churchill in his 1941 speech to the Harrow School: “Never give in — never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give i...

Dear Reader,

Your dilemma of wanting to get your parents to change their ways to eat better and exercise reminds me of an old joke:

How many psychologists does it take to change a light bulb? Answer: ...

Did you know? A Department of Veterans Affairs benefit can cover the costs of caregivers in the home or be used for assisted living or a nursing home.

Helping Unhappy Couples When a Good Marriage Goes Bad