Financial stress persists even though rising inflation rates have eased, and the group feeling the pinch most acutely is in its peak earning years, a new poll shows. “Our biggest surprise from this poll is that the age group most likely to be affected or stressed by pressures on personal finances is not the group whose incomes are more likely to be ‘fixed’ by reliance on Social Security or retirement savings,” said health economist Helen Levy, of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan. Women and respondents between the ages of 50 and 64 were more likely than men or people over 65 to say they stress out about their budget, the new University of Michigan National Poll on Healthy Aging found.  Also rattled by their finances: people in their 50s and beyond who said they are in fair or poor health. In all, 47% of respondents in that group said they’ve been hard-hit by inflation in the past year, and 52% have cut back on everyday expenses. That included 58% of the younger group — at a time when people typically have their maximum earnings — versus 45% of seniors. About 6 of 10 respondents who were Black, Hispanic or in lower income brackets said they had cut spending, as did 69% of those who said their physical health was fair…  read on >  read on >

Your schoolmate who acted like he was better than everyone else has probably shed some of that narcissistic behavior an adult. New research shows people tend to be less narcissistic as they age. Still, those who were more narcissistic as kids tended to be narcissists as adults. “One theory suggests that the social roles we take on in adulthood, for example as a partner, a parent, an employee and so on, lead to the development of more mature personality characteristics, including lower levels of narcissism,” said researcher Ulrich Orth of the University of Bern in Switzerland. Narcissistic personality disorder is a mental health condition in which people have an unreasonably high sense of their own importance, according to the Mayo Clinic. They crave attention, admiration and seem to be extremely confident. Behind the mask, however, they’re unsure of their own worth and rattled by even the slightest criticism. To learn more about narcissism, Orth’s team analyzed data from 51 studies from the United States, Canada, Western Europe, China and New Zealand that examined how levels of narcissism changed over time.  In all, the studies included more than 37,200 people from 8 to 77 years of age. Some were followed for decades.  Researchers looked at three types of narcissism.  Agentic narcissists have a sense of superiority and strong need for admiration. Antagonistic narcissists are arrogant, callous,…  read on >  read on >

Loneliness strikes more than a fifth of people worldwide, a new survey warns. In the Gallup survey published Wednesday, 23% of people said they felt lonely “a lot of the previous day.” Those experiencing feelings of loneliness often felt physical pain, worry, sadness, stress and anger, as well. Beyond its emotional toll, loneliness is “a medical problem” that should be taken “very seriously,” psychiatrist Dr. Sue Varma told CBS News. “It’s the equivalent of having somebody smoke 15 cigarettes per day, and we know that it affects our mind and our body,” she said. “It predisposes us to anxiety and depression. It increases our risk by 30% for heart disease, for stroke, 50% for dementia, and 60% for premature mortality.” But there is a way to combat loneliness, she added.  “Look at the quality of your relationships and say, ‘Do I feel seen and validated and appreciated?’ ” Varma said. “We want to have a mix of micro connections — talking to the barista, talking to your dog walker — but also deep and meaningful connections in your life, where you can feel vulnerable and open up to share,” she explained.  The survey also showed loneliness was worse for young Americans than older ones. “It’s really unfortunate that as much as we want our children to succeed, the emphasis I feel is being put on…  read on >  read on >

If it would stave off heart disease, diabetes and colon cancer, would you swear off bacon and burgers? A new international simulation projects cutting Americans’ intake of processed meat alone by 30% could head off more than 350,000 cases of diabetes in the United States over 10 years, along with 92,500 cases of heart disease and 53,300 cases of colon cancer. That’s about 10 slices of bacon a week — a little more than one strip a day at breakfast. If Americans slashed consumption of red meat by 30% at the same time, the combined health benefit would be even bigger, according to the new study from the University of Edinburgh in Scotland and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill — nearly 1.1 million fewer cases of diabetes, 382,400 fewer cases of heart disease and 84,400 fewer cases of colon cancer. “Cutting consumption of meat has been recommended by national and international organizations to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, including the Climate Change Committee here in the UK and the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change or IPCC,” said co-author Lindsay Jaacks, head of global health and nutrition at the University of Edinburgh. “Our research finds that these changes in diets could also have significant health benefits in the U.S., and so this is a clear win-win for people and planet,” she added…  read on >  read on >

Women who survive cardiac arrest are more likely to suffer anxiety or depression than male survivors, a new study warns. Data regarding the five-year health consequences of a cardiac arrest revealed “most significantly a 50% rise in antidepressant prescription in the first year among women that was not mirrored in men,” said researcher Robin Smits, a doctoral student at Amsterdam University Medical Center. After five years, this rise tapered off to a roughly 20% increase in prescriptions. “While we need to carry out more research to understand exactly why this happens, we can already say that it shows that particularly women are not adequately supported after a cardiac arrest,” Smits said in a medical center news release.   For the study, researchers analyzed data on 1,250 people (average age: 53) who survived an out-of-hospital cardiac arrest in the Netherlands.  They also found that people who survive a cardiac arrest are more likely to face financial problems afterward. “We saw significant decreases in employment rates and, consequently, earnings,” Smits said. “Further, we also saw a change in ‘primary earner status’ — meaning that the member of a household who had the highest earnings frequently changed after a cardiac arrest, suggesting that it was difficult for individuals to return to the labor market.” The new research was published July 8 in the journal Circulation Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.…  read on >  read on >