As you grow old, your health starts to deteriorate. Everything, whether it is your mental health or your physical health, starts to slow down. However, with age, your mental health gets overshadowed by your physical health.

Signs You Should Note

If you note these signs in your ageing parents or grandparents, take note of it. Try to get involved with them. It is also important to ensure that they have a separate social circle apart from the family. This way, they can have friends who they can also relate to.

With age, suggests Sinha, you are more prone to be depressed, and anxious. “Mental health conditions like schizophrenia or bipolar disorders are not something that happens when you grow older. You may have been living with these for the last 40 years, but the management differs, she suggests.

As you grow old, your symptoms start to overlap with other mental health conditions. For the proper treatment professionals use differential diagnosis, suggests Sinha. “The lines become blurred and to differentiate the symptoms from one mental health condition to another becomes difficult,” she says.

Preventive Measures

There are also food habits like eating leafy vegetables, nuts, fish, virgin coconut and beans that help with brain functions.

Sinha suggests that keeping a social circle and continuing your hobbies can help your mind stay healthy. “Men especially face this issue, after they retire, they feel like they are at the loss of authority, and they start to lose control. It is thus important to keep doing things and learning a new skill to keep your brain active. While for women, since they continue taking care of the house, their brain stays active,” she says.

Cognitive stimulation is the key, especially to managing dementia, she notes.

“Just with weight training, you push your body and after a while, it becomes your muscle memory. Same with the brain. However, one should not get into solving too many puzzles, or trivia after being diagnosed with dementia. Because that would mean you are making your already injured brain exercise which might lead to agitation,” she recommends.

How to support?

“The most important part is for the caregiver to understand what is happening and come to terms with the conditions. Because the elderly with cognitive conditions are not able to understand, they cannot be told or instructed to do anything. Thus, the responsibility is solely on the caregiver,” points out Sinha.

So, what can be done?

Awareness

Reach out to therapists and counsellors to know the ways to create such a healthy environment.

Be Patient

She suggests adopting the same approach that you do with kids and with your pets. This is when you focus on gestures, body language and mood over language. Due to cognitive disorders, parents experience a loss of language and the only way to communicate and to understand what they are communicating is through these means.

Be Empathetic

Create a healthy environment by agreeing with them and listening to their stories. The responsibility of creating a safe environment is totally with you.

There might be times when your parents may do socially unacceptable or non-compliance behaviour. But it is important to understand the triggers and ensure that the triggers do not occur anymore.

Help Them Stay Fit

A lighthearted Instagram reel by Delhi-based influencer Yuvraj Dua has turned into a broader conversation about the health risks of excessive sugar consumption after Prime Minister Narendra Modi responded with a public message urging people to cut down on sweets.

Dua made a humorous request to the Prime Minister about his father’s eating habits, explaining that his father is a devoted follower of PM Modi and tends to take his words very seriously.

He asked if the Prime Minister spoke against sweets during his monthly radio programme “Mann Ki Baat”, it might finally convince his father to control his sugar intake.

“If in the next Mann Ki Baat you say something against sweets, my father’s sugar will come under control,” he said in the video.

The reel quickly gained traction online and eventually caught the Prime Minister’s attention.

Responding to the post on Instagram, PM Modi on his Instagram story used the opportunity to deliver a broader public health message about the dangers of consuming too much sugar.

“On Yuvraj’s request, I urge his father and everyone out there to reduce sugar intake, be healthy and be happy,” he wrote.

The Prime Minister also warned that excessive sugar consumption is linked to several serious health conditions.

“Focus on your wellbeing. Eat well, eat healthy. Excessive sugar invites a range of diseases. Then there is the looming threat of obesity. Also, do make Yoga a part of your lives. It is a great way to remain fit and active,” he added.

India And Diabetes

India today carries one of the heaviest diabetes burden in the world. This is a crisis that is not just driven by genetics, but also by rapid urbanization, sedentary routines, shifting diets, stress, and late diagnosis. With over 101 million Indians currently living with diabetes in India, and 136 million in the pre-diabetic stage, as stated by the latest ICMR estimates, the country is facing an epidemic. This threatens to overwhelm the healthcare system in the coming years.

Diabetes is one of the chronic lifestyle conditions that most older adults fear developing, especially past the age of 40. This is when body's main source of energy or glucose is too high. However, recent cases show that diabetes may no longer be a disease of aging. While most people who are middle-aged or older adults develop Type 2 diabetes, there is in fact a rise in cases among the youth, including children.

In India too, there is a sharp rise in diabetes across all age groups, with many cases going undiagnosed until complications set in, says Dr Mayanka Lodha Seth, chief pathologist at Redcliffe Labs. " Diabetes cases are rising not just among older adults but also in children, teenagers, and youngsters in their 20s & 30s," says the doctor.

When large amounts of sugar are consumed regularly, the body experiences repeated spikes in blood glucose levels. Over time, this can lead to insulin resistance, a condition where the body’s cells stop responding effectively to insulin. This is one of the key mechanisms behind the development of type 2 diabetes.

Excess sugar intake is also strongly linked with weight gain. Sugary foods and beverages are often calorie dense but nutritionally poor, making it easy to consume large amounts of calories without feeling full.

Research has also shown that frequent consumption of sweets and sugary drinks can increase the risk of fatty liver disease and dental problems.

Public health organizations across the world recommend limiting added sugar in daily diets. The World Health Organization suggests that added sugar should make up less than 10 percent of total daily calorie intake, and ideally below 5 percent for additional health benefits.

Following the Prime Minister’s response, Dua reacted with amusement and relief, hoping that the message would finally persuade his father to change his habits.

“Now even Modi ji has said it. Papa, please listen,” he wrote in response.

What began as a typical sports injury for a teenage volleyball player turned into a life-altering medical discovery. McKinnon Galloway, now 33, learned she had a rare genetic condition called neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2) after a fall during a volleyball match led doctors to perform a routine brain scan.

Galloway was just 16 and playing as a setter on her school volleyball team when she dove for the ball and hit her head on the ground. Concerned about a concussion, doctors ordered an MRI scan. Instead of a simple injury, the scan revealed two tumors in her brain.

Doctors soon confirmed she had neurofibromatosis type 2, a rare genetic disorder that causes tumors to grow on nerves throughout the body.

NF2 occurs when a gene responsible for regulating nerve growth does not function properly. Without this signal telling nerve cells to stop growing, tumors can form along nerves and press on surrounding structures or disrupt nerve function.

Tumors multiplied quickly

When doctors first detected the tumors, they described them as slow growing. But within six months, follow-up scans showed the tumors had doubled in size.

Over the years, the condition progressed. Today Galloway lives with 13 tumors located in different parts of her body. Six are in her spine, three are in her hand, two are in her neck, and two remain in her brain.

To manage the disease, she has undergone several treatments including chemotherapy drugs, radiation therapy, and experimental medical trials. She was prescribed Avastin, a medication originally used to treat breast cancer, in an attempt to slow tumor growth.

At age 21 she also joined a phase-one clinical trial in which researchers tested increasing doses of an experimental drug to evaluate its safety. The trial was eventually stopped for her after she developed adverse reactions.

Hearing loss and multiple surgeries

The most difficult consequences of NF2 have been related to hearing loss caused by tumors affecting auditory nerves. Galloway has undergone four brain surgeries in attempts to remove or control the growth of these tumors.

After the first operations she lost hearing in her right ear. Over the next decade her hearing gradually declined in the left ear as well.

In early 2022, during a family vacation, she woke up unable to hear anything. Initially she believed the television in the room had been muted, but quickly realized she had lost her hearing entirely.

Steroid treatment temporarily restored about 20 percent of hearing in one ear. However, another brain surgery later that year resulted in complete deafness.

The operation, which lasted nearly 10 hours, was intended to remove a tumor threatening her life. Complications during surgery left her hospitalized for weeks and forced her to adapt to a completely silent world.

Finding a new purpose

In the months that followed, Galloway struggled with isolation because she had not yet learned effective ways to communicate without hearing. Over time, assistive technology and digital communication tools helped her reconnect with people around her.

She has since become a content creator and public speaker, using social media to raise awareness about NF2 and educate others about technology that supports deaf individuals.

Her advocacy work also includes supporting research efforts and raising funds for organizations dedicated to neurofibromatosis research.

Despite years of treatments, surgeries and uncertainty, Galloway recently received encouraging news. Her latest medical scan showed stable tumor growth for the first time in four years.

Today she continues to share her experience in hopes of helping other families facing the rare disorder.

“Being diagnosed at 16 meant I still had a childhood,” she said. “Many children with this condition spend those years in hospitals, and they deserve more than that.”

While research shows women need more sleep than men due to brain function, hormones, and multitasking, females around the globe are struggling to get enough sleep, according to experts.

A 2016 study by the Sleep Research Centre at the UK’s Loughborough University found that women needed 20 minutes more sleep because of multitasking and performing more complex brain tasks during the day.

But, the American Academy of Sleep Medicine (AASM), revealed that an estimated 30 percent of women fail to get sufficient sleep.

Hormones, mood disorders, and caregiving responsibilities, coupled with professional pressures and stress, are the major reasons driving up insomnia and other sleep issues among women.

“Women around the world face a higher burden of sleep difficulties because their sleep cycles are tightly interlinked with hormonal shifts that occur throughout life,” Dr. Janhvi Siroya Shah, Sleep Specialist from the University of Bern, Switzerland, told HealthandMe.

Gender Gap In Sleep: Why Women Sleep Less

The gender gap in sleep is real, as revealed by the recent ResMed Global Sleep Survey 2026, which showed that 56 percent of women get a good night's sleep only four days or fewer per week, compared to 50 percent of men.

Women were also 48 percent more likely to report problems falling asleep than men (42 percent). More than 50 percent of women felt waking up not feeling rested for 1-2 nights per week or more, compared to 46 percent of men.

The study flagged stress or anxiety as the biggest barrier to consistent, quality sleep (39 per cent), followed by work-related responsibilities (37 per cent) and household duties (31 per cent) among women.

Speaking to HealthandMe, Dr. Kirti Kadian, from the Department of Pulmonary Critical Care & Sleep Medicine at AIIMS Bhopal, said: “Women experience disproportionate sleep challenges globally, largely because their bodies undergo repeated physiological transitions that influence how sleep is regulated.”

The experts cited the main reasons as

• fluctuations during menstruation,
• pregnancy,
• postpartum recovery
• menopause.

All these factors can alter mood regulation, increase nighttime alertness, and disrupt the architecture of sleep itself.

Dr Kadian said that hormonal fluctuations across the life course -- especially during the menopausal transition -- can affect circadian rhythm, airway stability, pain sensitivity, and the nervous system’s response to stress.

“When these biological changes coincide with external stressors, such as multitasking, emotional labor or caregiving demands, women become far more vulnerable to insomnia and unrefreshing sleep,” Shah said.

The prevalence of sleep disorders increases from about 16–42 percent in pre-menopause to around 39–47 percent in peri-menopause and up to 35–69 percent in post-menopause, indicating that sleep disturbances become more common as women progress through different reproductive stages.

“Declining levels of estrogen and progesterone can disrupt the body’s sleep regulation and trigger symptoms like hot flashes and night sweats, while reduced melatonin may make it harder to fall and stay asleep,” Dr. Kadian explained.

In addition, certain medical conditions that are more common in women, such as thyroid disorders, anemia, and autoimmune diseases, can also negatively affect sleep and overall health.

How Poor Sleep Affects Women

Poor sleep also significantly affects both physical and mental health, increasing the risk of

• metabolic disorders,
• cardiovascular disease,
• weakened immunity,
• persistent fatigue,
• reduced concentration,
• irritability,
• anxiety,
• depression.

How Women can Improve their Sleep

The Harvard Medical School suggested that to get a better sleep cycle women should:

• Create a sleep sanctuary by removing the television, computer, smartphone or tablet, from the bedroom.
• Cut down or limit afternoon naps to 20 to 30 minutes
• Avoid caffeine after noon
• Get regular exercise, but not within three hours of bedtime.