September's Health Quiz: The Aging Edition

Older adults, as a group, have higher rates of depression than younger adults.

False

Despite the common assumption, older adults as a group don't have higher depression rates than younger adults; some studies even show life satisfaction rising in later decades.

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The way your body absorbs and processes medication can change with age, even if you're taking the exact same dose you've taken for years.

True

Aging changes how the liver and kidneys process medications, which is why dosages sometimes need adjusting even when nothing else has changed.

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A decline in taste and smell can happen with normal aging, even without any underlying illness.

True

Taste and smell naturally decline for many people with age, separate from any disease process.

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Bone loss in women speeds up significantly in the years right after menopause.

True

The drop in estrogen after menopause accelerates bone density loss, which is part of why osteoporosis screening timing matters.

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Hearing loss is mostly a convenience issue — it doesn't have any real connection to brain health.

False

Untreated hearing loss is linked to a higher risk of cognitive decline and dementia, not just communication difficulty.

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Grip strength is one of the strongest predictors of how long you'll live — in some studies, a better predictor than blood pressure.

True

Grip strength correlates strongly with overall mortality risk and is increasingly used as a quick clinical marker of aging health.

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Standard flu shots work just as well in someone who's 75 as they do in someone who's 35 — that's why there's no separate flu vaccine formulated for seniors.

False

Immune response weakens with age, which is exactly why a high-dose flu vaccine formulated specifically for adults 65+ exists.

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Your resting heart rate naturally speeds up as you get older.

False

Resting heart rate stays fairly stable with healthy aging; it's the maximum heart rate you can reach during exercise that declines, not your resting rate.​​