THURSDAY, April 19 (HealthDay News) -- Riddled with regret over missed opportunities? You may want to let it go. A new study suggests that being able to set aside regret might make for happier years later in life.

Researchers from the University Medical Center Hamburg-Eppendorf, in Germany, examined regret in 20-somethings and 60-somethings to see how it affected their emotional health.

"Regret is a powerful mental energy which can be your best friend or worst enemy. You can harness it to improve your future by learning from it, but if you let it grow inside you, it is destructive to both healthy aging and emotional resilience," said Dr. Murali Doraiswamy, a professor and head of the division of biological psychiatry at Duke University School of Medicine. He was not involved in the research.

The study, published in the April 19 issue of Science, involved three groups: 21 healthy young adults (in their 20s), 20 depressed older adults and 20 healthy older adults (in their 60s).

The study participants were asked to play game-based tests on a computer. In it, they were invited to open a series of boxes -- some held money pictured as gold, while others revealed a cartoon image of a devil. After opening each box, they were allowed to decide whether they wanted to end the game or keep trying for more money. But if a devil appeared, the game ended and the player lost all the money won up to that point. At the end of each round, all of the boxes opened to show how far a participant could have played without losing.

While they played 80 rounds of the game, the participants also underwent functional MRI (fMRI) brain scans. This allowed the scientists to monitor brain activity between the three groups.

The researchers noted that during the games, when the young adults and the depressed older adults realized they'd missed chances to earn more money earlier on, they were more likely to take bigger risks later in the game. But game results early on didn't appear to affect the later behavior of the healthy older adults.

On the fMRIs, the researchers observed similar brain activity among the young and the older depressed groups in two regions of the brain: the ventral striatum, involved in feelings of regret; and the anterior cingulate cortex, linked with emotion regulation. The fMRIs indicated that the older healthy adults were experiencing less regret and were able to regulate their feelings more successfully.

Study author Stefanie Brassen and colleagues also noted changes on skin tests and heart rate in the young and older depressed players, but not in the healthy older players, when opportunities in the games were missed. The authors concluded that the study results suggest that healthy older adults may be better at reminding themselves that results are a matter of chance, while depressed seniors may blame themselves.

Doraiswamy said this study provides a window into how that process works at a neuronal level. "But it's a preliminary study because of the small sample and uncertainty about whether the laboratory games truly reflect how these individuals would behave in real-life situations of gain or loss," he said.

He added that the brain patterns seen in depressed participants, if confirmed in larger studies, could potentially help identify people who are vulnerable to late-life depression and in need of counseling.

Dr. Gary Small, director of the Longevity Center at University of California, Los Angeles, also commented on the study.

"The results are certainly in line with clinical observations that as people age, they gain a perspective that makes them more forgiving of themselves," Small said.

"I agree with the authors' point that we can change negative attitudes to more positive and adaptive ones," he added. "The fMRI results also support their interpretation by pinpointing brain regions known to control these mental experiences. Although an individual's personality or character to some extent drives attitudes, they are not cast in stone."

Small said the study suggests that young people might benefit from learning some of the wisdom that comes with aging, too.

Doraiswamy and colleagues published a paper a few months ago that showed positive acts -- such as letting go, forgiveness and being thankful -- all might reverse the brain dysfunctions underlying regret. "They could prove to be powerful therapies for building emotional wellness and treating depression," he said.

More information

Visit the U.S. National Institute on Aging for more about healthy aging.

WEDNESDAY, April 18 (HealthDay News) -- New research suggests that elderly people who move around more -- even gardening or puttering around the house -- are less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease than more sedentary seniors.

The study doesn't confirm that being active lowers the risk of Alzheimer's, an age-related degenerative brain disease. It's possible that another factor explains the link; perhaps the very early stages of Alzheimer's cause people to slow down.

Still, the findings suggest that "an active lifestyle may be good for you. Even if you can't exercise, increasing all kinds of movements may be beneficial in the long term," said study lead author Dr. Aron Buchman, an associate professor of neurological sciences at Rush University Medical Center, in Chicago.

Previous research has pointed to a possible link between exercise and healthy brains. "Cardiovascular conditioning gets our hearts to pump oxygen and nutrients to our brain cells, which helps them communicate more effectively and protects neural health," said Dr. Gary Small, a brain researcher and director of the Longevity Center at the University of California, Los Angeles. He was not involved with the study.

By 2030, it is estimated that the number of Americans older than 65 will double to 80 million. Given this surge, the authors say the new study has significant public health implications.

In the study, researchers wanted to see if simply moving around -- not necessarily working up a sweat -- might make a difference.

The study looked at 716 people without dementia -- average age 82, including 602 women -- whose activity was tracked for as many as 10 days with the help of a device that measures movement. The device, called an actigraph, picks up traditional forms of exercise, such as walking and swimming, but also monitors when people fidget or move around the house, said study lead author Buchman.

"It's like a wristwatch and is pretty nonobtrusive," he said. "They wear it 24 hours a day."

The researchers then watched to see what happened to the participants. Over an average of almost four years, 71 developed signs of Alzheimer's disease. The researchers analyzed their statistics to see if the risk of the illness was higher or lower depending on the activity levels of the participants back when they wore the devices.

Those among the 10 percent of participants who were most active had an 8 percent likelihood of developing signs of Alzheimer's over the time period in which they were followed. The risk jumped to 18 percent among the 10 percent of participants who were the least active.

Buchman acknowledged that it's impossible to know which comes first: little activity or brain problems. "The whole issue of whether there's a causal relationship between physical activity and cognition is one that needs to be sorted out," he said.

One challenge to understanding the link between exercise and the brain is that an ideal study would need to assign some people to be more active and others to be less active. And, according to Dr. William Jagust, a professor of neuroscience at the Helen Wills Neuroscience Institute at the University of California, Berkeley, then they'd need to be followed for a long time to confirm whether activity (or lack of it) makes a difference.

The study appears online April 18 and in the April 24 print issue of Neurology.

The authors acknowledged some study limitations. Because the study volunteers included so many more women than men, the results might not apply to the population at large, they said. Also, the devices didn't distinguish among the different activities performed.

More information

For more about Alzheimer's disease, see the U.S. National Library of Medicine.

TUESDAY, April 17 (HealthDay News) -- When Medicare stops paying for seniors' medications after they enter the Part D "donut hole," the seniors often go without the drugs, even if the medications are essential for heart health, new research shows.

"We looked at health outcomes within the coverage gap, which averaged about three and half months during a year. While we didn't find short-term adverse cardiovascular events during that time, it's really unclear what this discontinuation would do in the long-term. And, we don't know if they restart the drugs at the beginning of the year when their coverage resets, or if they remain off them," said study author Jennifer Polinski, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and an instructor of epidemiology at Harvard School of Public Health in Boston.

Polinski's study included more than 120,000 Medicare beneficiaries with cardiovascular conditions who were receiving drug benefits in 2006 and 2007. During that time, those seniors who reached a total of $2,250 in spending on prescription drugs in 2006 or $2,400 in 2007 lost further drug coverage until they reached the amount required for catastrophic care coverage ($3,600 in 2006 and $3,850 in 2007). This coverage gap is commonly referred to as the Medicare Part D "donut hole."

Most of these seniors had high blood pressure, and about one-third had congestive heart failure.

For their research, Polinski's team compared almost 4,000 of these seniors who lost coverage and had no additional coverage to a matched group of almost 4,000 seniors who lost coverage, but had additional financial assistance (such as additional insurance) to help pay for drug costs.

The group who had no additional financial assistance was 57 percent more likely to stop taking the drugs altogether when they reached the initial Medicare limit, according to the study. Neither group was likely to switch medications.

During about four months of follow-up, the researchers didn't find any statistically significant differences in the rate of death or other health outcomes. However, the authors note that it's unclear how stopping heart, cholesterol or blood pressure medications might affect long-term health outcomes.

"I would urge seniors to talk to their pharmacist or doctor. Ask them if there's something cheaper you could be taking, and if you can't afford all of your medication, ask them to prioritize which drugs are the most important for you to be on," Polinski said.

Dr. Tara Narula, a cardiologist at Lenox Hill Hospital in New York City, agreed that anyone who's having trouble paying for their medications needs to talk to their doctor.

"Don't hesitate to communicate freely with your doctor. Sometimes people are scared or embarrassed to tell their doctor that they don't have the money. But, your doctor would much rather know that you can't afford the medication than for you to go without. There are ways we can help you deal with it if we know," she said.

Narula said it's likely that if the researchers followed this group for a longer time that they would have seen differences in health outcomes. "A lot of these patients have a history of hypertension and heart failure. Being off medications, even transiently, can have serious long-term outcomes. And, in some cases, people who just stop for a few days or a week end up with serious problems," she noted.

Results of the study were published April 17 in the journal Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

Since the study began, changes in Medicare drug coverage have already occurred. Under the new Affordable Health Care act, when people reach the donut hole, new discounts kick in. Brand name drugs are currently discounted 50 percent and generic drugs are discounted by 7 percent, and the generic discount will be going up, according to Hilary Sohmer Dalin, director of policy and programs for the National Center for Benefits Outreach and Enrollment at the National Council on Aging, in Washington, D.C.

While the Affordable Health Care act awaits a U.S. Supreme Court ruling on its legality, it's unclear what will happen to the new discounts. Sohmer Dalin said it's likely coverage would revert to the former Medicare Part D plans if the Supreme Court throws out the whole law.

But, no matter what happens in the courts, she said, people who have Part D and low incomes can apply for the Medicare Extra Help program, which subsidizes medications and eliminates the coverage gap. For those whose incomes are too high for the extra help program, Sohmer Dalin said it's "important to know what drugs you're taking and to talk to your health care provider to find the best drug regimen that works and is affordable for you."

More information

To find out where to get help paying for prescription drugs, or to see if you qualify for the Medicare Extra Help program, visit the National Council on Aging  . This service is free.