Being an adult child with an ageing parent is one of the more emotionally complex positions in midlife. The research is clear that most people take on care not out of obligation, but because the relationship matters. It is also clear that the load tends to fall unevenly, often on daughters, often from a distance, and often without much acknowledgement of the toll it takes. This article draws on four peer-reviewed studies to explore the emotional reality of that position: what the evidence says about guilt, gender, relationship quality, and wellbeing, and when it might be time to talk to someone.

Confusion, forgetfulness and low mood can look alike in midlife and later life, but they call for very different responses. Find out how delirium, dementia and depression differ, what to watch for, and when to talk to your GP.

Ask most people in later life how they are sleeping and the answer is rarely straightforward. Too light. Waking at 3am. Taking an hour to drop off. Feeling unrested despite spending eight hours in bed. Running on less than you used to. This article explains what the research tells us about sleep in older age, how it changes, why those changes matter, and what the evidence says can help.

You sit down to tell someone a story and the name you need, whether it’s a person, a place, a film, it simply will not come. You walk into a room and forget why you went there. You read the same paragraph three times and feel the words sliding away before they settle. And somewhere underneath the ordinary frustration of these moments is a more persistent worry: Is this the beginning of something serious?

For the nurses, doctors, chaplains, and allied health professionals who dedicate their careers to supporting people living with dementia, the rewards are genuine. So too are the challenges. This article explores psychological growth in senior health professionals working in dementia care — and what their experiences can tell us about meaning and purpose, adaptability, and what it means to truly give to another person.

When dementia takes away speech, it can feel like connection is slipping too. But our research The Dance of Communication reveals that even without words, awareness and belonging remain.

You walk into a room and forget why you're there. A name won't come. And somewhere in the back of your mind: "is this how it starts?" Fear of dementia is one of the most common health concerns in midlife — and one of the least clearly addressed. This article explains what normal memory change actually looks like, when it's worth speaking to your GP, and what the research tells us you can do to protect your brain across the decades ahead.

Depression in later life is one of the most common and most missed mental health conditions in Australia. It often doesn't look like what most people picture when they think of depression, and that's why so many people in their 60s, 70s, and 80s are living with it unrecognised and unsupported. This article explains what late-life depression actually looks like, why it is so often overlooked, and what helps.

There is a particular phrase that appears again and again in the accounts of family members who have moved a family member with dementia into a care home. Not anger, not relief — though both of those are present. The phrase is simpler, and harder: I feel like I've failed. For many families, this is where the story appears to end. But a growing body of research indicates it is where something else begins.