When preparing your home for the golden years, there are many ways to ensure that each room in the house is comfortable and secure, so you can live safe, sound and solo.

Some 50 million Americans live with chronic pain linked to disease, while another 25 million experience periodic pain caused by injury or surgery. Yet recent headlines about harmful side effects of some popular prescription pain medications have many people thinking twice before swallowing a pill for their pain. Consumers are rediscovering the benefits of topical pain relief.

The death of a spouse, declining health or safety concerns can trigger the need to move. The first phase comes with the realization that what has been home is no longer suitable. Finding a professional who knows the ropes can make it easier for the more than 29 percent of home sellers age 65 and older who move into an active-adult community or senior-related housing each year.

With a click of the mouse, lifelong historians and those who just caught the history bug are taking to the Internet in record numbers to explore its nearly limitless access to times gone by. With that popularity, it's no surprise that military history sites are reporting unprecedented Web traffic.

By 2030, the number of Americans 80 and older is expected to rise from 9.3 million (in 2000) to 10.5 million. With this increased average life span, comes an increased demand on resources from health to social services. Volunteer-based organizations are stepping in to fill a growing need.

It's well known that smoking causes cancer. But did you know that smoking may also raise your risk for type 2 diabetes? Or that it's a major factor in nearly half of heart attacks? It's never easy to stop smoking, but millions of people have quit -- and you can, too. Now might be the time to give it a try.

For many patients, a cancer diagnosis is no longer a fatal one. However, the comfort that a patient's condition is treatable is often accompanied by dread of the grueling treatment that will be needed to save his or her life. But a new therapy holds hope for treating some cancers in just a single day, rather than through months of harsh radiation therapy.