Thursday, July 30, 2009

Mind, body, and soul: keys for optimal senior living


By:Alberto Vargas
July 27, 1:36 PM


Aging – a topic often left untouched by most of us. We don’t want to accept that it’s inevitable. From time to time, when we’re conscious of our surroundings for a brief moment and not just centered on ourselves, we’ll see elderly people slowly pushing their grocery cart through the supermarket parking lot. Cars are zooming by, employees are busy collecting carts under the heat of the sun, young couples too busy chasing their children around, all the while the elderly realize they’re out there to fend for themselves.


They do so, however, with dignity. They know the sacrifices they’ve made throughout their lifetimes and what they have contributed to society. After all, they have laid the foundations on which we, the generations that have followed, stand on today. Their contributions are priceless and most of them are aware of this, though rarely ask for recognition.


As such, they often refuse to ask for assistance. They push themselves as hard as they can, proving that they are not a burden on society. They can get the job done on their own. Often times, they’ll react with astonishment, disbelief, perhaps a bit of skepticism when someone does finally offer to help.
We’ve all heard of those who target senior citizens in robberies, financial scams, and random acts of violence. It’s a sad and unfortunate facet of society.


Contrary to popular belief, however, senior citizens aren’t just dragging around town, driving 40 mph on the freeway, and slobbering all over themselves. Especially here in San Diego, many find ways to stay active, maintain optimal health, engage in important mental exercise, and, perhaps, most importantly, maintain an active spiritual life. It’s the Mind, Body, and Soul approach.


Although a recent study conducted by multiple entities, including the California Health Interview survey, state hospitals, and the San Diego County Emergency Medical Services agency has estimated that 50% of county seniors are overweight, 30% were found to continue to moderately exercise.
According to recent statistics, by 2030, the number of people 65 years of age or older will double the amount from that in 2000. The number will jump from 313,750 to 741,362. Those numbers reflect the population here in San Diego County alone.


Dianne Jacob, chairwoman of the county board of supervisors emphasizes that “It makes it even more important for us to educate our senior citizens about living a healthy lifestyle and to make sure there is an emphasis on keeping active.”


As most of us know, there are plenty of parks and beaches here, locally, where seniors – alone or accompanied by friends or relatives – can safely engage in moderate exercise like walking, bike-riding, and swimming. Mission Bay, Balboa Park, and Old Town are just a few examples.


As important as physical activity is, remaining mentally engaged like reading the newspaper, books, magazines, listening to talk-radio, and crossword puzzles is also crucial. These types of activities help to keep the mind sharp and also decrease the amount of time potentially spent depressed or feeling alone or isolated. Calling in and voicing opinions on local radio talk-shows, (sports, politics, or whatever else) is a great way of staying active in the community, often helping to shape public opinion on vital social issues. Your voice matters immensely, especially today.


Lastly and for many, most importantly, senior citizens can more gracefully accept the inevitable progression of the human experience by maintaining a fruitful and rich spiritual life. Going to church, meditating, reading the bible, or simply taking precious moments out of the day to actively communicate with your God, is essential in the pursuit of a well-balanced, fruitful, senior life.


The formula is simple, Mind, Body, and Soul, but the actual application may prove to be a challenge. It is a challenge, however, worth taking on, considering the alternative: senility, atrophy, and isolation. There’s at least a senior or two in all of our families so it is imperative that we communicate this to them, encourage them, and better yet, join in the plight to take on aging with grace, enthusiasm, and positivism.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Trivia Games for the Elderly

From LoveToKnow Seniors

Trivia games for the elderly are ideal for maintaining cognitive function and awareness. Trivia games provide an interactive tool for friends and family members as well as friendly challenges that not only stimulate the mind, but also the social skills.
Importance Trivia Games for the Elderly

Trivia games for the elderly provide mental stimulation, an important component to mental and cognitive health in aging minds. Brain teasers, crossword puzzles, word finds and trivia games all require multiple areas of the brain to interact in order to process and retrieve data. The brain is a muscle, if it is not used it can become atrophied.

Regular mental stimulation can actually delay the onset of diseases such as dementia and Alzheimer’s which impair cognitive functioning. Trivia games require ‘memory’ and stimulate the pathways through the cerebral cortex required to link the question to the image to the answer.
Trivial Pursuit and Other Board Games

Board games are a popular past time for senior citizens, particularly if they are grandparents. Children love to play board games. As children age, engaging them in trivia based games is one way to encourage mental activity. Board games are a good social activity for seniors to participate in with friends or at local community or senior centers.

For solitary seniors, online trivia games as well as trivia books can be a way to keep the mental stimulation flowing. Trivia books are available that allow seniors to answer trivia questions from decades past. While these types of trivia games can be fun it is important that trivia be widely based and come from multiple time periods.

In most cases of memory loss, the most distant memories actually remain intact while more recent memories are the ones that begin to atrophy. Part of this is due to the what happens while the body is asleep. Mental processes are reinforced during rest periods, if the brain is not stimulated during the day or recently acquired memories emphasized, then those processes are not reinforced.

Thursday, July 23, 2009

Nature: Science Shows It’s Good for the Mind as Well as the Body

A walk in the woods can do wonders

By: John Hanc | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | July 10, 2009

Two or three times a year, 63-year-old Tom Casey, a retired English teacher from West Sayville, N.Y., leads a group of hikers, most of them 50 and over, on a four-mile walk through hallowed literary ground: West Hills County Park on Long Island, located next to the birthplace of the poet Walt Whitman.

Whitman himself, born in West Hills in 1819, once walked some of these same trails as he mused on the beauty of nature and the meaning of life. At the end of the hike, the group gathers by a plaque to Whitman, where Casey reads some of the poet’s work. For the hikers, lines such as “I see my soul reflected in Nature” or “Give me again O Nature your primal sanities” not only extol the power of the outdoor experience, but define the aspirations of a generation.

Whitman was onto something

Whitman, modern research is showing, was onto something. Communing with nature, as the poet and his contemporary Henry David Thoreau were famous for doing and writing about, can help improve your memory, focus and attention.

While Whitman might not have recognized the terms used by psychologists at the University of Michigan when they talk about how time in the outdoors was found to improve “cognitive function,” he no doubt would have embraced their conclusion, as do Casey and his compatriots.

“When you read Leaves of Grass, you find that he uses the word ‘senses’ very frequently when he’s writing about nature” says Casey, president of the Walt Whitman Birthplace Association. “It’s in almost every passage when he refers to nature, about how alive he feels, and his senses take in so much. I think this is of a piece with the study.”

In the study, published in the December 2008 edition of the journal Psychological Science, 38 participants were assigned to take a 50- to 55-minute walk in the tree-lined Ann Arbor Arboretum or in the city’s traffic-heavy downtown area. Afterward, they were given tests to evaluate their mental acuity. The researchers found that the attention and memory spans of those who had walked in the arboretum's natural setting improved by 20 percent.

Respite from sensory overload

Why? “Most nature walks have stimulation that attracts attention automatically, but does so softly,” says the study’s lead author, psychology graduate student Marc Berman. “It grabs your attention, but allows you to think about other things at the same time, thereby allowing for reflection.”

The walk in the woods, as opposed to one down a busy thoroughfare, tends not to bombard you with stimuli that require an effort to tune out—sirens, car horns, billboards. By allowing our minds a respite from the typical sensory overload of an urban environment, time spent in nature “tends to be restorative,” Berman says. “It allows for reflection and mind wandering, while at the same time offering interesting things to look at.”

In other words, your mind can engage in a sort of beneficial “active rest”; free to attend to things of interest, free to reflect and wander, but without simultaneously working to tune out unwanted distractions.

No matter the weather

What’s more, the benefits did not depend on the weather, researchers found. Subjects who took a walk on a balmy 80-degree summer afternoon experienced the same benefit as those who trudged out on a cold 25-degree winter morning. The only difference was that participants enjoyed the walks more in the spring and summer than in the dead of winter.

Now with fine summer weather to entice them, increasing numbers of older hikers are taking to the woods, beaches and mountain trails. Continuing a trend evident for several years, the number of day hikers ages 45 and over increased by 11 percent between 2007 and 2008, from 10.3 million to 11.5 million, according to the Outdoor Foundation’s 2009 Outdoor Recreation Participation Report. Even greater increases were tracked among that age group in other outdoor activities, such as backpacking and camping—this at a time when overall outdoor participation was down among some younger age groups.

Physical and psychological benefits

Whitman’s celebration of a walk in the woods as mind-expanding, consciousness-raising, soul-soothing is something that Casey, a hiker for 35 years, can well understand. “Being outside in a natural setting makes us feel more connected to life in general and sharpens the senses,” he says.

Of course, the benefits of walks in the woods or along the beach are physical as well as psychological.

Experts say this kind of weight-bearing exercise improves coordination and muscle strength, and even protects against osteoporosis. “Trail walking, at least when not overdone, is very beneficial,” says Jonathan Chang, M.D., clinical assistant professor of orthopedics at the University of Southern California School of Medicine. He says it elevates the mood as it gives you a chance to explore. And the soft paths through the woods “reduce wear and tear on legs and feet.”

A study conducted several years ago in Austria looked at how a three-week hiking vacation affected adults with metabolic syndrome, a cluster of conditions that occur together increasing the risk of heart disease, stroke and diabetes. The 71 male volunteers ages 33 to 66 went on 12 hikes over the period. Body weight, body fat, cholesterol and blood pressure among the hikers were significantly lower at the end of the three weeks. Their low-key conclusion? “A hiking vacation can be recommended.”

Boomers’ Woodstock connection with the outdoors

The salutary effects of being in nature and the cognitive benefits can be found among people of any age (the subjects of the Michigan study were undergraduates) and at any time of year. However, these findings may have particular relevance to boomers who already have a strong generational connection with the outdoors—a connection symbolized this summer by the 40th anniversary of the Woodstock Music and Art Festival held Aug. 15 to 17, 1969, on a farm in upstate Bethel, N.Y.

“I don’t think it was by accident that the high watermark of the ’60s generation, Woodstock, took place outdoors,” says Ron Watters, professor emeritus of outdoor studies at Idaho State University. A rejection of modern society, and a longing to “get back” to nature was a central tenet of the counterculture that so many boomers embraced in that era. Now, Watters says, boomers are returning to nature, either alone or in small groups.

Many of those hitting the trails, Watters says, are hoping to experience the same kinds of things that Whitman wrote about; that Casey and his band of hikers celebrate; and that the University of Michigan study has helped to better understand and quantify. “It’s perfect!” Watters says about the dotted line between the Whitman hikes, the Woodstock generation, and the Michigan studies. Casey “is reminding us about a poetic, philosophical view of the outdoors and how it’s inspired great art and literature. I talk about the almost spiritual connection baby boomers have with nature, one symbolized by Woodstock, and now we have the scientists entering and telling us how it’s important for restoration and cognitive function.”

Nature—it’s good for mind, body and soul. And on a beautiful summer’s morning, Americans might want to heed Whitman’s memorable call to action in his “Song of the Open Road.”

Afoot and light-hearted I take to the open road

Healthy, free, the world before me,

The long brown path before me leading wherever I choose.

Sunday, July 19, 2009

Caregiver Stress.... can you use some extra help?

Source:Alzheimer's Association
Alzheimer caregivers report that they frequently experience high levels of stress. Too much stress can be damaging to both a caregiver and the person with Alzheimer’s.If you experience some of these signs of stress on a regular basis, consult your doctor. Ignoring them can cause your physical and mental health to decline.

Symptoms of caregiver stress
Denial
Anger
Social withdrawal
Anxiety
Depression
Exhaustion
Sleeplessness
Irritability
Lack of concentration
Health problems Be a healthy caregiverTaking care of yourself is one of the most important ways to be a healthy caregiver. Know what resources are available. Adult day care, in-home assistance, visiting nurses and Meals-on-Wheels are just some of the services that can help you. Become an educated caregiver. As the disease progresses, new caregiving skills are necessary. Find information on alz.org or contact your local Alzheimer's Association. Get help. You are not failing as a caregiver by asking others for assistance. Seek the support of family, friends and community resources. Alzheimer's Association support group meetings are a good source of comfort and reassurance. Or you can join our online community. Take care of yourself. Watch your diet, exercise and get plenty of rest. Make time for shopping, lunch with friends or even a golf outing. Take advantage of community services such as adult day care or in-home companion services to care for your loved one while you take a break. Manage your stress level. Stress can cause physical problems and changes in behavior. If you experience symptoms of caregiver stress, use relaxation techniques that work for you, and consult your doctor. Accept changes as they occur. People with Alzheimer's change and so do their needs. They often require care beyond what you can provide on your own. Look into care services such as in-home caregiver services and residential care. Do legal and financial planning. Consult an attorney to discuss legal, financial and care issues. If possible and appropriate, involve the person with Alzheimer's and other family members. Be realistic. Many of the behaviors that occur are beyond your control and the control of the person with Alzheimer's. Grieve your losses, but also focus on the positive moments. Give yourself credit, not guilt. You are doing the best you can. Don't feel guilty because you can't do more. Your loved one needs you, and you are there – that should make you feel proud.

Thursday, July 16, 2009

4 ways to communicate with a person with dementia.

Author: Patricia Grace

Many people are caring for a person who can no longer easily communicate their feelings or needs. This can be the byproduct of medical conditions such as Alzheimer’s disease or other dementia’s, Parkinson’s disease or a stroke.

An elderly person with dementia may be trying to interpret a world that no longer makes sense to them because their brain is interpreting information incorrectly. Sometimes the person with dementia and those around them will misinterpret each other's attempts at communication. These misunderstandings can be difficult, and may require support from outsiders such as the Alzheimer's Association or the National Family Caregiver support program.

Difficulties with communication can be upsetting and frustrating for all involved, but there are several ways to help make sure that you understand each other. This can be accomplished through speech, reading, music and touch.

Reading - Most people struggle to fill the time when they are visiting a person with dementia. They often talk & talk & talk hoping that something will ignite a flame behind the dead stare of their loved ones eyes. Author, Laura Bramly faced this issue with her mother who was suffering with vascular dementia and living in a nursing home. One day, out of sheer desperation she picked up a coffee table book and started showing her mom the pictures. At the end of the book her mom said,”again.”
Based on that singular experience and the inability to find a picture book that would be appropriate for a person with dementia she wrote ElderCareRead: Life Scenes 1. This wonderful celebration of life provides photos, words and exercises to help stimulate and encourage interaction between the reader & the older person.

Music - Another powerful communication tool is music. Music can be soothing and provide comfort for an agitated Alzheimer’s patient. Most dementia care communities incorporate a music program as an activity for their resident’s. Many folks in these communities have difficulty holding a conversation by they sure can sing! If you are using music as a means of communication, watch the person’s body language carefully to see if they are enjoying it, or should adjustments be made such as volume or style of music.

Touch - Physical forms of communication such as touching, hugging & hand holding can covey a strong message of affection. No matter what stage of life we are in a gentle touch or a loving hug can brighten our day. However, people with dementia can find touching and hugging overwhelming. If you loved one appears frightened or pulls back, respect that.

Speech – Speak clearly and ask simple questions. Try not to ask direct questions, this can cause frustration if the person can’t find the “right” answer. Use a quiet and calm tone and if the person does not understand the question try visual cues instead of repeating the question over & over. Remember they can hear you they just can’t interpret the words you are saying!

If you are getting little response from the person, it can be very tempting to speak about them as if they weren't there. But disregarding them in this way can make them feel very cut off, frustrated and sad. Make sure you do not speak down to the person or treat them like a child…no one likes to be patronized!

Monday, July 13, 2009

Synergy HomeCare is offering FREE group activities for Seniors

We are a non-medical Home Care Company and we feel that is important to keep our seniors active and engaged. We here at Synergy HomeCare look at things a differently than most home care organizations; we offer group services that are at no cost to the community or the senior! These activities are in addition to our personal home care services. We offer several services that enable seniors to live independently in their homes for longer. The services we offer for groups are a great way to have additional activities for seniors in the area. Synergy Home Care will provide caregivers for any outings, instructors and supplies for the crafts

  • Day Group Fishing Trips
  • Karaoke (specialized for seniors)
  • Digital Camera Class
  • Basic Computer Skills lessons
  • Wii Bowling
  • Internet Surfing and how to get around
  • E-mailing lessons
  • Social Networking lessons
  • Music Bingo
  • Craft Days
  • Card Making
  • Cookie Exchanges Organized
  • Holiday special crafts
  • Concert Night (local kids choirs)
  • Work on or create a community garden
  • English Afternoon Tea (with finger sandwiches and tea provided)
  • Organized Casino trips with extras and deals for the seniors (my be a small cost)
  • Therapy Dogs brought to visit. (By request only)
Please don't hesitate to contact us at 651-209-6360 if you have any questions about our activities or our services.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

Too Few Seniors Get Home Care: AARP report finds Medicaid limits access

By: Trish Nicholson | Source: AARP Bulletin Today | - July 11, 2008

Even though most older Americans would prefer to receive care at home rather than in nursing homes, many states have been slow to reform their Medicaid programs to make that choice widely available. Instead, most states have done a much better job of using Medicaid dollars to help people with developmental disabilities remain in their homes and communities than to help older people and adults with physical disabilities.

Those are among the findings in A Balancing Act: State Long-Term Care Reform, a report released July 11 by the AARP Public Policy Institute. The report is the first ever to examine Medicaid spending specifically for older people and adults with physical disabilities, as distinct from other groups needing long-term care.

The study yielded surprising data. “We really didn’t realize how far behind services for older people were, compared to services for people with developmental disabilities,” says Enid Kassner, the institute’s director of independent living and long-term care, and lead author on the report.

For years AARP researchers had examined annual data from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services showing the extent to which states were balancing Medicaid dollars between nursing home care and home- and community-based services. It appeared that states were making steady progress toward offering alternatives. “But when we broke out the numbers,” Kassner says, “there were pretty dramatic differences in serving different populations.”

Seventy-five percent of Medicaid spending on long-term care for older people and adults with physical disabilities goes to nursing home care. In contrast, most Medicaid dollars for people with developmental disabilities go toward services that can help them live independently.

A major barrier to leveling the playing field is Medicaid’s institutional bias. Medicaid is required to provide nursing home care for ailing older adults who are impoverished. The program is not required to provide home- and community-based care, even though it is often less expensive than nursing home care.

“This is backwards,” Susan Reinhard, senior vice president of the Public Policy Institute, said in a statement when releasing the report. “People are entitled to more costly nursing home care, but not to care in their homes.”

Despite federal rules that hinder states’ ability to balance Medicaid funds between nursing home care and home- and community-based services, a handful of states have succeeded in tipping the scales. In 2006 Alaska, Oregon, Washington and New Mexico spent more than half of their Medicaid long-term care budgets for older people and adults with physical disabilities on services that allow them to live at home or in the community.

These successes, Kassner says, “have shown that it can be done. It is not mission impossible. But it really takes a lot of work, and it takes a commitment from state officials. They have to embrace the philosophy that people have the right to control their own care. If the state doesn’t believe that, they’re not going to make it happen.”

Nationwide Medicaid spending on home- and community-based services for older people and adults with physical disabilities increased by 65 percent from 2001 to 2006, while Medicaid spending on nursing home care increased 16 percent. But nursing home funding began at higher levels, and the rate of change was not evenly distributed among the states. Indeed, more than half the states boosted funding for nursing home care more than for home-based services. If recent rates of change continue, the nation will not reach a 50-50 spending balance between the two types of care until 2020.

Changes in funding are not the only indicator of progress, however, because of differences in cost. The amount of Medicaid dollars that can pay for home care for nearly three people on average can only pay for nursing home care for one.

AARP researchers therefore also looked at changes in participant data over a five-year span, from 1999 to 2004. A state might be behind the national average in terms of spending yet may have reduced the number of people in nursing homes while boosting the number receiving in-home care. “We would call that a partial success,” Kassner says.

The report includes a two-page profile of every state, with pie charts showing how the state compares to the national average in terms of balancing funds and a table showing changes in participant data. Each profile describes programs and progress within that state.

AARP will host an Innovations Roundtable in August, inviting state officials and advocates to use the report and share information on best practices.

Because Medicaid is the primary payer for long-term care, how a state uses those funds can affect its long-term care infrastructure. If most of a state’s Medicaid budget goes to nursing home care, the market for entrepreneurs to develop businesses offering in-home care may be inadequate. As a result, even people who pay for long-term care out of their own pockets may have a hard time finding in-home services.

On the other hand, among states that have invested in home-based care, several have established a “single point of entry” to the long-term care system, providing one place where state residents can go to get all the information they need about options for care, whether they are eligible for Medicaid or not.

The national trend toward apportioning some Medicaid funds for home- and community-based services—which began in the 1980s—got a boost from the U.S. Supreme Court in its 1999 Olmstead decision. The high court rejected the state of Georgia’s appeal to keep two women with mental illness and mental retardation in a state psychiatric hospital long after treatment professionals recommended their transfer to a less restrictive community-based setting.

“Older people don’t want to be in institutions, either,” Kassner says. “AARP will have to ramp up its advocacy to remove the disparity in services for different populations. If we’re not going to fight for this, who will?”

Wednesday, July 8, 2009

Baby boomers redefine retirement

The ‘forever young’ generation turns 60 and changes the rules

By Kevin Corke
Correspondent
NBC News
updated 12:07 p.m. CT, Tues., Nov . 8, 2005



Jeff and Nelda Manna are among an increasing number of boomers who are moving to active adult communities like Sun City Anthem outside Las Vegas — neighborhoods that cater to the over-50 crowd, with activities like tennis, golf, swimming and fitness.

“It’s almost not if you did something today,” Jeff Manna says. “It’s what did you do today.”
It's an example of how the baby boom generation continues to change business models and marketing strategies in America. Construction of active adult communities, like the Manna's in Henderson, is already a multibillion-dollar industry and its growing because baby boomers are flexing their financial muscle and proving to the marketplace that that they are not winding down — they are rewinding.

Nationwide, more than a quarter of the homes built this year will be bought by someone over 50 — many in communities like Sun City Anthem.

Monday, July 6, 2009

How We Spend Our Time May Determine the Decline of Cognitive Abilities, Says Bee Study


Source: www.SeniorJournal.com

When forager bees revert to nursing bee behavior their brains become 'young' again

July 1, 2009 – Cognitive ability declines as people age but a new study has found that honey bees seem to have solved this problem. They have discovered that by switching their social role, aging honey bees can keep their learning ability intact or even improve it.

Maybe the specific kind of daily activities people engage in during the course of their lives influences the extent of their mental decline.

A team of researchers from Technische Universität Berlin, led by Dr. Ricarda Scheiner, are involved in the study of how division of labor among honey bees affects their learning performance as they age. Dr. Sheiner is to present the research today at the Society of Experimental Biology Annual Meeting in Glasgow.

The oldest bees in a colony are the foragers - a task that demands a high amount of energy, the researchers say. With increasing foraging duration, their capacity for associative learning was found to decrease.

On the other hand, no decline was observed in nurse bees that remain inside the hive taking care of the brood and the queen, even though their age was the same as that of their foraging sisters.

When the scientists artificially forced a subset of these foragers to revert to nursing tasks, they discovered that they learning performance improved again, demonstrating a remarkable plasticity in their brain circuits.

"The honey bee is a great model", explains Dr. Scheiner, "because we can learn a lot about social organization from it and because it allows us to revert individuals into a 'younger' stage.

“If we remove all of the nurse bees of a colony, some of the foragers will revert to nursing behavior and their brains become 'young' again. We thus hope to study the mechanisms responsible for age-dependent effects, like oxidative damage, and also to discover new ways to act against these aging processes."

The scientists are planning to use this as a model to study general aging processes in the human brain, and even hope that they may provide some clues on how to prevent these processes.