A visit with Mom recently revealed a number of unsettling signs. Even though she’s always been up at the crack of dawn, now it is hard to wake her before lunchtime. Rather than fixing an elaborate home-cooked meal, she prefers to simply warm up a can of soup; and can barely finish a small bowlful. Not only that, but she’s lost interest in spending time with her beloved friends from…
Insights and Tips for Enhancing Care at Home
The Advantages of Exercise for Seniors with Alzheimer’s
The numerous advantages of exercise are obvious, but what isn’t as well recognized is that exercise for seniors with Alzheimer’s disease and dementia can be particularly helpful in many different ways. It can help decrease the risk for muscle weakness as well as other problems that stem from inactivity, can ease the effects of emotional and behavioral changes, and much more.
Exercise vs. Medication: What’s Best for Combating Common Senior Health Problems?
If you made a resolution back in January to work out more in 2021, ideally you’re continuing to stay with it! Adding more physical activity to your everyday activities is the one resolution we ought to all be implementing. For seniors, many of whom take multiple medications for a number of health problems, this is particularly true.
Is Aging at Home an Option?
A large proportion of seniors are set on aging at home, instead of relocating to an assisted living facility or nursing home – nearly 90 percent of them, based upon research conducted by AARP. And who can blame them? The comfort of familiar surroundings, the freedom to come and go as you would like, the freedom to prepare the meals you want when you would like them are all invaluable…
Wheelchair-Friendly Home Modifications for Seniors
Home is where we can truly relax and be ourselves, and that’s just part of why so many older individuals make the choice to remain at home throughout aging. But in many cases wheelchairs will become a part of life when seniors or those with certain disabilities experience decreased mobility. This can be especially challenging when it comes to ensuring the home is safe. Thankfully, a few home modifications for…
Recognizing the Signs of Burnout when Caring for a Loved One with Alzheimer’s
Envision how it would feel to awaken in an unfamiliar place, not being able to remember how you arrived there or even what your name is. Utter disorientation quickly turns into anger and fear, and you might now discover yourself yelling at the stranger positioned by your bed, talking to you in a quiet voice.
De-Prescribing Medications: What Seniors Should Know
With over 1/3 of all 60-year-olds taking five or more prescription medications, it’s no wonder that problems are occurring from overmedication. Polypharmacy, defined as “…when an adverse drug effect is misinterpreted as a new medical problem – leading to the prescribing of more medication to treat the initial drug-induced symptom,” can lead to a variety of additional health risks or worsening of existing health conditions. It’s advised that seniors and…
The Health Advantages of Senior Socialization
It is intuitive to most of us that senior socialization improves health and wellbeing. It connects seniors to other people’s experiences, beliefs, challenges, humor, opinions, and various other human occurrences. Now, however, scientific studies are confirming seniors socializing with others actually can enhance the wellness of both their minds and bodies.
Music and Dementia: The Connection That Can Help Older Adults
Nowadays, music is more available than ever before. For those who take smartphones or tablets with them everywhere they go, hundreds of thousands – if not tens of millions of tunes – are simply a few touches or finger swipes away. If you are a caregiver for a senior, your smartphone can be one of the most helpful tools in your possession to help tap into the benefits of music….
Finding Work-Life Balance for Family Caregivers
Regardless of whether or not you love your job, the workplace can, at times, be stressful. Now consider how stressful it can be for those who have a second full-time job taking care of an older or disabled family member. For many family caregivers, balancing caregiving and a career can be virtually impossible, along with taking care of a home and family, and caring for an older loved one, which…