Heading home for the holidays can be a heartwarming experience filled with the warmth of family gatherings and the joy of reconnecting with loved ones. However, for many adult children, it can also be a time when the reality of their aging parents’ health changes becomes starkly apparent. If you’ve noticed Mom’s increasing forgetfulness or Dad’s declining mobility, you’re not alone – the holiday season often serves as a reality…
Understanding and Addressing Depression in Seniors During the Holiday Season
The holiday season is typically associated with joy, warmth, and the gathering of loved ones. It’s a time when families come together to celebrate, exchange gifts, and create lasting memories. However, for some individuals, especially seniors, the holidays can be a challenging and lonely time, leading to a condition known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Often dismissed as the winter blues, SAD can trigger clinical depression in seniors, making it…
Alzheimer’s Care: Balancing the Responsibilities of Caregiving
Being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s is life-changing both for the person receiving the diagnosis and anyone who loves them. It is important for family caregivers to allow themselves ample time to prepare for the changes to come with the new responsibilities of caregiving and to discover a healthy way to sort out the assorted emotions that manifest.
Dementia Caregiving: Unexpected Factors to Watch
If you’re the caregiver for someone with Alzheimer’s, then you know how much patience, flexibility, and willingness to expect the unexpected that dementia caregiving takes. On any given day, the person may experience a broad array of emotions: calm, angry, agitated, fearful, giddy, melancholy. As you modify your care strategy to correspond to the person’s demeanor, you also need to juggle management of a host of challenging symptoms: wandering, repetitive…
Coping With Inappropriate Behavior Caused by a Brain Injury
There are many different types of brain injuries, but certain behavioral difficulties are common regardless of the type of brain injury that occurs. Some inappropriate behaviors caused by a brain injury may be more or less likely based on the area and severity of the trauma, but your loved one might demonstrate one or more of these behaviors throughout TBI recovery, regardless of the specifics of the injury.
Understanding Traumatic Brain Injury Symptoms
The brain is arguably the most important, most complicated organ in your body. It is in charge of absolutely everything. It works behind the scenes, keeping us alive, and in the foreground as the home of our awareness. This is why, not surprisingly, when someone experiences a traumatic brain injury, there is so much concern.
Nutritional Supplements vs. Natural Foods: Which Is Best for Seniors?
Tips For Preventing Malnutrition in Seniors
Many of us remember gathering at Grandma’s house for Sunday dinners. However, because so many families now live far away from their elderly family members, and with numerous needs pulling us in multiple directions, it is difficult to keep up with this tradition – and it could be just one of the issues adding to a recent dramatic rise in senior malnutrition.
The Surprising Benefits of Laughter in Alzheimer’s Care
Alzheimer’s disease is definitely nothing to laugh about. However, studies are increasingly indicating the benefits of laughter in Alzheimer’s care, and adding humor may be just what the doctor ordered to improve quality of life for a senior you love. For example, an Australian study revealed that humor therapy is as effective in decreasing agitation in individuals with dementia as antipsychotic medications, with no negative side effects. Sharing laughter connects…
Understanding Dementia-Related Vision Problems
The many complicated steps required to allow us to see are almost unfathomable. In the blink of an eye, our brains can take transmitted information from the environment around us, translate those details in conjunction with input from our other senses, thoughts, and experiences, and then produce an understanding of that information to help us comprehend exactly what we are seeing. It’s easy to see how someone with Alzheimer’s disease…