Innovative Approaches to Communicating With Someone With Alzheimer’s

Communicating with a senior loved one struggling with all the challenges of Alzheimer’s, particularly in the middle and later stages, is often frustrating – both for you personally as well as for the person with Alzheimer’s. Brain changes impact the ability to listen, process, and respond to conversations, and it’s up to us to implement different approaches to communicating with someone with Alzheimer’s to more successfully connect with them.

Top Tips for Minimizing Family Caregiver Stress

Family caregiver stress is unavoidable, and in reality, not always a bad thing. Basically, as they say, “A diamond is just a piece of charcoal that handled stress exceptionally well.” But particularly for family caregivers, the level of stress can quickly intensify and become overwhelming, and if not handled properly, bring on serious health concerns.

Know the Warning Signs of Senior Depression

Everyone goes through times when they just want to be by themselves for a bit with their thoughts, to work through issues in their lives without distractions, or simply to experience some downtime. For seniors, however, being isolated for an extended period of time may be indicative of a more serious condition: depression.

Know the Difference Between Dementia and Depression in Seniors

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…

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.

How to Deal with a Common Challenging Behavior in Alzheimer’s Disease

Alzheimer’s disease is a complicated condition that often brings with it overwhelming issues for family caregivers. As the disease continues into later stages, those with Alzheimer’s increasingly communicate through actions as opposed to speech, and quite often these types of behaviors can be inappropriate. For example, a senior with more advanced Alzheimer’s disease might exhibit the following:

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….

Learning from and Responding to Confusion Caused by Alzheimer’s

Confusion caused by Alzheimer’s can lead to recent memories being forgotten or distorted, while memories from the more remote past frequently remain intact. This can cause more distant situations to make more sense to an older person with dementia than the present. A person’s alternate reality could be the senior’s way of making sense of the present through past memories.