When the word travel comes up, most people have different images come up in their minds. For some, it means jet-setting off to a exotic, tropical locale. For others, a simple road trip out to see tourist stops along the highway, or maybe an all-inclusive cruise through the Gulf of Mexico.

With Daylight Savings past us and an extra hour of sunlight in the evenings as the days get longer as we travel through Spring on into Summer, it’s a good time to remind everyone that sunburn season is officially upon us. That means that it is time to start thinking about protecting our skin from the harmful ultraviolet rays that can give us painful sunburns as well as raise our risk of contracting skin cancer.

Retirement and assisted living facilities can be great options for seniors who need assistance with daily activities. Learn how it can benefit your senior loved one and find out the hidden costs so you can make an informed decision.

Of all the myriad ways available to keep your brain healthy and supple as you age, one surprising method that few of us might ever think of is video games. While video games have been maligned over the years as a source of concern for parents worrying about their children becoming lazy or mindless junkies, the truth is that a study by the University of Montreal found that subjects who played video games had more gray matter in their hippocampus after playing. The hippocampus is an important part of the brain, as it is primarily in charge of the various memory functions, such as short-term, long-term, and spatial.

The aging process brings many joys, such as seeing children and grandchildren grow, having more time to spend on leisure activities and hobbies, and focusing on the parts of life that matter most. But for 18% of adults aged 65 or older, depression looms as an ever present threat to steal those joys. Depression is a treatable medical condition and should never be considered a normal part of aging. While aging may make treatment complicated, relief from symptoms is always possible.

The last thing that any hospital patient and their family wants, no matter the age, is a sudden and unexpected return trip to the hospital or the emergency room. In-home medical care can help seniors released home from the hospital with things like medical treatment, therapy, and help with the essential daily activities of life.

Fall is a wonderful time of year to plan outings in just about any part of the country. The cooler, more predictable weather makes outdoor excursions more fun for the whole family.

It's a lovely time of year to engage in events around Mesa and surrounding areas. Our region is rich with activities--whether you enjoy nature, shopping, or a hobby, there is something for everyone. Here, we'll highlight how to find seniors' events, meetups, activities, and get-togethers.

Recreational activities are a great way for seniors to stay active and engaged in their later years. Whether continuing a current or rediscovering an old hobby, or exploring something new, recreation can strengthen physical and mental abilities. Just because someone is a senior doesn’t mean they have to sit around playing bingo or watching the news.

For seniors looking to stay active and reap some of the many health benefits of exercise, swimming can be a great and effective way to stay moving and boost their health and mood. Swimming is not only fun and relaxing, but it also poses less risk of injury than many other activities, and it can be done by people of all ages and many different levels of health or ability. It also does not require any special training or special equipment beyond a volume of water large enough for swimming, and it’s one of the best ways to beat the heat on a hot summer day.

April is, among other things, National Lawn and Garden month. Gardening is a popular hobby among seniors, and has many benefits, mentally, emotionally, and physically. But the actual work of bending, kneeling, working the soil, lifting and digging can become physically challenging due to the effects the aging process has on the body. But with a few tips and modifications, gardening can be made much more safe and enjoyable for someone to enjoy as a hobby well into their twilight years.

One of the most common concerns over growing older cited when aging people are surveyed is loss of independence. Three out of four adults 50 years of age or older want to stay in their own homes and communities as they live through their twilight years. But with this, many older people worry about not being able to move around as well when they get older, meaning they’ll be unable to continue with their favorite activities, visit their favorite places, or even keep up with the necessary daily tasks of living.

The aging process brings about a variety of changes to your body and your health. Some people experience minor aches and pains, and others begin to suffer vision loss. While a decline in vision is a common change that happens to us as we age, for some that means simply needing to pick up a pair of reading glasses and a book light, and for others it can be much more severe, with a near total loss of vision.

In many cases, anxiety is a normal response to stress. The feeling of elevated alertness is a part of the body’s fight or flight response, which helps us to quickly assess and react to high stakes and dangerous situations. When this response is triggered only situationally, in appropriate conditions, anxiety is otherwise normal and healthy. But for some people, the response is triggered by inappropriate situations that do not actually pose any sort of threat. When anxiety becomes a near constant concern, to the point where life becomes centered around managing fears, worries, and it negatively affects daily life and activities, then it becomes a serious mental health condition.

With the winter holidays rapidly approaching, stress goes hand in hand with every aspect of them. The anxiety of planning, getting the house and travel arrangements ready, seeing sometimes challenging family members, and the financial pressure of gift shopping can take a lot out of most anyone. But fortunately, it doesn’t have to be.

For many caregivers and family members of older adults, one of the most consistent and biggest challenges is keeping their senior loved one maintaining a healthy weight. Among the many changes that aging brings about, our senses of smell and taste weaken, which can cause appetite and food preferences to change. Many seniors aren’t very excited for meal times and struggle to eat enough to satisfy their daily nutritional requirements. Proper nutrition is critical for good health, as our body is composed of the things we feed it. Additionally, meal times provide valuable social engagement for seniors, which is critical for continuing mental health and good mood. Encouraging your elderly loved one to eat at each meal time comes down to a few rules of thumb, and some basic, quality ingredients to help them put and keep weight on.

Alzheimer’s and other diseases of dementia are, naturally, a great concern for many people as they age. The idea of living on, but being unable to mentally function, or in the most tragic cases, remember who you or your loved ones are or even be able to hold a conversation is an incredibly frightening prospect.

Thanksgiving is one of the cornerstone holidays of America, a feast celebrating family and togetherness, upon which one of the foundational tales of our country rests. While everyone certainly enjoys good food, a cozy atmosphere, and seeing friends, family, and other loved ones, the amount of stress, travel, effort, and planning that goes into the holiday can be a great source of negativity for some, ruining their enjoyment or perhaps making them come out the other end with a bad taste in their mouths, no matter how many helpings of pumpkin pie they have.

Seniors alive today have been witness to one of the most exciting eras of rapid technological advancement and invention in all of human history. And with seniors today living longer than previous generations, along with having far more leisure time to spend with friends, family, on hobbies or traveling to new destinations, it’s a good time to be older. But aging comes with many challenges and difficulties as well. While some amount of physical and mental decline is inevitable, leading to a loss of spring in our step, our twilight years can be just as, if not even more, enjoyable than our younger days.

Activities for seniors to enjoy now that spring is here