Reviving Thanksgiving traditions with seniors fosters a sense of belonging. Discover ideas and activities to make this holiday special for older adults.
Fraud is a growth industry online, very much alive and well and seemingly omnipresent on the internet. It gets shown to us in ads, gets sent directly to our email inboxes, and comes up sometimes when a stranger contacts us on social media. Many fraudsters and con artists also tend to regard seniors as easy marks for a quick buck. According to research and data, seniors are indeed more likely to fall victim to online scams, with a 47% increase of fraud and identity theft involving seniors between 2019 and 2020.
As far as diseases and conditions that older adults can suffer from, it’s hard to name something more damaging and with more serious consequences than osteoporosis. While bone pain, falls, and fractures are common effects and on their own bad enough, the loss of bone strength has negative effects on all facets of life. For elderly adults who suffer a bone fracture, it can quickly lead to loss of mobility, loss of independence, and an early death due to the way health can rapidly degrade as a result.
The prospect of making an appointment with the doctor is not something many people look forward to doing. If you feel well overall, and consider yourself to be a healthy person, it’s easy to let yourself think you can go without seeing the doctor until you notice a change in your health or well-being. The frequency with which to see the doctor when you feel healthy is a question often debated by adults. For those of us who suffer from “white coat syndrome”, which refers to the anxiety that can be felt during doctor’s appointments, this is especially true. For many people, the anxiety felt during an appointment can be enough to cause a rapid rise in blood pressure.
While it is true that muscle mass begin to decline once we reach our early forties, and that by our eighties it’s not uncommon to have lost fifty percent or more of our muscle mass, there are steps that can be taken to prevent this. Even under the circumstances of “healthy aging”, there is still a progressive decline in skeletal muscle quality.
The strain of working together to make decisions about a parent’s care can strain even the closest families. Watching the health of your loved ones decline is always going to be tough. What complicates matters is that caregiving responsibilities are often not split equally between siblings, which can alone cause conflict.
If a senior family member or other loved one has cognitive impairment or some form of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, you may have noticed them acting differently in the late afternoon or early evening hours. Sundowning, which is also known as sundowners or sundown syndrome, is a term that refers to a group of behaviors, thoughts, and feelings that people with cognitive impairments or dementia can often experience in the late afternoon or evening as the sun sets, but it can occur at other times as well. Sundowning can affect a person’s thinking, memory, personality, ability to reason, and their mood.
As we age, our lean muscle mass begins to decline. The good news is that you can significantly reduce the decline by engaging in regular exercise and having a generous amount of meals rich in protein. Studies have shown that older adults who have a considerably high protein intake will have more muscle mass and a greater amount of functional strength than those older adults who consume smaller amounts of protein on average.
For many people, by the time they reach their twilight years of their mid-70s, they are likely to have developed one or more complex health conditions, or had at least one health incident. If you have a senior parent or another loved one who has suffered from declining health and who needs more care, understanding the Ms of geriatrics will help you to better understand and meet their needs and strengthen your relationship.
For many people, living an independent lifestyle is a sought after goal, no matter the age. Independent living means having the power to make our own decisions and focus on the things most important to us. Seniors should be included in prioritizing their own needs to reach their goals for health and happiness. Going through the aging process doesn’t mean that it’s time to start cutting back on our freedoms.
You may not know this, but dental bridges are actually an ancient technology. Archeological finds from ancient Egypt have shown evidence of dental work that we today would consider to be bridges. Thin wire of metals such as silver or gold were wound around existing teeth, and used to stabilize cosmetic material like bone or ivory, inserted to fill unsightly gaps. These bridges would have been installed and kept for the lifespan of the patient. But still, despite the pedigree of dental bridge technology, problems arise and are a reality for many who have undergone this cosmetic procedure.
For many of us, we focus on living a heart smart lifestyle as we age. This makes sense, as heart disease claims more than 647,000 lives in the United States every year. But the truth is that lung disease can also have a significant effect on how long we live, and how well we live. As we advance through the years, our lungs typically become weaker and less flexible. But our lifestyles can impact how much change our lungs go through.
Savor the flavors of fall with our collection of easy and meatless autumn recipes that seniors can enjoy. Explore delightful dish suggestions that embrace the seasonal bounty of fall that require minimal effort in the kitchen.
The holidays are often filled with high expectations, necessitating a lot of energy and engagement to stand up to the onslaught of non-stop activities and functions. But for seniors living with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias, holidays can be a challenging time filled with high anxiety and stress. Festivities can often confuse, agitate, and overstimulate people living with Alzheimer’s disease and other dementias. And for caregivers, the increased difficulty can add to their existing burden of stress and anxiety.
Discover effective coping strategies for Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD). Learn how to manage and alleviate symptoms, including light therapy, cognitive-behavioral therapy, and more. Take charge of your mental well-being as the seasons change.
Dementia impacts the lives of an estimated 50 million people worldwide. According to the World Health Organization, another 10 million cases are diagnosed each year. Of those living with dementia, Alzheimer’s is by far the most common type, making up nearly 80% of cases. In the United States alone, almost 6 million people have Alzheimer’s. As the population continues to age, researchers believe this number will climb higher.
Are you having a hard time incorporating brain exercises into your daily routine? Here is our guide to help keep your mind active and sharp ensuring your overall cognitive health as a senior.
A fall can greatly affect a senior's overall health and independence. Here are ways to reduce fall risks for seniors.
As we age, the physical and mental limitations that the aging process brings about can easily lead to a feeling of losing control of the things in life that you love, such as your senior independence. But the good news is that independence doesn’t have an age limit. Older adults can easily take certain steps to allow them to maintain as much of their independence as they can for as long as possible.
Post-traumatic stress disorder, or, PTSD for short, is a psychiatric condition that can affect people of all ages, including older adults, who have experienced or been a witness to a traumatic event or series of circumstances. PTSD is a complex disorder that can be physical or emotional, or both, and can create a negative impact on a person’s mental health and quality of life.
The human body is the most complex system ever created. The more we learn about it, the more we can appreciate what a rich system it is. Over the years, our bodies serve us well. Our muscles allow us to walk, run, dance, hold each other, and all the other things we do that each make a thread in the rich tapestry that is our lives. But as we age, we will inevitably lose some of our strength and balance, and this unfortunately increases our risk of suffering from a fall. In fact, one in four older adults have reported falling at one point or another, which adds up to nearly 36 million falls per year. 8 million of those falls will require medical attention due to injury, and fully half of all seniors who fall will experience another fall in the future.
From political drama, the recent COVID pandemic, rapidly changing technology and norms, and more, there’s no doubt that these modern times can be stressful. For older adults who may have more difficulty navigating news stories and technology like video chatting, the impact can be even worse.
Dehydration is a common, but sadly often underestimated health issue that can affect individuals of any age. But for senior citizens, the impact can be especially severe and also complicated. With the aging process, certain physiological changes occur that can make older adults more vulnerable to the effects of dehydration, which can quickly snowball and lead to serious negative consequences for health.
Many people today find themselves seeking out approaches and practices in their pursuit of good health that may not necessarily be considered to be part of the typical, conventional approach to conventional medical care. According to the National Center for Complementary and Integrative Health, these products and practices generally fall into three categories.
Sleep has a profound impact on our health and our daily function. As we age, we might find our sleep patterns changing. For instance, we might wake multiple times in the night, or wake up earlier in the morning than we’re used to. Sometimes, we may feel that our sleep isn’t as deep as it once was.