Safe and Healthy Travel with a Senior

Senior citizens often tend to have more health problems than the average adult. Here are some things you can do to make sure your travel with an older adult is safe and healthy! Schedule a visit to the doctor about a week before the trip. Talk about any health concerns, make sure all prescriptions are filled, and address any other issues. Your doc may have some information or advice for emergencies while you are away. Ask your doctor to provide a list of past and current medical issues and how they are being treated; brand and generic names of drugs … Continue reading →

Prevent Falls with Yoga

Research from Temple University’s Gait Study Center suggests that practicing a specific type of yoga can help prevent falls in women over the age of sixty-five. The Temple University study looked at participants in an Iyengar yoga program specifically designed for senior citizens who had little or no previous yoga experience. Why Iyengar yoga? The technique uses props like belts and blocks to help participants master poses gradually. Participants often feel more confident and comfortable working with the props. The class covered the most basic moves and techniques with an emphasis on proper breathing, stances, and poses. After nine weeks … Continue reading →

Silver Alert

You’ve probably heard of Amber Alerts — a way of spreading the message far and wide about missing and/or abducted children. Over the last few years, individual states have been working on a similar Silver Alert program. The Silver Alert program was created to help quickly locate missing persons who suffer from dementia or other cognitive impairment. The idea is very similar to the Amber Alert: get information out quickly to local law enforcement, radio stations, television stations, and more. Criteria for issuing a Silver Alert may vary from one state to another. Here’s an example of criteria from the … Continue reading →

Here We Go Again…Another Woman in My Family Battles Old-Timer’s

Aimee’s Watching a Loved One Lose Time article really struck a chord with me. In addition to leaving a comment on her article, I also PM’d her to tell her how much it hit home and why. She encouraged me to share my story here, so…I took her up on it. My Grandma My grandma started showing signs of Old Timer’s (a.k.a. Dementia or Alzheimer’s) in 1992. Unlike Aimee did with her grandma, I never lived with mine but I did help with her care as best as I could. You see, at that time I was still going to … Continue reading →

Walking For Seniors

Walking is a great form of exercise at just about any age! A study from Japan — recently published by the Mayo Clinic — reports that walking is especially good for elderly adults. The elderly population is growing rapidly in many countries around the world. High intensity walking (and other forms of exercise) can decrease the chances of disability and lower the risk of some age associated diseases. Moderately paced walking — a pace around six kilometers or 3.7 miles per hour — can help protect against disability. Walking and other exercise can strengthen muscles, improve balance and flexibility, and … Continue reading →

The Fracture Triangle

You’ve probably heard of the Bermuda Triangle… but have you heard of the Fracture Triangle? Your likelihood of breaking a bone after a fall is determined by three things: The fall itself The force and direction of the fall (how hard you fall, and what you fall on) The fragility of the bones that take the impact Falls are serious at any age, and breaking a bone after a fall becomes more likely as you age. Often there is a link between breaking a bone and osteoporosis — a disease involving the loss of bone tissue or bone density. If … Continue reading →

Reverse Aging With Exercise!

Exercise is good for you. It makes you feel healthier, more flexible, and stronger. It can help your coordination and make it easier to perform physical tasks. It can ease the pain and swelling of arthritis. But studies are now showing that resistance training can help rejuvenate muscle tissue in senior citizens! A study from McMaster University Medical Center in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada looked at the decline in mitochondria function in older adults. The mitochondria are known as the powerhouse of the cell, and its dysfunction leads to loss of muscle mass and general impairment of function. Muscle tissue samples … Continue reading →

Preventing Osteoporosis

The best way to prevent osteoporosis is to build strong bones! It’s never too late to build strong bones; here are some things you can do to make sure your bones are strong throughout your life. Get enough calcium in your diet! Bones are made from calcium; you can’t help your body build strong bones if you don’t have the building blocks. Children under the age of 18 should get 1300 milligrams of calcium daily. People in their fifties and older should try to get 1200 milligrams of calcium daily. Between eighteen and fifty, you should try to get a … Continue reading →

Osteoporosis

Osteoporosis affects millions of people around the world — both men and women. Your body is constantly breaking down old bone and replacing it with new tissue. However, as you enter your forties and fifties, your body starts to slow down. More bone is broken down than is replaced. If you could look at the inside of your bones, you would see that they aren’t exactly solid. The tissue of your bones makes a sort of honeycomb shape — there are spaces in there! People with osteoporosis have much larger gaps in their bone tissue. The outer shell of the … Continue reading →

Age and Driving

How old is too old to drive? Getting older doesn’t necessarily mean you have to give up your license and independence; your health and mental state are more important to your ability to drive than the number of candles on your cake. General effects of aging include muscle weakness, joint stiffness, and reduced flexibility. Your reflexes start to slow down, too. All these things together may give you trouble turning the steering wheel or using the brakes. Severe arthritis may make it hard for you to grip the wheel or look over your shoulder to check for oncoming traffic. Night … Continue reading →