Inspire Your Brain
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
Going Back to School Inspires Your Creativity and Stimulates Your Brain
Many community colleges have low cost continuing education classes to hone computer skills, learn a new language, take trips and just explore new ideas. There are speaker series available through many colleges that put the attendee in touch with first class speakers on all types of topics. In addition, many universities will allow anyone 65+ to audit a class if room is available for no or very low cost. Older adults need to increase their plasticity by using their brains on new endeavors. Take a dance class; learn to play chess or bridge. This puts the attendee in touch with new people and social situations which adds to the quality of their life.
When aging adults stay actively engaged, they feel a renewed sense of purpose. Volunteer at a hospital, library, the zoo or mentor a colleague or teen. Mentoring forges relationships and helps others who haven’t experienced what years of working have taught you. Work with children who need help reading or volunteer to serve on a non-profit Board. Choose an activity that doesn’t tie you down but encourages social stimulation as well as mental stimulation. Take on a project! Do something you have never done! Create a bucket list of activities that you would like to do before your time is up! Mostly, treat each day as a new adventure!
Explore new locations. Many community centers plan day trips to events and locations that are inexpensive and interesting. Check with senior centers and many communities offer senior departments. Some programming involves sharing skills that you have. Allow a teen to teach you new technology skills. Then tell them stories about what it was like growing up without color TV or cell phones, microwaves and internet. Write a life review or study family genealogy. Re-connect with old classmates and friends. Write a book. Today it is easier than ever to publish a book. Place old photos in a digital album. Garden or ride a bike. Play cards or board games.
As you can see, the amount of activities an older adult can participate in are limited only by their imagination. Allow your ideas to flourish! Stay active! Here are some websites that you can visit to train your brain for higher performance:
- www.sharpbrain.com
- www.aarp.com/Brain-Games
- www.luminosity.com
- www.gamesforthebrain.com
- www.brainmetrix.com
6 Reasons Why You Should Never Go Into the Hospital Without An Advocate
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
Advocate for Loved Ones
Here is why you should always have an advocate when in a hospital or facility:
1) Change of shifts among healthcare workers often results in lack of knowledge about what happened during the last shift with patient care and condition.
2) Someone needs to observe what is going on with the patient as they may not be conscious and able to self-report.
3) Lack of communication between staff and patient i.e. not understanding medical jargon, protocols & procedures.
4) Medication errors because of administration errors or lack of information about what the patient was taking before.
5) Plan for discharge and report what conditions the patient will experience upon returning home.
6) Someone to collaborate on the discharge instructions and help the patient to implement them upon returning home.
7) If the patient has dementia, they need someone to be with them at all times. There is not enough hospital staff to do that.
Your Parent Targeted by Telemarketers?
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
4 Steps You Can Take to Safeguard Your Parent
My brother was forever cancelling subscriptions for which my mother who had early dementia had signed up. One time we found Rolling Stones magazine in her assisted living apartment. Here are a few tips you can use to safeguard your parent from over zealous telemarketers:
- Place your parent’s phone number on the federal DONOTCALL.gov Registry.
- Teach your parent to ask them to take him/her off the list. Telemarketers are schooled to make conversation to older adults who are often lonely and just want to talk to someone. Once they get their trust, they talk them into all kinds of worthless stuff.
- Place your parent on www.dmachoice.org which will reduce the amount of junk mail they receive.
- School them to discuss any major change in investments or insurance before making a move. This may prevent salespeople who are just trying to earn a commission instead of truly serving the client from taking your parent’s money.
The elderly are targeted all the time because they have money and they are a vulnerable population. Don’t let that happen to your parent or loved one.
You’ve Been Diagnosed With Alzheimer’s…What Now?
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
You may have suspected that your brain was not working properly. Now you have confirmed that there is a medical reason why your brain has not been functioning properly and all other possible medical conditions have been eliminated. In some ways, it may be a relief that you now know you are not crazy. On the other hand, you may feel angry that this has happened or even be in denial about your condition. There will be good days and then there will be bad days. You will remember long term memories but not be able to reconstruct the last 5 minutes. There are ways to work around it. You are still who you are at your core.
Proactive Tips for helping yourself:
- Google ‘alzheimer’s support group’ and find the support groups available in your location so that you can talk with others who are going through this experience. Sharing your experience can take the pressure off.
- Call the Alzheimer’s Association in your area by visiting http://www.alz.org website. Sign up for their peer to peer phone calls and learn as much as your can about the disease.
- Take a family member with you on your doctor visits so that you are sure you have reported everything and that you heard and retained everything the doctor said.
- Develop a foolproof method for taking your medications.
- Have your doctor try dementia medications to forestall the disease.
- Get your legal affairs in order. Visit an elder estate attorney.
- Talk about your finances and how you will pay for your care. There may be a time when your spouse or family cannot take care of you. Alzheimer’s can become a 24/7 care proposition so begin visiting facilities to determine which one you would prefer if you can no longer be at home. Also, remember to plan for how your spouse will maintain their lifestyle.
- Read a book or the paper and do crossword puzzles to maintain your brain.
- Walk or do light exercise to keep oxygen circulating in the brain. Take Omega 3 Oil daily.
- Have yourself tested for sleep apnea.
Alzheimer’s is a slow progressive disease. Many people are depressed with their diagnosis and should be treated for it. Counseling may be helpful in the early stages but later will not help. You may feel angry but try not to take it out on those around you. Instead, write about your feelings or talk to someone you trust. It is a given that we are moving toward end of life from the moment we are born. Instead, focus on what would make your remaining time with your family and friends the best it can be. Is there something you always wanted to do but hadn’t completed? What makes your heart sing?
Sometimes people may want to help. Allow others to take care of you so that your primary caregiver has time off to decompress. Create a Job Jar and if there are tasks that you can no longer handle on your own, place them in the Job Jar. Then when someone asks, “How can I help?”, you can have them choose a task from the Job Jar.
If you live alone, you may have already established a relationship with a younger person. If not, contact a geriatric care manager who will advocate on your behalf. Visit http://www.caremanager.org to find a care manager in your area. No one should ever go to the hospital without an advocate. Plan for when you can no longer make decisions on your own. Have a bank or trust company manage your finances when you are no longer able. Have everything spelled out in writing in advance. Pre-planning your funeral arrangements can take a lot of pressure off your family and loved ones.
You may want to make sense of your life and what remains. Take each day one day at a time. Life is more appealing if we stay in the present moment and try not to worry too much.
Caring for Aging Parents: Elder Rage & Alzheimer’s
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
By Jacqueline Marcell, Author of ‘Elder Rage’ www.ElderRage.com
For eleven years I pleaded with my obstinate elderly father to allow a caregiver to help him with my ailing mother, but after 55 years of loving each other he adamantly insisted on taking care of her himself. Every caregiver I hired to help him called in exasperation, “Jacqueline, I just can’t work with your father–his temper is impossible to handle. I don’t think he’ll accept help until he’s on his knees himself.”
My father had always been 90% great, but boy-oh-boy that temper was a doozy. He’d never turned it on me before, but I’d never gone against his wishes either. When my mother nearly died from his inability to continue to care for her, I flew from southern California to San Francisco determined to save her life–having no idea that it would nearly cost me my own.
10 Tips to Maintaining Brain Health
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
More than ever, it is crucial to maintain your brain. We are living longer than ever before and the biggest risk factor for dementia is age. The better you have treated your brain, the better it will perform. What is good for the heart is also good for the brain. Here are 10 Tips for Encouraging Brain Health:
- Eat the Mediterranean diet. The people around the Mediterranean are simple, working people. They eat simply with what is available and they are some of the longest living people in the world. Here are some of the foods in their diet:
- Fish & chicken each week. Meat once or twice a month
- Fruits & vegetables in abundance – locally grown.
- They eat whole grain foods
- They use olive oil in their cooking
- They drink wine in moderation…that is 2 glasses for a man and one glass for a woman.
- They use herbs and spices to flavor, minimizing the amount of salt they need.
- No trans fats…minimize cookies, cakes and other processed foods. Use olive oil, coconut oil and canola oil when cooking.
- Engage in mentally stimulating activities such as scrabble, crossword puzzles, soduku and learn new skills.
- Take a vitamin B complex supplement
- Include an Omega-3 fatty acid supplement
- Eat foods high in antioxidants such as blueberries, cherries and fruits high in Vitamin C & E.
- Include low impact physical exercise in your daily routine…swimming, walking, yoga, stretching, tai chi, bicycling, etc.
- Eat whole foods, not processed foods.
- Reduce sugar intake to once per week; substitute with fruits and honey.
- Keep weight to within normal limits but do not get too thin. When there is a health event, it is important to have a little reserve when you are older.
Make eating fun. Get involved in selecting your foods. Use locally grown foods as much as possible. Steam, bake, braise, and crockpot your food. Stay away from deep fat fried foods. Eat raw foods daily. Utilize foods with different colors.
Take your time while eating and really be present to what you are eating. You will be much more likely to enjoy it and eat the amount your body really needs.
Secrets to Why Your Brain May Not Be Working Properly
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
There may be times when you feel mental confusion or fuzziness. Many factors affect the brain’s function. Since the brain utilizes up to 25% of the oxygen in the body, it must be pumped from the heart. If you don’t exercise regularly and spend a lot of time sitting in a chair, you will experience mental dullness. Get up and walk around or jog in place to get your circulation moving. If you have sleep apnea or snore a lot, you are depriving your brain of oxygen. You may want to be tested to make sure this is not your problem.
Other reasons why you may experience lack of mental clarity may include lack of sleep or oversleeping. Poor diet can contribute by not nourishing your brain cells with the energy they need to function. Medications and/or over the counter drugs can contribute to mental fuzziness as can allergies. Depression causes lack of mental clarity. Stress can deplete the B vitamins in your system and take a toll on your brain.
Urinary tract infections can make it appear as if you have dementia but once it is cleared, you will be back to being your old self. Research is finding that a B vitamin deficiency will affect mental functions. Those who had normal levels of vitamins C, E and B scored higher on tests. As the body ages, B vitamins do not replenish themselves so they must be supplemented to ensure your body is being adequately nourished.
Another reason your brain may not function properly is sugar level sensitivity. If you have hypoglycemia, sugar levels may drop suddenly and your ability to remember or calculate will be affected. Drinking alcohol can have the same effect temporarily.
What can you do? Practice relaxing through meditation or breathing exercises. This will activate the parasympathetic nervous system which tells your body to relax. Breathe in to the count of 6; then breathe out to the count of 6. Think of something that brings a smile to your face. Practice breathing this way for 25 times. You will find that you feel relaxed and sleep very deeply. It also helps to release negative emotions because you reach a place of calm where you can think more clearly. Therefore, your thoughts are more organized and dependable so you can make better decisions.
Lastly, lack of mental stimulation and social interactions will contribute to a dull mind. Do something to have fun and invite others to join you. Sponsor a game night and use games that are social and stimulate your brain. Re-learn how to relax. And, most of all, laugh. This releases endorphins which puts you in a good mood and more healing mode.
8 Tips for Speaking to Someone with Dementia
By: lauren
Caregivers and family members get frustrated when trying to communicate with a loved one who has dementia. Here are a few pointers from Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager, for talking to your loved one. Click on this link:
Alcohol Use in the Elderly
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
Alcohol causes more problems as people age
Alcohol use in the persons 65 and over is notable for several reasons. First, the older person has a diminished capacity to handle alcohol and what he/she was able to handle when they were younger no longer applies. Secondly, because older people often have multiple medical conditions for which they are being treated, it can be dangerous to mix alcohol and medications. For instance, aspirin use with alcohol can cause excessive bleeding; acetaminophen and alcohol can cause risk of liver damage. Allergy medication and alcohol can cause sleepiness, making it risky for older people to drive. Thirdly, as people age, they are subject to losses, changes in life arrangements, medical conditions and surgeries which create stress. Alcohol and depression are relational, meaning that alcohol can contribute to a person’s inability to handle the situation and deepen the depression. Continue reading
Traveling with Someone with Dementia
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
Traveling with a Person with Dementia can be challenging
First off, my best suggestion is not to travel with someone having dementia. They prefer to be in places where they feel familiar and comfortable. Sometimes, however, there may be family gatherings or a trip to visit children or grandchildren.
Let me share a story of something that happened with my mother. My sister came from Colorado to visit with the family in Toledo, Ohio. She wanted to visit my other sister in Tiffin and decided to take my mother with them. They stayed in a hotel in adjoining rooms. In the middle of the night, my mother got up and walked outside the room. She became disoriented and didn’t know what room was hers, what her name was or with whom she came. Consequently, she ended up at the front lobby desk in her PJs. They figured out who she probably came with and called the room. My sister and her husband came to get her and after that they couldn’t sleep because they were afraid she would leave the room again. Continue reading
By: Diane Keefe, Geriatric Care Manager
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