by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jul 3, 2013 | Alzheimer's and Dementia, Caregiving, Healthy Aging, Uncategorized
Just like a good walking program or a water aerobics class can help you stay physically fit, brain aerobics can help enhance your mental fitness. So what can you do to give your brain a real workout?
The experts from the Heritage Senior Communities share a few ideas to help Michigan caregivers and their aging parents:
- Learn something new. Tackling anything that is different from your normal routine helps to stimulate your brain. Foreign language DVDs are a quick and easy way to get started. Artistic pursuits may also be a good fit for your aging loved one. Watercolor painting or photography are two skills you can learn on your own and improve as you go.
- Try Neurobics. Have you heard of Neurobics before? It is when you try doing tasks and chores with your non-dominate hand. So if you are right-handed try brushing your teeth and combing your hair with your left hand one day a week. Or try teaching yourself to write with your right hand if you are a leftie. It is a great way to stretch your mind!
- 3. Play some Games. You may have already heard this but it is worth repeating. Many Alzheimer’s experts believe games and puzzles can help delay the progression of the disease. Playing board games with the grandchildren one night a week or a few rounds of cards at the senior center allow you to socialize while exercising your brain. There are also many educational websites devoted to brain fitness including Brain Metrix (http://www.brainmetrix.com/) and Senior Brains (http://www.seniorbrains.com/).
- 4. Dig out of your rut. Routinely doing the same things the same way day after day puts your brain on autopilot. It receives very little stimulation when it isn’t challenged with anything new and different. So dig out of that rut you may be in! Turn left instead of right on your way to church, and create a new route you use a few Sundays a month. Find a new walking path or reverse the one you currently take. Think about ways you can do tasks and chores a little differently as you go about your daily routine.
- 5. Read a good book. Reading is another easy way to keep your mind fit. It can be a good book or just the local newspaper you read each day. You could also subscribe to a few of your favorite magazines and read them on your iPad. All of the new information you take in provides a good workout for your grey matter.
- 6. Keep up with current events. If you spend any time in a Heritage Senior Living community in Michigan or Indiana you know this is a popular pastime for older adults. Keeping up with world events and debating the issues are great brain booster activities. You could help organize a group at your local senior center or even participate in a forum online.
Do you have any suggestions for readers to help boost brain power?
We would love to have you share them in the comment section below!
by trevor@addfuelfire.com | Jun 28, 2013 | Alzheimer's and Dementia, Uncategorized
Michigan caregivers who have a loved one living with Alzheimer’s disease or a related dementia know how challenging the disease can be. The physical and emotional toll it takes on families can be devastating. And the number of people with Alzheimer’s continues to soar. According to the new 2013 Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures report someone is diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease every 68 seconds. Michigan alone has an estimated 180,000 people living with Alzheimer’s disease. By 2025 that number is projected to increase to 190,000.
For caregivers, knowing if changes they see in a loved one are a natural part of the aging process or something more serious can be difficult to determine.
Eileen Drexler is the Alzheimer’s and dementia care expert for Michigan based Heritage Senior Communities. She offers families the follow tips to help determine what may just be normal aging and what might be something more serious:
1. Forgetfulness. The frantic pace most of us go through life at means we are all bound to forgot things from time to time. But if you are worried your aging parent is forgetting too much, consider what it is they don’t remember. Is it appointments and events they were supposed to attend or is it faces and names? Not remembering the name of someone they have known for a long time can indicate a more serious problem. If they forgot about activities or appointments they had planned, do they remember them later? If it is dementia, they likely do not remember at all.
2. Misplacing Things. There are some items that we all seem to have a hard time holding on to every day. Misplacing our keys or cell phones can be hard to keep track of at any age. But if we retrace our stops for the day, we can usually find them. A person with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementia may not be able to do this because they can’t remember all of the places they were over the course of their day.
3. Change in Personality. People in the early stages of Alzheimer’s disease often realize something is wrong. They aren’t sure what it is, but it often creates fear. They may withdraw from everything including the people and activities that are most familiar to them. They may also become irritable. A typically gregarious person may become difficult.
4. Getting Lost. This is probably the classic behavior we all recognize. An older person goes out to make a quick stop at the bank and can’t find their way home. An older adult in the beginning stages of dementia may forget where they are and how they got there. They may even have trouble remembering what day it is.
5. Bad Judgment. Alzheimer’s disease and dementia can impair a person’s ability to make good decisions. Even in the earliest stages of the disease. This makes them easy prey for scammers. Especially telephone scams and telemarketing fraud. If your loved one receives a lot of telemarketing calls or seems to be spending a lot of time on the phone with strangers, it is probably something you need to investigate.
Do you have a loved one living with dementia?
What was the first signal you had that there was a problem?
