Spring Arbor Living Blog

Location - TN: Keeping a family member with dementia focused and engaged in activities can be a challenge, but he or she may light up if offered the opportunity to give advice or teach, according to a pair of studies reported in The Gerontologist.

In one study, researchers tried to engage individuals with early to advanced dementia at an adult day care center in a purely social way, asking them to talk about their marriage, children, and church activity. Later, the investigators approached them for guidance: "I'm thinking about having children. What kind of advice can you give me on that?" The researchers reported that the participants took their advice-giving role seriously and were more coherent, informative, and focused than when asked strictly for information about their personal life.

A second study examined the effects of offering people with dementia the opportunity to instruct. The elderly participants -- some with dementia and others who were cognitively intact -- received a booklet of pictures to help them teach someone how to prepare food from a recipe. Participants in both groups successfully taught their "students" how to prepare the food. The individuals with dementia needed some prompting to keep the process going, but they still accomplished the teaching task.

The researchers speculated that the advice-giving and teaching roles enabled the people with dementia to access knowledge gained when they were younger that was essential in their parenting or mentoring. The fact that other people needed the information empowered them to assume an established social role and probably motivated them to complete the tasks.

Finding ways to include a family member with dementia helps relatives remember the person who has difficulty participating but is still there. Plus it imparts a sense of belonging and competence that may improve his or her mood. People with dementia are often able to take part in various family-oriented pastimes. Reading aloud, for example, is a skill that can persist even in later stages of cognitive decline. With simple, large-print books, individuals may be able to read to grandchildren or other family members. As with leading or mentoring, reading to others gives the person a social role in the family.

These and similar activities help family members connect. They encourage communication and may help take the edge off what can be an exhausting and frustrating care giving situation.

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Practicing meditation everyday can help elderly people by connecting with their spiritual self and deriving immense happiness in its purest form. Elderly people practicing meditation can experience pain relief as well. Our thoughts and emotions are reactions to pain. With experience, meditation can help you separate the feeling from the actual pain. When we become aware of the pain, and acknowledge it, we can control our reaction to it. Through meditation, we can change our perception, and cope effectively with pain. Since meditation also reduces stress, it relieves the tension in the muscles and decreases blood pressure. Meditation improves circulation of blood within the body, consequently alleviating body pain.

Meditation can help cure a variety of old age diseases such as cancer, chronic illness, heart disease, high blood pressure, emphysema, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, ulcers and insomnia. It can reduce depression, anxiety, stress and pain. Meditation can significantly increase life expectancy. It helps to balance the physical, mental and spiritual states and is simple to perform. It has been proven to reduce the body's core temperature, which in turn can prolong life expectancy. Moreover, meditation can strengthen the immune system, and reduce harmful hormones and biochemical compounds present in the blood stream. This alternative therapy should therefore be practiced by elderly citizens, to bring happiness, relaxation and health in their life, without the burden of any side effects.

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There are many important vitamins and minerals the elderly should eat such as vitamin D. One of the more important minerals is potassium. It is important then for the elderly to eat food rich in potassium and everyone who takes care of them should be knowledgeable about it.

An average-sized body may contain about 5 ounces of potassium. With the help of sodium and calcium, potassium helps keep your heart healthy as it maintains the normal heartbeat, aids in maintaining the normal balance of water in the body, and as a result, it helps conduct nerve impulses and muscle contraction. Kidneys are responsible in controlling the blood levels of the minerals and help the body get rid of excess urine.

Potassium deficiency is also easy to prevent because this mineral is present in almost all foods. Potassium rich foods include whole grains, lean meat, beans, green leafy vegetables and fruits such as bananas and oranges. Eating these foods will help the body gain the needed amount of potassium and help you stay active and healthy.

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We love to offer simple tips about activities to help improve our residents (and their family's)  overall health and happiness.  Here's a really simple idea.  Do a squat instead of a bend when you need to pick things up.  This act provides for better balance and lessons the likelihood of a fall.  The squat builds leg strength which over time and extends one's range of movement.  Strong legs improve quality of life.  Give it a try.

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