Tag: senior
National Healthcare Decisions Day: What are Your Wishes?
April 16 is National Healthcare Decision Day (NHDD), a national health observance designed to emphasize the importance of planning for health emergencies and end-of-life care. NHDD encourages the public to make their wishes and expectations about medical care and end-of-life care known to loved ones and then to solidify these wishes in an advance directive…
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10 Reasons Families Fight About Senior Care
Caring for an aging loved one can be one of the most stressful family milestones. The sheer difficulty of the task, its high cost, as well as underlying family issues can collide to create a perfect storm of discontent. But when families put aside their differences and work together as a team for the best…
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How Music Improves Quality of Life for Senior Housing Residents
A Seattle jazz drumming pioneer, George Griffin, is bringing the joys and health benefits of music to fellow senior housing residents in Rainier Valley. George Griffin has spent a lifetime drumming, from his childhood years pounding on cardboard boxes to his successful career as a jazz drummer, opening for such legendary names as John Coltrane…
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10 Essential Questions to Ask Your Aging Parents
You can’t predict when something might happen to your aging parent. Whether an unexpected illness leads to a hospitalization, or a fall requires rehabilitation at a nursing home; in these instances it’s vital that your parents have their essential legal documents in order so that you have a good picture of their state of affairs….
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Alzheimer’s Around the World
September is World Alzheimer’s Month, which reminds us that it’s not only Americans who are dealing with the ravages of Alzheimer’s and other age-related dementias. Dementia knows no borders. People around the globe suffer from dementia, as have people throughout time. History of Dementia Since ancient times, people have experienced age-related dementia memory impairment. According…
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Study Finds Seniors Get Happier with Age, Not Grumpier
Recent research indicates that mental well-being actually increases after middle age, even as physical quality of life declines. All those popular media images of grouchy old people yelling at neighborhood kids to get off their lawns? Those stereotypes are about to go right out the window—at least, according to researchers at the University of Warwick…
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Ageless Love: Seniors and Dating
The topic of romance and the elderly is sensitive. It’s fraught with clichés, taboos and misconceptions and often elicits an immature snicker or two. It’s something that, frankly, makes people uncomfortable. Traditionally, an elderly person with a love life is not discussed, let alone researched. In Betty Friedan’s acclaimed book, The Fountain of Age, she…
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Senior Brain Donors Join Fight Against Dementia
Seniors in Sun City, Arizona are teaming with a local health organization by donating to one of the world’s largest “brain banks.” Their donated tissue is a critical component of dementia research. One of the most effective ways to study how aging and age-related diseases affect the brain and body is to study the living—and…
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Communication and Dementia: 10 Simple Tips
It’s indescribably painful to witness the deterioration of a parent, spouse or loved one with Alzheimer’s disease, or any other type of dementia. Our closest family members are often the very foundation of our lives, and when that foundation crumbles we feel critically undermined. As the disease progresses, we see minor forgetfulness gradually morph into severe…
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What We Can Learn from Senior “Super Brains”
Some seniors don’t experience as much age-related cognitive decline as the average person, and these “SuperAgers” may have a lot to teach us about aging and the brain. You’ve probably heard of supertasters—people with unusually sensitive taste buds—but SuperAgers? Those exist, too, says Professor Emily Rogalski of the Cognitive Neurology and Alzheimer’s Disease Center at…
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