The Alzheimer’s Association has released another statement about the benefits of cardio vascular fitness for people with dementia. In addition to better blood flow to the brain and general health improving, the risk of falls is affected in a positive way. The focus of this announcement has to do with caregivers providing a fitness program at home. I wonder how many caregivers for someone with dementia have a chance to do this for his or her client or family member.
One of the areas of the brain that seems to deteriorate as much from lack of use as from the disease is used for spatial relations and balance. Physical exercise like walking can preserve this part of the brain and falls are prevented in the first months and on an ongoing curve.
Falls are what take people out of the home, Each year, about one in three Americans aged 65 and older suffers a fall, and 30 percent of those falls cause injuries that require medical treatment. In 2005, almost 16,000 older adults in the United States died from falls, 1.8 million were treated in emergency departments, and 433,000 were hospitalized
If you are a caregiver, or if you have a caregiver, it is probably beneficial for both of you to have a talk about adding exercise to your routine. Part of the talk should be about what kind of exercise you both enjoy. If you don’t like it, it’s harder to keep it on the daily schedule. One strategy for more impaired people is to begin walks in a specific route, so that if the person wanders, he will trace the rehearsed route home. Choosing a path that is low in hazards like aggressive dogs and broken sidewalks is wise. Stopping to chat with people on that route can provide a system of acquaintances for recognizing a wanderer and sometimes even returning him home. Exercise, increased safety and improved social contacts, stress reduction, improved sleep. And the caregiver gets the same benefits.
Remember to stay hydrated, check the feet for skin breaks and nail safety. Use sunscreen in the daytime. Now go enjoy a walk.
Thursday, July 31, 2008
There was a big study published in England last week in which their government has been interviewing people born in 1952 every two years and crunching the numbers to see what happens. There were a few significant findings about risk of death for the group. The two risk factors or protective factors that stand out are issues close to our hearts. One is weight. Death due to disease for people who are obese, or who just have a large waist measurement and are not obese, but merely overweight, is a higher risk.
The other factor that seemed to protect people is wealth. Not only do poor people face a higher risk of death at any age, it goes higher as we get older. Quality of life is also related to wealth. It’s known that there is a limitation on the happiness/ money relationship. If your adjusted income is less than $50,000 a year more money may make you happy. Above that level, it doesn’t make any difference.
Another factor that wasn’t noted in that study is that women and men react differently to marriage. Men who are married live longer than men who are single throughout their lives. Women do not change in life expectancy because of marital status. I wonder what the new status of same sex marriage in our state will do to change the life expectancy for men who marry men, and women that marry women. It will affect the protective factor of wealth, because couples that are not married have a higher tax burden, and fewer benefits than single people, or people who have a registered domestic partnership. Even with state recognized same sex marriage a federal program like social security or Medicaid won’t allow the combined income reduction for calculating share-of-cost.
Since men traditionally gain the “freshman fifteen” pounds in the first year of marriage, I wonder if that will carry over. I guess it depends on which one cooks.
It looks like the November ballot will have a same sex marriage initiative. The state supreme court will not block the vote. I expect to have a lot to say about it here in the next few months and will consider any feedback you care to offer.
The other factor that seemed to protect people is wealth. Not only do poor people face a higher risk of death at any age, it goes higher as we get older. Quality of life is also related to wealth. It’s known that there is a limitation on the happiness/ money relationship. If your adjusted income is less than $50,000 a year more money may make you happy. Above that level, it doesn’t make any difference.
Another factor that wasn’t noted in that study is that women and men react differently to marriage. Men who are married live longer than men who are single throughout their lives. Women do not change in life expectancy because of marital status. I wonder what the new status of same sex marriage in our state will do to change the life expectancy for men who marry men, and women that marry women. It will affect the protective factor of wealth, because couples that are not married have a higher tax burden, and fewer benefits than single people, or people who have a registered domestic partnership. Even with state recognized same sex marriage a federal program like social security or Medicaid won’t allow the combined income reduction for calculating share-of-cost.
Since men traditionally gain the “freshman fifteen” pounds in the first year of marriage, I wonder if that will carry over. I guess it depends on which one cooks.
It looks like the November ballot will have a same sex marriage initiative. The state supreme court will not block the vote. I expect to have a lot to say about it here in the next few months and will consider any feedback you care to offer.
Last week it seems I might have been asking for new taxes. I don’t want more taxes, they don’t know what to do with what we pay now. What I do want is for the money we all contribute to charity to go to someone who will use it for the common good. We’ve all heard stories of the misuse of charity money for parties and vacation trips. The giving I am suggesting happens in a more controlled environment than a guy in front of Kmart with a bell and a bucket.
At the bottom of your state and federal income tax returns, you can check off contributions. Your tax deductible contribution is taken from your return and goes to the charity you select.
One of the important groups that gets this kind of money is the California Senior Legislature. The CSL is a volunteer group that researches, prepared proposals and supports the process of turning that into law. They are supported only through these donations. If you mark the CA FUND FOR SENIOR CITZENS box on your state return, they use the money to help you. For this year, the need for donations was only $250,000. But by April they had less than $100,000.
The legislation they work on includes assembly bills to address elder abuse mandated reporting, health facilities, infrastructure upgrades, and elder abuse offender registry- wouldn’t you like to know if your van driver or nurses aid had a record? Senate bills like Barbara Boxers’ “Caring for an Aging America Act of 2008” are analyzed and promoted by the CSL.
I don’t want to take money away from the Salvation Army- the guy in front of Kmart. I do want charity to be used for good works, not for trips to Vegas.
The CSL Mission is: To improve the Quality of Life for Aging Californians. They can be checked out at www.4cal.org
At the bottom of your state and federal income tax returns, you can check off contributions. Your tax deductible contribution is taken from your return and goes to the charity you select.
One of the important groups that gets this kind of money is the California Senior Legislature. The CSL is a volunteer group that researches, prepared proposals and supports the process of turning that into law. They are supported only through these donations. If you mark the CA FUND FOR SENIOR CITZENS box on your state return, they use the money to help you. For this year, the need for donations was only $250,000. But by April they had less than $100,000.
The legislation they work on includes assembly bills to address elder abuse mandated reporting, health facilities, infrastructure upgrades, and elder abuse offender registry- wouldn’t you like to know if your van driver or nurses aid had a record? Senate bills like Barbara Boxers’ “Caring for an Aging America Act of 2008” are analyzed and promoted by the CSL.
I don’t want to take money away from the Salvation Army- the guy in front of Kmart. I do want charity to be used for good works, not for trips to Vegas.
The CSL Mission is: To improve the Quality of Life for Aging Californians. They can be checked out at www.4cal.org
I hope that everyone had a great Independence Day. Mine was shadowed because I am very unhappy about some choices the federal government is making. Specifically, they announced this month that more than half of the wild mustangs that the bureau of land management is responsible for are likely to be put down. I know people who were born at a time when there were 2 million wild mustangs in America. Now there are 33,000 living in 10 western states, and another 30,000 in federal corrals. The problem is, of course, money. They don’t want to pay for care of the corralled horses. They want to euthanize them.
I don’t ride. I don’t really like horses up close. But I believe that horses, like dogs, are our partners in a very profound way. Man doesn’t build civilization without horses. People need a strong and willing companion in order to begin the process of trade, building and pioneering. The American wild mustang is a symbol of freedom that has a deeper and more inspiring effect than the other animals we use to evoke our country’s philosophy. The bald eagle, the wild turkey, each has a place in the nation’s lexicon. But the mustang is a part of our heritage that has much deeper meaning. It really is the horse we rode in on. And what excuse do the bureaucrats give to wipe them out? Because they don’t want them to over graze the range. Horses don’t over graze like sheep and goats. The only place there is overpopulation is in the federal corrals, where the horses were removed from their home turf. And sometimes neglected. How often are they released back to the wild?
One way to fund the necessary management of the herds is to make one of those optional tax return check marks, like they have for the election funds. I know I’d rather give a buck to the horses than give it to the part of ‘em that goes through the gate last.
I don’t ride. I don’t really like horses up close. But I believe that horses, like dogs, are our partners in a very profound way. Man doesn’t build civilization without horses. People need a strong and willing companion in order to begin the process of trade, building and pioneering. The American wild mustang is a symbol of freedom that has a deeper and more inspiring effect than the other animals we use to evoke our country’s philosophy. The bald eagle, the wild turkey, each has a place in the nation’s lexicon. But the mustang is a part of our heritage that has much deeper meaning. It really is the horse we rode in on. And what excuse do the bureaucrats give to wipe them out? Because they don’t want them to over graze the range. Horses don’t over graze like sheep and goats. The only place there is overpopulation is in the federal corrals, where the horses were removed from their home turf. And sometimes neglected. How often are they released back to the wild?
One way to fund the necessary management of the herds is to make one of those optional tax return check marks, like they have for the election funds. I know I’d rather give a buck to the horses than give it to the part of ‘em that goes through the gate last.
Its summertime and the scammers are busy. I got two different emails this week from a poor orphan girl in the African nation of Ivory Coast. Seems that her father passed away and her trust fund of $20 Million can be accessed if I only send her a little personal information and agree to be her guardian here in the US. She would generously share a million bucks with me for my trouble! This is the first time I’ve had the sympathy element of the orphan in the African Email scam.
Another new twist on an oldie is free converter box ads. The true part of this scam is the fact that television signals will all go digital next February and if you don’t have a converter, your old TV won’t work. The box costs $60.00. The scam, a full page ad in newspapers all over the country announcing a free box that doesn’t even use the$40.00 government coupon to reduce the cost! The twist is their box won’t work without the $59.00 warrantee and the $40.00 shipping and handling to get it. Instead of $20.00 you pay about $100.00. This and other tricks are likely to have a boom until people get their TV signal sorted out next year.
The reason why older adults are more likely to fall victim is unclear. It is recognized that verbal information processing changes with normal ageing, so an older adult is less able to match funny captions with cartoons. It may seem like older people lose their sense of humor. There may be some related glitch that causes seniors to be more vulnerable to sending money for Irish, Canadian and other fake lotteries. If someone is telling you it’s not a good idea to send your money to some stranger, they really may be trying to protect you, not just your estate. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. You can check out the changes to television signal at the DTV hotline at 888-DTV-2009 or visit: www.dtv2009.gov/FAQ.aspx.
Another new twist on an oldie is free converter box ads. The true part of this scam is the fact that television signals will all go digital next February and if you don’t have a converter, your old TV won’t work. The box costs $60.00. The scam, a full page ad in newspapers all over the country announcing a free box that doesn’t even use the$40.00 government coupon to reduce the cost! The twist is their box won’t work without the $59.00 warrantee and the $40.00 shipping and handling to get it. Instead of $20.00 you pay about $100.00. This and other tricks are likely to have a boom until people get their TV signal sorted out next year.
The reason why older adults are more likely to fall victim is unclear. It is recognized that verbal information processing changes with normal ageing, so an older adult is less able to match funny captions with cartoons. It may seem like older people lose their sense of humor. There may be some related glitch that causes seniors to be more vulnerable to sending money for Irish, Canadian and other fake lotteries. If someone is telling you it’s not a good idea to send your money to some stranger, they really may be trying to protect you, not just your estate. If a deal seems too good to be true, it probably is. You can check out the changes to television signal at the DTV hotline at 888-DTV-2009 or visit: www.dtv2009.gov/FAQ.aspx.
Two things caught my eye in the news this week. One was a story sent to me by a reader that told the heartbreaking story of a couple of nursing home residents that were separated by the man’s family because they were caught by the gentleman’s son in an indelicate situation. The fellow’s son was apparently concerned that his inheritance was at risk, so he moved his father to another facility. The lady in question had been diagnosed with dementia. She had, for some months, been deteriorating under institutional care. When the romance began, she started to dress, groom and socialize like she was starting a new romance! Upon being separated from her suitor, she fell into a depression, lost weight and stopped bathing and changing her clothes again.
The supervising judge of the probate court here in LA County has told me “With good cause, I can take away all of someone’s rights except to marry and write a will.” Our right to choose an intimate partner is that basic a freedom. It is the last thing to go. But with rights comes responsibility.
The other story was a news release from a VA/ Stanford researcher who announced that it is cost effective to do routine HIV testing on sexually active older adults. Cost effective means it adds quality of life years to an infected person’s life if an early diagnosis is made, and treatment begun. Another way to state it is a $10 test can add six months of life. About 20% of new HIV cases are older than 50 and about half are undiagnosed. As much as younger people may want to pretend that older adults are no longer interested in sex, the evidence suggests that older adults can enjoy a healthy love life well into seniority.
My favorite quote was from the doctor treating the lady in the first story. "If you've made it to age 95, I'm sorry, but having sex is not going to kill you—it's going to prolong your life.”
The supervising judge of the probate court here in LA County has told me “With good cause, I can take away all of someone’s rights except to marry and write a will.” Our right to choose an intimate partner is that basic a freedom. It is the last thing to go. But with rights comes responsibility.
The other story was a news release from a VA/ Stanford researcher who announced that it is cost effective to do routine HIV testing on sexually active older adults. Cost effective means it adds quality of life years to an infected person’s life if an early diagnosis is made, and treatment begun. Another way to state it is a $10 test can add six months of life. About 20% of new HIV cases are older than 50 and about half are undiagnosed. As much as younger people may want to pretend that older adults are no longer interested in sex, the evidence suggests that older adults can enjoy a healthy love life well into seniority.
My favorite quote was from the doctor treating the lady in the first story. "If you've made it to age 95, I'm sorry, but having sex is not going to kill you—it's going to prolong your life.”
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