September is Healthy Aging Month! You’re never too old to break a sweat and slow down the aging process. Throw those excuses away, and take this advice from WebMD. Read the excerpt here and the full article at http://www.webmd.com/healthy-aging/guide/getting-fit-life.
Getting Fit For Life
"I don't have time."
"I'm too old-I might hurt myself."
"I'd be too embarrassed at a gym with all those fit young people around."
Sound familiar? Maybe one of these is the reason you aren't physically active or exercising. But, in fact, scientists now know that it's usually more dangerous to not exercise, no matter how old you are. And you don't need to buy fancy clothes or belong to a gym to become more active.
Most older people don't get enough physical activity. Here are some reasons why they should:
• Lack of physical activity and not eating the right foods, taken together, are the second greatest underlying cause of death in the United States. (Smoking is the #1 cause.)
• Exercise can help older people feel better and enjoy life more. No one is too old or too out of shape to be more active.
• Regular exercise can prevent or delay some diseases like cancer, heart disease, or diabetes. It can also perk up your mood and help depression, too.
• Being active can help older people to stay independent and able to keep doing things like getting around or dressing themselves.
So, make physical activity a part of your everyday life. Find things you enjoy. Go for brisk walks. Ride a bike. Dance. Work around the house and in the yard. Take care of your garden. Climb stairs. Rake leaves. Do a mix of things that keep you moving and active.
Four Types of Exercise
There are four types of exercises you need to do to have the right mixture of physical activities.
One-Be sure to get at least 30 minutes of activity that makes you breathe harder on most or all days of the week. That's called "endurance activity," because it builds your energy or "staying power." You don't have to be active for 30 minutes all at once. Ten minutes of endurance activity at a time is fine. Just make sure those 10-minute sessions add up to a total of 30 minutes most days.
How hard do you need to push yourself? One doctor describes the right level of effort this way: If you can talk without any trouble at all, you're not working hard enough. If you can't talk at all, it's too hard.
Two-Keep using your muscles. When muscles aren't used, they waste away at any age.
How important is it to have "enough" muscle? Very! When you have enough muscle, you can get up from a chair by yourself. When you don't-you have to wait for someone to help you. When you have enough muscle, you can walk through the park with your grandchildren. When you don't-you have to stay home. That's true for younger adults as well as for people age 90 and older.
Continue reading by Clicking Here.
Remember for the best in Home Care in the Allentown, PA area visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
Monday, September 27, 2010
Monday, September 20, 2010
'Villages' Let Elderly Grow Old at Home in Allentown, PA
There are "villages" popping up all over the country that are designed with the elderly in mind. I found this article on USAToday.com that explains these "villages" furthor. Here is an excerpt below, to read the full article Click Here.
The explosive growth of the USA's older population is fueling a grass-roots "village" movement in neighborhoods across the country to help people age in their own homes.
More than 50 villages in a neighbor-helping-neighbor system have sprouted in the past decade from California and Colorado to Nebraska and Massachusetts. They are run largely by volunteers and funded by grants and membership fees to provide services from transportation and grocery delivery to home repairs and dog walking.
Most villages have opened in the past couple of years, an indication that the momentum is growing in the face of a demographic tsunami: The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to more than double to 89 million by 2050, according to the Census Bureau.
The oldest of 79 million Baby Boomers turn 65 next year, a turning point that will begin to put pressure on social services, retirement homes and assisted-living facilities.
The "village" concept is taking off in small and big cities and suburbs across the country as the percentage of elderly rises while the share of the working-age population that supports them declines. The percentage of people 65 and older is projected to climb from 13% today to 19% by 2050, while the share of adults age 20 to 64 is expected to drop from 60% to 55%, the Census Bureau says.
"We will hit a really pivotal point," says Julie Maggioncalda, a University of Pennsylvania geriatric social work student who is interning at the Capitol Hill Village in Washington, D.C. Nursing homes won't be able to handle all the elderly, she says.
"We simply don't have enough space, and if we don't have a village, that burden will fall on families," Maggioncalda says.
AARP research shows that 90% of people want to grow old in their home and community.
"Villages are one way people can lead the life they want to live," says Mimi Castaldi, AARP vice president for volunteer engagement. "They've caught the imagination of people."
How villages operate:
•Residents pay a membership fee that varies from $25 to $600 or more a year, depending on the types of services members want. Some villages have paid staff members; others are run completely by volunteers.
•Most villages are opening in more upscale neighborhoods in cities and suburbs, but they all provide discount dues for lower-income elderly.
...continue reading by Clicking Here.
Remember for the best in Home Care visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
The explosive growth of the USA's older population is fueling a grass-roots "village" movement in neighborhoods across the country to help people age in their own homes.
More than 50 villages in a neighbor-helping-neighbor system have sprouted in the past decade from California and Colorado to Nebraska and Massachusetts. They are run largely by volunteers and funded by grants and membership fees to provide services from transportation and grocery delivery to home repairs and dog walking.
Most villages have opened in the past couple of years, an indication that the momentum is growing in the face of a demographic tsunami: The number of Americans 65 and older is expected to more than double to 89 million by 2050, according to the Census Bureau.
The oldest of 79 million Baby Boomers turn 65 next year, a turning point that will begin to put pressure on social services, retirement homes and assisted-living facilities.
The "village" concept is taking off in small and big cities and suburbs across the country as the percentage of elderly rises while the share of the working-age population that supports them declines. The percentage of people 65 and older is projected to climb from 13% today to 19% by 2050, while the share of adults age 20 to 64 is expected to drop from 60% to 55%, the Census Bureau says.
"We will hit a really pivotal point," says Julie Maggioncalda, a University of Pennsylvania geriatric social work student who is interning at the Capitol Hill Village in Washington, D.C. Nursing homes won't be able to handle all the elderly, she says.
"We simply don't have enough space, and if we don't have a village, that burden will fall on families," Maggioncalda says.
AARP research shows that 90% of people want to grow old in their home and community.
"Villages are one way people can lead the life they want to live," says Mimi Castaldi, AARP vice president for volunteer engagement. "They've caught the imagination of people."
How villages operate:
•Residents pay a membership fee that varies from $25 to $600 or more a year, depending on the types of services members want. Some villages have paid staff members; others are run completely by volunteers.
•Most villages are opening in more upscale neighborhoods in cities and suburbs, but they all provide discount dues for lower-income elderly.
...continue reading by Clicking Here.
Remember for the best in Home Care visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
Tuesday, September 14, 2010
Scaling Down (Almost) Painlessly in Allentown, PA
Moving an aging loved one to a smaller home is a tough thing for everyone involved. I found this article on SeniorAdvice.com that has some great suggestions. Here is the article below, for more suggestions Click Here.
Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder who's moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event.
Begin by Planning for the Move
Where is the elder moving? Go to the actual house or apartment with tape measure, pad and pencil and write down measurements. Floor space is important, but don't forget about ceilings. Many elders own large pieces of furniture that may not fit into rooms with low ceilings. Your work here will determine which pieces can move with your elder.
And while you're at the actual location, talk to several other elders who already live there. What is their life style? Do they go outside the property on frequent trips? How do they dress? Casual lifestyles will require an entirely different style of dress than more formal ones.
Gather Supplies and Contact Helpers
Having all the supplies you will need in one place will speed your task. You'll want a number of storage bins; five or six should be sufficient to hold sorted items. Plastic bags can be used for discarded belongings and as a container for articles to be donated to charities. Packing boxes and supplies such as padding materials and wide sealing tape are must-haves. Labels and dark marking pens are essential to ensure that boxes go to their intended location.
While you're in the gathering stage, begin to contact helpers you'll need. Among these may be:
estate sale professionals
certified appraisers
moving companies
house cleaners
repair specialists (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters)
Ask friends, relatives, and senior real estate specialists for recommendations. Also, check with the Better Business Bureau to ascertain whether problems have been reported about particular companies or individuals.
Approach Your Task One Room at a Time
Who should help? The elder and one family member should assume responsibility for sorting all items and some packing. Do not include everyone in the family if you want to make the job quick and easy because distractions increase in geometric proportion to the number of persons doing the sorting.
Sort all the items in one single room at once, beginning and ending in the kitchen. Why start there? Because kitchens in small houses and apartments typically are short on storage space, and the elder needs time and experience to determine which items are true necessities, and which may never be used. If you reduce kitchen items to a bare minimum at the beginning, your elder can determine what's needed and what's not by living with them ahead of time. After living with fewer items, your elder may find that items once thought essential may not be needed. Complete work in the kitchen at the very end of your tasks.
Even though you intend to stay in only one room, distractions will occur. Resist them by stacking items that belong in another room at the door. A bin or box placed just inside the door can contain all the items that have homes elsewhere.
Make your motto One Thing at a Time; One Time for each Thing. Once you've picked up an item, decide then and there what its fate should be. Place it in one of the bins you've labeled:
Discards
Donations
Distribution to Relatives
Keepers
Uncertainties
Large collections of books may require their own bins. You might have bins for Collectors' editions, books to be stored, books to be sold to book dealers.
When you have finished categorizing all the items in the room, start the packing process. Items in the Uncertainties bin can be packed for storage.
If an unbreakable item is to be moved only a short distance, don't waste time on elaborate packing and padding. Items like crystal and china, however, require excellent packing, regardless of the distance they will be moved. If you can't do a great job, leave packing fragile items to professionals.
Mark boxes as you go.
Nothing is more frustrating than finding that you've shipped your elder's bed linens to Aunt Minnie and kept a silver salver you meant to send your nephew.
Don't try to do everything at once. Do only one room on any given day, and take the time to enjoy reminiscing as you sort items.
This is also the perfect time to have a certified appraiser come in to appraise items that may be of significant value. Very expensive items may be auctioned at an auction house such as Christy's or Sotheby's. Less expensive items can be sold to local antiques dealers. By having an idea of their value before going to dealers, you reduce the chance that dealers can scam you.
You could also consider selling items through an on-line auction. If you do so, remember that you will be responsible for shipping items and ensuring their condition to successful bidders.
Distribute Items to the Intended Recipients
Schedule a single day for distribution of items. In-town relatives can come to pick up items intended for them; they may also be helpful by taking bags to charities, books to resellers, boxes to storage, and trash to dumps.
Use this day for shipping as well. Small items can be shipped via UPS or FedEx; large pieces of furniture and antiques may require special handling by movers. Once you've finished distribution, you should have a considerably reduced pile of boxes and furniture. These boxes should contain only items to be moved to the elder's new residence or to storage. Remaining items should be those to be sold in an estate sale.
For more ideas, continue reading HERE.
Remember for the best in Home Care in the Allentown, PA area visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
Moving to a smaller house or apartment in a retirement community almost always involves a certain degree of trauma, both for the elder who's moving and for family members. However, by planning ahead you can reduce the discomfort involved and turn what might well become a nightmare into a pleasant event.
Begin by Planning for the Move
Where is the elder moving? Go to the actual house or apartment with tape measure, pad and pencil and write down measurements. Floor space is important, but don't forget about ceilings. Many elders own large pieces of furniture that may not fit into rooms with low ceilings. Your work here will determine which pieces can move with your elder.
And while you're at the actual location, talk to several other elders who already live there. What is their life style? Do they go outside the property on frequent trips? How do they dress? Casual lifestyles will require an entirely different style of dress than more formal ones.
Gather Supplies and Contact Helpers
Having all the supplies you will need in one place will speed your task. You'll want a number of storage bins; five or six should be sufficient to hold sorted items. Plastic bags can be used for discarded belongings and as a container for articles to be donated to charities. Packing boxes and supplies such as padding materials and wide sealing tape are must-haves. Labels and dark marking pens are essential to ensure that boxes go to their intended location.
While you're in the gathering stage, begin to contact helpers you'll need. Among these may be:
estate sale professionals
certified appraisers
moving companies
house cleaners
repair specialists (electricians, plumbers, carpenters, painters)
Ask friends, relatives, and senior real estate specialists for recommendations. Also, check with the Better Business Bureau to ascertain whether problems have been reported about particular companies or individuals.
Approach Your Task One Room at a Time
Who should help? The elder and one family member should assume responsibility for sorting all items and some packing. Do not include everyone in the family if you want to make the job quick and easy because distractions increase in geometric proportion to the number of persons doing the sorting.
Sort all the items in one single room at once, beginning and ending in the kitchen. Why start there? Because kitchens in small houses and apartments typically are short on storage space, and the elder needs time and experience to determine which items are true necessities, and which may never be used. If you reduce kitchen items to a bare minimum at the beginning, your elder can determine what's needed and what's not by living with them ahead of time. After living with fewer items, your elder may find that items once thought essential may not be needed. Complete work in the kitchen at the very end of your tasks.
Even though you intend to stay in only one room, distractions will occur. Resist them by stacking items that belong in another room at the door. A bin or box placed just inside the door can contain all the items that have homes elsewhere.
Make your motto One Thing at a Time; One Time for each Thing. Once you've picked up an item, decide then and there what its fate should be. Place it in one of the bins you've labeled:
Discards
Donations
Distribution to Relatives
Keepers
Uncertainties
Large collections of books may require their own bins. You might have bins for Collectors' editions, books to be stored, books to be sold to book dealers.
When you have finished categorizing all the items in the room, start the packing process. Items in the Uncertainties bin can be packed for storage.
If an unbreakable item is to be moved only a short distance, don't waste time on elaborate packing and padding. Items like crystal and china, however, require excellent packing, regardless of the distance they will be moved. If you can't do a great job, leave packing fragile items to professionals.
Mark boxes as you go.
Nothing is more frustrating than finding that you've shipped your elder's bed linens to Aunt Minnie and kept a silver salver you meant to send your nephew.
Don't try to do everything at once. Do only one room on any given day, and take the time to enjoy reminiscing as you sort items.
This is also the perfect time to have a certified appraiser come in to appraise items that may be of significant value. Very expensive items may be auctioned at an auction house such as Christy's or Sotheby's. Less expensive items can be sold to local antiques dealers. By having an idea of their value before going to dealers, you reduce the chance that dealers can scam you.
You could also consider selling items through an on-line auction. If you do so, remember that you will be responsible for shipping items and ensuring their condition to successful bidders.
Distribute Items to the Intended Recipients
Schedule a single day for distribution of items. In-town relatives can come to pick up items intended for them; they may also be helpful by taking bags to charities, books to resellers, boxes to storage, and trash to dumps.
Use this day for shipping as well. Small items can be shipped via UPS or FedEx; large pieces of furniture and antiques may require special handling by movers. Once you've finished distribution, you should have a considerably reduced pile of boxes and furniture. These boxes should contain only items to be moved to the elder's new residence or to storage. Remaining items should be those to be sold in an estate sale.
For more ideas, continue reading HERE.
Remember for the best in Home Care in the Allentown, PA area visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
Monday, September 6, 2010
What Does It Feel Like To Be 75 in Allentown, PA?
I found this fascinating article on NPR.org that discusses a new technology that can help researchers understand wht it feels like to be 75 and older. Read the full article below.
What Does It Feel Like To Be 75? Say Goodbye To Spry
by Jennifer Ludden
While reporting my recent series on Aging At Home, I came across a special suit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab. It's meant to help 20-something engineers feel the aches and limitations of an average 75-year-old so they can design better products for them. Think of it as working like those outfits Superheroes put on, only backward. Of course, I couldn't resist.
Now, I'm 40-something — no spring chicken. But if the crosswalk light is blinking, I can still dash across the street, no problem. Until, that is, MIT researcher Rozanne Puleo starts strapping me into what she calls her Age Gain Now Empathy System.
I pull a harness around my waist and Puleo starts attaching things to it. First, stretchy rubber bands connect from my waist to the bottom of my feet.
"It will limit your hip flexion," Puleo explains.
The act of having to balance makes you more fatigued.
- MIT researcher Rozanne Puleo, talking about foam-padded sandals that are part of her Age Gain Now bodysuit
That means no more sprinting. More stretchy bands restrict my arm movements. There are knee pads and Velcro wrist braces; rubber gloves to lessen sensation in my fingers; yellow goggles to limit my depth perception. Everything on the suit is carefully calibrated to mimic the loss of function that happens as we age.
Finally, Puleo fits me into a hard hat and attaches yet more things to that. And that's when this all starts to feel like a bad idea. It has become work simply to stand up straight. And to walk? Puleo has me in Crocs sandals, with bits of rubber foam taped to the bottom. I haven't exactly lost my balance, but it feels like I easily could.
"The act of having to balance makes you more fatigued, makes you more tired," she says.
MIT researchers say baby boomers, of course, aren't the first to get old. But Joseph Coughlin, the head of the AgeLab, says they're the first to say, "Wait a minute, there's gotta be a product, a service or something to make this better, easier, more convenient."
It's much harder to dash across the street in the suit.
And that's the AgeLab's mission.
Puleo has outfitted graduate students in her age suit and taken them grocery shopping. Each had a list of typical items a senior might want.
"What we found," she says, "was a lot of the low-sugar, low-sodium items were either at the top of the shelf or the bottom of the shelf — not in a place where an older adult would have the easiest time locating."
Click Here to read the original article.
Remember for the best in Home Care in the Allentown, PA area visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
What Does It Feel Like To Be 75? Say Goodbye To Spry
by Jennifer Ludden
While reporting my recent series on Aging At Home, I came across a special suit at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology AgeLab. It's meant to help 20-something engineers feel the aches and limitations of an average 75-year-old so they can design better products for them. Think of it as working like those outfits Superheroes put on, only backward. Of course, I couldn't resist.
Now, I'm 40-something — no spring chicken. But if the crosswalk light is blinking, I can still dash across the street, no problem. Until, that is, MIT researcher Rozanne Puleo starts strapping me into what she calls her Age Gain Now Empathy System.
I pull a harness around my waist and Puleo starts attaching things to it. First, stretchy rubber bands connect from my waist to the bottom of my feet.
"It will limit your hip flexion," Puleo explains.
The act of having to balance makes you more fatigued.
- MIT researcher Rozanne Puleo, talking about foam-padded sandals that are part of her Age Gain Now bodysuit
That means no more sprinting. More stretchy bands restrict my arm movements. There are knee pads and Velcro wrist braces; rubber gloves to lessen sensation in my fingers; yellow goggles to limit my depth perception. Everything on the suit is carefully calibrated to mimic the loss of function that happens as we age.
Finally, Puleo fits me into a hard hat and attaches yet more things to that. And that's when this all starts to feel like a bad idea. It has become work simply to stand up straight. And to walk? Puleo has me in Crocs sandals, with bits of rubber foam taped to the bottom. I haven't exactly lost my balance, but it feels like I easily could.
"The act of having to balance makes you more fatigued, makes you more tired," she says.
MIT researchers say baby boomers, of course, aren't the first to get old. But Joseph Coughlin, the head of the AgeLab, says they're the first to say, "Wait a minute, there's gotta be a product, a service or something to make this better, easier, more convenient."
It's much harder to dash across the street in the suit.
And that's the AgeLab's mission.
Puleo has outfitted graduate students in her age suit and taken them grocery shopping. Each had a list of typical items a senior might want.
"What we found," she says, "was a lot of the low-sugar, low-sodium items were either at the top of the shelf or the bottom of the shelf — not in a place where an older adult would have the easiest time locating."
Click Here to read the original article.
Remember for the best in Home Care in the Allentown, PA area visit our website at http://www.family-caregivers.com/.
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