Category: Living well

Walk as much as possible, especially in the hospital.
According to the American Academy of Nursing, as many as two thirds of all older adults who are hospitalized leave the hospital unable to walk independently even though they walked independently when they were admitted to the hospital. Older adults lose their ability to walk independently because they do not stay as active as possible while they are in hospital. So, if you are hospitalized, walk as much as possible.

Be proactive. Even if you don’t feel like walking, you should try. Of course, you should speak with your doctor or nurse before you do. If a nurse or social worker is not available to walk with you, it’s likely that a friend or family member or other health care buddy can accompany you.

Here are four reasons you should walk as much as you can during your hospital stay:
- Walking will help ensure you continue to walk independently after you leave the hospital.
- Walking when you can tends to reduce the time you spend in the hospital as well as your need for physical therapy.
- Walking lessens the likelihood of your needing a new nursing home placement.
- Walking tends to speed up your recovery rate post surgery.
To learn more, read this advice from the American Academy of Nursing.
December 18, 2014
How can you help someone you love decide when to stop driving?

Getting older does not mean that you cannot continue driving. But, the last thing you want is for people you love to hurt themselves or others. As people age, they can lose mental and physical functions that enable them to drive safely. The National Institute on Aging has several tips for helping people decide whether they should continue driving or rely on other forms of transportation.

Responsible driving depends upon good reflexes. And, good driving is often about making snap decisions. So, if people you love have trouble seeing, turning their head, climbing stairs, responding quickly, or confuse the brake and the gas pedals, those are signals that driving might put them and others at risk. Similarly, if driving makes them anxious, stressed or tired, those could be indicators that it’s time for them to stop.

People who have trouble keeping up with the flow of traffic, seeing when cars are coming at them, making sense of the traffic signs on the road or staying in the proper lane should likely also not be driving. They will know whether they are having problems if other drivers are honking at them, if they had minor accidents or have been pulled over by a traffic officer.

For sure, once people you love lose their vision, hearing, reflexes or have had a stroke or another serious condition, you should advise them to take a driving test every three years. If they continue to drive, encourage them to stay home in bad weather and, if possible, take alternate routes on quieter roads that are less stressful. For more information, click here.

November 13, 2014
Beware: You can reveal your emotions in a look

A report from the National Academy of Science suggests that facial expressions can reveal compound emotions, emotions beyond mere happiness, sadness, anger, surprise, fear and disgust.

In addition to these six simple emotions, there are 15 distinct compound emotion categories reflected in facial expressions, including happily surprised and sadly fearful and hapily disgusted. If you’d like to see for your self the visual differences among these expressions, click here.

November 3, 2014
Sunlight might be the best disinfectant, but it also might increase the risk of glaucoma and cataracts

Here’s why you should wear sunglasses. According to researchers led by Dr. Louis Pasquale of Harvard Medical School, sunlight can increase the chance of “exfoliation syndrome,” which is tied to glaucoma and cataracts.

The good news is that sunglasses reduce exposure to sunlight and the sun’s ultraviolet radiation. The researchers found that each one percent increase in sunglass use by Americans during the summer over a lifetime led to a two percent lower risk of exfoliation syndrome. They could not find the same result from wearing brimmed hats. To read more about their findings, click here.

November 3, 2014
To help your memory, try learning a language

The jury’s still out, but researchers at the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Northwestern University in Illinois believe that older adults who study a language have a good chance of improving their memory.

In short, the researchers claim that the range of mental exercises involved in learning a language, including inductive reasoning and ability to distinguish among sounds, are all helpful to people who are aging.

To read more from The New York Times, click here.

September 8, 2014