Tia Today: Celebration measured in steps
As I walked around the indoor track this morning, long before sunrise, a fellow fitness classmate commented positively on my progress. These days, if I am vertical and moving, it’s cause for celebration.
Step after step is a celebration.
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Changes to Medicaid will affect anyone applying after Dec. 1
Middle class seniors face new obstacles in paying for nursing home stays under harsh new rules proposed by the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration (FSSA). On September 19, FSSA held a public hearing on substantial changes to rules governing Medicaid coverage of nursing home care. These rules could trap unaware seniors and their families at the time of a health crisis.
The Medicaid system currently covers approximately 27,000 seniors in nursing homes across the state of Indiana. These new rules could severely penalize future applicants for such benefits.
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Simple changes to your lifestyle can boost your memory
Do you ever find yourself at the grocery store struggling to remember what you came for? Are you forgetting birthdays and lunch dates? If these situations sound familiar to you, you’re not alone. Forgetfulness is one of the most common complaints of those in middle age and beyond.
Memory loss and Alzheimer’s disease rank high on the list of senior fears. Alzheimer’s was the No. 1 fear of aging, according to research conducted by Bankers Life and Casualty Company, a national life and health insurer that focuses on serving the retirement needs of the middle market. Similarly, a national poll by Research!America and PARADE magazine showed that adults were more than twice as likely to fear losing their mental capacity as their physical ability.
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Tips and techniques for preventing senior falls
Accidental falls don’t have to be an inevitable part of aging that can threaten seniors’ health and independence.
More than one-third of American seniors fall each year, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, making falls the leading cause of injuries among those 65 and older. In fact, falls account for 25 percent of all hospital stays and 40 percent of all nursing home admissions. Read the rest of this entry »
It is also widely believed that the speed of intervention — reducing the amount of time that a senior might spend helpless on the floor — is a key to more successful outcomes and a return to independent living.
Make the bathroom safe for seniors
The bathroom may seem innocent enough, but it can be more of an obstacle than a convenience for some elderly folk. What can you do to make the bath a safer, easier place to visit? A report in the journal “Nursing Home” outlines ways to improve bathroom safety for elders:
1 Avoid all white, as it makes seeing difficult for some seniors.
2 Do use grab bars around toilets and in shower stalls and bathtubs.
3 Use non-skid bath mats and strips on surfaces that may get wet and be a slip hazard.
4 Use accessories that elevate the toilet seat, making it easier for seniors to get on and off independently.
5 Place bath boards and benches in the shower to ease access.
6 Replace single-control faucets with blade-style controls.
7 Consider tracked or pocket doors, which are easier for some seniors to open and close.
To learn more about equipment and accessories that can help make the bathroom safer for seniors, visit www.medline.com.
How older adults can become more active
From teenagers to grandparents, almost everybody wants to get more exercise. But most advice on how to accomplish this lifestyle change isn’t targeted to older adults.
To help answer questions that Baby Boomers and their parents have about how to become more physically active, the International Council on Active Aging (ICAA) is offering some helpful free advice. Read the rest of this entry »
Here are some tips from the ICAA’s “Welcome Back to Fitness” Web site, available online at www.icaa.cc/welcomeback.htm:
Tia Today: Racing in the right direction
Who would have thought physical fitness and philosophy could mesh? But that is the reality for this whole-life fitness program.
In fact, one of the big questions in life lies at the heart of the Totally Fit Life (TFL) system: Why am I here?
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Sweet potatoes: Vegetable Indispensable?
Aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews all salivated with Pavlovian panache and knew good things were in store when Grandma began shuffling around her warm kitchen, softly humming hymns and clanking pans as she lovingly prepared the annual family holiday dinner.
Other than the warm and fuzzy time we spend with our family, one of the remembrances that cross my mind is the annual gooey, sticky, artery-detonating — albeit yummy — sweet potato casserole. You know, the canned, candied sweet potatoes submerged in a pond of melted butter and brown sugar and asphyxiated by molten marshmallows?
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Diabetes and depression linked, study shows
The relationship between diabetes and depression apparently cuts both ways; not only are people with treated type 2 diabetes at a greater risk for developing depression, individuals with depression are also at risk for developing diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes and clinical depression tend to go hand in hand, the study authors say, although the question has been, which comes first? The study was published in the Journal of the American Medical Association.
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Tia Today: Walk by faith… for 40 minutes
Forty Minutes. All I have to do is 40 minutes of walking. Each and every day.
What can you do with 40 minutes? Hit the snooze bar a few times. Read in solitude (a rarity for any mother of young children). Cook breakfast. Remember that big box that heats up and cooks a pan of eggs? It’s called cooking!
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