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Aging Parents: Plan for All Seasons

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Plan now for where your elders will live as they age. Get their vision for what they want to happen if they need care or accommodations for an illness. Having a plan is the key. It reduces the stress, eases the frustration and makes caregiving easier for all involved. I’ve boiled it down to 3 steps.

Do your elders want to live at their own home as long as they can? Do they have a vision for where they’ll want to be if the time comes when they need care? Does each family member have a role?

First – talk to your elders. Do they want to live in their current home as they age (called aging in place)? Do they want to move to a retirement community where there is a continuum of care (independent living to assisted living to nursing or memory care, if needed)? Do they want to move to be near you or one of your siblings? Do they already have a retirement residence where they want to move?

This first step is critical. Discussing these details with your elders puts everyone on the same page. It brings all the parties who will be a part of their care into the same discussion. You can better accommodate their vision if you know what it is.

Waiting until the first emergency is not a plan. The resulting panic will probably not result in a decision that looks like what it would have if you had developed a plan and executed it.

Second – Based on input from your elders, your siblings and/or other family members, work toward developing a plan that incorporates your elder’s wishes, takes your own needs into consideration and can be accomplished within the budget that your family has.

If they want to age in place, you can help your elders make necessary accommodations to their home or property. Do those things now, before an emergency would make those changes infeasible.

If assets need to be sold to build a budget for care, work on a plan to maximize revenues and minimize the hassle of having to sell immediately because they need the money.

If they want to live with you, near you or near one of your family members, start looking for the right residential fit. If it’s in your home, you can start making any necessary changes now – additions, retrofits for older folks, etc. If it is moving to a retirement or assisted living facility residence, check out what’s available and arrange for a tour. Whatever their choices are, develop a plan, move to the next steps and don’t wait.

If your elder already has a retirement residence, are there any accommodations that might need to be made as they age? If yes, decide when/how those can be cost-effectively made and set a timeline in place. It may not be needed now, but determine at what point the changes would need to be made and stay on track to make them if the need arises.

Third – Know that even the best plans change. Keep an open mind about what might happen if their health changes or they need more care than can be given where they planned to live. Make them aware that you will incorporate their wishes and their vision as much as you can.

Have a positive attitude about this journey. Know it’s a marathon, not a sprint. Laugh as much as you can. Giggle when you find something funny and share that giggle with your elder.

If you know what your elder wants, you can develop a plan that incorporates your needs as well, recognizing that life happens and things change. You will have gone a long way to ease your stress in the caregiving/caretaking role. Frustration arises most often when an emergency happens, no plan is in place and you find yourself in PANIC mode. Making decisions in the PANIC mode produces the MOST stress and the LEAST optimal solutions.

Get out your calendar and set a date with your elders. With the holidays coming up, now is the perfect time to talk to your elders with the whole family there.

Start the conversation.

By Suzanne Asaff Blankenship

Suzanne’s experience with eldercare came the hard way – by doing it. Suzanne has two decades of experience managing her mother’s care as well as sharing the care for her in-laws. After years of sharing stories and receiving requests for advice, Suzanne found she wasn’t alone in her eldercare journey, or in her search for solutions. With her unique approach of organized preparation sprinkled with her tongue-in-cheek humor, Suzanne guides others skillfully through the challenging experience of eldercare.

theeldercarenavigator.com

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Healthy Living

Conversation Tips for Seniors in Social Settings

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

Einstein, it is rumored, was once seated beside Marilyn Monroe at a dinner party. “Oh, Mr. Einstein,” she cooed, “with your brains and my looks, we could have perfect children.” The physicist paused for a moment and then asked, “But what if they had your brains and my looks?” Party and playful questions aside, there is no doubt that social settings sometimes require us to have good answers. And sometimes, they require us to ask good questions.

Albert Einstein had more to say about questions. He encouraged us to “learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow. The important thing,” he reminded us, “is not to stop questioning.” And he’s not the only one to share thoughts about questions. We find two brilliant men—one a theoretical physicist; the other, “The Father of Modern Management Science”—echoing one another’s thoughts. Einstein exhorted us, “The important thing is not to stop questioning.” And Peter Drucker, the genius born 30 years later, reminded us that exceptional people “know how to ask questions—the right questions.”

THE RIGHT QUESTIONS

Which questions are the right ones? Those that probe beneath the surface—either initially or subsequently. These questions expand upon an answer that’s been given. They create “spiralized” thinking—viz., the kind of thinking that refuses to accept a monosyllabic answer. Instead, these questions don’t create verbal dead-ends. (As Voltaire observed so many years ago, we should “judge a man by his questions rather than his answers.”)

Here are examples of questions that elicit further thought by probing beneath the surface.

In conversation with your grandson:

Question: “Are you enjoying college?”

Answer: “It’s fine, I guess.”

The right follow-up question: “What constitutes the ‘guess’ part of your reply?”

When meeting a new person in a social setting:

“How are you today?”

Answer: “Fine, thank you.”

The right follow-up question: “What would make you finer?”

At a homeowners association meeting:

“We’re in agreement, then, that our next step is to notify residents of the increase in the monthly homeowner’s fee?”

Answers: “Yes,” (Silence and nonverbal nods are all interpreted as affirmative answers to the question.)

The right follow-up question: “How can we make news of the increase as painless as possible?”

At a holiday gathering with your family:

“So, what’s new since the last time I saw you?”

Answer: “Not much.”

The right follow-up question: “Well, tell me how the children are doing in school. Who is their favorite teacher?”

LET LOU COACH YOU

Without a doubt, there are gaps between the generations. But, even with people the same age, there can be conversational gaps, too. One way to close the gaps is to practice using the right questions. Once you’ve mastered the technique, you’ll find yourself enjoying interpersonal exchanges more as you learn about others and they, about you. To quote a legendary football player and coach, Lou Holtz, “I never learn anything talking. I only learn things when I ask questions.” Here’s to the learner in you.

By Marlene Caroselli

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How to use a Reacher
HealthHealth Products

All the Ways to Use a Reacher

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

How to use a Reacher

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-ko0q_IoxY

If you have a bad back and can’t bend, you hate putting on shoes and socks and pants and undies, and taking them off is no better. Picking up things you’ve dropped is a painful and hated task. If you have a bad neck that hates tilting up and down, you hate getting cans off that high shelf you reach on tiptoes, and you males like urinals but hate neck craning over a toilet. But you have to do all these things, so you’re in a real bind. All the Ways to Use a Reacher
Before you spend a fortune getting a hired helper, or decide to bother a spouse or roommate to help with these things from now on, look into getting a Lighterweight 40-inch reacher. You may be in for a grand and glorious surprise! If you’re shorter, they have shorter reachers. How to
use a Reacher
To use a reacher, put the grippers on either side of the object and squeeze the pistol grip. When you’re grabbing cans or other heavy stuff like that, use the lock so the item doesn’t slip out of your grasp. And now here’s the good news for people who get a reacher: your days of painfully picking up shoes, socks, undies, pants, or dropped items are gone! A reacher will pick up paper, a coin, a pill, a bb, a pin, a can, a box that’s not too wide or over 5 pounds, string, a book, a VCR tape—in short, most anything it can get its grippers on.
You need to have it with you to use it, but having one at home and one at work and one in your car is reasonable considering their low cost. The one place you for sure need one is at home; consider one for each floor of your home.
Here’s how you use it in the bedroom: I’m going to teach you a new way to dress now, but don’t worry—I promise not to look! If you can sit, you simply do whatever you can in that position without bending your back and do the rest standing, but use the reacher to replace bending actions, especially picking things up. However, the rest of these directions assume that you cannot or choose not to sit.
If your undies, socks, shoes, or pants are on the floor, the reacher will pick them up. Now that they’re all on the bed, hold the undies in front of you as you stand with your thigh pushed against the bed for support and your hand ready to brace against the bed’s top if your balance becomes unsteady. Hold them as open as you can and as low as you can without bending and insert your leg quickly in a lift and drop motion that doesn’t require holding the leg up as you fumble around since this is what leverages the spine and causes the pain.
If your bed is too low to be a good brace object, find something higher or raise the bed. The experience will tell you whether you keep the right leg against the bed while the right leg is inserted or whether you need to turn around the other way and have your left leg against the bed while your right leg is inserted in those pesky undies.
Some people will have good enough balance not to need their legs touching the side of their beds for balance and will prefer to be a couple of inches away but ready to thrust out a hand for bracing. Others will need the bed brace only at first but not later.
Do the same lift and drop with the pants—the looser they are and the faster they go on the leg the better. Tight pants may win you friends of the opposite sex—and perhaps a few of the same sex—but is the booty display and all the foxes following you home (I’ve an active fantasy life) really worth all the pain? The “bottom” line here is that they’re hard to get on.
With socks, the lift and drop method is again critical, and you must have already found the heel and have it lined up right and must have the sock rolled down and held open so wide that the target is easy. By far the best way of assuring a fast lift and drop is switching to diabetic socks—they’re loose enough to feel better and be a cinch to get on and off. A person with a very delicate back is asking for pain if he uses regular socks.
The right method of getting shoes on depends on the shoe type. By far the least stressful shoe to use is one you can step in and out of without needing hands, like a loafer. The second best type of shoe is something that you can keep loosely tied at all times, never untying it. A person with a very delicate back should avoid shoe tying.
A shoe with a Velcro fastening that you can fasten and unfasten with your other foot is good. (Or use a 3-foot piece of ½-inch dowel with a small L-shaped shelf bracket or shoehorn fastened to one end with duct tape.)
I like using athletic shoes with loose laces and tightly double-knotted lace knots—one ties the shoelaces like this on the day one buys them and never touches them again. If you find you can step into a shoe but the tongue rides down a little, an athletic shoe is good because the tongue is long enough to be grabbed with a reacher and pulled up.
If you need to or choose to use your hands to get into shoes, get into them as with socks, above, keeping them as open as possible. Hold the shoe by the tongue in front of your midsection and as low as possible without bending. Swing it forward and backward until you get a pendulum feeling going. Now, at the apex of the forward swing, swing suddenly backward vigorously. Note that the shoe tends to get more vertical for a second. This verticality second is exactly what your toe will be aiming for.
Here’s the caper: you’ll do the lift and drop with your leg at the same time you do the swing and jerk (this is beginning to sound like a dance step). Your toe should be highest off the ground at precisely the split second when you jerk the shoe suddenly backward so the shoe toe points vertically. Your toe will have the shoe jerked onto it and by the time the foot touches the carpet again, the shoe will be mostly on and only require your heel pushing into the heel of the shoe. It takes a bit of practice.
Getting undressed is easier than getting dressed. Use the toe or side edge of one shoe on the heel of the other shoe to get it started and lift out your foot; then let the stockinged toe of the unshod foot help with the other.
Next rub your diabetic-socks-clad feet backward on the carpet to loosen (or remove) your socks-then step down hard on the loosened toe of the sock of one foot with the toe of the other and pull your foot backward out of the sock; likewise with the other foot.
Make sure the shades are down (unless you’re looking to make friends with your neighbors). Drop the pants and undies without bending, and once they’re on the floor, step out of them. This may require a bit of assisting with the sides and heels of your feet holding down the bunched pants around the opposite foot as your first foot works its way free. If your pants are too tight or thick for this to work, get lighter, looser, thinner ones—perhaps exercise pants.
Now use the reacher to put things where they belong. It’s helpful to store shoes and socks on a shelf so you needn’t use the reacher to pick them up in the morning.

Source: GlassHalfFull.org

How to use a Reacher

How to use a Reacher How to use a Reacher How to use a Reacher How to use a Reacher How to use a Reacher

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AgingHome & Family

10 Best American Cities for Older Adults

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

As the 80+ million baby boomers age, more and more Americans will reach senior status. By 2040, more than one in five Americans will be over the age of 65. While the classic picture of retirement involves moving to the Sun Belt, many older adults actually want to stay put and age in their home and communities in cities both large and small.

This desire is part of what prompted the Milken Institute—a non-partisan economic think tank—to rank the best large and small cities for older adults to live in. The Institute looked at 83 indicators from publicly available data that fell into nine major categories: general livability, healthcare, wellness, financial security, education, transportation and convenience, employment, living arrangements, and community engagement. They sorted 381 metro areas according to these variables and ranked them for three major age brackets: adults age 65 and over, adults in the 65-79 age range and adults 80 and older.

Using the rankings, the Milken Institute then determined the top 10 large cities for seniors who want to age in place without moving. Read on to find out why seniors love living in these large cities.

Provo-Orem, Utah

Provo-Orem in Utah regained the top spot in the latest round of the rankings. This western state features a very healthy, active population and tons of opportunities to get outside and enjoy nature. Utah has five state parks of its own. There are low rates of diabetes, obesity and Alzheimer’s in the area, and the proximity of Brigham Young University provides lots of opportunities for learning and enrichment. Plus, the stable economy in the area means low unemployment overall and low poverty for older adults.

Madison, Wisconsin

The capital of Wisconsin is a healthcare hub, with numerous providers across primary care, physical therapy and orthopedic surgery, all of which are relevant to aging adults. Many hospitals with geriatric, Alzheimer’s and rehab units are located in the area, and emergency room waits are often short if something unexpected does go wrong. There are lots of fitness centers and other recreational options, and many people walk to work. Not only is the capital the seat of state government, but it also hosts the University of Wisconsin, so the city’s population is very educated.

Durham-Chapel Hill, North Carolina

The recent explosion of population growth in the Research Triangle area caused this metro center to be added to the large cities list. The University of North Carolina and Duke University are both located in the area, and the metro offers numerous other civic and cultural institutions as well. Some of the nation’s best hospitals can be found near here, and seniors will have top-notch access to geriatric, Alzheimer’s, hospice and physical therapy services, as well as many primary care providers.

Salt Lake City, Utah

If the Provo-Orem area isn’t a perfect fit, there’s another metro area in Utah that’s also a great option for older adults: Salt Lake City. While no Silicon Valley, the area is a growing hub for finance and technology, and easy access to banks and financial services is readily available. There’s a high rate of older volunteers in the area giving back to the community, and many cultural and recreational amenities are offered to residents.

Des Moines-West Des Moines, Iowa

This Iowa city doesn’t just host one of the most notable presidential caucuses in the nation. It also offers an extremely affordable cost of living—including reasonably priced medical and long-term care services—not to mention it’s the U.S. leader in geriatric services with many rehab and Alzheimer’s facilities. It also features many libraries and recreational facilities, as well as funding for programs targeting older adults.

Austin-Round Rock, Texas

Austin is known for being a “weird” hangout for hip young people, but it’s also a vibrant community for older adults as well. The city offers a lot of entertainment and cultural options as well as a high-tech industry, a tax-friendly environment and thriving small businesses. Austin is also great at encouraging healthy behaviors, with low chronic disease rates, longer lives, and numerous recreational facilities.

Omaha-Council Bluffs, Nebraska-Iowa

Warren Buffett’s hometown is a stable, inexpensive place to live. The cost of living is affordable and ample jobs are available. There are low levels of poverty among older people, income inequality and reverse mortgages. Residents will find many orthopedic surgeons, rehab centers, geriatric facilities and hospice services in the area, and care is affordable thanks to the magnet and medical school-affiliated hospitals in the area.

Jackson, Mississippi

The capital of Mississippi is a very affordable place to live–it’s got a relatively low median home and rental prices, a low tax burden and low rates of reverse mortgages. Healthcare is also affordable, and there are many care options for seniors, including access to rehab and geriatric facilities and dialysis and diagnostic centers. If they wish, adults can also keep working here as they age since the metro has low unemployment among older adults.

Boston-Cambridge-Newton, Massachusetts-New Hampshire

Boston is a science and healthcare hub for companies, and fortunately, this translates into top-notch care options for senior residents as well. There are abundant home healthcare options as well as high-quality nursing homes, and most hospitals in the area are affiliated with a medical school. The historic neighborhoods are extremely walkable for anyone with a good pair of therapeutic shoes, and the metro area has strong public transportation offerings, including special needs accommodations.

San Francisco-Oakland-Hayward, California

The economy in San Francisco is booming thanks to all the tech companies in the area, which means high-income levels and employment growth. The mild, warm weather of California suits many seniors, and many of the neighborhoods are walkable as well. The area boasts numerous five-star nursing homes, Joint Commission-accredited hospitals, enhanced independent living opportunities and many continuing-care facilities.

While many seniors can and do retire to the Sun Belt, that’s far from the only living option for older adults anymore. If you’re looking to stay put in your community as you reach your golden years, these 10 large cities are a great place to start.

By Kaki Zell

Kaki is the Vice President and co-owner of Ames Walker. After graduating from Virginia Tech she went on to work for Pepsi for several years before joining the family business. When she is not working she enjoys running, hiking, traveling, Virginia Tech football & spending time with family & friends.

 

 

 

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Assessing Care
Caregiving

Helpful Tips to Assess Care Needs for Elderly

by Jeff Dailey
written by Jeff Dailey

Helpful Tips to Assess Care Needs for Elderly

Sitting down with your aging Mom and Dad to discuss financial, legal, and long-term care issues is not easy at all. Facing the fact that the people who took a great care of us are now getting older and might need professional care needs is daunting. Broaching the subject is difficult. It’s a sensitive topic, which is why both you and your parents might be reluctant to start discussing in the first place. Helpful Tips to Assess Care Needs for Elderly
Your Mom and Dad worry about becoming a burden or giving up control, and we can’t blame them for that. You, on the other hand, worry about challenging or insulting them. There might be differences of opinion when it comes to whether they need professional care or not, what type of care is needed, who should be responsible for proving the care plan, and so on.
Most seniors usually believe that they can take care of themselves. We can all agree that aging Americans can be stubborn sometimes. Fortunately, there’s a respectful and gentle way to broach this senior living subject. Following are a few useful tips for assessing care needs.

The importance of the approach

Saying “You just have to do this” is a big ‘no’. You’ll lose them. You should try something like: ”Mom/Dad, I’m really concerned about you; seeing you like this makes me worried.”
That’s the approach you need. Share your concerns about their safety and health, and your parents will come around and say yes.

Getting help from others

Forming a caregiving group or getting help from your brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts and children to address your loved ones’ needs is also recommended. You can even look outside the family because an unrelated person can present a personal, neutral opinion about the situation and offer their solutions. Also, every person finds it easier to reveal their fears to an outside person.
Who Can Help and Be that Person?

  • Your personal doctor – he can define the medical needs, and moreover, refer you and your parents to other people or professionals who can be of a lot of help when it comes to making care arrangements and care costs.
  • Word-of-mouth – the best way to tackle any problem. Your neighbors or friends might have already been through similar situations, aging in place maybe, so they can advise you.

Assessing personal needs

The elderly are usually into privacy personal independence. If your parents are like this, that means a nursing home is not for them. They should stay home where they can receive minimal home assistance. Others want to hire a professional agency that can organize a comprehensive program. If your parents are planning to rely on an outside agency, a home care directed by agency combined with professional adult daycare is the best solution. Still, some prefer the ease and security provided by residential care facilities, especially if Medicare covers them, even though they don’t need such high care level offered in such institutions. For many people, the senior care cost plays an important role here.
In conclusion, you need to start the conversation early, include every family member, explain the purpose of the discussion, understand the needs of your parents to control their lives, learn what approach is the best for senior retirement, agree to disagree and be patient.

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What are Guaranteed Issue Rights for Medigap
AgingHome & Family

How Seniors Problem Solve

by Kimberly Johnson
written by Kimberly Johnson

Even though many senior citizens are no longer employed, there are still problems to be solved. Perhaps not as many challenges as we experienced while in the work force, but problems nonetheless. How Seniors Problem Solve
A CEREBRAL WARM-UP
Before we turn to specific problems that may be befuddling you, let’s take a general look at the process of problem-solving. It requires some critical thinking. And, such thinking, according to learning theorist Jerome Bruner, involves the ability to “go beyond what is given.” (In a similar vein, the top competence identified by the federal government for those aspiring to executive service is “external awareness.” And, GE’s former CEO, Jack Welch, notes, “When the rate of change outside the organization is greater than the rate of change in side the organization, then we are looking at the beginning of the end.”)
To get your cerebral juices flowing, warm-up your brain by making a prediction, noting a trend, based on the events of the present. Go beyond what you deal with on a daily basis in your personal life, and state an awareness of events that are external to your life. Then discuss with someone whose intellect you admire some possible problems that may be associated with these future events. Of course, the next step is to discuss possible solutions.
TIP #1: VARY YOUR APPROACH
Before we move from the macrococsmic to the microcosmic, heed this caution: It’s been said that if you view every problem as a nail, you will always hit it with a hammer. Vary your methods of solving problems. After all, the problems you face are varied enough to require different approaches. For example, can you think of three ways to solve this problem?
There are eight senior citizens waiting for lunch in the senior center. Each one shakes hands just once with each of the others. What is the total number of handshakes?
Keep in mind what H. L. Mencken said: “For every complex problem, there is one solution that is simple, neat, elegant…..and wrong!” You probably jumped to a quick answer that you got by simply multiplying eight (the number of people) by seven (the number of other people with whom you would shake hands. If you said “56,” you have the wrong answer. Try solving the problem by:
A. Get seven friends and start the handshaking process. Tally the handshakes. You won’t get 56 as the total.
B. Draw eight circles to represent the eight people. Then start drawing lines to show the handshakes. Again, you will not have 56 as the total number.
C. The third approach requires some logical thinking, whereas the first two depended more on an actual physical solution and then a visual one. If you take eight people and multiply them by the seven handshakes, it’s true that you will get 56. But…. you then have to divide that number in half, to get the correct answer of 28. Person 1 shakes with seven others. Person 2, though, when it’s his turn, will already have shake with Person 1. So, he only has six shakes to do, as he won’t be shaking hands with himself. Person 3, having already shaken with 1 and 2, will only have to shake five other times. And so on.
TIP #2: PERSEVERE, DON’T PERSEVERATE
Good problem-solvers persevere–they don’t perseverate. In other words, they don’t keep heading their head against the same wall. They look for another wall!
Here’s what we mean. The following combination of letters, representing a sentence from which one particular vowel has been removed, illustrates what we mean. Figure out what letter is missing, insert it in nine different places, and you’ll be able to figure out what the sentence is saying.
VRYFINXMPLARXCDSWHATWXPCT
Most people will jump on the letter “e,” which is indeed the missing letter. But, they will start the sentence with “Very” and will continue to create a sentence that is not the correct one: “Very fine exemplar exceeds what we expect.” Can you figure out the answer?
TIP #3: TRY ON A DIFFFERENT HAT
Asked how he came upon the polio vaccine, Jonas Salk replied, “I learned to think like Mother Nature.” Looking at problems from different perspectives often affords insights we might not have had otherwise. State a problem you or a larger entity such as our government is facing and then consider that problem from the eyes of a politician, an environmentalist, a priest, a police officer, an entrepreneur, a student, a politician, a scientist, a musician, et cetera. Put your usual way of thinking aside, forget about your own person for a while, and try to come up with solutions that might occur to someone very different from youo.
LISTEN TO ALBERT
“No problem can be solved,” Einstein assured us, “from the same level of consciousness that created it.” Interpret his wises words in any way you wish. Basically, though, we have to bring something new to our consciousness of the problem if we want to come up with a solution that works.
By Dr. Marlene Caroselli
Dr. Marlene Caroselli is an author and former keynoter/corporate trainer whose clients include Lockheed Martin, Allied Signal, Department of the Interior, and Navy SEALS. She writes extensively about education, business, self-improvement, and careers and has adjuncted at UCLA and National University. Her first book,The Language of Leadership, was named a main selection by the Executive Book Club. Principled Persuasion, a more recent title, was designated a Director’s Choice by the Doubleday Book Club. Applying Mr. Albert: 365+ Einstein-Inspired Brain Boosts, her 62nd book, will be released by HRD Press in 2018.

How Seniors Problem Solve

How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve How Seniors Problem Solve

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Exercise & FitnessHealth

5 Ways Weightlifting Can Reduce Falls for Seniors

by Guest Blogger
written by Guest Blogger

According to the CDC, in America, 25% of Americans 65 years of age or older fall each year. If you experience a fall, much like a concussion, you are much more likely to experience a fall in the next 6 months. With over 2.8 million injuries due to falls treated in emergency departments every year, it is clear that this is a concern for every single one of us as we age. 5 Ways Weightlifting Can Reduce Falls for Seniors
These falls, whether you are injured or not, can impact you in other ways. It can start to deteriorate your quality of life. First, the fear of falling starts to limit your engagement in social activities and day to day duties. Then it can start to hinder your confidence in doing basic things outside or in your living quarters.
With reduced activity comes greater physical decline, isolation, and a potential to worsen a slew of other health issues.
So what are you to do?
Maintain and improve functional independence at all costs.
There are habits, lifestyle changes, preventative and proactive measures that everyone could be taking. Although this applies to all ages, it becomes even more important the older you get.
Weightlifting is one activity that is invaluable. It improves your health, helps reduce fall risk factors, and improve functional independence. Often, lifting is not something that many people believe is a good fit for older adults and seniors. This is a common misconception even though countless studies have proven otherwise. It is not only safe but it is also effective.
Weightlifting helps by improving 5 specific aspects allowing seniors to keep living their best life.

Better Balance For a Better You

The characteristic of “balance” consists of two different types. The first is static balancing, the ability to maintain balance while not moving. The second is dynamic balancing, the ability to maintain one’s position while on the go. Both of these aspects of balance are important to be safe when doing everyday activities with confidence.
Weightlifting is able to make improvements in both the static and dynamic balance. Allowing you to move with greater ease and confidence.

Staying In Control With Enhanced Movement Control

Neuromuscular functioning and proprioception play a key role in functional independence. These two fancy terms are what allows your body to move in a coordinated fashion. Also they are responsible for your brain to know exactly where your limbs are and the effort being exerted throughout your body.
Unfortunately, these both begin to deteriorate with lack of use and age. Making moving about on your own a greater risk.
Weightlifting comes to save the day again by improving age-related declines in neuromuscular functioning. These improvements are demonstrated through greater movement control, balance, functional capacity, and proper movement.
How much training do you need to do to get these benefits? You can go all out with high volume training if you wish. Or you can keep it light with low volume. Both options provide these same benefits.
This doesn’t mean you should wait to include this into your lifestyle when issues arise. Why?
Well, because those who have been lifting as a part of their lives were actually protected from any loss in movement control as they aged. The sooner you get to lifting, the better.

Staying Limber With Greater Mobility & Flexibility

Being able to move with ease is something many of us take for granted. Over time, it can become difficult to bend over or reach for items on high shelves. As this occurs, it becomes harder to be fully engaged in your life and do some of the more simplest tasks.
For some of the seniors in my own life, bending over, reaching on high shelves, and the likes are unfortunately no longer safe options. When picking up something you dropped becomes rather difficult and even a fall risk, your functional independence is inhibited.
Through weightlifting, studies have shown that you are actually able to improve the flexibility in every single joint in the body. This means every single type of movement that you can do becomes easier with multi-joint movements becoming exponentially easier. In fact, hitting the weights more frequently actually makes leaning forward even easier.

Staying Active with Improved Functional Capabilities

You have seen how all these technical aspects of functional independence are improved by weightlifting but how will this combine to benefit you?
When it comes to walking, seniors saw their step length and step speed increase. On top of that, they were able to recover their balance when taking a single step from anywhere from fifteen to thirty percent. So when on the move, if there is a slight hiccup going from one step to another you will be more likely to recover than enduring a scary fall.
Other tasks that happen day in and day out can prove to be difficult as well. Whatever it may be, weightlifting seems to improve by making the task itself easier and reducing the amount of time it takes to do them. This can be everything from climbing stairs, rising from a chair, and going from standing to sitting. Essentially any other movements that require a level of strength and muscular control.

Reducing Risk Factors For Falls and Fear of Falling

If you are able to maintain balance, have greater movement control, improved mobility and flexibility, while being more functionally capable, you are going to experience less falls. It is just that simple.
What isn’t simple is the emotion around falls. Specifically, fear. Knowing how dangerous a fall can be can bring about a great deal of fear. Especially if you have endured a fall before. This fear can be a somewhat paralyzing one that holds you back from going about your life in a confidently.
Thankfully, as the ability to move with greater ease, speed, and strength improves, the fear has been shown to slowly dissipate. Allowing for greater peace of mind and confidence to carry on your day.

Staying Functionally Independent With Weightlifting

When you add it all up, the science is clear. By integrating weightlifting into your lifestyle not only will you prevent any further declines in your functional capabilities but you will also improve them. The more physically capable you are as you age the more active you are able to be and the more engaged life you can lead.

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By Nicholas Rizzo
With a passion for everything health and fitness, Nick uses his writing as an opportunity to help others lead a happier, healthier, and more active life. Having watched loved ones struggle through the aging process has motivated him to do what he can to help others take action today to avoid countless struggles later in life. He currently is the lead training, health, and wellness researcher and writer for RunRepeat.Com.

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Self-Driven Cars Promise Freedom for California Seniors
DrivingHome & Family

Self-Driven Cars Promise Freedom for California Seniors

by Kimberly Johnson
written by Kimberly Johnson

With more than 43 million people in the U.S. now 65 and older — and 10,000 more hitting that mark every day — aging Americans are a natural target market for self-driving vehicles. Mobility concerns (like getting to the doctor or the grocery store, and seeing family and friends) become paramount for seniors, especially since 79 percent live in suburbs and rural areas. Self-Driven Cars Promise Freedom for California Seniors
California is a mecca for automation and already has bills in place to pave the way for self-driving vehicles on public roads. Automation could be a boon for the elderly, but in order for the Golden State to maintain its upswing, it’ll also need to address mounting concerns about the technology itself.
California Creates Safety and Performance Standards
In 2012, California enacted SB 1298, which mandates that the Department of the California Highway Patrol adopt performance requirements and safety standards that make sure autonomous vehicles operate safely on public roads within the state. The bill also allows driverless cars to be tested and operated on the public roads within California as long as they adhere to the performance requirements and safety standards required by the bill.
All of this might seem like common sense, but driverless cars still represent relatively new technology that requires an immense amount of testing, safety precautions, and legislation. But even so, the earliest phase of self-driving vehicles could be enormously beneficial for older drivers, as these systems are designed to improve reaction time and assist with steering control. You may even recall the semi-autonomous Tesla that transported its owner to the hospital when he suffered a pulmonary embolism on the freeway.
It’s important to note, too, that self-driving cars are poised to evolve in stages—beginning with driver assistance technology. Though the technology is in its infancy, the obsolescence of the driver is on the horizon, and what were once vital components of the automobile may become antiquated. Such relinquishing of control, however, is a foremost issue among senior drivers.
Yet Another Step toward Full Autonomy
A bit more localized, SB 1592 (passed in 2016) allows the Contra Costa Transportation Authority to conduct a pilot project that tests driverless cars that aren’t equipped with a steering wheel, brake pedal, an accelerator, or a driver inside the vehicle — as long as the testing is only conducted at safe, specific locations dictated by the bill, and as long as the vehicle only travels up to certain speeds.
This may seem a bit extreme, but driverless cars without these features are becoming the new norm. The more they’re tested, the safer they’ll become as manufacturers work on defects and fix potential safety hazards.
Theoretically, the results may prove staggering. Many seniors in the state of California live in remote regions, including Placer, Shasta, and Madera. Public transit and rideshare services in these areas can be scarce. But fully autonomous vehicles could help bridge the gap, enabling seniors to get around far more efficiently and on their own time.
This biggest hurdle, however, is building trust. To be sure, drivers of all ages are ambivalent about driverless cars—but it’s particularly disconcerting for seniors who are most concerned about technological failure. Even cutting-edge technology isn’t immune to defects, and should an issue arise on the road, seniors will have to know what to do. That means creating technology that not only has near-zero risk but is also extremely intuitive for users of all ages.
Federal guidelines
The U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) stated, “The development of advanced automated vehicle safety technologies, including fully self-driving cars, may prove to be the greatest personal transportation revolution since the popularization of the personal automobile nearly a century ago.”
Similar to California’s bills, the DoT has proposed requiring all new light vehicles to be equipped with autonomous technology—namely, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication. Part of the proposal aims to standardize the language through which vehicles talk to each other about braking status, speed, and even road conditions. It is with this high-volume exchange of information that vehicles can become progressively more autonomous and thereby safer. For older drivers, particularly aged 70 and up, it could mean not only increased mobility and independence, but also savings on auto insurance premiums.
Remember, car insurance rates are determined, in large part, by risk profiles assigned to individual drivers. Because V2V communication helps remove much of that risk, older drivers who would’ve otherwise seen higher premiums might actually save instead. What’s more, that high-octane data could potentially be leveraged to create prodigiously tailored pricing profiles, which can lower costs all the more.
There is a caveat: Consumers—particularly older (and savvier) generations—may not be too keen on having such granular information being collected about them. While the data being exchanged and accrued mostly pertains to driving habits—around which V2V systems tailor their functions to improve autonomy—it could still amass raw data about where drivers live, when they drive, and what they see on frequent routes. The automobile could therefore become an invaluable data repository coveted by companies and even hackers.
For this reason, The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is pushing for regulations that assure consumers know how their data is being shared and used. The bill has yet to be fully fleshed out and is being met with a fair degree of industry resistance. State-level oversite could help set a more promising trajectory.
Will Senior Drivers Embrace Driverless Tech?
California is the vanguard of driverless car technology. As such, automakers and regulatory bodies in the Golden State need to work with skeptics to ensure the technology is intuitive, and that safety and privacy concerns are addressed. Among the most skeptical of the driverless car are the very people who could benefit from it the most. It’s only when manufacturers are successful in mitigating warranted concerns among seniors that the self-driving tech can really take off.
By Stephanie Braun
Stephanie Braun is a director of Auto Product Management at Esurance, where she is responsible for designing the company’s auto product lines and managing telematics programs like DriveSense Mobile. Stephanie has 11 years of experience in the industry, focused primarily on product design and launch, pricing and product innovation. She currently writes for Esurance about auto innovations and their effects on the insurance industry.

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Exercise & Fitness

Why Aren’t Seniors Exercising More?

by Jeff Dailey
written by Jeff Dailey

People of all ages, and especially seniors, avoid exercising for a variety of reasons. They think it’s too hard, too boring or they’re disappointed by their ability to stick with it. Take a look at some of the most common reasons seniors aren’t exercising and use our ideas to motivate yourself to start exercising NOW! Why Aren’t Seniors Exercising More?

Exercising seems like a chore, instead of an enjoyable activity.

Do you find exercise boring or overwhelming? For you, the challenge is to find activities that are more enjoyable for you and easy to do. We can help! You might also think about exercising with a friend or a group of people – by joining a class or walking with a friend. Exercise will help you feel more involved and connected if you do it with others and find activities you like. Set yourself a mission to think differently about exercise because it can help you live a longer and healthier life.

I can’t stand the idea of exercising every day for at least 30 minutes.

That’s okay because exercising for several 10-minute periods a day can be just as effective as one 30-minute period. To get some ten-minute exercises, park in the farthest space at the shopping mall, or leave the car a couple of blocks away from your destination. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. Do some of your own housekeeping or gardening.

I’ve always heard “no pain, no gain” and I don’t want to be in pain.

When you exercise, you should raise your heartbeat and breathe a little heavily, but you shouldn’t be hurting. In fact, if you push yourself so hard that you hurt, you may injure yourself. You can get plenty of good results when you exercise without pain. In fact, if you exercise in short ten-minute spurts, you may not even perspire heavily!

I’m already tired. Exercising will just make me more exhausted.

Physical activity will actually make you more alert – and will help you sleep better at night, which will make you less tired during the day. When you exercise, endorphins are released in your body. These make you more relaxed and give you energy!

I’m not sure what exercise programs are best for me.

As a senior, you may have specific conditions or diseases that should be taken into account before you begin an exercise program. Talk to your doctor about what type of exercise is best for you , and what types of exercise you should avoid. Your doctor may be able to connect you with a physical therapist who can assess your strengths and weaknesses and advise you about an exercise plan. A fitness instructor at the gym can do the same, but make sure you tell him or her about your limitations.

I can’t exercise because of a medical condition or physical limitation.

If you have a disease or disability, you may not be able to exercise as you once did – and this can make you feel frustrated or depressed. Don’t stop exercising now! This is when you need physical activity the most. Exercise can make you feel much better physically, mentally and emotionally – and can improve your mobility and reduce frailty.
Instead of focusing on what you can’t do, think about what you can do. Positive thoughts produce positive results. Talk to your doctor to find out what type of physical activity is best for you, and ask your doctor to help you locate a health professional to help design your exercise plan.

I don’t have the money to join a gym or buy expensive equipment.

There are lots of ways to exercise without ever walking in the door of a gym or purchasing fitness equipment! You can do lots of activities at home – indoors or out, with no specialized equipment. Meeting a friend for a walk or bike ride. Take a dance class at the senior center. Use resistance bands against your furniture, floors and walls to increase your strength. None of these activities require you to join a gym or buy equipment.

I don’t know how to use the equipment at my gym.

Are you avoiding the gym because you don’t understand the equipment? Make an appointment with an instructor at your gym who can teach you how to use the equipment the right way. If you haven’t already joined a gym, talk to other seniors and your doctor to find out which gyms connect well with seniors and are less intimidating. The local YMCA and senior center are good places to start.
NOTE: Always talk with your doctor before beginning an exercise program. Every type of exercise is not appropriate for all people, especially if you have high blood pressure, heart disease or diabetes. And it’s important that you start slowly with any physical activity.
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Why Aren’t Seniors Exercising More?

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