Osteoporosis and Exercise

Posted by eldadm

Osteoporosis is known as a silent disease. Early in the bone loss process, you may not see any signs, but eventually it can lead to broken bones, the disfiguring dowager’s hump, loss of height and certain types of back pain.

Throughout life, your body loses bone. New bone grows to replace lost bone. The rate of new bone growth changes as you age. Young adults reach their peak bone mass between the ages of 25 and 35. That is when your bone is the strongest. From about 35 years and older, bone mass slowly declines and that’s were weight bearing exercise becomes important to maintain and / or build bone density.

A rate at which your bone declines can be minimized and osteoporosis can be preventable. An active lifestyle, weight-bearing exercise and proper eating can significantly slow down the rate of bone loss. Eating foods rich in calcium and vitamin D will help protect your bones. Weight-bearing exercise will help your entire body and help you maintain bone mass. Resistance exercises help maintain bones by strengthening the muscles around them. Building muscle strength will make you less prone to injury. Non-weight bearing exercise, such as swimming or water exercise may help prevent back strain and pain by building muscles in your trunk and legs.

Osteoporosis affects men and women alike. The risk factors include heredity decreased hormones, lack of physical activity, inadequate calcium and vitamin D, certain medications, smoking, too much caffeine and too much alcohol.

The best way to … Read the rest

Why One of the most dreaded diseases in old age is Alzheimer disease

Posted by eldadm

With Alzheimer disease, the patient need to be taken cared of all the time. This is because the memory loss will often render the patient incapable of thinking and reasoning. Some will even forget how to do the simplest of tasks, like brushing their teeth and even eating with a spoon and fork.

Alzheimer is a progressive and degenerative disease that affects the brain. The problem often leads to massive memory loss not only in terms of one’s memories but also one’s learning. Patients will forget everything that they have learned even routine tasks that they have learned when they were just tots. Some people will also find it hard to learn new things and may even lose their language abilities. They will have difficulties in their speech and in their writing.

Because of this, caring for a patient with Alzheimer’s disease can be extremely difficult. It is actually like caring for a newborn babe but while a baby will slowly learn to function independently, patients with Alzheimer’s will lose what they have learned and will slowly become more and more dependent with their caregivers. Thus, it is important to find a caregiver that is both professionally-capable and caring as they will determine the progress that the patient will have as well as their over all condition and behavior.

Here are some tips in finding a good caregiver for an Alzheimer’s patient.

Choose a professional

It is good to look for a person that is already well experienced in caring … Read the rest

Home Care for Elderly – Helping Your Parents Have Their Cake and Eat It Too

Posted by eldadm

When a loved one, a mother, a father a grandparent, at some point, begins to lose their battle against aging and begins to find the completing of everyday tasks somewhat difficult when left by themselves, one of the first things they end up feeling is fear at being forced to leave their homes and being sent to a home for the elderly of some kind. Is that really necessary? As it turns out, a home health aide can often be a far better choice. Care for elderly parents isn’t just about getting them out of our hair; it’s about keeping them happy and feeling loved. Keeping that in mind, hiring personal care attendants or home health aides to come offer live-in assistance can often be a great way to help a loved one have their cake and eat it too.

There are three kinds of professionals who provide home care for elderly people – there are your home health aides, your personal care assistants and certified nursing assistants. Certified nursing assistants, of course, have some medical training. They have a license and they need to pass an exam to get it. They aren’t nurses though; the only work under them. The best they can do is to provide an elderly person with assistance with everyday activities and they can help them take care of painful health problems. Home health aides help with daily activities alone; they have no actual medical training. And personal care attendants are actually companions who help … Read the rest

Retired Couples Can Still Have Fun

Posted by eldadm

Retired couples no longer should be portrayed as just being two senior citizens rocking back and forth in their chairs on the front porch while the man naps and the woman knits. These days, retired couples are full of fun and zest for their newly acquired life as retired people.

There are so many fun things to do and experience as a newly retired couple, so, lets face it, there should only be a minimum of rocking out on the front porch.

Travel and Adventure

Hopefully, having planned your finances successfully and maybe even downsized to a smaller home, condo, or townhouse, you now have some financial flexibility as well as having some time-wise to travel and explore.

There are several activities you can explore while traveling as well:

* Hiking – Hiking is a great way to keep physically fit, explore, go out on adventures, and meet new people with similar interests.

* Boating – If you have always wanted to live the boating life, now is a great time to try it out. Explore options for taking classes before you head out on the water so that you are familiar with safety and emergency precautions. Grab a group of friends and set sail for the day.

* Camping – If you felt that camping was too much work when raising your young family (too many things to pack along), now may be the perfect opportunity to investigate the great outdoors.

* Beaches – Becoming a beach bum as part of your retirement plan … Read the rest

Dementia Treatment – An Insight To A Hidden World

Posted by eldadm 1 Comment

Treatment of mental health problems has recently undergone a revolution. More and more, people are discovering that the way we live our lives on a daily basis affects not only our physical health, but our mental health as well. Certainly, treatment of bipolar disorder and other psychological issues has benefited immensely from this approach. Getting into constructive, healthy patterns, eating right, exercising, and keeping up good social connections all contribute to a sound mind. What surprises many people Is how far this approach to mental health treatment goes. Diseases that were previously thought to be purely organic now seem to have a significant psychological factor. Nowhere is this more evident than with the treatment of dementia.

Everyone knows a little bit about dementia. It is one of the most tragic yet common fates that people face as they grow older. What many people don’t know is how easy preventative treatment of dementia is. Treatment of Alzheimer’s disease dementia is still a long shot, because it is an organic disease whose causes are not well known. For most cases of dementia, however, there are effective treatments that work and require little more than intellectual activity.

As a matter of fact, one of the most effective treatments of dementia is to do puzzles or learn a new skill. The research is showing us more and more that old folks who keep their minds active don’t tend to develop dementia nearly as often as elderly people who sit around watching TV. Apparently, the … Read the rest