The holidays can be a challenging time of year for seniors who have type 2 diabetes. Holiday parties and a busy schedule often make it difficult to stick to a well-balanced diet and fitness routine.

“For seniors with type 2 diabetes, it’s important to follow an exercise plan and eat right,” says Caitlin Rogers, Sunrise Senior Living’s senior vice president of Dining Services. “By being prepared and making smart choices, you can enjoy the holidays without putting your health at risk.”

Here are some suggestions to help seniors with diabetes safely navigate the holidays.

How Seniors with Type 2 Diabetes Can Stay Healthy during the Holidays

When temptations abound, you need more than self-control to manage your diabetes. Here are a few suggestions you can incorporate into your daily life during the holiday season:

1. Exercise in the morning.

If you are busy shopping for gifts and attending holiday gatherings in the evenings, it can be tempting to skip working out. But as anyone with diabetes knows, exercise is an important part of maintaining your health.

During the rush of the holiday season, make it a priority to exercise first thing in the morning. Walking, riding a stationary bike, yoga, or Pilates can all be done in the comfort of your own living room. Many seniors have found the Go4Life program created by the National Institute on Aging at NIH to be helpful. It is designed to help older adults improve strength, balance, endurance, and flexibility.

2. Monitor your health status.

Many of us avoid stepping onto the scale during the holiday season. The tasty appetizers and desserts that are common at holiday gatherings are often laden with sugar, fat, and calories. Extra pounds can creep up when you aren’t paying attention. For adults with diabetes, maintaining a healthy weight is important. Take time to weigh yourself every few days before a few pounds turn into more.

If your physician wants you to monitor your blood pressure at home, be sure to stay on track with that, too. Salty foods and alcoholic beverages consumed at holiday parties might cause your blood pressure to spike without you even realizing it.

3. Plan your daily menus.

No one wants to miss out on holiday goodies, but moderation is key. That’s why sitting down to plan daily menus is more important than ever during the holiday season.

Try to look at your schedule a week at a time. If you know you’ll be attending a holiday luncheon on Wednesday, for example, plan healthy menus for the meals surrounding it.

Also, don’t use the excuse that you blew your diet at one party or during one meal as a reason to go completely off track. Instead, make a concentrated effort to immediately return to healthy eating.

4. Make smart choices at holiday parties.

While you can’t usually control the menu at holiday parties and events, you can learn what choices are healthier. This is true with everything from what you drink to which appetizers you choose.

You’ve probably heard this tip before, but it’s worth repeating. Try to eat a small, healthy meal before you go to a holiday event. If you aren’t hungry, you are likely to make better choices.

Drinking water with lemon is the best way to go. If you want to indulge in an alcoholic beverage, stick with dry wine or light beer. Avoid drinks with mixers that are likely to contain sugar. As far as food choices, your best options are usually fruit, vegetables, turkey, chicken, and nuts. Skip foods with dips and sauces.

If you are looking for more information and resources on eating well as you age, visit our Senior Eats blog. You’ll find articles on nutrition, healthy menu planning, recipes, and more.  

Source: Sunrise Senior Living

Initiating a conversation with an older loved one about finances isn’t easy. Even if it is a discussion between adult children and a parent, asking questions about money can feel like you are invading the senior’s privacy. It may also be difficult on another level: admitting that a loved one is growing old and might need your assistance before long.

While these are difficult conversations to have, they are necessary. Medical emergencies can happen at any age, but they are especially common as loved ones grow older. Sometimes an older family member’s health declines slowly and loved ones can more gradually assume financial tasks. Other times, however, a serious health crisis happens suddenly.

If your senior loved one experiences a health crisis, would you be able to manage their finances for them? Even on a short-term basis?

13 Financial Topics to Discuss with Your Senior Parent

To make it a little easier to tackle this conversation, we created a list of basic financial issues to discuss. You might want to break these questions up over several discussions to make it a little easier on your family member.

1. Have they created a will? Did they use an attorney? Who is named as executor? Where can you find a copy of the will?
2. Do they have other important documents in place, including a living will and power of attorney? If so, where are copies of the documents stored?
3. Do they have a safe deposit box? Which bank is it at and where do they keep the key? Do they have a list of what they store in it?
4. Where do they store their Medicare or Medicare replacement insurance card? Do they have gap insurance or a secondary insurance policy?
5. Where do they keep their social security card?
6. Do they have a life insurance or long-term care insurance policy? Where are those documents?
7. If the senior is a veteran, where are their important military documents (e.g., discharge papers)?
8. Does your loved one have a copy of their original birth certificate? Where is it?
9. Where does the senior do their banking? Do they use any brokerage firms or other financial institutions?
10. Does the senior have a mortgage on their home or do they own it outright? If it is paid off, where is the deed stored? What agency do they use for homeowner’s insurance?
11. If the senior still drives, ask about their car. Do they have a car payment? If not, where is the title stored? Who is their insurance provider?
12. What bills does the senior have each month? Are they set up on autopay, or will you need access to their checkbook to write checks?
13. Does the senior have a list of all their financial holdings including stocks, bonds, and other assets? Where is it kept?

While it can be awkward when you first start this conversation, it will become easier as you go. You and your senior loved one will also find that it gives you both peace of mind to know you are prepared in the event of an emergency.

One final suggestion is to take this opportunity to have a conversation with your loved one about identity theft. Our article, “Financial Self-Defense for Seniors,” has tips to help.

Source: Sunrise Senior Living

Researchers found that excitatory neurons -- those that are more likely to trigger an action (as opposed to inhibitory neurons, which are less likely to prompt neural activity) -- are more vulnerable to accumulations of abnormal tau protein, which is increasingly being implicated in Alzheimer's disease.
Source: Care Giving Science Daily

Researchers have succeeded in neutralizing what they believe is a primary factor in late-onset Alzheimer's disease, opening the door to development of a drug that could be administered before age 40, and taken for life, to potentially prevent the disease in 50 to 80 percent of at-risk adults.
Source: Medicine Science Daily

New research examines cognitive function and brain atrophy in both people with and without type 2 diabetes over the course of approximately 5 years.
Source: Medical News Today

Breaking down the mental and physical reasons you can't climax and how to fix it.
Source: Healthy Living Huffington Post

When a senior family member or friend has Alzheimer’s disease, helping them continue to feel connected to their social circle is important. Some researchers even believe that socializing and staying as engaged as possible may help slow the progression of the disease.

“We all need to feel a sense of meaning, purpose and accomplishment,” says Rita Altman, Sunrise Senior Living’s senior vice president of Memory Care & Program Services. “Your loved one living with memory loss is no different. Consider all that they are still able to do as you plan activities to enjoy with them.”

We have a few suggestions on how you can adapt social outings and activities to include a senior with Alzheimer’s.

6 Ways to Include an Adult with Alzheimer’s in Activities and Outings

1. Adapt current traditions: If your friend with Alzheimer’s is part of your card group or book club, memory loss might make these activities difficult for them. Think about what you could do instead. Maybe you could change the format to a monthly movie night or a craft club? These are activities adults with Alzheimer’s can still enjoy.
2. Focus on safety and security: For people with Alzheimer’s, busy, noisy environments often increase agitation and anxiety. That can cause them to unsafely leave the unfamiliar environment without telling anyone, as they wish to remove themselves from the frustrating situation. Instead of your girls’ night out activity being a trip to the local shopping mall or a busy restaurant, choose a less hectic group activity. It could be a potluck at your home, where you invite your friend over to assist or cohost. Making it easier for them to be a part of an event in a more familiar environment can help improve their self-esteem while also keeping them safe.
3. Start new traditions: Adults with Alzheimer’s typically feel less anxious in places that look and feel familiar. A park they took their children to, a favorite family-style restaurant, or a familiar family cottage are all examples. Think about what you can do to plan activities and outings in those environments. While it might not be as exciting as trying a new restaurant each month or planning long weekends to new destinations, it is a thoughtful way to include your friend or family member.
4. Learn to communicate: As the disease progresses, your friend’s ability to communicate will change. It’s important to take time to learn what you can do to stay connected. In this podcast, Rita Altman shares tips for using verbal and nonverbal communication techniques to engage with a senior who has Alzheimer’s disease.
5. Alzheimer’s-friendly activities: Some activities are easier to participate in than others for people with memory loss. In general, music, baking, dancing to the oldies, gardening, and arts and crafts projects are meaningful activities for adults with Alzheimer’s. It might be a process of trial and error to determine which things your loved one enjoys and feels good participating in.
6. Time of day:  For adults with Alzheimer’s, there is often a time of day when anxiety or agitation peaks because they are becoming tired and having difficulty compensating. This is often because they formerly had a longstanding routine to do something or go somewhere at a certain time, such as leaving work to go home at 5:00 p.m. every day. When this occurs in the early evening or late afternoon, some refer to it as sundowning. To best include your friend in an activity, plan it for when they have their highest level of energy and are most able to enjoy engaging with others and the outside environment.

Our final suggestion is to learn more about the stages of Alzheimer’s disease. This will help you learn more about what to expect in the months and years ahead. Our article, “Defining the Stages of Alzheimer’s,” walks through the signs and symptoms associated with each of the seven stages of the disease.

Source: Sunrise Senior Living

There's a reason for those awkward moments.
Source: Healthy Living Huffington Post

Genetically diverse bacterial strains that cause urinary tract infections differ in their ability to trigger protective immune responses in mice, potentially explaining why these infections frequently recur in many patients, according to a new study.
Source: Medicine Science Daily

Title: Intimacy: The Elusive Fountain of Youth?
Category: Health News
Created: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM
Last Editorial Review: 12/13/2018 12:00:00 AM
Source: Medicine Net