Some advertising advocates that if you are 65 or older, you should have an elderly emergency alert system.  Rather that placing an age on this suggestion, why not just use a little common sense.  Some people need this at 40 and others need it at 80, what is so magic about 65?

Instead, let's use a little common sense which sometimes seems to be in short supply.

Tip 1 - First are you or your loved on living alone?  If you are living with someone, the need for an alert system is less critical.  If you or your loved one are living alone then  an alert system may be a consideration.

ElderKind has an in-depth article on alert systems and  here's the first consideration:

The most important thing to consider is the reliability of the system and the quality of the monitoring call center.

Tip 2 - Are you likely to fall and if so will you be able to get up and call someone?  Falls are one the most critical uses for one of these devices.  If a person is already partially disabled and has trouble getting around, then certainly it is worth considering.  On the other hand if you are mobile and getting around well, then it probably is not needed.  As pointed out in the article...

Falls are the leading cause of fatal injuries among senior citizens. Most people who purchase medical alarm services are the relatives or friends of elderly people who live alone. Very often after a surgery, medical procedure or diagnosis, medical staff will recommend that the patient purchase an alert system in case of sudden illness or a fall. If your hospital or medical professional recommends a particular brand, it is sometime because they are being compensated and not because it is the best system for you.

Tip 3 - Adaptability - Something else to think about that doesn't usually come to mind is...

Before you buy a medical emergency system for a senior citizen, think about how your loved one will adapt to using it. Some of elderly people see the medical alert system as a life-saver and others may refuse to use it at all. Studies have shown that a good percentage of people who own a “panic button for seniors” are reluctant to use it to call for help.

If you care for a senior citizen who lives alone, both you and your elderly loved one will feel safer knowing that help can be reached with an emergency Medical Alert device. But not all senior safety systems on the market are right for your needs. Here are some features that you may want to consider when buying a system.

Tip 4 -  there are a few other factors to consider:

• Distance from the console - how far from the main console with the device work?
• Testing - is the device tested regularly to be sure it is available?
• Mistake in alert - is there a way to retract alert if a mistake is make?
• Ease of use - not too complicated
• Contracts - watch out for long term contracts

Read Original Article - Medical Alert Systems

There comes a time in everyone's life when an elderly emergency alert system should be considered.  Take time to carefully evaluate the right system for you.

What are some of the benefits of exercise for seniors?  As we age, it's easy to spend more time sitting around and being inactive.  Seniors spend more time watching TV, reading, playing cards and listening to music.  It's much easier to do those activities than to get up out of the easy chair and do some physical activity.

Helpguide.org has a good article that points out it will help your physical health...

• Exercise helps seniors maintain or lose weight. As metabolism naturally slows with age, maintaining a healthy weight is a challenge. Exercise helps increase metabolism and builds muscle mass, helping to burn more calories. When your body reaches a healthy weight, overall wellness improves.
• Exercise reduces the impact of illness and chronic disease. Among the many benefits of exercise for seniors include improved immune function, better heart health and blood pressure, better bone density, and better digestive functioning. Seniors who exercise also have a lowered risk of several chronic conditions including Alzheimer’s disease, diabetes, obesity, heart disease, osteoporosis, and colon cancer.
• Exercise enhances mobility, flexibility, and balance in seniors. Exercise improves your strength, flexibility and posture, which in turn will help with balance, coordination, and reducing the risk of falls. Strength training also helps alleviate the symptoms of chronic conditions such as arthritis.

And it will also improve your mental health...

• Exercise improves your sleep. Poor sleep is not an automatic consequence of aging and quality sleep is important for your overall health. Exercise often improves sleep, helping you fall asleep more quickly and sleep more deeply.
• Exercise boosts mood and self-confidence. Endorphins produced by exercise can actually help you feel better and reduce feelings of sadness or depression. Being active and feeling strong naturally helps you feel more self-confident and sure of yourself.
• Exercise is good for the brain. Exercise benefits regular brain functions and can help keep the brain active, which can prevent memory loss, cognitive decline, and dementia. Exercise may even help slow the progression of brain disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.

As we age, exercise is more important than ever.  This is not a game.  Most of us want to enjoy a quality of life and live our senior years to the fullest.  To that end, wouldn't it be wise to start investing 3o minutes per day devoted to increasing the physical and mental fitness?  There are all kinds of activities that can help such as walking, sports classes, fitness classes, water aeorbics, yoga, and Tai Chi, to name a few.  And yes, there are also fitness exercises for chair-bound seniors.

This video shows a very simple beginning:

With a little investment of time, 3o minutes per day and a little investment in energy you can have a much more fulfilling quality of life in your senior years.  For healthy aging, exercise really does help.  Take some time today to do some research into a senior exercise program.  This can be something you can do by yourself or you can enjoy it with a group of folks.  Whichever way you go, do something about it.  Then you too can experience the benefits of exercise for seniors.

Read Original Article ... Senior Exercise and Fitness Tips

More Reading

• Exercise and Physical Activity
• Senior Fitness Sports
• Exercise For Seniors

Old age driving is something I wasn’t paying attention to.  I ride motorcycles and bicycles, and my driving skills are still good.  I’m 73 and my wife is 72.  Life was going along smoothly.  I had a job and drove to work daily.  My wife has a cat boarding business for the last 12 years.  She has her own car.  So we both were busy and life was going on.

But in our hectic life, I missed some important signs that my wife’s driving skills were deteriorating.

About 3 years ago, she was involved in an accident where she ran a red light and hit another car.  I didn’t think anything about it.  I wrote it off to being an accident and things like that happen

Then a year later, she was again involved in an accident where she ran into the back of a car at a stop light.  It was early morning and she said the sun was in her eyes.  Well, I understood that and just chalked it up to poor judgment in driving.

Now this year she was involved in another accident where she was making a left hand turn at a light and she turned left into the side of another car going in the other direction.  If she had turned a second earlier she would have caused a head-on collision and she and other people could have been killed.

That finally got my attention.  I have been through that intersection many times, it’s two lanes both directions and there is no way you could not see a car coming in the other direction.  I was dumbfounded on how she could have done this.

She had a mid-sized car so I wondered if she have poor visibility as she is short.  She sits on a pillow so her visibility should have been fine.  She does not use a cell phone when she is driving.

After she got out of the hospital, I took her and let her drive.  Her driving skills were non-existent.  She followed too close,  had a hard time making smooth turns, braking and acceleration were very jerky.  I couldn’t believe it.  She drove daily in a city of 100,000 and the traffic is bad.  It’s not a place to drive with diminished skills.

Well, due to the fact that she had 3 accidents in 3 years, the Motor Vehicle Department required her to re-take a driving exam.  She failed the driving test.

I enrolled her in a driving course and had her evaluated.  The driving instructor took her out and said she would not pass a driving test.  He recommended we have her eyes examined.  Her eye examination was fine but the eye doctor recommended  having her evaluated by a Neuro Rehabilitation center.  Well they ran some tests and it seems that her brain is not processing what she is seeing quickly.

I have also noted that when she rides with me that after 5 minutes, her head droops and she nods off for 30 seconds or so and then wakes up.  My suspicion is that this is what happened when she was in her latest accident.

As we age, we all need to have our driving skills evaluated.  At a minimum have someone go out with you and evaluate your driving.  If you have an elderly parent or spouse, ride with them to see if they are a safe driver.

We were fortunate, no one was killed.  Don’t do like I did.  Pay attention.  Evaluate old age driving skills of the ones you love.

Please share this post.  The life you save may be someone you love.  Feel free to comment on this post.

Setting up an elderly will is a subject that is often neglected.  It's best to confront the situation early before it is forced upon you.  In the article below, a lot of good suggestions are put forward to get you started.

Senior Living: Don't wait to have difficult conversations

Record-Searchlight

"You may be surprised about your family member's wishes. Don't wait for the perfect time, because there is no perfect time. Things can change suddenly, and if you don't know your family members' wishes,
http://www.redding.com/news/2012/may/24/senior-living-dont-wait-to-have-difficult/

There is a lot of help available on the internet, but as pointed out in the above article there are pitfalls too.  Some of the free forms available are not accepted by some insurance companies.  The upcoming changes in senior health care may have a serious effect on how you set up your elderly will.

Summer is a good time to be aware of safety for elderly.  Seniors like to get out more and go shopping and walking.  But it is good to time to be reminded, there's a lot of predators out there looking to take advantage of the elderly.  As Amanda Christman writes:

Attacks spur safety lesson

Standard Speaker

"By AMANDA CHRISTMAN (Staff Writer) ERIC CONOVER/Staff Photographer Hazleton police Lt. John Leonard, right, answers a question from Tony Cruz of Hazleton on Tuesday at the Greater Hazleton Senior Citizen Center. Leonard held a seminar about staying ...Standard Speaker"
http://standardspeaker.com/news/attacks-spur-safety-lesson-1.1322388

As Amanda writes in her article:

Just two weeks earlier, Girard, 82, was a victim. On May 15, she left the East Mine Street center around 3:30 p.m. and a man approached her from behind. He pushed her against a car, then grabbed at the handbag hanging from her arm.

 

The good news is more and more Senior Living Centers are accepting Seniors and pets.  For many seniors, they have pets that have lived with them for a number of years and when faced with having to move into other living arrangements, are unwilling to give up the pet friend.

As Sue Manning reports,

As many as 40 percent of people ask about pets when calling A Place for Mom, the nation's largest senior living referral service, said Tami Cumings, its senior vice president.

Senior living centers across US accept more pets

"LOS ANGELES—Shirlee and Nathan "Nick" Horowitz faced one serious health crisis after another before their doctor said they had to move into an assisted living center. They had only one condition -- they weren't going anywhere without their dog.Boston.com"
http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2012/05/15/senior_living_centers_across_us_accept_more_pets/

As people age, they lose friends and relatives and sometimes their pet is all they have left.  Without their pet, life is no longer worth living.

[...] "Clients will often say their pets are the reason they try to continue living," she said. "These pets really give them meaning and value in life, a purpose for getting up in the morning." [...]

Read Original Article here

If you are a caregiver or relative of a senior, take the time to look into the facilities in your area to see if any of them accept seniors and pets.  Your senior will appreciate your effort more than you can imagine.

If you are wondering "what are the effects of shingles?" , I can answer that  for you....Painful. I was in my early 60's when I got it. I have a pretty high threshold for pain but I was in a lot of pain.  I remember going to the Internet and ordering some kind of ointment that helped a little.  I also took pieces of cut paper bag, soaked them in vinegar and placed on the sores.  That seemed to help the most.  I was willing to do almost anything.

I went to the doctor, and he recommended I get a vaccination to prevent further complications.  This was 10 years ago but I know the cost was about $300.

As this article states below, "[S]hingles is a pretty uncomfortable" and I will add it's more that pretty uncomfortable.  It is very uncomfortable.

YOUR HEALTH: Shingles vaccine can reduce outbreaks, lingering pain

""Shingles is a pretty uncomfortable disease to have," said Judy Nelson, a registered nurse and health education coordinator at Senior Connections, The Capital Area on Aging. "It can last a long time in some people and be really painful for them and ..."
http://www2.timesdispatch.com/lifestyles/health/2012/may/28/tdmet05-shingles-vaccine-can-reduce-outbreaks-ling-ar-1947015/

 See this video for additional explanation of shingles.

Additional Reading:

Shingles Symptoms

Shingles

Feel free to share this post.  You may save someone from the pain of shingles.

In an article from TrumbullPatch,  an 80 year old senior is having motivation problems for senior walking.  This senior says:

[...] I’ve decided to take up walking regularly at age 80 because my doctor says it will help lower my blood pressure. But on some mornings, I just can’t seem to get out the door, partly because no one is there to order me to get out of the house. [...]

It's easy to let lack of motivation get in the way of what you really need to do.  Perhaps you need sit down and write out a list of Pros and Cons.  When push comes to shove, health is the ultimate gift you can give yourself.  If you have good health during your senior years, your quality of life is so much better.

Sharon Massafra, CSA gives some advice in the article:

You’re on the right track. Regular walking, a favorite exercise for seniors, is one of the most effective forms of activity that delivers substantial health benefits and improves heart health, the American Heart Association has said. The latest addition to the American Heart Association’s tools for persuading people to exercise is walking clubs, which are being formed across the United States.

Maybe you should ask some of your friends to join your for a morning walk.  I know in out neighborhood, two ladies were doing a morning walk every day.  They invited my wife to join them.  In fact, as a reminder, each day they call her cell phone and remind her so she can go out and meet them.  I know in our local mall, a group of seniors meet every morning and walk the mall before it gets busy.  So probably oue of the best motivators would be to get several people to join you.

[...] According to an American Heart Association survey, 15 percent of American adults achieve the association’s recommended level of moderate aerobic exercise, which is 150 minutes per week. Walking for as little as 30 minutes a day will improve circulation, lower cholesterol and blood pressure, and promote weight loss. [,,,]

Read the original article:

It's Time for Seniors to Step Into Better Health, Fitness

Patch.com

"Regular walking, a favorite exercise for seniors, is one of the most effective forms of activity that delivers substantial health benefits and improves heart health, the American Heart Association has said. The latest addition to the American Heart ..."
http://trumbull.patch.com/articles/it-s-time-for-seniors-to-step-into-better-health-fitness

 

To summarize, not to engage in senior walking  is not an option.   Lack of motivation is not an excuse.  Go out tomorrow and find some other  friends to share your walking experience.  You health depends on it.

Additional Reading:

Live 2B Healthy Senior Fitness

My sister sent me this Memorial Day video.  You don't need any sound, but take 8 minutes to think about all of our men and women who served, are serving and most importantly those who gave it all.

Reveille

Here's The Video

And while you are thinking about it, why not consider making a $19 monthly donation to Wounded Warriors.

Normally I'd ask if you enjoyed this video.  But I hope youcontemplate this Memorial Day Video at a much deeper level.

If you liked this post please pass it on to other patriots.

Everyday there are news articles where senior transportation services are on the chopping block.  In this bad economy, seniors seem to take the hit first. Why are the seniors first to be sacrificed?  Is it because they don't have people speaking up for them?

Elimination of senior transit service expected to be the hot issue in city of ...

"The elimination of senior citizen transit will save the city of Muskegon about $77000 a year. A good portion of those revenues have come from an allocation from the city's federal Community Development Block Grant funds that have been shrinking due to ...Muskegon Chronicle - MLive.com"
http://www.mlive.com/news/muskegon/index.ssf/2012/05/elimination_of_senior_transit.html

If you are a caregiver, or a senior citizen, pay attention to the local news.  If there are meetings being held to consider eliminating senior transportation services, get your friends together, and attend the meetings.  Your concerns need to be heard.