Keeping Older Adults Independent

  Malnutrition, A Real Issue for Seniors How to Help Your Parents Not Fall Into It Malnutrition affects older adults in many ways and it comes in many forms for seniors in particular.  Nearly 40% of older adults (age 51 and higher) are overweight in the United States.  Seniors can be underweight as well and the reasons that cause this are something I will go into in this article.  Lack of food is an issue ( there are meal delivery services available ), but what about the seniors that have food in the fridge but still do not eat, that is something that we as adult children sometimes fail to understand the underlying issues why our parents do that.  Adult children find out about their parents not eating from the side effects that result from missing meals, such as falling.  Falling is one of the major side effects from not eating as the older adult gets dizzy or disoriented.  We want to prevent falls in older adults, so regular food consumption is a pr...

 Healthy Habits for Seniors, part 3 Cut Dementia Risk in Half By Doing This Daily We often think about diseases of the brain as being a result of lack of mental activity, but it appears that may not be entirely the case according to a recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association .  This study monitored over 78,000 adults with an average age of 61 years old for an average of 6.9 years.  It started back between 2013 and 2015 and now the results are in.  How Long Should I Walk For To Make The Biggest Impact What they found was that walking 9,800 steps per day, within a 30 minute window, so not just a stroll but a walk with a purpose (they refer to it as cadence), can reduce your chance of dementia by 50% .  Yes, cut your risk of dementia in half by walking every day.  Now I continually look for information like this and read an article mentioning this so I had to take a deeper dive.  We know that walking can help cardiovascul...

Healthy Habits for Seniors, Part 2 How Pickleball Can Help Both Physical and Mental Health   We are witnessing the explosion of pickleball in Arlington County and Fairfax County for older adults. Pickleball is nothing new, it has been around long before the pandemic. It is taking off now with more and more older adults utilizing the sport as a means to stay active and stay connected in their community. I have been to several courts in the area in the last month and seen the competitiveness, the laughing and the resurgence this sport is bringing to the senior community. Local county governments are encouraging the sport because they see how it can encourage healthy habits for seniors.  I have two super reasons why your parents should be playing pickleball and both are key to helping them stay happy and independent longer. Pickleball, A Great Physical Activity I found myself in Alexandria watching an organized group of pickleball late one evening.  I was completely imm...

Family Caregiver Fatigue is on the Rise What Can I Do To Help a Parent Caring for Another Parent I recently wrote about the negative impact caregiving can have on family caregivers, particularly in minority populations.  Caring for someone else takes an emotional and physical toll on your body , much of this is overlooked for the 1 in 3 adults in the United States that provide informal care.  Healthcare workers, caregivers and informal family caregivers all share the love for providing that much needed care that can be very rewarding but also trigger a variety of emotions at times.  It is normal to feel sad, angry, frustrated and sometimes demoralized in this line of work.  There are couple simple ways you can help a family member that is going through this as a family caregiver.     Make Yourself Available  When a parent is caring for another parent (they are called the family caregiver), it is often hard to get involved as you hear b...