Amador Medical

6 morning habits all seniors should follow for good health

Author — Fri, 04 Sep 2020 17:37:55 +0000

Your morning routine can set the tone for your entire day. Luckily, by intentionally creating a morning routine that puts your physical and mental well-being at the forefront, you can make sure all of your mornings start off on the right foot.

Here are six things you should do after rising each day:

1. Practice a Morning Meditation or Reflection
Taking the time to sit quietly with your thoughts for a few moments each morning can help you feel more centered and at peace with the start of your day. Meditation has numerous mental and physical health benefits, and research suggests that even 10 minutes a day can make a significant difference.

2. Eat a Nutritious Breakfast
They don’t call it the most important meal of the day for no reason. Starting your day with a nutritious breakfast is good for your body and helps set the tone for a healthy day moving forward. Try a bowl of oatmeal with fruit or a vegetable omelet.

3. Take a Walk Outside
Fresh air and movement are two things guaranteed to lift your spirits almost instantly, so it only makes sense to make time for a brisk walk outside first thing in the morning. Even just a quick walk around the block can be great to get your blood pumping.

4. Read Something You Enjoy
Whether you enjoy sitting down with the newspaper, reading through a favorite book of poems or thumbing through the pages of a new novel, reading first thing in the morning is a great way to get your mind on track to tackle the demands of your day. Sitting down with something to read and your morning cup of coffee or tea is a relaxing way to get your day started.

5. Make a List for the Day
If you have a lot you want to accomplish on any given day, making a list of what has to get done can help you stay focused. Seeing in writing how you want to spend your time is a great way to stay on track — just take care to make your list manageable so you don’t feel overwhelmed first thing.

6. A Conversation with Someone You Love
Particularly if you live alone, touching base with someone you love first thing in the morning can help you feel connected. Whether you call a friend, send an email to one of your children, text with grandchildren or simply chat with the neighbor down the street, beginning your day with warm conversation helps set a positive tone.

Of course, how you choose to start your morning is ultimately up to you. If the items on this list don’t appeal to you, figure out what type of morning routine yields the happiest days. Perhaps you prefer watching the news first thing in the morning, or sitting down with a crossword puzzle. The key is finding what works for you, and then making it a habit.

The way of living: Being happy and healthy at an old age

Author — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:01:58 +0000

Some Things that Keep Older Adults Happy:

Exercise
Exercise and physical well-being is a great place way to start. Exercising lifts your spirit and energy levels making you feel better. This is because your body releases feel-good hormones known as endorphins. Athletes refer to this feeling as the runner’s high.

Exercise also helps relieve chronic pain from conditions like arthritis and pinched nerves. It helps us maintain weight; therefore, preventing us from developing diseases such as obesity and diabetes, improves our metabolism, lowers blood pressure, and strengthens our immune system.

What’s on your plate?
Eating a nutritious diet can be compared to physical activity in their importance to health according to a pyramid created for seniors by Tuft University researchers. Although your body is experiencing some changes, meal times can still be fun.

Eat with a friend or family member to avoid feeling lonely and to catch up. Also, make an effort to ensure your food is tasty and well presented to trigger your senses and improve your appetite.

Plan For Your Retirement
Many of us can expect to live until 80; therefore, we need to fill up the next 15 years of our lives with activities. Now that you are no longer employed think about what direction you would like to take next.

It could be charity work, travel, or learning something new at the university. It is also important to start saving early for your retirement when you are younger so that you are better prepared financially.

Have A Sense Of Purpose And Stay Connected
Research has shown that a strong sense of purpose for seniors had a protective effect. People who stayed in touch with family and friends stayed healthy in their old age. A study on centenarians showed they held on to a definite purpose in their lives through taking care of grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and volunteering.

Take Care Of Your Appearance
Just because you are advancing in years should not mean that you can’t do it in style. When you look good, you feel even better. Wear sunscreen when you go out into the sun to protect your skin, use retinoid creams on your face, drink plenty of water and indulge in a little makeup if you like that sort of thing.

A great haircut can transform your face or even changing your hair color. A dark hair color makes your features look severe while a lighter skin tone softens them.

If you have wine or coffee stained teeth, you can have them whitened in a short and simple procedure. Looking good will make you feel confident and fuel your purpose.

Laugh. A Lot
Laughing lowers the stress hormone cortisol. According to a study conducted in 2014, 20 minutes spent watching funny videos helped improve the memory in seniors. Some research also shows a link between happiness and lower risk of heart illness. So, laugh as much as you can because laughter really is the best medicine.

5 Benefits of Technology to Share with Seniors and Their Caregivers

Author — Thu, 27 Aug 2020 19:01:42 +0000

Technology has come a long way over the course of older adults’ lifetimes. They have witnessed everything from men landing on the moon to dramatic medical advances and the rise of an Internet-dependent society.

Seniors also bear witness to the ways technology is changing the face of aging. Impact your clients’ quality of life by sharing these five tech solutions that may help to keep older adults healthy, safe and socially connected while making caregiving tasks less stressful for their family members.

1. Social Connection – Video Chat and Social Media Keep Seniors in Touch with Long-distance Loved Ones
According to UnitedHealthcare’s 2012 100@100 survey of centenarians, staying socially engaged is just as important to healthy aging as genetics and maintaining a healthy body.

While no technology can take the place of in-person human interaction, video chat services like Skype, or Internet-based communication channels such as email and social media, can supplement seniors’ social interactions when visits with friends and family aren’t possible or too infrequent. Seniors can check with their local senior center for Internet how-to classes, or they can have a tech-savvy grandchild get them set up and show them the ropes.

2. Safety – Seniors Living Alone Can Get Help with the Push of a Button

rveys consistently show that 80 to 90 percent of seniors want to stay in their own home as they age. A number of technological solutions can make doing so safer for them. Any senior that lives alone should have a Personal Emergency Response System (PERS). A PERS device allows the wearer to call for help with the simple push of a button. Both seniors and their families can have peace of mind knowing the PERS can facilitate a call for help in any emergency situation.

Safety is also a paramount concern for seniors who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease or other dementias, especially those prone to wandering. A number of GPS tracking devices that can monitor a senior’s location and send alerts are great tools to keeps caregivers’ worries at bay and prevent potentially dangerous or deadly situations.

3. Exercise – Video Games Get Seniors’ Bodies and Minds Moving

Many nursing homes and assisted living communities have already recognized the recreational and exercise benefits that Nintendo’s Wii sports games offer for elderly adults. Seniors living at home could also benefit by owning a Wii or other video game system controlled by motion. The games offer a fun opportunity for seniors to engage in light physical activity from the comfort of their own living room.

For mental exercise, seniors could try games such as Tetris (spatial recognition), Trivial Pursuit (fact recall), or Mahjong (memory and matching). Encourage seniors to practice on their own and then challenge their grandkids.

4. Medication Management – Smartphone Apps Can Help Prevent Medication Errors

Many seniors find it challenging to keep track of their medications. The reason why is clear: According to a 2009 survey by Medco Health Solutions, more than half of the older adult respondents said they took at least five different prescription drugs regularly, and 25 percent said they took between 10 and 19 pills a day.

Pill boxes help, but technological solutions that also provide reminders and “time to refill” alerts could potentially aid adherence to the prescribed medication schedule.

5. Health Tracking – Online Tools Simplify the Process of Maintaining and Accessing Seniors’ Health Information

Smartphone apps and cloud-based health information tracking systems can help seniors and their family caregivers keep information such as medical history, physician contacts, medication schedules, and health conditions organized and handy.