Persons suffering from arthritis, multiple sclerosis, circulatory problems and joint diseases may benefit a lot from participating in various water exercises. The exercises can include swimming, water walking, water yoga, water aerobics, water pilates, deep-water jogging, Ai Chi and shallow water aerobics.

a) Improved mental health

The mental health of seniors can be dramatically improved by water exercises. The exercises can improve the mood, decrease anxiety and decrease depression. If your mental health improves, you will be able to cope with life better and enjoy life.

b) Improved blood circulation

The heart rate can rise because of improved blood circulation therefore burning fat, increasing aerobic capacity and lowering risk of heart disease. In addition, blood will improve blood circulation therefore improving oxygen circulation and distribution. Moreover, you can burn fat faster which can help tone your body.

c) Building strength

As you exercise in water, your body meets some form of resistance. The resistance while making leg and arm movements can help in endurance and building muscle strength. Weight resistance can help you move more freely and help get the most out of your exercises. Since water exercises help you target multiple muscle groups, you can develop muscles throughout your body.

d) Improve recovery rate

Aquatic exercises can help in rehabilitation. If you suffer from damaged nerves, arthritis or physical injury, you may benefit from aquatic exercises. The water can help you to relax while relieving your pain. Those who suffer from back pain can also use water aerobics to help stop the pain. The exercises can accelerate the recovery process as well.

e) Socialization

Joining your home swimming team can be a great idea if you want to socialize. You will meet different kinds of people who you share the same interest. Socialization can motivate you and maintain an exercise program.

f) Minimal injury risk

You may not suffer from injury when participating in water exercises. Since you are well supported by water, the risk of falling is minimal. You can train without worrying about injuring yourself.

There are barriers that can interfere with trying to eat mindfully. The barriers to your diet can interfere even when you have worked extremely hard to being successful.

The following are some of the reasons why your diet isn’t working:

• Lack of sleep

Failure to sleep well or lack of sleep can activate your appetite. Your hunger hormones increase leading to an appetite and eating. Good sleep can help you achieve your diet goals.

• Too much stress

Stress can be brought about by just about anything. It could be to meet a critical deadline, poor finances and loss of a loved one among other. It is very common to become stressed and lack sleep at the same time. Once you lack sleep and due to the increased hunger hormones you end up eating anything that may seem appealing at that time.

• Skipping meals

When you skip meals, your body reacts by slowing down the metabolism. If you are not able to manage hunger well you may become extremely hungry and consume just about anything mindlessly.

• Being in a hurry

Older adults who are in a hurry to get things done may not follow mindful eating to the letter. Hurrying through a meal can cause discomfort and improper digestion. Furthermore, hurried eating can make you consume anything that is within your reach just to fill the gap quickly without thinking.

• Thinking and worrying

Thinking brings about worrying especially when thinking negatively and it is likely to affect your diet. You may find it comforting to seek food that can soothe your thinking.

• Wrong strategy

You need to make a realistic approach to be successful in mindful eating. As an elderly, you can improve your health with an effective strategy that gives you confidence. Setting unrealistic measures of time and success can undermine your confidence and wear away your willpower in living a healthier life.

Seniors who can overcome the barriers that contribute to failure of a good diet can enjoy a full and healthier life.

Getting to the root cause of our problems with will power, it is almost always our self-control, our ability to control our impulses and be able to just walk the straight line towards our goals in life. It is so easy to, say, overeat, because it satisfies our hunger and makes us feel complete, albeit temporarily. So does overspending or any other unhealthy activities you engage in, I call them temptation.

If you are like me, having a hard time sticking to goals, longterm and short-term, you might want to assess your will power and self-control. If you find them to be lacking, here’s what you can do:

· Take the slow road. Changes that will eventually affect your life don’t have to be instant. In fact, these changes would require some time for you to be adjusted to it. It is normal for human beings to resist, well that’s our nature actually, so instead of fighting your natural instinct, might as well condition it to whatever you want it to get used to.
· Kick bad habits away. As we are also creatures of habit, you might want to examine those habits that might be hindering your way to your goals. Let’s take your eating habits for example. If you are so used to eating three full, big meals a day then that is certainly not helping your diet since 8 small meals all throughout the day is the most recommended when trying to lose weight.
· Baby steps. To avoid overwhelming yourself, take small baby steps towards your goal, eventually you’ll feel more confident and pick up your phase. No matter how small the step you took, it will still add up.
· Try again. So what if you failed the last time? will that stop you from trying again? No, it should not.
· Make it a lifestyle. Your goal should be, as much as possible, incorporated with your lifestyle – based on how you live your life every single day. If you slowly make your goals a part of your life, you’ll get so used to it that you’ll eventually find yourself achieving them.

We know that asthma attacks don’t come randomly. It has to have a trigger which most usually is environmental. Of course, there are also non-environmental ones but since environmental triggers are the most common cause of an asthma attack, we will focus on that today:

• Air pollution or poor air quality. Poor air quality means that the air is thick with smog – that is, tiny particles that are bad for the lungs, especially to those with lung problems. When going out, check the Air Quality Index first, usually found online or on your local newspaper. Know and be familiar with the color codes then avoid going out if the alert is bad.
• Smoking. This is yet another reason why you should stop smoking. 1) smokers are most likely to develop COPD 2) the smoke that you made is most likely to cause an asthma attack 3) smoking is the leading cause of asthma and other known lung problems. The only way to avoid this is to stop smoking and/or ask those around you to stop doing so.
• Pollen. There are seasons when the air is so thick with pollen even butterflies and bees get asthma attacks from them. When your area is under attack by pollen, better to stay inside and shut doors and windows so they won’t get their way into the house.
• Mold. This is actually my worst enemy so I make it a point that I don’t go to places wherein mold can be present as well, that is, areas where it is normal for things to be dry now and wet later. When there are molds, you can be sure that there are spores too in the air which if inhaled, triggers an asthma attack.
• Dust mites. Try to remove dust more often since dust mites can trigger an attack or worsen your condition. Unlike mold, dust mites strive on high humidity and of course, dust so it is best to avoid these things when possible.
• Pets. Particularly dogs and cats as they tend to carry with them pollen and other allergens found outside of home. If you are prone to asthma, best to choose a pet that doesn’t have fur or limit them only to the yard and never inside the house.

· Find an attorney to help you put your legal documents in order. Much better if you’re able to find an Elder Law attorney – they are the ones who specializes in elder law, which means they will be able to specifically help you with your legal needs as a senior. Pay attention to your real estate and care planning documents. While you’re at it, you might want to have a go at your wills, trusts and power of attorney.
· Get the whole family involved. Have a little get-together and talk about how you would like your affairs to be executed. It is extremely important for all of them to be there and hear what you have to say and how you came to such decisions. By doing so, you prepare them for what’s ahead – like a fire drill. Hopefully, when the time comes, they will know what to do.
· Secure copies for all key players listed on your wills and legal documents. This may sound simple but in truth, it will take some time before you’ll be able to put together everything that they will ever need to make sure your wishes will be carried out properly.
· Hire a bookkeeper. It’s time to hand over this very confusing task of doing your own taxes. To keep you busy, better do other things that are both challenging and enjoyable. Unless of course if you enjoy doing your own books.
· Put together a health planner. This should contain everything that has something to do with your health such as your appointments with your doctor, dates you had your tests along with their results, at least an overview if it’s too technical for you to write and of course, reference of these test – if they are too big to be included with your health planner, just write down where you put it for easy access.

Ever wonder how some of your colleagues managed to maintain their youthful glow or that they don’t look old at all? Genes may have some play on it but in general, it is how soon they were able to realize how important it is to take care of themselves and “step up” on the way they prioritize their well-being. Take for example my female friend who just turned 70 the other day. She was the envy of every lady in the room just because she doesn’t look anywhere near 70 when she, in fact, didn’t look like that 2 years ago. Three years ago, she lost her husband of 40 years then her daughter had decided to leave her kids with the “lonely granny” so that the “lonely granny” would be able to move on from the lost – which I think at that time was quite absurd. A considerate mother that she was – and still is – she accepted the kids into her home just because she didn’t want her daughter to be offended and she was afraid the kids would feel nobody wants them. So she busied herself caring for the kids when in fact she should be mourning her husband properly. A little over a year after, she had a breakdown which was later diagnosed as severe depression and was required proper mental care. The kids were shipped back to the mom and the nice lady was nursed back to health.

Lucky for her it didn’t take long for her mind and body to recover. Now, she’s in her most active and enjoying the 70’s life. Her secret?

• Get a good night’s sleep – always. You can never begin your day properly if you don’t get a good night’s sleep. Sleep provides the relaxation your body needs and when you don’t sleep at night, chances are, you’ll be napping your way all throughout the day which is quite unproductive.
• Have a nice breakfast. Go for something that is kind to your stomach, like fiber. Oatmeal and eggs are good as they provide the energy that you need but not make your body put on unnecessary weight.
• Exercise. When you exercise, you give your body its daily dose of activity and at the same time, you help your body release toxins.
• Snack on something healthy. Like nuts, or fruits, or veggie sticks. Limit junk food intake if this cannot be avoided.
• Rest when you need to. When you feel tired, your body is just telling you that it needs some rest. When you ignore, it just causes your stress levels to go up. Also, bear in mind that your body is not as vigorous as it once was so treat it with extra care and precaution.
• Take your vitamins and supplements religiously. Some of the nutrients your body naturally produces are diminishing so you should supplement it whenever you can.

Moving on and griping aside, below are some of the things you need to take note of in order for you to be the model patient that your doctor would definitely love to have:

Be prompt and involved. This is the most courteous thing to do, being prompt and always right on time for your appointments since you are dealing with professionals with 101 things to do. Never be late, no matter what your reason is. If something unexpected came up, take some time to ring the clinic and tell them what’s holding you up – and this should be your last resort by the way, done only if it is completely unavoidable, otherwise show up not a minute late.
Try to get your homework done. While some tasks you need to do like getting an appointment with a local doctor or checking with your health insurance provider are better handled by your doctor’s office, that is, his staff, having them do it all the time can be a little annoying and could irk your doctor big-time. Just try to think of it this way, if this is something they do all the time, you probably won’t have to ask them – they would do it for you without you even saying a word. If not, then it is probably not included in the service they provide.
Be completely honest with your lifestyle. Your doctor may look disappointed when you try to paint a picture of your lifestyle but just imagine if he or she have already spent time thinking of what’s the best treatment for you considering the lifestyle you have just told then see you in the emergency room sometime after just because you failed to tell one important detail like how many packs of cigarettes a day you’re able to smoke. Can you say frustrating?
Report if there are problems with his or her prescription. Instead of just stopping them altogether, it would be a better idea if you go back to your doctor and report the problem with his or her prescribed medications which he or she could adjust or give you a different medication. Remember that they are there to help you, not to make you suffer with the meds they recommend for you to take.

* Don’t click links especially if it bears suspicious content. I observed that most scam links have weird texts in them such as “Hi <name>” or “this is hilarious”. Look for signs that that the link and texts accompanying it are “generalized” or applicable to every John and Jane when you take off your name out of the link. If you are really curious, message back your friend and ask what was it that she sent over. If he or she answers, observe if it’s really your friend talking. When in doubt, don’t open.
* Protect your password. Better yet, protect your email address AND password. I strongly suggest that you keep separate email addresses for your personal use and for your social networking activities. Furthermore, as much as possible, keep your password a nonreflection of your person. In other words, do not use birthdays, anniversaries, grandkid’s name, your dog’s name etc as your password. If you find it hard to remember, then have variations by using capital letters and numbers.
* Don’t add people you don’t know into your network. I find it really annoying to be “invited” by someone who I can’t, for the life of me, remember. Apparently there are “joy-inviters”, people who will attempt to invite you just to expand their network. Scammers will try to approach you the same way and if you are not too careful, you’ll end up exposing yourself to people you barely know.
* As much as possible, bookmark your sites. This way you won’t have to Google-search it anymore. Logging in from your bookmarks will help eliminate the possibility of your entering your access info on a fake site.

I have already posted about the “financial adviser” scam which sounds really sophisticated if you ask me since it is you who will go straight to the scammer’s trap and not you being lured into it. While the “financial adviser” scam requires effort to spot, the “alarm system” scam takes the traditional way of scamming people. That is to confuse them and play on basic human emotion: fear.

It is normal to fear for your safety as well as your home’s. This is your cocoon, your refuge, if and when someone breaks in, you will certainly feel violated. My personal fear is coming home to a ransacked house but I wouldn’t dare imagine someone breaking in while I’m physically there. For me, that is unthinkable considering my age. I would probably end up dead, either of severe trauma or heart attack!

Going back to the “alarm system” scam, the latest of the bunch works like this: a salesperson will approach you either by knocking on your door, or calling you and launching a full-blown sales pitch even if you vehemently refuse to acknowledge. They will have their way, be it by going out of their way to convince you, pressure you shamelessly, scare you out of your wits and/or threaten you at gun point – anything that will make you buy their products and avail their services. After that, they will be gone without a trace left! If this is the case then consider yourself lucky as you have been scammed just once and without much damage done.

Another intention of “alarm system” scam is to know how exactly your current alarm system works or if you have one in place. This is usually done by bad people looking for houses they can break into some time in the future. By “interviewing” you, they will be able to know your habits and how you use your current alarm system or if you still don’t have one in place yet. By posing as inspectors, they will be able to see your alarm system’s weakness and use it to their advantage. Moreover, knowing your alarm system’s brand and model will provide them the opportunity to study its behavior and plan their break-in.

Also, beware of salespeople asking for your alarm system company’s information. I have heard that a fellow senior was scammed by believing a caller claiming that they are now handling accounts for the aforementioned company and would like for the senior to renew their account with them to avoid interruption of services (whatever that may be!) Since the caller sounded professional and the senior did not see any reason not to trust the caller, the senior quickly signed up papers sent to her the next day by the caller. Soon enough, poor senior got two billings for the alarm system, one from the legitimate company and the other was from the scammer. While the senior can still squirm his or her way out of the mess, it is still a hassle and a complete waste of time.