Seniors Site

Gone are the easy days when gardening means just making a short trip down your favorite gardening centre, buying a couple of chemical sprays and God-knows-what’s-in-there pouches of brightly colored particles they call fertilizer. The only painstaking effort you need to exert is making sure they stay out of reach of hungry children and curious pets, which I came close to both disasters before I gave up gardening—or slowed down for a bit. I settled to potted, window sill type of gardening from then on since organic gardening, back then, was still a concept of the past, or future—your choice.

So now, I am, yet again, venturing to once familiar path of gardening. What sparked my snoozing interest, you might ask? Well, the answer would be an interesting trip to a Sunday market, only to find overpriced green leafy vegetables with the letters O-R-G-A-N-I-C screaming at me. A little troubled on how an “organic” be priced double as compared to a “non-organic”, I did my research. My conclusion: At this day and age, growing an “organic” is harder and more expensive than “non-organic”. My solution: grow my own!

First rule of course, is never, ever introduce anything chemical to your plants or else, it won’t qualify as organic—I know you know what I mean! However, knowing you are eating something that is both chemical-free and grown with your own hands makes it all worth while. Aside from that, growing organic plants involves a more holistic approach which means you also have to prepare and maintain a soil that is also chemical free and somewhat healthy—worms and all!

Since you won’t be using chemical fertilizers, your best buddy would be organic compost. Let me tell you this, unless you have a certain fondness of all things smelly, organic compost can be bought by the sack at your friendly neighborhood gardening center, ready for use. Otherwise, and if indeed you’re quite fond of bad smells, go buy a compost bin to make your own.

Be wise in choosing your plants since not all plants will suit your soil and climate. For this, you can seek help from organic planting professionals in forums and test it first in small quantities to make sure it will grow. Bear in mind that organic gardens need constant inspection. It is most vulnerable to the harshness of weather, bugs, insects and even animals. Furthermore, don’t expect a trade fair worthy, it takes some time for you to get the hang of it and an organic produce can never be perfect—well, that’s the beauty of it.

Considering the amount of years and experiences we had behind us, it is so easy to set some standards on how we should be living our lives. However, as seniors, we tend to be overly critical and conscious of the things happening in and outside of our lives. More often than not, it is our beloved family and friends who suffer the most when we are being too hard on ourselves.
Being critical works both ways, you can be critical of yourself, always criticizing how you look or what you did or what happened to your life even if these things occurred beyond your control. You always blame yourself for what you are and what you will become. Then you can be critical of the people around you, wanting and expecting them to be more than what you are. Sometimes, it could be both which is, in my honest opinion, would be the worst kind of all.
As parents and grandparents, it is only normal for us to dream big for our kids and eventually their kids, however, there is a fine line between dreaming and expecting. We, seniors, the supposedly “wise” specie of the bunch should be able to distinguish it and know where exactly that fine line lies. If we let our self-loathing being out of control, we risk losing the ones we love. It is because no matter how much they love you, if you continue being hard on yourself and invite negativity, it becomes doubly hard to be near you.
Also, being self-critical is never good for your health. In fact, it can cause stress and ultimately, depression. Stress, in return, interferes with your productivity and can even affect your motivation. Seniors who suffer or develop such behavior are often advised by their doctors to submit themselves to a therapy before it’s too late.
Let’s take for example your weight—since it is one area of our life which we tend to be regularly critical about. We start dieting and exercising ‘till kingdom come for a week only to criticize our efforts if we fail to lose a pound within that period. We refuse to acknowledge our accomplishments, the fact that we worked hard for a week, just because we fail to achieve our desired result and because of that, you stop working on your weight altogether. Not really convinced you are being too critical of yourself? Here are some signs:
•    You strive for perfection, not reality.
•    You refuse to acknowledge your strengths, instead you hold on to your weaknesses.
•    Negative thoughts are as normal as you breathing air.
•    You compare your achievements to someone—anybody—and look upon yours as insignificant.
•    You hate looking at yourself in the mirror or even digging deeper inside you for an honest thought.

It is important for us seniors to engage in activities that will benefit our health. However, having too many choices to choose from makes it harder for us to decide what really is best for us. For me, whatever makes you sweat and pant like a dog is totally fine but if a certain exercise will help you get that youthful swag, then why not?..
Which boils down to two choices:  flexibility training or strength training?.. Flexibility exercises promise seniors of improved range of motion, balance and of course, flexibility which most seniors tend to lose when aging. Strength training on the other hand focuses more on muscle development and boasts of fighting bone density loss. Both exercises ensure seniors of lesser falls and injuries from accidents and somehow they manage to take off unwanted fat resulting to a sexier body we’ve always wanted!
I say, whatever it is, seniors need to take that step to a healthier mind and body. You just need to find out which suits your lifestyle best. Flexibility exercises are of course, safer and must be done in classes with professional instructors to guide you, while in a strength training sessions, you can hire an instructor to work with you one-on-one however, you need to go to the gym for equipments while the former can also be done at home once you reach a certain level of expertise, for example, in yoga.
Here are some of the known benefits of Flexibility training for seniors:
•    Balances muscle groups. In reality, we don’t use every inch of muscle we have in our body every single day—especially seniors with limited range of motion. Due to this, we end up overusing some and not using others at all. Flexibility training offers us a way to work these “unused” muscles and establish balance.
•    Improves posture. Now, seniors don’t have to worry about stooping or crouching as they age. It realigns soft tissues within your body enabling it to achieve proper posture without discomfort.
•    Eases tension. Stretching for one, reduces muscle soreness and releases tension trapped inside your aging body.
While strength training offers seniors these:
•    Improved muscle mass. Muscle loss is almost synonymous to aging, with strength training, you help your muscles maintain its youthful size–taking off years on your age.
•    Increased total strength. Older adults who have been training for years now are confident that they can still lift a ton without hesitation.
•    Trim and sculpted look. Need I say more?

Service animals are trained to assist people with disability which can be very helpful for elderly since most of them do need assistance 24/7. One good thing about service animals is they never invade your privacy as a person making the elderly somewhat independent but at the same time, they provide much needed assistance. Service animals—more particularly, service dogs are most popular with blind people or those who are visually impaired. They act as a signal for the person they are assisting, making it easier to walk around town and go about their daily chores.
Service animals, in general, can also be trained to perform tasks for seniors who can no longer do these tasks on their own.  Basically, there are three types of service animals:  guide, hearing and service animals—the latter be other than for blind and deaf people. The most suitable animal for service work are dogs since they are easier to train and they relate better to people but other equally flexible animals can be trained too such as monkeys and miniature horses.
Do note that not all animals can be considered as service animals. They have to be trained first, some were trained for years before given certification. With that said, disabled seniors or those who need service animals, take note that a puppy or baby monkey won’t do you any good. You need to contact training facilities or organizations if you are interested in acquiring one. Seniors should also consult their health care provider to help them in choosing the best service animal to use. Your first step to having a service dog is contacting your local government and get a list of government-recognized training facilities in your area. Also, you must be able to establish the fact that you are indeed disabled. For this, you will need your doctor’s referral. Some of the health conditions that are given service animals are:  blindness, deafness, epilepsy, mental conditions and paralysis.
Having a service animal gives you rights that are not enjoyed by other pet owners. In America, service dogs are allowed to enter all business establishments—even restaurants, which normally won’t allow pets in the area. Aside from that, it is a violation of the law if someone questions you and your dog, especially if they work for or own the establishment itself otherwise, they will be asked to pay for damages brought forth by the act. To avoid being asked all the time, equip your service animal with vest made especially for them. This way, they will be recognized by the establishment you are about to enter.

Healthy relationships, whether shared between family, friends or coworkers, are important. They play a very significant role in your emotional being, acting as one of the building blocks to make you stronger and be able to withstand whatever it is that fate has for you. Healthy relationships are your strongest support system, without them, you only have yourself to rely on.
At any age, healthy relationships are important especially with people you get to spend your time the most. Maintaining one involves a lot of emotional effort but at the end of the day, you know that it’s all worth it. Human nature has it that in order to live a happier life, you need to coexist with other people, and to coexist, you need to build relationships—healthy relationships, that is. For seniors, having healthy relationships, not just with their family, somehow eases the emotional pain that usually comes with aging. Seniors who are able to maintain healthy relationships won’t have to deal with isolation and loneliness later in life thus enabling them to have longer, stress-free lives.
Life coaches can’t stress enough how important healthy relationships are especially for seniors. However, not all people are willing to be your best friend. Obviously, some people were born to possess “toxic” personalities. Toxic personalities, as the words imply, are people who exude negativity and would gladly go out of their way just to extend toxic feelings to other people—you included. These people are way beyond repair so it won’t do you any good to reach out to them, better if you just avoid them altogether. Meanwhile, looking for your “match” would be very beneficial in building healthy relationships. As rule of thumb, make sure that when you receive, you should also give. Learn how to reciprocate as it is the only way to keep a healthy relationship going.
Seniors who have healthy relationships supporting them during the so-called golden years are benefitted tremendously. Some of the known benefits of healthy relationships are having someone who, you know, will be there no matter what, acting as a sounding board whenever you need one and best of all, someone you can actually trust—apparently, two of the most important things in a senior’s life. You can also count on their loyalty and respect if worse comes to worst.
Sometimes, just knowing there is someone out there who cares, means a lot to a senior. Sadly, some seniors still suffer isolation even if they are living with their families.

There’s no doubt everybody in this room has had their so-called “senior moments” or in cyber lingo, mental glitches, like it’s something you can defrag, reboot or upgrade when necessary. Although subjective memory loss is almost always a portent of dementia, or so these medical researchers say, let’s for once consider this as a matter of being unorganized and always in a hurry. I say, there’s totally no harm in considering ourselves normal, healthy persons, right?..
Milder terms for memory loss are forgetfulness and absent-mindedness. These two, for me, connote that I am indeed a busy person that I have no time for such unimportant things like my keys and my wallet. Yes, I like fooling myself sometimes just for the humor of it. But let’s face it, sometimes it gets so irritating to forget things just when I needed them most, especially in cases when I need to take medications on a strict schedule then I find myself in the middle of the day wondering if I took my morning meds and have absolutely no idea if I did. Talk about frustration!
Let me tell you, forgetfulness knows no age, gender or whatsoever. This morning, my grandkid asked her mother if she saw his toy truck when I just witnessed him the night before bragging about it like there’s no other one like his toy. You see? Only when it occurs to seniors, we’re “marked” FOREVER! Here are my tips and tricks to avoid the inconveniences of forgetfulness and at the same time improve senior’s memory skills:
·    Maintain an organized life. It may be harder to do but take it from me, it really does wonders! I always make it a point that I visit stores with office supplies in them or even bookstores and browse through racks to see if there’s something new for me to use such as an organizer with better organizing capabilitites, sticky notes, etc. Anything that will help me remember things round the clock!
·    A place for everything and everything in its place. A bowl just beside the door proves to be very helpful to my key-hunting activities because I just throw them in the minute I step inside the house and pick them up on my way out. All my medications go to my bedside drawer as it is easier for me to reach for them when I need them.
·    Take memory enhancing vitamins. There’s no use hiding forgetfulness from your own doctor. Let him do his job and make your life a little easier and more convenient.
·    Brain exercises are the best! Try online games that will challenge your memory skills. Some can be downloaded to your computer so you can access them even offline.
·    Make it a habit to calm the mind. A calmer mind is a focused one. You will easily remember things if your mind is not too cloudy with unnecessary things.

If there’s one group that is adamant in chasing these statistics, it is the MOWAA or the Meal On Wheels Association of America. This group provides food for those in need, even delivers it to your home which proves to be very beneficial for seniors who are no longer capable of moving around, much less cook their own food. MOWAA is very particular when it comes to understanding and finding a solution for senior hunger. They aim to improve seniors’ quality of life at the same time, keeping them healthy despite their current condition. To know more about Meals on Wheels, click here.
Unfortunately, a recent study done by the group stated that they fear the condition is not improving, in fact, it keeps getting worse! They foresee more seniors facing hunger in the coming years and the group is now calling for community involvement to strengthen their mission and be able to reach out more effectively to hungry seniors all throughout America. Taken into account is the non-recovery of the world’s economic status in which it was found out that seniors are taking the direct hit.
Even with funding and sponsors, Meals on Wheels admitted that they can only do so much in keeping these hungry seniors alive as the demand for such nutritional services keep on growing everyday. Clearly a case of overwhelming demand versus limited amount of resources. This is also the reason why the group pushed for resolving the problem instead of just providing temporary solution in hopes of somehow getting to the root cause of the problem and be able to get these seniors provide for their own in the future.
According to their study, aside from poverty, it was found out that hunger is more likely to occur in a house wherein a senior is living alone. If truth be told, they highly suggest for these seniors to seek help in assisted living facilities or even a companion in the house to be able to monitor their regular food intake. Sadly, this is not their call to make.
Hunger can actually affect one’s health. It can trigger underlying diseases or even worsen the existing ones. Seniors who are in constant hunger state are also in a great risk for serious health problems. This is something that MOWAA hopes to avoid. Interestingly, according to their studies, there is more to seniors’ hunger than poverty. Factors to affect seniors’ hunger problem are:
·    Education. It was found out that those who didn’t finish school are most likely to suffer hunger later in life.
·    Living alone. This includes widow, separated and dissolved marriages without any children to look after them.
·    Debts. It may be due to supporting a grandchild or even renting his or her home. Single parents are also a likely candidate.
·    Out of job. When a senior finds himself sacked out of the job, it’s quite hard to get up on feet again.

To welcome the year right, I’m happy to announce that according to CDC or Centers for Disease Control and Prevention we are now experiencing an all time high in life expectancy! CDC’s press release was made last August 19, 2009. Indeed, it came as great news for seniors since it was reported that age-related deaths have now gone down. The press release also contains interesting facts about death and mortality rates as well as life expectancy and survival rate. You can view the press release here.

As usual, the two leading causes of death are cancer and heart disease. Simple explanation has it that the latter is somewhat controllable but can attack anytime without any warning while the former still has no known cause, as well as cure. Running fourth with a very large percentage difference from the two is respiratory disease and somewhere further down are Parkinson’s, liver and Alzheimer’s diseases.

So what are your chances of having a long and happy life? High of course!—especially if you make it happen. By taking the extra effort in making sure you are living a healthy lifestyle and avoiding the things that may harm you, longer lives are sure to be within reach. Of course, longevity should come with quality of life. Basic rules still apply:

·    Exercise. I’ve noticed that seniors are now getting into sports and just being active, enjoying what life brings. With the advent of technology, we’re able to free ourselves from the bond that ties us in close, office spaces and out to the world! Work-at-home jobs enabled us to have the flexibility to participate in other activities we truly enjoy doing.
·    Personal health maintenance. This includes taking preventive measures to ensure you are adequately covered. The government is now active in making it easier for us to take care of ourselves. It seems that the government’s health campaign, Healthy People 2010, is indeed a success! Regular checkups are still the best, no matter how much you dread it!
·    Healthy diet. Diet is not all about losing weight. You should only lose weight if you have excess pounds that are threatening to kill you. A healthy diet should mean a diet that is good for your body. Seniors should never eat in excess nor deprive the body of the nutrients it needs, only in healthy portions recommended by your doctor. Also, it’s best if you stay away from the nasties such as fatty and sugary foods.
·    Socialize. According to a study made in Australia, it was found out that friends are very important in a senior’s life. The study concluded that seniors with a large network of friends fared better than those who keep only a few.
·    Broaden your horizons. Travel a lot. If with budget constraints, then explore your city or its neighboring towns. Learn new things and share your life with others. The idea behind it is to bring back your zest for life.

This Christmas, it becomes really important to have peace of mind, or else, you don’t stand a chance of having a jolly one! Personally I see peace and Christmas go hand in hand so when you say the latter, the former becomes hundred times magnified that sometimes it almost becomes depressing to even think of.

In this day and age when everyone seems to be restless and running from one place to another is a way of life, it’s quite hard to find some peace of mind amidst all. Due to this fact, peace of mind becomes the most sought after state but indeed an elusive one. For one, peace of mind is practiced. It’s something you follow to avoid stressful thoughts thus achieving calmer mind. This must be the reason why meditation became popular to our age group as the practice sets definite steps to achieve your own peace of mind.

Decluttering your life is the easiest way to achieve peace of mind. Here are some ways on how to find peace of mind and be able to live at peace with yourself:

·    Do without all things negative. Negativity invites negative thoughts because even if you refuse to acknowledge it, negativity seeps into you and settles into your subconscious mind. An example of which is a nasty humor you heard in passing or even a person with negative outlook in life.
·    Never harbor grudges. It’s okay to feel hurt as we are humans with humanly feelings but grudges are altogether a different matter as it sometimes compels you to act upon it in forms of revenge.
·    Worry no more. As long as you’ve done your best, there’s nothing much you can do about something so it’s better to let it go and not to worry about it anymore. If it turns out badly, you know you did your best and that was all you can do.
·    Don’t take everything personally. Things happen for a reason and most of the time, that reason is not you. It’s just that you were there and you got affected by the situation but it doesn’t mean the situation was meant to attack you.
·    If someone is causing you stress, stay away from that person. This person is not healthy for you, that’s all. It also applies to jobs you hate doing.
·    Don’t try changing something that is beyond your control. It’s not everytime that you can change something to your own liking. Learn to accept things as they come.
·    Be more flexible. With maturity comes flexibility. Learning to be flexible will help you adapt faster to your environment thus eliminating the possibility of stress.
·    Know where your limitation lies. As a person, there are things you can do better than others unfortunately, there are some you do only averagely. Trying to push yourself unreasonably will only induce unnecessary stress.

One of the most painful conditions to ever affect seniors is arthritis. Most of the times, it hits mildly, easy enough to manage but discomfort is there, other times, it’s almost crippling! For your information, pain brought about by arthritis can be managed thus allowing seniors to do other enjoyable stuff—things that really matter.

In a nutshell, arthritis is when there’s an existing condition that damages the joint. Literally, arthritis in Greek is inflammation of the joint however, there are many types of arthritis. One of the most popular—at least to us seniors–is osteoarthritis or degenerative arthritis. It is when the cartilages in our joints begin to wear off due to aging. when it becomes thin enough for the two bones to meet, there begins the most excruciating pain ever!

While arthritis in advance age seems inevitable, it’s good to know that it can be delayed and managed by altering our lifestyle. I don’t think arthritis is considered as a lifestyle disease but according to studies, those people who were able to maintain an active lifestyle somehow manage to delay the onset of arthritis. Included in these studies is how diet can trigger an arthritis attack i.e types of food.

But what if we realized all these things a little too late and now we’re stuck with an immobilizing pain brought about by arthritis? Here are some ways to ease the pain and somehow increase your quality of life:

·    Walk, walk, walk. Walking helps in toning muscles in the knee area thus giving your joints better support and lessens the impact on the cartilage. It need not be a mile long, just get yourself used to walking instead of always sitting while doing your chores. Consider this one as an investment as it will also tone the butt area making it look rounder than ever.
·    Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drug—your bestfriend! Of course, NSAID has wonderful success rate in alleviating pain especially in cases of arthritis and it can be bought without prescription. Just go easy on it as it is also known to cause ulcers inside us so make sure you take it with food and never exceed recommended dosage.
·    Lose weight. Why? Because, not only will it make you feel and look good, it can also take off tremendous pressure on your knees! We all know that the key to not triggering the pain is to put as little pressure as possible to the joints but it’s quite impossible not to use your hips and knees right? The next best thing is to take off unnecessary weight and be light as possible.
·    Avoid foods that trigger an arthritis attack. Usual suspects:  red meat, tomatoes, eggplants, dairy products, nuts, and caffeine. Please do take note that not all these are to be avoided since a food-induced arthritis attack depends on your own body’s reaction.