Seniors Site

Caring for your heart, or at least, taking measured steps to a healthier heart should begin at 40. This is because when you reach this age, you are less physically active than you ever were but more mind stressed than you’ll ever be. Bear in mind that if you hit the sack at night feeling drained and energy-less, that doesn’t mean you got your fair share of physical activeness. You could be fatigued just by sitting in a corner and thinking of 101 different things at the same time.

So when you hit the age of 40, better start consciously planning your activities according to what’s best for your heart. For this, you could consult with your cardiologist during your annual visits and checkups, ask if a certain activity is suitable for you and what things should be considered during these activities. Moreover, it wouldn’t hurt if you start asking your cardio doctor about tests for more in-depth assessment of your heart’s status. You should, by now, have your own heart doctor, find one if you still haven’t any.

Keep in mind that this is the age when you should get your physical self moving. Set aside some time for your daily exercises no matter how impossible it seems considering your current daily schedule of activities. If it helps, consider yourself as one of your responsibilities, that if you can do things for your kids, parents and husband, certainly you can do things for yourself too. You owe yourself and your body that much anyway.

Also, exercising is not only for those who would like to drop pounds so even if you don’t really need to trim down, you still need to get moving in order to maintain a healthy heart. Work with your cardiologist to be able to detect signs if your heart is in danger or if you’re at risk. There are risk assessment procedures that could be done, just ask your doctor about it.

Do take note of your past and recent surgeries as they may have put you at risk for heart problems. Not all surgeries do, but recent studies find that some of the most simple of surgeries put a patient in higher risk of developing heart problems. Have your doctor check for calcifications in other parts of your body. If you are a girl, mammogram shows specks of calcifications which are usually brushed off by your oncologist but should be noted by your cardiologist.

Again, regular checkups will help you. As simple as monitoring your blood pressure, your pulse rate, glucose levels, your weight and BMI can help you detect heart problems early on.

If you’re a senior and looking for something to occupy your time, you might want to give triathlons a try.

In a nutshell, for those of you who are clueless as to what is a triathlon (which I assume not too many?) The sport involves swimming, biking and running. If you have heard of the “Ironman” then you’re on the right page as this seems to be the most popular of all triathlons.

While the idea of triathlons can be a little overwhelming for some seniors especially those who are fairly new to the world of exercise and getting fit, you would be amazed to know that about half of the senior population is already engaging in this kind of sport – and they are having the time of their lives at that!

Actually, Triathlon organizers agree that most of their participants are ages 35 and above which means the sport has become popular with older people. It was reported that the average age of a triathlete is 38. If you are not convinced then try watching a televised triathlon, most have a diverse group of people: midlifers, grandfathers, wives, etc unless it is the brutal Ironman, of course. Nowadays, triathlons that cater to not-so-pro are organized which only added the appeal for newbies to join.

Triathlons are perfect for seniors since it improves their social lives while keeping them physically active at the same time. It also improves their outlook in life and boosts confidence.

However, it is important to note that joining triathlons can be expensive so if you are on a budget, this may not be the right sport for you. Training for triathlon alone could cost several thousand dollars considering the quality of your road bike and other important accessories. Also, training for the sport would require your time, roughly five days a week, 6 if you are really pushing it. Commitment is very important if you join a triathlon.

Senior triathletes happily reported that triathlons are fun and very much fulfilling. The idea of learning and understanding your body better at their age and knowing its limits seem to seal the deal and reason enough to make seniors get on the bandwagon. Also, for some reason, senior traithletes find triathlons to be more agreeable to their body than any other sports. If you are looking for some more socializing while doing triathlons, join group trainings wherein you can meet people with same interests as well as pros in such sporting event.

Seniors can be creatures of habit especially if in a lifelong marriage or in a relationship that has exceeded 10 years. It is, of course, normal to fall into stereotypical ways of saying “I love you” when the occasion calls for it. Like, sending flowers and chocolates to your ladylove on a Valentine’s Day, not even considering that she is a diabetic. Or perhaps organizing a massive dinner for two when your hubby is just too tired to even prop himself up on a chair for 10 minutes. These little things can cause disappointments actually, especially if you are expecting a reaction and not getting it exactly the way you wanted. However, if you think of it, you were not exactly thinking about making your other half happy but instead, you expect them to be happy which is not really cute, if you ask me.

So below are some of the new – old and rediscovered actually - ways you can express your love which your other half would appreciate more:

• Write them a love letter. If you are like half of the American population who don’t have any idea what to do with their hands anymore but to type on a keyboard, this is the right time to take the long route and rediscover “the paper and the pen”. They were your bestfriends when you started courting so it won’t hurt to give it another try.
• Prepare a simple, well thought-of meal and serve it during a mealtime when he or she won’t really expect it, like snacks or breakfast (do this if you haven’t done it before but if you do this regularly then think of another time when you haven’t)
• Bring them to a place where you call “your own”. It can be your porch or perhaps that little spot out the garden or the beach where you proposed. A couple always have a place so dear in their hearts so crank up your fogging memory and come up with the most memorable place you as a couple have ever been.
• Pick her flowers, from your garden. Or from the park if that’s okay, even your neighbor’s flower is good enough. It’s fresh and you’ve picked it yourself so it’s worth their attention.
• Do something together. Take the car and go for a quick joyride like you did when you were younger, visit places from your younger years, share a place dear to your heart. Share a little something more about yourself. They will surely appreciate that more.

First off, let’s define burnout. Burnout is a psychological condition, much like depression. It is usually a result of prolonged stress which leads to diminishing interest in the things that you normally do as well as feeling exhausted all the time. However, if you are a caregiver, it’s quite hard to distinguish psychological exhaustion from real physical exhaustion and more often than not, you find yourself too busy to even care.

Being always on the go doesn’t help either, but be forewarned that no matter how you love what you are doing, working too hard will always lead to burnouts. Also, bear in mind that burnouts are quite a silent killer – that you are most likely to find yourself experiencing meltdowns before you even realize that you are indeed burned out.

Experts say that, of course, there are telltale signs of burnouts, you just have to spot it ahead of time so you’ll avoid meltdowns and be able to allow yourself a little breathing room. Below are some of the signs you might want to observe to know if you are indeed burnt out:

• Your drag yourself out of bed every single morning. Like you don’t want to ever leave your bed anymore and just sleep your day away. Most likely, you’ve burned out because you spent the night thinking of the things you need to do the next day, or you’ve reached your maximum physical energy limit and was too tired when you hit the bed last night! The only solution you have for this is to set a reasonable – but strict - time for your caregiving duties and like you would in an office, you leave your “work” behind as you prepare for sleep. Of course, there could be emergencies in the middle of the night but surely emergencies don’t happen every single night so you can still relax most nights right?
• You can’t keep track of your things. Your stuff is a mess and you can’t even remember where and when you last saw your mobile phone. This is because you run back and forth to do errands for your senior that you barely have time to recover. This, of course, causes you to burn out. To combat this, allow yourself 15 minutes every morning to prepare for the work ahead, like warming up before a workout routine.
• You unintentionally skip meals. Actually, it’s more like losing track of time? If you are too busy to even remember your last and next meal then you are definitely burning yourself out.
• You just can’t seem to finish a task. or you are longing for your tasks to end. or you’re always starting something new when you aren’t even finished with your other tasks. A lot is going on and it is definitely bad for you as the pressure of completing all your tasks in record time can be quite tiring.
• You experience foggy mind. A lot. This is actually a bad sign as it only means your mind cannot take it anymore and threatening to shut down.

The only thing that could save you from age discrimination and prevent abuse from happening to you is that if you arm yourself with proper knowledge and information about age discrimination. What pains me is when I hear stories from my senior friends telling me about how they lost their jobs or how they were not able to land a job they really wanted just because of their age. The company didn’t even consider the experience and expertise these old people have, they just flat out rejected them.

First off, there is a law that is designed to protect seniors against age discrimination in terms of employment. If you have time, read more about it here: Age Discrimination in Employment Act. This clearly outlines your rights as a senior in a workplace and what other things the law cannot protect you from. To be more specific, the law covers people 40 years old and above. Please take note of the age as there really is age discrimination within the 40s age group even if that number isn’t even too old to begin with.

In this post, I will try to summarize what was written on the ADEA but like I said, it is better to read the link if you have time just so if I missed a point and you found yourself in that certain situation, you would know what to do.

First off, your boss or the company cannot just fire you because of your age, nor refuse to hire you especially if you are qualified for the job. They also cannot limit your activities as an employee or separate you from the younger ones without a valid reason other than your age. Best of all, your wage shouldn’t be reduced just because you’re old. You should be paid accordingly.

When looking for a job, ADEA clearly stated that job ads shouldn’t mention age or age bracket as preference. As for employment agencies, they cannot refuse to refer you for employment or classify your application according to your age.

Now if you are a member of a labor organization, the org cannot just expel you or limit and classify your membership because of age. You shouldn’t be deprived of employment opportunities by your organization in any way in terms of age.

More importantly, if you found yourself filing charges against your employer or helping someone with their age-related cases against your employer, the employer as well as the company cannot harass you or discriminate you in any way.

Truth be told, you could delay dementia, if not prevent it altogether. You just have to avoid known risk factors such as smoking and inactivity. Of course, you still have to consider genetic factors but if you make your brain healthier thus stronger, it could overcome your tendency to encounter problems in that area on its own.

Healthier brain means giving it the exercise it needs, the right kind of rest whenever needed, the right kind of diet and of course, taking brain boosting supplements. Below are some of the things you need to do to ensure a healthier brain:

Exercise! If you would like to keep dementia at bay, make sure you keep moving or at least, maintain a very active lifestyle. This is to keep your weight at its healthiest level thus avoiding obesity which contributes to your risk of having dementia. Also, physically active seniors are found to have better memory. They also belong to a group which has a lower rate of dementia cases. The connection between exercising and healthier brain lies on brain shrinkage. Ageing causes our brains to shrink while exercising promotes growth, or helps the brain maintain its healthy size. So, in a way, exercising reverses the brain’s natural aging process and effectively keep dementia at bay.
Step up on your resistance training. Resistance training such as weight lifting is known to encourage growth hormones which of course, can encourage cell growth in the brain as well.
Continually challenge your brain. It doesn’t matter if you don’t remember half of what you are doing now after 30 minutes or so, or if you always forget where you put your keys, what matters is that you continually challenge your brain and feed it information. Activities like solving a puzzle or just plain surfing the net can do a lot of improvement on how your brain processes information and how quickly it responds.
Prevent stress as much as possible. We all know stress cannot be prevented, in some instances, it can be healthy too – but certainly not in overwhelming doses, right? However, stress triggers the hormone cortisol which impairs the memory.
Learn how to meditate. While you cannot really escape stress, meditation can help you calm your nerves and in a way, lessen the impact of the stress, if not completely obliterate it.
Lessen your meat intake while loading up on fish, fruits and greens. You’ll need all the omega 3 fatty acids you can get and there’s really no room for red meats now since red meats will only bring more harm to an aging body than good.
Make sure you are well supplemented. Not all vitamin supplements are made equal. You really have to check with your doctor what you need and not need to take and let them build a supplement plan that is personally designed for you.

Time and again, we are reminded how to handle grief the right way however, if we are to rely on our basic human instinct, it is quite impossible to go about the grieving process properly, let alone, methodically right? That’s just impossible.

Nonetheless, having some kind of stages helps us in actually moving on with our life. With stages, we know where we are and how many stages are there before we are finally on the clear. Before we start, it is better to note that mourning is normal and it helps you get better. Losing someone, no matter how big or small their significance in our life is, has an impact on our own outlook regarding life and death, especially on our later years. What’s important is we acknowledged them and accepted them no matter how hurtful they are. According to the book On Death and Dying, there are five stages of grief, and here they are:

· DENIAL. Humans are resistant by nature. We very seldom accept things as they are the first time they were given to us. We need some time to assess if it is something that will bring us joy or could perhaps hurt us. Something that is very shocking, like death in the family or perhaps illness that could be fatal, will immediately be met with denial because that is the only way to buffer an overwhelming emotion that is threatening to strike. Denial stage is a very temporary response and they rarely last.
· ANGER. As denial is a very short phase, the feeling of anger is very quick to replace it. This is because you are masking whatever it is that you are feeling inside which you can’t quite explain (there could be guilt, resentment, frustration etc) And simply because we find it too hard to accept, we direct our “unexplained” feeling to other things or person – can also be our dead loved-one.
· BARGAINING. This is the phase when we try to make a bargain, usually with God or whoever happens to be our highest being. Here you would hear yourself talking about “ifs” and “buts” such as “I will never smoke a cigarette again ever in my life if you would just give her an extension, like, a year or two” Of course, we know this won’t happen, only, we are desperate enough to hope for a miracle. Also, regret is beginning to manifest, such that there will be “if only” and “what if”.
· DEPRESSION. Now reality must be sinking in and begging to be acknowledged. This phase proves to be the most crucial since the struggle is happening inside of us and it’s not going anywhere. Seek help if you need to. There’s nothing to be ashamed of at this point and the sooner you move on from this phase, the better.
· ACCEPTANCE. This is the final stage of grief and while you may still feel empty inside, you know you have already accepted the loss if you are now okay with it and you are making baby steps toward normalcy or bring back the way you live your life before losing a loved-one.

It is important for caregivers to have their very own support system as it will help them overcome the hardships of caring for their loved-ones. Having a support system is like having two or three heads thinking of a solution when an emergency situation strikes, or perhaps a shoulder to cry on when everything is going too tough for the caregiver. Perhaps another convenient way of putting together a support system is through social media sites since they are easily accessible and it has wider reach. Best of all, you really don’t have to go out of your way to connect to your support system as most of these sites can also be accessed using just your mobile phone or tablet computers.

Your support system can help you in more ways than one. If your patience is wearing thin, you could always unload your frustrations to your support system. If there’s something that is bothering you, perhaps something you feel is not right, your support system could assess the situation for you and could vote on a solution best for your situation. Also, a support system, especially if it’s an organized one, can help you with questions – trivial and otherwise – on things that a newbie wouldn’t know the answer for.

Now for the good news, most of these organizations are now available to be reached on most social media sites, particularly on Facebook and Twitter. Your support system is now a click away which actually made it more convenient for caregivers with very limited time to do anything else in a day. And like what I’ve said earlier, there are apps which you can install on your smartphones so you could access these sites through your mobile phone anytime and anywhere you need to. Take for example the ever popular AARP; AARP has a very active Facebook page and a Twitter account, both accounts are well-maintained and moderated and receive a lot of traffic that when you throw a question, someone will surely answer. Now, if you don’t want strangers in your support system, you could always go with the traditional way of “befriending” your family and friends on social media sites. This way, you could contact them through there whenever you need help. It’s a good way to connect with your loved-ones too and be updated with the happenings in their lives while you’re busy caring for your senior.

It’s always recommended for caregivers to connect with people who have the same experiences as you can learn from them big time. These people are sure to have helpful advices on things and how you could be more effective in caring for your loved-one. There are online forums designed for caregivers which you could join. Truth be told, the internet is a goldmine when it comes to caregiving information. There are thousands of instructional videos and even product reviews to help you decide what’s best for you and your senior.

Sticking to your workout routine in any other given day is sometimes, hard enough for us seniors so what more if we also have to contend with the weather? No matter how eagerly you have started on your workout, the winter weather could certainly damp your enthusiasm which for me, if you really want to see results, being all enthusiastic about your workout is the key to success.

According to fitness instructors, your exercise routine should be easy to do, convenient and most of all enjoyable. If one of these three is missing, there’s a chance that your eagerness to stick with your workout plan could simply dwindle and you’re almost 50% sure to stop all together. So it is important that YOU incorporate these three things in your workout routine. If and when something is working against these three then you should find a solution and a work-around to avoid conflicts and make it work for you again.

During winter time, the number one obstacle would be the cold weather. Who would want to venture out and make the Herculean effort to sweat it out when it is so cozy inside the house? A normal, aging person would just stay inside their homes and wait for the winter to pass. Some would try to do some routines while inside their homes and the braver ones would probably go out and give it a try. We are all aware of the health hazards winter season presents, that is why it is most recommended for seniors to just stay at home and try to do their routines indoor. While this won’t guarantee you a bodybuilding trophy, it would definitely keep you active – and not hibernating – during the winter months!

Actually, seniors can do aero training, mild strength training and core fitness routines comfortably inside their homes – with some ingenuity and creativeness. Cardio exercise helps oxygen circulate properly inside the body and for the blood to keep flowing to right directions. Strength training on the other hand keeps osteoporosis at bay and lastly, core fitness is important for balance which in a way prevent falls.

It can be as simple as putting on some music and dancing away! You don’t have to have a complete choreographed steps to go along with the music, just shake it off anyway you like! You can also do some jogging in place if you are doubtful of your dancing prowess, or just climb the stairs then down again, if your knees will allow it. Then do some squats and curls to train your muscles then lastly, to train your core, you can do some pushups and basic yoga poses.

The problem with goals and New Year’s resolutions is that it can be a pain to actually stick to it. Take for example your weight loss goal; if you don’t have enough will power and self-control, it is so easy to backslide even if you are already halfway through accomplishing the goal, putting you back to square one. It can be quite frustrating if you ask me, then I keep putting it off just because I know the road is too long for me to actually make it to the finish line. That’s when you know you need some will power boost!

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.