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Karen M. Rider, M.A. crafts credible and compelling health content to better engage readers in their own health journey. With 16 years of health writing experience, Karen has worked with a variety of healthcare organizations, senior living services, and medical practitioners to develop content that elevates consumer health literacy.
It can be easy for us middle-aged adults to think that our aging parents, well into their retirement years, don’t experience stress. After all, they are no longer running frantic with the responsibilities of work, family, and community. Yet stress is a real issue for our aging loved ones. Often, symptoms of stress in an aging parent can be mistaken for symptoms of dementia.
Furthermore, chronic stress in older adults has even been linked to onset of dementia. It’s important for adult children and caregivers to understand sources of stress in older adults and how this differs from dementia symptoms.
A 2021 survey showed that 44% of older adults age 50-80 experience significant stress that affects how they feel, think, and function in daily life. Even in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic, there has not been a significant change in rates of stress and stress related illness among American adults, including older adults.
Stressors Affecting Older Adults
There are many sources of stress that can affect an older adult. Some of these are personal stressors—events or circumstances that are unique to each individual. Others are ‘collective’ or ‘global’ stressors—things that all of us, across age groups, are exposed to and affected by to some degree. Here is a short list of common stressors affecting older adults:
How Stress Affects Older Adults
When the body is under stress, activating all physiological systems for fight or flight. In the short term, and with access to strategies and resources to mitigate the stress, the body adapts and recovers, returning to a state of balance. Chronic stress, however, causes significant physiological changes and accumulation of stress hormones leading to inflammation, weakening immunity, and increasing the risk of stress-related illnesses, such as digestive issues, weight gain, chronic pain, heart disease, stroke, depression and anxiety and even risk for dementia.
Older adults display symptoms of stress such as
Compare the above stressors with the early symptoms of dementia, below.
Early Symptoms of Dementia
Remember, lots of older adults—all adults, really—can be forgetful and have problems sleeping especially during a stressful time. This does not necessarily indicate an increased risk for dementia. You have to look at the duration, the context, and the pervasiveness of the symptoms you are observing in an aging parent. If the symptoms are out of context with the situation, are long-term, and pervasive, then something more than stress may be going on. Be sure record your observations and discuss your concerns with a geriatric physician.
The Right Care at the Right Time for an Aging Parent
If you find that your aging parent is experiencing long-term stress that is deteriorating their ability to care for themselves in their living space, then it may be time to consider assisted living. This is especially important to do if you are unable step into the caregiver role for your parent. At Everbrook Senior Living, our compassionate care counselors offer support and guidance through the complex choices around care for an aging parent. We are here to help you make informed choices that best suit your loved one’s needs. Our state-of-the-art, affordable luxury residences provide both social-emotional outlets and medical attention that your loved one may made need. Our properties located throughout New England offer a full complement of health, wellness, recreational, social, and cultural activities to support older adults from independent living to assisted care.
Other Resources
Can Stress Cause Dementia?
The Influence of Chronic Stress on Dementia-Related Symptoms
The luck o’ the Irish is upon us, as March springs forth it's meadows of four-leaf clovers and golden daffodils. Warmer weather means more time outdoors in the New England region and a perfect opportunity for older adults to engage in fun activities to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day.
You don’t have to be a little leprechaun to enjoy the festivities around St. Patrick’s Day. Older adults can celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with Mad Hatter crafts, Irish dancing, baking traditional Irish treats, playing luck-themed games, or attending parades and community events.
For those who love basketball – you can show-off your team colors in crafty ways during March Madness! And, if there are little leprechauns in your life, invite them to join you at your residence at Everbrook Senior Living.
Mad Hatter Top Hat Craft for St. Patrick’s Day
No matter your age, this craft is a big hit because there are countless ways to design and decorate a top hat. You can work with inexpensive paper craft materials or get really fancy by starting with an actual top hat (check vintage stores or online) that you transform into your own Mad Hatter Top Hat. Let these images inspire your creativity and follow the links for all manner of designs.
Glittery Leprechaun Top Hat – perfect for all ages and particularly fun to do with the grandkids!
Truly a Mad Hatter Fascinator – you won’t find the Queen wearing these fascinators, but you will have a blast designing one! From chic to funky, you determine just how “mad” you want your design to be…or tie in with March Madness and incorporate your team’s logo/colors.
Easter Mad Hatter Top Hat – incorporate the Easter season colors and patterns with this paper-craft design using cardstock.
Lucky Leprechaun Fabric Top Hat – begin with a vintage hat that you want to upcycle or use the cardboard “frame” and decorate with fabric scraps. A great way to bring together your crafty friends to reuse scrap materials!
More top hat design ideas to share with friends and family.
Not everyone has a green thumb for crafts. The activities below will keep everyone engaged in the St. Pat’s festivities.
St. Patrick's Day Parades & Special Events – Most local municipalities will “paint the town green” with parades, music or art events, and entertainment. Check with your Everbrook Senior Living concierge for activities in the local area including those at art museums, libraries, restaurants, and parks and recreation venues. (FYI: In New England, Daffodil Festivals are very popular!)
Irish Trivia Night – Whether you use index cards or PowerPoint to set up a game and see who knows the most about all-things-Irish film, books, art, or history... trivia night is a fun way to learn together. Consider adding prizes for the individual and/or team with the most points.
Gold Coin Toss Game – You might not shoot hoops anymore, but we bet you can get a gold coin in a pot that’s a few feet away. Get your teams together, line up your leprechaun pots and give each team 20-25 gold coins (the plastic kind).
The goal: get as many gold coins in the pot as possible from behind the line of demarcation. Two teams of 2-5 each compete against each other to progress to the “playoff”. (All teams should have equivalent number of players and each player gets the same number of coins). The team that has the most coins in the pot after each round moves on until only one team remains. Plan to have a great prize for the semi-finalists and finalist, too.
Irish Movie Night – we’ll just give you a few new and classic movies that revolve around Ireland, Irish themes, or Irish actors. Pop some green popcorn, serve your favorite beverages, and green-themed treats to share. The Banshees of Inisherin, The Devil’s Own, The Wind that Shakes the Barley, Ondine, Calvary, Leap Year, Waking Ned Devine, The Luck of the Irish (young adult/family with basketball theme), Gangs of New York – search your favorite streaming service or Google for more film ideas.
Irish Baking Bonanza – from soda bread to clover-shaped cookies to lime-green scones and mint-chocolate chip pie (with or without the Baileys!), you can find a great variety of Irish themed recipes online. Whether you all bake together or simply come together to share your creations, there’s sure to be something for everyone to enjoy before the day is done. Check out these Irish treats from the folks at Delish!
An Intimate Irish Evening – just the two of you or an intimate group of friends? Plan an Irish luncheon or dinner with the traditional recipes from “the great island”.
Irish Jig Dance – Bring in the Irish steppers and jig dancers to teach lessons to your friends and family... then have a Jig Dance-off. For those with arthritis, a line dance or chair dancing is a great alternative.
We hope you have a lucky St. Patrick’s Day, rich with the blessings of good health, the comforts of a nurturing home, and the bonds of friendship. That’s exactly what you’ll find at Everbrook Senior Living – a community of support that suits your lifestyle and meets your unique social, emotional, and health needs. To learn more about our first-in-class amenities, residential lifestyles, and specialized services call today to schedule a tour.
In 2013, some thirty years after Diana Nyad tossed in the proverbial towel on her dream to swim from Cuba to Florida, she returned to the ocean—at age 64—to complete the dangerous feat. It took her 5 attempts over four years to complete the 110-mile ultra-swim that she failed to do at age 28.
Diana is proof that you’re never too old to get back in the water and swim after a dream. Her achievement is not just a testament to the ability of the body to adapt to physical conditioning at any age, but to the power of mindset, social support, and trust in the possibility of “What if I still can?”
It’s true that she had the benefit of modern training techniques and nautical technology, both of which had come a long way since the 1970s. These things were not what kept Diana in the pool or the ocean every day for hours.
Diana did something each of us can learn to do:She embraced the wisdom of her age and life experience to shift her thinking away from all the things she did wrong or should’ve done differently. By letting go of regret and resentment, Diana could channel her energy into the possibility of what she could do—and could she—just possibly—do now what she physically failed to do in her youth?
Today’s older adults are entering their sixties with a desire to revitalize goals and dreams from their younger days. And, we want our lives to be meaningful and healthy well into our 80s.
Even if you weren’t an athlete “in a former life,” there are many things you can do to maintain—or restore—healthy exuberance in your sixties and beyond. Before we talk about those tips, let’s understand the changes that we all face in our sixties.
The changes that began in your 40s and 50s carry over become more noticeable in your 60s:
Also, you want to be sure to keep-up with routine health screenings based on your age and gender.
The six tips presented here are a good starting point for discussion with your healthcare provider to create a plan that suits your needs. If you are an Everbrook Senior Living resident—or thinking about becoming one—we have an array of health and wellness programs to help you reach your goals.
1. Cultivate Optimism
No matter your age, how you think about yourself and your experiences has a significant influence on how you feel physically and emotionally. As we learn from Diana’s story, it is never too late to make amends with ourselves or with others and flex a different mindset. To adopt a more positive outlook—and see the possibilities that are within your reach—consider the benefits of mindfulness practices.
At Everbrook Senior Living, we offer many such programs including yoga, guided imagery, journaling, meditation, music and arts programming. Mindfulness practice help us still the mental chatter, let go of stress and worry, and cultivate a non-judgmental perspective. In addition to supporting emotional wellbeing, mindfulness practices have been shown to help lower blood pressure, reduce muscle tension and chronic pain, and contribute to exceptional longevity and health in older adulthood,
2. Keep Moving
Physical activity is medicine for body and mind, providing numerous benefits for folks age 60 and older:
There is enough variety of exercise programs for you to find something you love—or to rekindle an activity you enjoyed long ago. Inquire with your local YMCA, JCC, or your Everbrook wellness concierge if you have a specific interest and need help getting started.
If you’ve maintained your fitness level throughout your life, then you may be your own version of Diana Nyad, and have a higher capacity for vigorous exercise—and the next Big Goal!
3. Exercise Your Brain
The best way to prevent cognitive decline and memory problems that are typical with aging is by exercising your brain. Be sure you are getting out and about: Visit farmer’s markets, craft shows, museums, and local parks. Do a daily puzzle or a word search. Read widely and often. Gather with friends for an evening of games. Take an art class. Learn new technology or pick-up an instrument and fiddle around. At Everbrook, you have access to a great variety of social, arts, and cultural programs and trips. We also offer specialized memory care programming.
4. Nourish Your Body
A healthy diet is essential to disease prevention and maintaining youthful vitality. As an older adult, your nutritional needs change quite a bit. Your activity level drives your body’s need for calories, but nutrient needs after age 60 become more specific and in some cases will be higher than what you needed in your 30s and 40s!
Older adults also may want to consider a few specific nutritional: calcium, magnesium, fiber, vitamin D, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, probiotics, and Omega-3 fatty acids. Always check with your health provider or a licensed nutritionist before starting any type of supplement.
5. Nurture Social Connections
Studies show that older adults who are socially connected are less prone to feelings of loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Socially connected adults also seem to live longer, more fulfilling lives. Make time to meet regularly with friends and family, check-in on your neighbors, join a hobby group or book club, take a class, or volunteer in your community. Also, it’s important for older adults to maintain intimacy with their partners.
6. Prioritize Sleep
As we age, we tend to experience interrupted sleep. This can be due to aches and pains that wake us, medications, or illness that affects the quality of sleep. If you have trouble falling or staying asleep, you can create a sleep routine to help you get the rest you need.
Investing in your health and wellbeing is something you can do (or resume doing) at any age. If you want to be part of a community that values your wellbeing throughout the Golden Years, and where you can find support for what inspires you to be well and live well, look no further than Everbrook Senior Living. We hope you will reach out to us, today!
So, what does it mean to have quality of life in your Golden Years? The topic is so important that the month of January is recognized as International Quality of Life Month.
Whether you’re approaching retirement age or helping a parent plan for their Golden Years, an important consideration is how to create and maintain quality of life. Older adult quality of life goes well beyond the size of one’s retirement income. There are plenty of people with substantial retirement accounts who don’t have quality of life.
Beyond the basics of physical health, comfort, and safety, older adult quality of life encompasses the individual’s needs, interests, and goals so they can experience wellness and happiness, day-to-day. At the core of quality of life for older adults are social-emotional factors that empower them to maintain their dignity, independence, and social connection and which create opportunities for a fulfilling life.
The habits and attitudes that you adopt during older adulthood can keep the mind “youthful” and contribute to feeling more energetic, motivated, and connected in life. It’s never too late to take action to create and enhance your quality of life.
1. Keep Your Mind Sharp
A mind kept active by learning, reading, exploring, and meditating pays big dividends! Keeping your mind sharp offers protection against dementia-related decline, improves memory and reaction time, and supports independent living. Here some ways to challenge your brain:
2. Don’t Be a Loner
As we get older, our social circles change—children grow-up and create lives of their own, so ours don’t revolve around their needs anymore. Work relationships change after retirement and casual get-togethers tend to dwindle. Social isolation and lonliness is a significant national health concern, particularly for older adults. Don’t fret! There are so many ways to maintain/create social ties and build community in the Golden Years. Try these:
3. Get a Move On!
Physical activity is essential for mental and physical health. It also supports healthy social connections. Regular physical activity helps an older adult maintain mobility, balance, strength, and heart and lung health. You don’t have to move like Jagger, but you do need to move, even if it is from a chair. Try these activities to do your body and mind good:
4. Bridge the Generational Gap
Keeping in touch with the younger folks in your family or community can be challenging. They’re busy living lives of their own and as we age we tend to put the onus of maintaining connections of the young person. Don’t wait for them to reach out—call, text, write a letter and don’t give up. Do, of course, let them know that when their lack of response bothers you and express how you feel Be proactive—suggest plans, invite them over, or schedule regular video chats to share what is going in your lives.
5. Practice Relaxation
Establishing a routine relaxation practice helps to reduce stress, improves brain function, reduces muscle tension, and supports a healthy immune system. Some of the best ways to practice relaxation include: sitting (or lying) meditation, yoga, visualization, deep breathing, listening to soothing music, journaling, and spending time in nature. All have similar and their own unique benefits for mind and body health and to promote overall wellbeing.
There are many other factors that contribute to older adult quality of life, some of which you can learn more about on our blog, including:
Engaging in hobbies and leisure activities is vital to quality of life in the Golden Years. The activities we’ve discussed offer a sense of purpose and fulfillment, both of which support healthy, independent living for older adults. Really, though, it’s just the tip of the proverbial iceberg as there are as many ways to create meaning and quality of life in older adulthood.
At Everbrook Senior Living, our best-in-class programs and services are focused on the unique interests and needs of every resident. We design custom programs to help our residents explore meaning and redefine purpose and passion for themselves.
Whether it’s gardening, painting, a club focused around movies, books, or the NFL, or any other activity, we offer a multitude of options for creativity and self-expression and social interaction.
We create environments and provide care that addresses and nurtures an older adult’s physical, emotional and social well-being. A holistic approach is crucial in truly enhancing the quality of life for the elderly. Everbrook's caring and professional staff considers every aspect of an older adult quality of life. We wouldn’t want any less for our own family members and you should expect no less for you and yours.
We often hope for holiday visits with aging parents to be sentimental celebrations. For some adult children, though, the holiday visit can be a distressing time. Subtle signs may surface, indicating their parent is not taking proper care of themself—and it may be time to consider assisted living.
You may already be familiar with the more obvious warning signs that an aging parent is not able to live on their own, such as frequent falls, persistent forgetfulness, hoarding, lack of social relationships, misuse of medication, and overdue bills. During holiday visits, adult children can pay attention for subtle signs that an aging parent needs assisted living care.
When visiting an aging parent, be observant of the following:
How concerned should you be about changes noticed in an aging parent?
There are many reasons why changes occur in an aging parent. Sometime the changes are transient, even temporary, caused by things like a recent illness or injury, or the loss of a beloved pet, friend or partner. Retirement or societal changes that require personal adaptations (such as to new technologies) can bring about temporary attitudinal and emotional shifts as your parent tries to establish a new sense of meaning and purpose for their life.
While such changes warrant careful monitoring and should be addressed with appropriate physical and emotional support, they likely are not indicators that your parent needs assisted living.
You should be concerned, and ready to consider assisted living care for an aging parent if the changes you notice are persistent, intense or worsening, and if they result in frequent visits to the doctor or hospital. Be on the watch for increased isolation, suspicion that your parent is experiencing more than just holiday blues, or overt signs of emotional and physical hazards or self-harm, which require immediate medical attention. Now would be the time to make inquiries about assisted living care.
When you realize your aging parent is not able to care for themselves and their living space, you may experience conflicting emotions, too. It’s important to be open and honest with your parent. If having the conversation with them is difficult, consider working an aging advocate who can help you both navigate the decision with impartial support for both of you. It’s a good idea to schedule a tour of senior living communities so your loved one can see what the community offers and how their life can improve in an assisted care environment.
Everbrook Assisted Living offers support from compassionate counselors who can in help you decide about the residential lifestyle and care that meets your parent’s unique needs. We provide a variety of affordable, quality living options (including Independent Living, Assisted Living, and Memory Care), amenities, and the medical resources an aging parent needs to live a healthy and meaningful life.
From youth through older adulthood, we’ve all experienced the power of music in our lives. Whether it’s a moving instrumental piece or a swift beat with diverse vocal range, music has the power to shift your mood, inspire creativity, enhance concentration, evoke memories, and make mundane tasks more enjoyable.
The influence of music on health and behavior, particularly among older adults, is a topic of growing research interest. A specific set of 10th Century musical frequencies, known as the Solfeggio Frequencies, lay the foundation for modern interest in music and health.
In this article you’ll learn more about:
According to the National Poll on Healthy Aging (2024), more than 50% of adults age 50-80 listen to music daily and 98% stated they feel music provides health benefit. In particular, the older adults also indicated that listening to music reduces stress and tension and helps them relax. Since stress plays a crucial role in many disease processes, the ability of music to reduce a person’s experience of stress is important to wellbeing. Participants also reported that music:
Even though these findings are subjective—meaning they are a compilation of data as reported by the participants, the results align with findings from well-designed studies on music and health. A variety of studies show that music has effects on:
Overall, the research points to music as a valuable intervention to support older adult health and wellbeing. Some studies even indicate music as a useful therapeutic intervention for people who are experiencing dementia or Alzheimer’s disease as well as other conditions that affect learning and memory.
So, what do the ancient Solfeggio Frequencies have to do with music and older adult health?
What are the Solfeggio Frequencies?
The effects of music on health and behavior fascinated the ancient Greeks and the great thinkers of other early civilization. The earliest effects of music on states of wellbeing were observed using a specific six-tone scale, a.k.a., the Solfeggio Frequencies.
The Solfeggio Frequencies are most commonly associated with Gregorian Chants, a form of spiritual music common to early Christianity and ancient Sanskrit chants. The intention was to use sound to evoke a trance like state to facilitate deep spiritual insight or meditation. Over the millennia, the scale has been incorporated into all types of modern instrumental and vocal music. Think of your own everyday experiences of listening to music through film, radio, live performance and how the tones and scales evoke feelings and allow us to form a connection between the music and oftentimes, other things happening in our life at the time. This unique feature of music, as intriguing as it is, is not the reason why the Solfeggio Frequencies matter to health.
The Solfeggio’s six scales were claimed to be associated with specific healing attributes:
When the modern 12-note scale was introduced, only a subset of spiritual practitioners retained the tradition of Gregorian Chants; the Solfeggio was nearly lost to history. Around the 20th Century, a resurgence in Gregorian Chanting brought about interest in the healing effects of music and scientific inquiry into music tuned to the Solfeggio. This led to the scientific and medical research of today, as well as the use of music therapy in clinical settings and in older adult wellness programming.
It's easy for older adults (or their caregivers) to bring the healing power of music into their lives to promote health and wellbeing. Here are a few ideas:
For someone living with disorders of memory, consider these approaches:
If you aren’t sure where to begin with music for health, inquire with a holistic practitioner for a referral to a music therapist or a sound healer. Or contact one of the following organizations to find a practitioner in your area:
International Sound Therapy Association https://ISTASounds.org
The Association of Sound Therapy https://harmonicsounds.com/association-of-sound-therapy
Sound Healers Association https://www.soundhealersassociation.org
American Music Therapy Association https://www.musictherapy.org
World Federation of Music Therapy https://wfmt.info
Resources
Chandra, ML. & Levitin, DJ., “The Neurochemistry of Music.” Trends in Cognitive Sciences, (April 2013) 17:4. Accessed 4 May 2017: https://daniellevitin.com/levitinlab/articles/2013-TICS_1180.pdf
APA.org “Science Watch: Music as Medicine.” Posted by Amy Novotney; (Nov 2013 44:10). Accessed on 4 May 2017:
Sloboda, J.A. and O’Neill, S.A. “Emotions in everyday listening to music.” In Music and Emotion: Theory and Research (Juslin, P.N. and Sloboda, J.A., eds) (2001) pp. 415–429, Oxford University Press. Accessed 4 May 2017
Unlike most major league sports, baseball seems to harken us back to a more nostalgic time. Whether you have grandkids visiting or are gathered with friends at your senior living community, we can’t think of a better way to enjoy the World Series than by baking cookies while watching the game.
Check out our favorite recipes (and we've tested many!), then pair your baking with a classic baseball flick before the games begin. Remember, baseball games seem to go on forever… so you’ll need a lot of cookies!
Back to the Sandlot
Only a handful of movies seem to perfectly capture the nostalgia of a baseball era gone-by. Movies like A League of Their Own, Field of Dreams, The Bad News Bears, Angels in the Outfield, and (of course) The Sandlot come to mind. These are wonderful movies to watch while the cookie-making is getting done… sparking memories and stories to come back to life, to be passed on from one generation of baseball fans to the next.
The Sandlot “Chocolate Dirt” Cookie Recipe—like the famous baseball in this movie, which spends most of its time covered in dirt, this scrumptious chocolate cookie will delight just about every baseball fan.
If chocolate doesn’t hit a homerun for your group, then sweeten-up things up with Baseball Sugar Cookies prepared in fun baseball gear shapes. Making (and eating) these cookies will be a big hit among your little leaguers and big leaguers alike!
If you have a particularly picky crowd for the big games, you might need to break out an extra special baseball cookie recipe. These White Chocolate Baseball cookies elevate the oreo-style cookie to a whole new level in the cookie game! Pairing white chocolate, vanilla crème and/or chocolate crème filled cookies, this recipe delivers on being fun to make and delicious to eat.
Make Baseball Cookie Making a Team Event
Now that you’ve got your recipes, gather your friends and loved ones into teams and have them decorate the cookies with the colors or logos of the teams their rooting for.
While everyone’s hands are busy, fill hearts with baseball stories, historic moments, and Hall of Fame players that you look up to. Go around the room and have everyone share a favorite baseball moment—historic or personal. We will bet there is someone in your group who has a “sandlot story” of their own to tell.
Ah… the big 5-0! Whether you’re just celebrating the “half century” milestone, or you’ve been in your 50s for a while, you’ve probably noticed the subtle signs of aging in the way you move, how you handle stress, and your energy level. Fear Not!
You can continue to age wise and well by following our tips for aging into your fifties—giving additional longevity to your mind-body vitality.
The aging process actually begins in earnest shortly after age 30. At this point, age-related changes tend to be slow and subtle, but become definitively noticeable by the time you enter your forties.
For both men and women, the body loses physical and emotional resilience as they age. Once you get to age 50, there are several noticeable changes such as:
Some of these changes will be due to hormonal fluctuations, such as the loss of estrogen during menopause for women, and dropping testosterone levels for both men and women.
Really, why do we age?
New research points to inflammageing as significant underlying cause for the aging process. The theory goes something like this:
Age-related changes happen due to inflammatory responses that occur in in the body over time. These changes have effects on all the major physiological systems: immune, nervous, cardiovascular, musculoskeletal, and endocrine. Essentially, everything from the brain and nerves to muscle and bone, heart, lungs, and metabolism go into decline.
What’s that mean, exactly?
You start to feel less resilient to the stresses of life, the environment, illness, and so on. This “inflammageing” process looks different for each person based on factors such as:
Here are our 5 essential tips to support optimal health and youthful vitality in your fifties:
Tip #1: Stay Up to Date on Health Screenings. Be sure to see your healthcare provider for the appropriate age-specific health screenings. For example, if you’ve been a smoker, then a lung cancer screening may be essential. And, if you do still smoke, try to quit—it’s never too late! You likely also need to have routine screenings for breast cancer, prostate cancer, colonoscopy, among others.
Tip #2: Stay Mentally Fit. Mental stimulation is essential to protecting the brain from age-related decline and dementia. Stay mentally engaged by learning a new skill or teaching someone a skill you are good at. Put you mind to work on a daily puzzle or crossword.
Tip #3: Prioritize Sleep. If you don’t have a sleep routine, it’s not too late to create one. Quality sleep isn’t just about how many hours you're asleep; it’s the quality of those hours. A sleep routine includes a routine such as a warm bath or skincare ritual before bed, darkening the room and keeping the temperature cool, and turning-in and waking at consistent times each day. Remember to unplug from digital devices within 2 hours of bedtime.
Tip #4: Eat Fresh, Whole Foods. A “rainbow on your plate” is a great way to think of healthy eating. Be sure your diet is full of a variety of fruits, veggies, lean protein, and unprocessed grains. Limit eating foods from a box or bag as this will reduce your intake of sodium, sugar, and trans-fats. Hydration is important, especially for older adults. Be sure to drink more water, less soda and alcoholic beverages to support optimal health in your fifties.
Bonus Nutrition Tip: Aging bodies don’t always absorb nutrients as well as when we were younger. And sometimes, as we age, we don’t or eat a balanced-enough diet to provide essential nutrients that aging cells need. You may want to consult with your doctor about nutritional supplements for older adults, including: calcium, magnesium, fiber, vitamin D, vitamin B-6, vitamin B-12, probiotics, and Omega-3 fatty acids. You may also need more protein in your diet.
Tip #5: Move Your Body. Daily physical activity helps to protect the heart, lungs, muscles, bones, and joints. Your 50’s is the ideal time to participate in gentle, weight-bearing activities to help slow down bone loss. New to exercise? Follow the physical activity guidelines for older adults, or consult with a certified fitness professional who specializes in older adult exercise and wellness.
Tip #6: Connect with Others. Social connections are crucial to mental health at every age, and even more so in the older adult years. Connecting with others reduces loneliness, which the US Surgeon General has stated is as deadly as smoking! Look for ways to engage with people of all ages and in different settings. If your family and friend circle is small, consider volunteering in your community or joining a book or board game club at your local library or bookstore.
At Everbrook Senior Living, we view the fifties as a time to focus on you! After years of attending to family, a career, and community obligations, we support your health and wellness journey through state-of-the-art residential and wellness amenities. We offer programs, clubs, classes, and outings that help you preserve and enhance your physical and emotional well-being. Contact us today and come see for yourself what aging wise and well looks like at Everbrook!
It’s easy for anyone to overheat in the summer months. Older adults, especially, are more sensitive to fluctuations in temperature. It’s important to stay aware of how you’re feeling during hot weather, or you can quickly overheat and be at risk for a serious—and potentially dangerous—heat illness.
People age 65 and older typically do not adapt easily to changes in temperature, particularly the sudden and extreme bouts of heat that we’ve been seeing in recent years. Unlike younger people, older adults don’t have the physical resilience to adapt quickly, produce sweat and regulate their body temperature.
There are few reasons why this happens. including:
Signs & Symptoms of Heat Related Illness
According to the CDC, as the body becomes overheated, a person can be in danger of heat-related illness including:
The symptoms of these illnesses can range from mild to severe, and one can quickly progress to another. For example, heat cramps and exhaustion may precede heat stroke.
Some signs that you are experiencing heat illness include:
Keep an eye out for these serious heat illnesses:
Heat exhaustion occurs when your body can no longer stay cool. This often appears as feeling thirsty, dizzy, weak, uncoordinated, or nauseated. You may sweat a lot and have cold and clammy skin, or a rapid pulse.
Heat stroke is a medical emergency. Signs can include fainting, behavior changes, high body temperature (over 104° F), dry skin, a strong and rapid pulse, a slow and weak pulse, and no longer sweating even though it’s hot outside.
Seek medical care immediately if you suspect heat illness.
The best way to stay safe is to know the signs of heat illness and know what to do to address those signs and protect yourself or a loved one.
Older adults can stay safe in hot weather by following these tips:
Hot days are not time to try to keep up with the young kids in your life. Stay cool, stay hydrated, and protect yourself from the heat so that you can enjoy summer days without risk for illness.
Do you feel like you are having to keep tabs on your aging parent? Are you second guessing if mom or dad should still be living on their own and may need more supervised care? There are several hidden warning signs that can be indicators an aging parent needs assisted living care.
When observing your older adult parent in their living space, you’ll want to keep tabs on the following warning signs to assess whether or not they can continue to independently care for themselves and their home. You may want to keep a notebook, so you can see patterns of behavior and can share this information with your parent and their physician. This information will be helpful for decision making and for engaging with assisted living counselors when you start evaluating residential options for your parent.
When you are making notes about these changes in your aging parent, you’ll also want to observer how they respond to the changes themselves and how they respond to you when you try to discuss these things with them:
1. Forgetfulness. It may not seem like a “hidden warning” because forgetfulness in older adults is something we typically think of as really obvious. Before forgetfulness gets to the problematic point, it progresses, for most people, at a slow pace. You’ll want to look for consistent, insidious patterns of forgetfulness. This is more than just occasionally misplacing the car keys—something all of us do from time-to-time. When the car keys (or anything else) go missing more than occasionally, and to the point where the keys can’t be found so your parent can’t drive the car, that’s the kind of progression that’s a sign something more serious is going on with memory.
A red-hot warning sign for forgetfulness, which can have tragic outcomes is your aging parent forgetting to take their medication. Be sure that you are keeping tabs on their dosing—that they aren’t taking too much or too little (or none at all), which could result in a medical emergency situation. Other significant warning signs for forgetfulness include: not remembering where they placed important documents, forgetting to cash checks received, to pay bills electronically or by mail, or placing perishable foods in a cabinet instead of the fridge.
2. House is a Mess. If your parent wasn’t a messy person most of their life, and their living space starts to look in disarray, that could be cause for concern. Take notice of:
These things could be signs of forgetfulness and/or changes in mobility, meaning your parent is no longer able to do these things and is ashamed to tell you.
3. Changes in Mobility. The obvious signs are frequent falls and similar mishaps with movement. Before that degree of change, you’ll want to look for these hidden warning signs in your aging parent’s mobility:
4. Poor Personal Hygiene. If an aging parent suddenly looks unkept, has body odor, or seems to be wearing the same clothes over again, these are subtle signs they are losing the ability to independently care for themself. So pay attention to these things each time you visit:
5. Not Engaging in Activities. If your aging parent has discontinued participation in their usual hobbies, social outings with friends, or routine shopping... and this is not due to an acute illness or minor physical set-back, be concerned. You’ll want to talk
Is it Time for Your Aging Parent to Move to Assisted Living?
If you find that your aging parent displays any of these hidden warning signs of not being able to care for themselves and their living space, then it may be time to consider assisted living. This is especially important to do if you are unable to take-on the challenge of caregiving for your parent. Everbrook Senior Living offers support from compassionate care counselors who can in help you decide about assisted living care that meets your parent’s unique needs. We provide the resources and options necessary for making an informed and affordable choice. Not only do our state-of-the-art, luxury residences provide medical attention your loved one may made need, they will also have access to a full complement of recreational, social, emotional, and cultural activities to support their well-being in their Golden Years.
