Alzheimers

5 Ways Humor Can Help You Cope With Dementia

Posted on 04/10/2013 by Sally Abrahms | Caregiving | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | RelationshipsBefore she had Alzheimer’s, author Jill McCorkle’s mother was very religious, never cursed or, God forbid, mentioned sex. But McCorkle’s sister called Jill last month. Apparently, their mother was talking nonstop about gonorrhea. She was convinced a lot of the residents in her memory care facility had it “and we all know how they got it,” she repeated. “There are things my mother says that are so out of character and off the wall,” says McCorkle. “I can’t even imagine …

Cost of Dementia Tops $157 Billion

Posted on 04/3/2013 by Carole Fleck | Money and Work | Comments

Bulletin Today | Caregiving | Money & Savings | Personal HealthNearly one in five of us boomers will develop Alzheimer’s disease or some other form of dementia in our lifetime. If that’s not scary enough, researchers have put a staggering figure on the diseases’ financial burden. A new study published in the April 4 edition of the New England Journal of Medicine says dementia costs more than heart disease or even cancer — between $157 and $215 billion annually. And that was based on the prevalence of the disease in 2010, …

One in Three Older Adults Dies With Dementia

Posted on 03/19/2013 by Candy Sagon | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthLess than a week after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced plans to get new Alzheimer’s drugs to market more quickly, comes two alarming reports showing dramatic increases in the number of deaths from the degenerative brain disease. A new report, released by the Alzheimer’s Association, an advocacy group, finds that one in three older adults dies with dementia, based on numbers from Medicare and Medicaid reports. Although Alzheimer’s may not be the direct cause of death, it can …

On the Verge of Discovery: The Fountain of Youth in Pill Form

Posted on 03/18/2013 by Carole Carson | Fat to Fit | Comments

Personal HealthIf you could take a pill and prevent further aging, would you take it? Besides extending the length of your life, what if the pill could protect you from cancer, Alzheimer’s disease and type 2 diabetes? You might even find your skin looking younger. Do these claims sound like science fiction? Not at all, according to David Sinclair, a geneticist who heads the Lowy Cancer Research Centre’s Laboratory for Ageing Research at the University of New South Wales. Dr. Sinclair, …

Three Ways Caregivers Can Use Music Therapeutically

Posted on 03/15/2013 by Amy Goyer | Aging, Home & Family Expert | Comments

Caregiving | Home & Family | Relationships | Your LifeAs a music therapist, I worked for many years with older adults and children with special needs using music as a tool to achieve non-musical goals. I used music to encourage expression and social interaction, physical activity and movement, brain stimulation, healing, verbal expression and communication, expression of emotions, reminiscence and even achieve simple eye contact. I created a hand-chime choir with my adult day services center participants who traveled around performing for their peers at other centers. One of …

Living Longer Than Ever: Is That a Good Thing?

Posted on 03/14/2013 by Candy Sagon | Personal Health and Well-being | Comments

Bulletin Today | Personal HealthCHICAGO — The good news: We’re living longer than ever. The bad news: We’re living longer than ever. In an oversimplified way, that was the message from Laura Carstensen, Ph.D., director of Stanford University’s Center on Longevity, in her remarks to this year’s Aging in America Conference here, sponsored by the American Society on Aging. Carstensen, a well-known researcher who delights in debunking stereotypes of older adults, had less of the expected “older is better” happy talk, and more of …