Posts Tagged ‘Dementia’


Warning: include(/home/content/13/8406013/html/wp-content/themes/happierathome/_/inc/nav.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/content/13/8406013/html/wp-content/themes/happierathome/archive.php on line 30

Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/home/content/13/8406013/html/wp-content/themes/happierathome/_/inc/nav.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/local/php5/lib/php') in /home/content/13/8406013/html/wp-content/themes/happierathome/archive.php on line 30

11 of 16 Great Things You Can do for a Senior

Teach Games and Organize Puzzle ExchangesUse or lose it – at least that’s what they say. Mind-challenging puzzles and games are excellent tools for boosting brainpower and bringing people together.
If your community doesn’t have a game and puzzle exchange, start one. If they have one, add to it. This is not only a great volunteer activity for individuals, its a wonderful thing for business to do. Check around the house and see if you have any games you haven’t played lately. Ask your friends or local businesses to donate. Stop by a Goodwill or Salvation Army outlet. You can usually find all kinds of games on the shelves.
You can also volunteer to teach games at the local recreation or senior center. There are many new games, such as Sudoku, that seniors are unfamiliar with.
The internet provides hundreds of game sites. Seniors who have access to the internet and know how to use it have a world of puzzle and game opportunities at their fingertips. Library shelves are filled with puzzle and game books. Take a few out and loan them to a senior. Buy a puzzle book at your supermarket or drugstore to take as a gift the next time you visit.
Better yet, pick out a puzzle and do it together. Two heads are better than one and a lot more fun too.

Share

Number 6 of 16 Great Things You Can Do for a Senior

Educate Them on How to Prevent Identity Theft and Fraud.Senior citizens are a prime target for identity theft and fraud. Physical and mental infirmities make them highly vulnerable to victimization and exploitation and many live alone, making them easy marks for unscrupulous salesmen and con artists.
To make matters worse, seniors are the least able to deal with the financial and emotional consequences of identity theft or fraud. Worst of all, there are no quick fixes.
Here are some suggestions on ways to prevent being victimized. Many excellent brochures are available from federal agencies, financial institutions and non-profit organizations. Websites such as www.privacyrights.org is a good source of information. Police departments and Better Business Bureau may offer seminars as well.
We Recommend:
a. Pay cash wherever possible.
b. Destroy old credit cards and rip up carbons.
c. Use a paper shredder to get rid of receipts, bills and financial information.
d. Purchase a locked mail box. Mail all mail at a postal facility, not a home mail box and retrieve mail from the box promptly.
e. Never respond to any unsolicited e-mails, including those that appear to be from banks or financial institutions.
f. Never give out SSN, credit card number or other personal information over the phone, by mail or on the internet unless you have a trusted business relationship with the company and have initiated the call.
g. Get registered on the national Do Not Call Registry.
h. Never carry extra credit cards or social security information in their wallets and keep wallets in a secure place at home.
i. Reduce the amount of junk mail by sending their name and address to the Mail Preference Service.
j. Remove their name and address from the phone book and reverse directories.
k. Pick checkbook orders up at the bank, rather than through the mail.
l. Keep a list or photocopy all credit cards, bank accounts and investments including account numbers, expiration dates and telephone numbers of the customer service and fraud departments.
m. Order a credit report once a year.
n. Review their credit card, phone and cell phone and bank statements every month for unauthorized use.
o. Check with Better Business Bureaus and state agencies to see if the business has claims against it.
p. Never sign a contract without having a trusted friend or attorney review the document.
q. Ask for and check references.
r. Do business with reputable local firms rather than out-of-state businesses.

Share

The Latest in Technology to Fight Memory Loss

When it comes to the brain and memory, Use it and keep it. Challenge it and gain.

The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) and Neurology agree that frequent participation in brain-stimulating activities reduced and improved functional and cognitive decline in many older persons. The brain, at all ages, has significant potential to acquire new knowledge and skills with proper training and exercise. By challenging your brain with new activities or games, you strengthen such cognitive skills as the ability to remember something, or solve a problem. Playing games that are challenging takes you out of your comfort zone and forces you to utilize unused areas of your brain.
Like different types of physical exercise, no single mental exercise is ‘all-purpose.’ For instance, crossword puzzles emphasize skills that continue to grow throughout one’s lifespan (verbal abilities). Video games, on the other hand, tend to emphasize skills that are vulnerable to aging (speed, attention, memory, etc.). Thus, video games may offer the opportunity to get ‘exercise’ in areas that need it most. In addition, video games are novel for most older adults, and research suggests that this newness is an important ingredient for successful cognitive intervention.
There are countless easy and enjoyable activities that can help protect and build brainpower, such as doing daily crossword or Sudoku puzzles or learning to speak a foreign language. However, if you’d like to try a more technologically advanced option, consider something that’s specially designed to strengthen your brain. There are several types of electronic games that challenge your brain, and they are available for computers, video-game systems like the Wii, handheld video-game devices like the Nintendo DS, and Web sites. When selecting a game to challenge your brain, look for games that challenge the five senses: hearing, feel, taste, smell, and sight. Games that require problem solving are also ideal.
Scientists and neuropsychologists have developed games available on-line through sites such as www.happy-neuron.com, which features games that exercise all five cognitive areas of the brain, including memory, attention, language, visual/spatial processing, and overall executive functioning. Also on-line are games at MyBrainTrainer.com, which offers interactive exercises, each designed to stimulate a specific region of the brain and to improve mental-processing speed, memory capacity, concentration, multitasking ability, and visual discrimination. On-line sites usually have an annual fee from $30-$100 per year.
Other brain fitness games come in CD-ROM such as Brain Fitness Series and [m]Power Cognitive Fitness System . They are designed to boost memory, information processing, problem-solving abilities, language use, and other skills. The cost varies greatly from $89-$2,500.
Perhaps the biggest craze to hit Senior Living communities is the Nintendo Wii. Seniors are not only bowling on Wii, but are playing My Word Coach, which is designed to help people improve their vocabulary and provides users with a tool to track their progress and potential.
Nintendo is making it accessible and easy for those confined to their home to help stimulate your brain and give it the workout it needs. One must first purchase a Nintendo handheld device, which ranges in cost from $80-$200. Brain Age and Brain Age2, designed for handheld Nintendo DS systems, trains users across 15 activities: solving simple math problems, reciting piano songs, testing memory skills in the classic board game “Concentration,” and playing a challenging version of rock, paper, scissors. Users simply write their answers on the touch screen with a stylus pen. Nintendo DS’s voice-recognition technology allows the program to identify particular words spoken during certain activities. Other games available for Nintendo DS are Crosswords, My Word Coach, My Spanish Coach, and My French Coach, all for about $19.99 each.

Share