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7 Tips for Communicating with Someone with Dementia

aadmin — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:02:32 +0000

Dementia is a progressive illness that can affect an individual's ability to remember a conversation, fact or name of family members or friends. This can be frustrating not only for the person with the illness, but for people around them. They could be having a conversation and forget what they were talking about by losing train of thought or have difficulty in organizing words logically. When communicating with someone who has dementia or Alzheimer's Disease, there are several ways to help improve conversation.

1. Use familiar words and speak clearly and slowly. This allows time for a response and to comprehend what is being said.

2. Be patient and supportive. You need to let the person know that you understand what they are saying and show that you care about what it is they are talking about.

3. Give encouragement to keep trying to say what is on their mind. Sometimes the person with dementia will get frustrated or stop talking, but with a little encouragement they may continue what they were talking about or start up a new conversation.

4. Give time to respond. Avoid any kind of interruption. If the person with dementia has trouble organizing their thoughts then let them know that you are there to listen. Don't interrupt when they are speaking and allow them to say what is on their mind and when there is a pause let them know you want to hear what they have to say.

5. Give simple choices. Always avoid anything that may be too complicated such as a large menu of choices. Go to a familiar restaurant and ask them what they want, and suggest their favorite dish. Otherwise they may feel frustrated because they can't remember what certain foods taste like or what certain things are.

6. Avoid correcting the person with dementia. This is not encouraging them to keep talking when you correct what they say, or correct the facts they are talking about. This will help prevent arguing, as well.

7. Limit distractions around you as much as possible. Sometimes this can be very difficult, but if it is hard to hold a conversation then ask them to point out what they are referring to or write it down or even use gesturing. This allows for a wider range of communication to happen.

These seven tips will help improve the conversation you will have with a family member or friend that has dementia. It can be frustrating for everyone involved, but with a little patience and encouragement to keep a conversation going, communication will become a little easier.

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Alzheimer's Care

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Senior Living

Practical tips for interacting with an Alzheimer's sufferer

aadmin — Thu, 22 Jan 2015 18:30:22 +0000

By all estimates, there are over 4.5 million people in the U.S. afflicted with Alzheimer’s disease and the Alzheimer’s Association found that the illness is the sixth most common cause of death in the United States, a jump of 68 percent from 2000 to 2010.

If you feel that a friend or family member is showing the signs of the onset of Alzheimer’s you should encourage them to seek medical attention and go with them to discuss stages and expectations with the physician.

Medical Assessment When Alzheimer’s is Expected

Physicians may suggest a blood test to determine if the APOE-e4 gene is present, it is the strongest risk gene for Alzheimer's as well as other tests such as Mental Status Tests, Mood Assessment, Mini-Cognitive and perhaps a brain imaging test.

These combined will help assess the patient and let the caregiver know what stage they are in and the specific type of care required.

Caring for Those with Alzheimer’s

Once diagnosed, the following tips can help those with Alzheimer's Disease:

Limit choices so the person does not have to make decisions which can be difficult and frustrating.
Remove distractions such as TV while the person is eating, bathing or doing other activities, as this distraction may take their mind away from the task at hand.
If the individual has difficult remembering things from the past, often they comforted by music from their past.
Make sure they are in a safe environment, where they can easily get around with a walker
Use cabinet locks and make sure drawers within reach don’t contain harmful objects or medication.
Make sure to keep a comfortable temperature; those with dementia or Alzheimer’s tend to be more sensitive to cold.
Make sure you have fire alarms and fire extinguishers readily available in case they forget to turn the stove burners off.
If the senior with Alzheimer’s experience difficulty communicating, write things down. Suggest that friends/family send notes rather than call. They can review the notes and may not remember a phone call.
Speak to the person face-to-face and maintain eye contact.
Don’t try to finish their sentences, let them try to respond.
Use short sentences and make just one point to avoid confusion. Use easy words that they will be able to easily understand.
Avoid words like: him, her, it, they, etc., they may not remember who you are talking about, use names instead.
If they are able to do so, you may want to play a simple game like Bingo, puzzles or easy card game.
Read something a chapter from a book they may have read in the past and enjoyed.
Look at photo albums, specifically with photos of the individual at an earlier time in life, which may spark reminiscing about the past.

Surely, tending to those with Alzheimer’s can be challenging, but knowing these simple tips can help you get through this difficult time and help the individual suffering from the disease a better quality of life.

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A look at mental illness in the elderly

aadmin — Fri, 17 May 2013 17:13:34 +0000

The month of May is Mental Health Awareness Month in the United States, and mental health advocacy groups across North America are using this month as an opportunity to educate and inform the general public about the widespread reality of mental illness.

And although mental illness does not discriminate by age, race, sex or income bracket, it does disproportionally affect seniors and the elderly more than other age groups. About 20 per cent of people aged 65 and older suffer from some kind of mental illness, according to data from the American Psychological Association.

Although the numbers are dramatic, mental illness is not a monolith. Rather, mental illness can take multiple forms, from Alzheimer’s Disease to depression, as well as a wide variety of types of dementia.

Here is a quick guide to the most prominent forms of mental illness among seniors:

Alzheimer’s Disease: With about five million sufferers in the United States, Alzheimer’s is also the sixth-leading cause of death in the U.S. The disease degenerates brain cells, and causes sufferers to become unable to perform simple daily tasks, and eventually it can be fatal. Alzheimer’s is strongly correlated to age, with about 95% of Americans with the disease are aged 65 and older.

Depression: As with Alzheimer’s Disease, depression affects people of all ages, but seniors and the elderly suffer disproportionally, and the risk for depression rises with advanced age. Suicide rates, which serves as a common yardstick for depression levels, is about twice the rate in the United States for people aged 75 and older, compared to younger Americans.

Mild Cognitive Impairment (MCI): Advanced age can typically be expected to affect certain changes in the human body – vision problems and slower movement, for example – some cognitive decline is also not unusual, and may not be anything to worry about. However, more advanced signs, such as consistent forgetfulness, may be a sign of MCI, which is not technically a form of dementia, but is still a condition that can cause difficulty and hardship among sufferers.

There are many other forms of mental illness and dementia where seniors face suffering, but according to the National Institute of Health (NIH), the most important steps caregivers and family members of seniors – as well as older people themselves – are preventative. Although some diseases, such as Alzheimer’s, are not currently not known to be themselves preventable, physical and mental exercise, as well as regular medical checkups and seeking immediate medical attention at the sight of anything unusual, will be the best measures older people and their loved ones can take.

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The unknown, ugly face of Alzheimer's Disease

aadmin — Tue, 19 Mar 2013 17:02:13 +0000

Alzheimer’s Disease is often seen as an illness which robs sufferers of their most precious memories, sometimes to the point where those with Alzheimer’s don’t even remember who their loved ones are.

But Alzheimer’s Disease does more than attack attack people’s minds; it is also a fatal illness.

As reported recently by NPR.org, recent statistics from the Alzheimer’s Association found that the illness is now the sixth most-common cause of death in the United States, with a jump of 68 per cent from 2000 to 2010.

According to Dr. Maria Carrillo, a neuroscientist with the Alzheimer’s Association, an aging population is the prime cause for the growing number of deaths from Alzheimer’s.

“We're living longer,” Dr. Carrillo told NPR.org. “And unfortunately age is still the greatest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease.”

Another health expert, professor Susan Mitchell of Harvard University, told the news source that the deaths from dementia and Alzheimer’s are probably significantly higher than current estimates, in part because many Alzheimer’s sufferers also have other illnesses, and those are often listed as the cause of death.

There are an estimated five million Americans with Alzheimer’s Disease today, and that number is expected to grow to almost 14 million people by the year 2050.

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Brain Health

Brain fitness: How you can use technology to keep your brain healthy

aadmin — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 15:00:39 +0000

Our recent appreciation that the human brain can be shaped and is affected by environmental input is important. We refer to this shaping or sculpting of the brain as “neural plasticity.” This is not a new concept, however, and many such as Dr. Donald Hebb, a Canadian psychologist, served as a pioneer in this area of study many years ago.

Our understanding that the human brain can be shaped by environmental input provides an entire new way of appreciating our control, to some degree, over the structure and function of our brain. My work is dedicated to brain health and I try to teach all about the miracle of the human brain and how lifestyle is important to the health of the brain.

The renewed excitement surrounding neural plasticity has literally placed the human brain on the radar screen of the American psyche. Society is now interested in the brain, how it works, and what we can do to nurture our brain. Indeed, there is recognition at the highest levels of academic inquiry about the importance of studying what input and what activities can potentially promote the health and even prevent disease of the brain. The media and typical avenues of information dissemination to the general public are now filled with stories on the brain and brain health. I remain quite busy delivering keynote presentations across the world on my Brain Health Lifestyle ® and in helping companies, schools, and organizations develop their own brain health culture. In short, brain health is now the most popular topic in all of health care!

While nutrition, physical activity and exercise, and spirituality have emerged as “hot” areas of interest within brain health, mental stimulation continues to be an important and critical part of the brain health story. Business enterprises have now emerged to try and apply products or services that put into practice the power of neural plasticity. One example of such a business enterprise is “brain fitness” that tends to be delivered on a virtual or online platform. Some estimates are that this is a multi-million dollar business that is only growing.

How does Mental Stimulation Work?

Brain fitness is one form of mental stimulation, one of the five critical factors in my brain health lifestyle ®. There are certainly many forms of non-virtual mental stimulation that can occur such as travel, gardening, reading, writing, and learning a language. Regardless, if an activity is “novel and complex” your cortex, the conscious information processing part of your brain, will be engaged. The cortex is where brain health occurs. Brain cells react to novel and complex stimuli by generating new branches of the cell known as dendrites. The more dendrites and cellular connections developed over a lifespan the more “brain resilience” you develop.

Brain resilience is a type of natural defense that can delay onset of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. It does not prevent and it certainly does not cure. Brain fitness can be a type of novel and complex stimuli to help the brain build brain resilience. It is not a clinical intervention; it is a brain health promoting exercise.

Fitbrains and Brain Health

I have consulted with several companies in the brain fitness space and I served on a panel for the Wall Street Journal that reviewed the major businesses in this space. The panel decided we need to continue to conduct research on the effects of engaging in online brain fitness, help the public understand the role of brain fitness, and encourage continued development of brain fitness programs that are practical, relevant to daily life, and fun.

Brain fitness typically involves online cognitive exercises in areas of memory, attention, visual-spatial, executive, and language domains. The exercises are often presented in the form of brain games. I serve as the Chief Scientific Officer for Fitbrains, Inc. a leader in the brain fitness space. Fitbrains, Inc. provides mental exercises in the form of practical and fun games that help the consumer train the cognitive domains mentioned earlier. Apple recently released a new App, Fitbrains Trainer, and many people across the world are using it.

I would encourage everyone to take some time and try the Fitbrains trainer APP on your iPhone or iPad and determine how you feel after a brain fitness exercise. It is important to recognize that such effort facilitates brain health, as you will be engaged in novel and complex mental activity. It is not disease preventing. This can be a fun and worthwhile part of your daily brain health lifestyle ®.

Good Luck and build brain resilience today!

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Can learning this skill prevent Alzheimer's?

aadmin — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 14:04:30 +0000

Learning another language has long been held by mental health experts as beneficial to one’s memory, verbal and non-verbal communications, as well as math skills.

But a new study suggests that bilingualism is especially valuable for seniors.

But as reported by science news website RedOrbit.com, researchers from the University of Kentucky College of Medicine (UKCM) have found seniors who are born and raised in bilingual environments have better changes of avoiding cognitive decline with age than their peers who grew up with only one language.

That could potentially translate to a lower chance of contracting Alzheimer’s Disease, less of a need to move into an Alzheimer Care community.

“This suggests that bilingual seniors use their brains more efficiently than monolingual seniors,” researcher Brian Gold of UKCM told the news source. “Together, these results suggest that lifelong bilingualism may exert its strongest benefits on the functioning of frontal brain regions in aging.”

One of the potential long-term impacts of this study could be more funding for bilingual education, and more opportunities for parents to educate their children at home in another language.

Did you grow up speaking two languages? Do you feel it benefitted you as a child, and do you still see the benefits now? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

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