The issue of elderly who were once reasonably clean adults refusing to take showers and wear fresh clothes is one that is far more common than one realizes. My dad, who worked a large portion of his life as a roofer, is starting to suffer from this common thing as well.

Sometimes the issue is depression. If we have a parent who no longer takes an interest in staying clean or wearing clean clothes, it’s wise to look at depression first. A routine check-up with their family physician is a good idea, especially if low energy is also part of it, or if they just don’t care about anything at all. Depression isn’t always obvious to an observer so it is important to have a physician examine them.

Another factor is control. As people age, they lose more and more control over their lives. But one thing they can generally control is dressing and showers. The more they are nagged, the more they resist. “My daughter is trying to take over everything. Well, she isn’t going to tell me when to shower, that’s for sure. Besides, I’m just fine!”

A third issue is a decreased sense of sight and smell. What your nose picks up as sweat, they don’t even notice. Not on themselves. Not on their mate. Their senses are not as acute as they once were.

A fourth cause is memory. The days go by. They aren’t marked with tons of activities as they were when they were young.…

HEARING HEALTH AND BRAIN HEALTH: IS THERE A CONNECTION?

A new study shows there is a higher risk of accelerated cognitive decline due to withdrawal from social activities for individuals with hearing loss who do not actively use hearing aids.

It’s widely known that as we get older, most of us experience some decline in our cognitive faculties. We tend to forget things, it takes longer to learn new things and it’s harder to concentrate and focus.  This cognitive decline is usually a normal part of aging, unfortunately. We can’t stop it, but there are things we can do to slow it down.
 

MAINTAIN YOUR BRAIN: STAY STIMULATED

According to research, by far the single most important thing we can do to maintain our brains as we age is to stay mentally engaged, through an active social life with friends, family and business associates.

Healthy hearing is a key part of staying involved with people and the world around us. But as we age, for many of us, our hearing ability declines, along with cognition. Is there a connection between hearing loss and cognitive decline? For many years, researchers have speculated about this relationship. For the first time, a new study has documented hearing loss and cognitive decline among a group of nearly 4000 volunteers over a 25-year period.
 

ACTIVELY USING HEARING AIDS HELPS KEEP YOUR BRAIN FIT

What the scientists found was interesting: people with hearing loss who used hearing aids and were socially active experienced cognitive decline at a rate similar to those without hearing loss.…

Recently I was going through the check out in a local business, I was mulling over what a terrible day it had been. I am positive that I had an unhappy look on my face.

I was caught by surprise when the teller smiled and me and asked in a very cheerful tone of voice, “How’s your day going?”

I found myself instantly smiling back and said “Pretty good”. I have to admit that her smile had actually made me feel much better.

The smile is a powerful took in life. A powerful nonverbal communication tool. It is nearly impossible to not smile back at someone who has smiled at you. And the feeling of that shared smile is amazing. It got me to think about how I interact with those around me on a daily basis. At Daughter On Call we work every day with clients living with a dementia. Some of them can be grumpy, moody or even downright hostile. And the best thing to combat those characteristics is a smile accompanied by a cheerful attitude. With some people it can take time before they return your smile, but you need to continue doing it until you are rewarded by those pearly whites. I once had a client who I will call “Frank”; Frank was not a happy 84 year old when I met him, he never smiled, laughed or was even slightly pleasant to be around. Working with Frank was difficult; I would often walk into his home nervous, wondering what he was going to be grumping about today.…

1. The Missed Medication: Missed doses and medication mistakes (overdosing and running out of pills before the next prescription can be refilled) can lead to very serious medical complications. Older people often take multiple prescriptions for various health conditions, which can be overwhelming without assistance and reminders.
2. The Mysterious Dent: Look for evidence of parking or speeding tickets, fender-benders, dents and scratches on the senior’s car as signs that driving skills may be deteriorating. Decreased ability to see, poor sense of direction, inability to merge into traffic, driving way under the speed limit and slow reaction time is a recipe for disaster with senior driving.
3. The Missed Doctor’s Appointment: While this can be a symptom of increased forgetfulness, it is often simply a result of not having transportation and not knowing how to access transportation options on their own.
4. The Piling Mail: Seniors can feel overwhelmed by the simple task of reaching the mail box, opening and responding to daily mail, as well as balancing a checkbook, particularly if eye sight is deteriorating or if this was once the responsibility of a now-deceased spouse. This can result in overdue bills, bounced checks, utilities being turned off due to lack of payment and other creditor issues.
5. The Lost Walker: Items and valuables dear to your aging parent become lost. Anyone who has memory problems and is able to walk is at risk for wandering. Be on the lookout for the warning signs of dementia such as returns from regular walks later than usual, difficulty locating familiar places (such as the bathroom or bedroom), or pacing or restless movement.

It is often felt that holidays should be happy times, with generations of traditions coming to the forefront.  We tend to celebrate the holidays, so doesn’t that mean happiness?  The reality, however, is that many people can feel isolated and lonely during this sometimes forced “season of good will”.

Elders can have an especially hard time with the holiday season.  While aging and maturity can bring wisdom of years for many people, there are inevitable losses that come to even the most healthy individuals.  Many of these losses are emotional and social in nature.  Spouses become ill and die.  Other aging relatives and friends become seriously ill, or die.

Neighborhoods change, often leaving even those well enough to remain in their own homes feeling friendless and isolated.  The holidays can bring isolation and a feeling of loneliness to a head.  You, the adult child of a parent who may seem depressed during the holidays, can do much to help.  Yes, you are busy and stressed yourself.  However, by simplifying the holiday season all around and concentrating on what really matters – people – you can offer your parent help through what can be, for some, a time of discouragement.…