Two of three older adults experienced only a small amount of cognitive decline during a decade-long study, according to new research.

The findings challenge the perception mental deterioration is normal in seniors, the authors say. The study, done on 1,049 adults who initially had no dementia, was published Friday in the journal Age and Aging.

“This research is important,” says Richard Jones, an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, “because the focus for seniors can be on living independently for as long as possible and putting less of a burden on our health-care system.”

The research was done at Duke University, Rush University, and the Institute for Aging Research of Hebrew SeniorLife, an affiliate of Harvard Medical School. The cognitive skills of the participants (ages 56 – 102) were tested annually.

By assuming cognitive decline is a part of normal aging, physicians and clinicians dismiss performance from an elderly patient as something that is to be expected, the authors say. With an understanding that cognitive decline is not normal, however, poor performance can be investigated and preventable or reversible conditions, such as delirium, medication side effects, or vitamin deficiency, can be addressed.

The study participants were Catholic nuns, monks and priests from 13 states. The researchers identified three groups of people, those experiencing slow, moderate and rapid cognitive decline. About two in three participants were in the slow decline group.

“This was a study of cognitive performance, not IQ,” says Jones. “But one could think of our results in terms of an outcome that was scored like an IQ test, where 100 was average and the normal range is between 70 and 130.”

He adds an 75-year-old person, with a score of 100 in 2005 would be expected to have a score of 94 in 2015 if they were in the slow decline group.

“That is not much of a change, and it is the group where most people fit,” he says.

However, a minority of older adults experienced a faster decline. A 75-year-old with a cognitive performance score of 100 in 2005 would have a score of 57 in 2015.

“People with moderate or fast cognitive decline, and their families, probably need medical or social support,” says Jones.

Other findings: People in the moderate and fast decline groups had more Alzheimer’s disease neuropathology at autopsy than did people showing slow decline class.

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Trying to help loved one from miles away often harder than being close by, experts say

(HealthDay News) — Caring for a parent or relative in the same zip code can be hard enough, but long-distance caregiving, which is becoming more common in an increasingly mobile society, brings with it added burdens.

By 2012, an estimated 14 million Americans will be long-distance caregivers, so many that some even have new names: “seagulls” and “pigeons.”

These terms refer to family members who alight for short periods of time, make a mess for local caregivers and fly out. What they don’t take into account are the pain, isolation and hassles that long-distance caregivers are dealing with on their own.

“They have unique issues,” said Polly Mazanec, lead author of a paper appearing in a recent issue of Oncology Nursing Forum.

Those include financial concerns, since many people are borrowing from savings to travel at a moment’s notice or to arrange child care or pet sitting during their absence, as well as emotional issues such as guilt, worry and anxiety.

“We found that long-distance caregivers were much more anxious than local caregivers, who could see what was happening [on a more frequent basis],” said Mazanec, an assistant professor of nursing at the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland.

“Long-distance caregivers end up feeling guilty. I deal with it on a daily basis,” added Dr. Nasiya Ahmed, an assistant professor of geriatric and palliative medicine at the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston.

Family caregiving has received a lot of attention recently, but not so much for those who have to do it at a distance.

“Here’s this whole group of people out there that no one is helping and they’re typically part of the sandwich generation, juggling their own families and careers,” said Mazanec, who is also an advance practice oncology nurse at University Hospital’s Case Medical Centers Seidman Cancer Center. “It’s just a real challenge.”

To start finding out what these challenges were, Mazanec and her colleagues interviewed 14 caregivers of parents with advanced cancer. The caregivers lived at least 100 miles from their ailing parents.

“Across the board, folks were pretty consistent in what they were telling us,” said Mazanec, who is also an advance practice oncology nurse at University Hospital’s Case Medical Center’s Seidman Cancer Center, also in Cleveland. “The biggest concerns were that they didn’t know what’s going on and felt very disconnected. They felt very much out of the loop.”

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If you are a long distance caregiver in need of senior home care for an aging loved one in the Punta Gorda, Port Charlotte, North Port, Englewood or Venice FL areas, visit us at http://floridahomecare.net. 

Senior falls can lead to serious health problems, and even death. There are simple things that can be done to prevent falls from happening. This is particularly important for elderly seniors who live alone. Most seniors who do require surgery after a fall must recover for a time at a skilled nursing facility. Such facilities are facing Medicare cuts for these specific type of rehabilitative services which may ultimately affect the quality of care patients receive. Follow the tips below to see if there are any areas of concern for your aging loved ones. For senior home care available in the Venice, Englewood, North Port, Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda or Charlotte County FL areas, visit us at http://floridahomecare.net.

Savvy Senior: How to prevent falls

DEAR SAVVY SENIOR: Can you write a column on fall prevention tips for elderly seniors? My 81-year-old father, who lives alone, has fallen several times over the past year. What can you tell us?
Concerned Daughter

DEAR CONCERNED, Falls are a big concern for millions of elderly Americans and their families. In the U.S., about one-third of the 65-and-older population will suffer a fall this year, often with bad consequences. But many falls can be prevented. Here are steps you can take to help keep your dad up on his feet and reduce his risk of falling:

Check his meds: Does your dad take any medicine or combination of medicines that make him dizzy, sleepy or lightheaded? If so, gather up all the drugs he takes — prescriptions and over-the-counter — and take them to his doctor or pharmacist for a drug review.

Get an eye exam: Poor vision can be another contributor to falls. If your dad wears glasses, check to see if he’s wearing the correct prescription and beware of bifocals. Multifocal glasses can impair vision needed for detecting obstacles and judging depth.

Check his balance: Balance disorders — which can be brought on by a variety of conditions like inner ear problems, allergies, a head injury or problems with blood circulation — are also a common cause of falls. If you dad is having some balance issues, make an appointment with his doctor to get it checked and treated.

Start exercising: Improving balance through exercise is one of the best ways to prevent falls. Strength training, stretching, yoga and tai chi are all great for building better balance. Some simple exercises that he can do anytime are walking heel-to-toe across the room, standing on one foot for 30 seconds or longer, or getting up from a chair and sitting back down 10 to 20 times. For more balance exercise tips, call the National Institute on Aging at (800) 222-2225 and order their free exercise DVD and free exercise book or you can see it at go4life.niapublications.org.

Modify his home: Because about half of all falls happen around the home, some simple modifications can go a long way in making your dad’s living area safer. Start by picking up items on the floor that could cause him to trip like newspapers, books, shoes, cloths, electrical or phone cords. If he has throw rugs, remove them or use double-sided tape to secure them. In the bathroom put a nonslip rubber mat or self-stick strips on the floor of the tub or shower, and have a carpenter install grab bars inside the tub and next to the toilet. Also, make sure the lighting throughout the house is good, purchase some inexpensive plug-in nightlights for the bathrooms and hallways, and if he has stairs, consider putting hand rails on both sides. And in the kitchen, organize his cabinets so the things he uses most often are within easy reach without using a step stool. For more tips, call the Eldercare Locater at (800) 677-1116 and order a free copy of their “Preventing Falls at Home” brochure.

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Seniors who are reluctant (or even refusing) to participate in the digital revolution of America are at risk. With many important services going paperless, particularly Social Security, seniors may find themselves out of the loop with benefits and services that are vital to their well being. Many agencies have developed online systems that ultimately make finding information, gathering knowledge and implementing services easier for the consumer. However, if the senior consumer that such services are geared towards are not logging on, they can most definitely suffer isolation. Knowledge is power, but only if you can access it. Because most older Americans do not use any type of web based system, and do not plan to, they will continue to lose out. Baby boomers, on the other hand, have embraced the digital world, ensuring that they remain fully informed. For senior home care available in the Florida areas of Venice, Englewood, North Port, Port Charlotte and Punta Gorda visit http:floridahomecare.net.

Seniors Are Saying No to High Tech

The digital revolution may be changing the way we live and work. But large numbers of older Americans are not going online, using smartphones, or even participating in the benefits of electronic healthcare tools specifically designed to help them.

The costs of not participating in electronic communications are growing. Government and the private sector are shifting to online tools as their dominant form of public communication. It saves time and money, and provides more responsive public services. But surveys of Internet and technology use show that many, if not most, older consumers are bypassed with online communication.

Earlier this year, for example, the U.S. Social Security Administration said it would stop sending paper statements to Americans explaining their Social Security benefits. Instead, such statements would be available online. As part of a broader government policy, Social Security will also be ending paper-based benefit checks by May 2013.

The Social Security Administration says growing use of the Internet will allow it to save money on paper-based statements and still meet public needs. However, while the agency has stopped mailing out its annual statement of benefits, it has yet to begin offering this information online. And an agency spokesman says privacy rules prevent the agency from even measuring how many people visit its website. The agency knows that total page views on the site are rising, the spokesman said, but it is not allowed to collect specifics on how many beneficiaries are actually using the site.

The most probable answer, however, is “not many.” According to the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, only 42 percent of Americans age 65 and older go online at all. Of these, even smaller percentages use the Internet to research information on specific topics. These numbers are rising, but still are roughly half the level of younger Americans. The Social Security Administration does say it plans to provide paper-based statements to older people, but has not yet spelled out the timing of this effort.

Laurie Orlov is a former Forrester Research analyst who started her own company, Aging in Place Technology Watch, to research and provide consulting advice about seniors and technology. While there have been some gains in technology use by older consumers, price and complexity are barriers to larger gains, as is seniors’ comfort with familiar ways of doing things.

“People are pretty inflexible” about technology use, she says, “so there’s a chance those numbers won’t improve much.” Is it fair to describe seniors as the lost generation in terms of technology? “I think they are,” she says.

Orlov can rattle off an impressive list of the costs to seniors of not being online, from paying extra for airline tickets by using a reservations agent, to missing out on online coupons and other digital bargains, to becoming isolated from grandchildren and other family members who increasingly rely on digital devices to communicate.

Baby boomers, by contrast, are using new technology at rates nearly equal to younger consumers. They are likely to continue such habits as they join the ranks of senior citizens, and it will be this trend that will firmly establish electronic communication and commerce as a senior activity.

Continue reading from www.usnews.com…

Planning elder care for an aging loved one is difficult. Concentrate first on areas of agreement, and move the discussion forward by clarifying, analyzing and empathizing with everyone’s positions. If an agreement is still unable to be reached amicably, seek professional help. For senior home care available in the Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda, North Port, Engelwood or Venice FL areas, visit us at http://floridahomecare.net. 

Disagreement About Caring For Parents

Along with the stress involved in caring for an elderly parent, there is usually conflict between family members regarding how things should be handled. It helps if everyone can identify not only potential sources of conflict, but ways to deal with those conflicts in a calm and productive manner. Conflict is a part of life. It does not need to become a way of life.

When families encounter conflicts in dealing with elderly parents, those conflicts can become constructive if they produce a positive change in the way issues are dealt with, lead to a unity of purpose, or promote collaboration between family members. This only happens when the focus shifts from “what you want” to “why you want it.” One child may want Mom to move to an assisted living facility while another may want Mom to remain in her own home. If each holds to their position without discussing their motivation, it is unlikely that a frank discussion will ever occur. However, if both can talk about why they want what they want, there is a very good chance that their conversation will lead to a discussion that will result in a good solution.

So how can you resolve problems in a productive manner? There are several steps to conflict resolution which lead to positive solutions.

1. Clarify everyone’s position – not just what they want, but why they want it. Sometimes conflict arises out of assumptions or false notions. When people sit down and talk openly about their feelings, they often find that there is really not much of a conflict at all.
2. Analyze everyone’s position, interests, and issues completely and thoroughly. The more emotionally charged the situation, the longer this may take. Be prepared to spend some time or agree to meet several times to be sure that everyone’s position is heard and clearly understood. If you sense that some people may not be speaking honestly or bringing up everything they want to say, try this phrase, “If I were you, I probably would ________” This demonstrates empathy and encourages others to discuss things without reservation.
3. Start to look for areas where everyone is in agreement and write those down. Then begin to prioritize the areas where there is disagreement. Put minor issues first, deal with those, and then move on to bigger issues where there is more disagreement. Sometimes when small issues are resolved the desire to continue resolving problems becomes more intense. Sometimes the mere act of resolving a few small problems demonstrates that there is a possibility that problems can be solved. Always focus on the long-term goal and let the solutions help to reach the long-term goal. Look closely at solutions that don’t seem to be steps to meet the ultimate goal. Begin to work together as a group to figure out the best solutions to the problem.
4. If these steps don’t work, consider a third party to help with a resolution (social worker, minister, close family friend, etc.) or determine if there are some people involved in the decision-making who really should not be included at all. This can be done by looking at whether or not they are impacted currently by the problem and whether or not they will be impacted by the solution. For example, sometimes grandchildren can become quite vocal about what everyone should do for Grandma, but they do not provide any care to her currently and would not be effected by any new living arrangements. These are people who need to be removed from the decision making process.

Do not expect that every disagreement will be resolved within the family. Sometimes it helps to seek professional help to provide an objective voice. If this outside person is a trained professional such as a social worker, physician, therapist, etc. they may be able to help expand solutions to the problem by identifying other resources that they family may not be aware of.

Continue reading from seniorlist.com…