Creativity Can Empower Your Second Half of Life...

There are many ways to uncover and develop your creativity. The great thing is … it can help all aspects of your life. Every day we hear of amazing creative people who are active well into their seventies and eighties. One of the most famous was Grandma Moses (1860-1961), an American folk artist, who started her art career when she was 79 and continued well into her 90’s. People view her as remarkable because she started her art career so late in life. She is not unusual in terms of people who continue to their creative endeavors to the very end. George Burns (1896-1996), the American actor and author so many loved, started out in the days of vaudeville and acted well into his 80’s. Dame Agatha Christie (1890-1976), the detective novelist, wrote up until her death at age 86, her books selling over 100 million copies. In your own life, you probably have friends who are always trying some new creative endeavor, so it’s not just the famous who nurture this aspect of life. Many changes occur as we enter the older years, and they are often factors that can release aspects of creativity that have lain dormant. When families have been raised there is often more time to pursue creative activities. At some point, careers come to an end, and a person can pursue creative hobbies, or even start an encore (encore.org) career that enables them to use their creative talents. The brain is different in the later years, and many of the ways are amazing and wondrous. It is conceivably part of our evolution as mankind. So many are living to be so much older, not only in the United States, but all over the world....

Why the Arts Are Key to Dementia Care...

This form of communication can engage intuition and imagination When you receive a serious medical diagnosis, it can feel as though that diagnosis replaces your identity. I am no longer myself — instead, now I am cancer, or heart attack or dementia. But even when we carry a diagnosis, we also continue to live our lives. We are more than our diseases and care plans. People can live as long as 20 years with a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease  disease. Family and professional caregivers, as well as community members, need tools to ensure that people with Alzheimer’s can be more than their disease. But how? Conversation can be challenging, in person and by phone. How can we stay connected and foster what has come to be called the “personhood” of someone with dementia or Alzheimer’s? The answer is: the arts. A symbolic and emotional communication system, the arts don’t rely on linear memory and rational language. Rather, the arts engage our intuition and imagination. Their building blocks for expression are movement, gesture, words, patterns, sounds, color, rhythm, texture and smell — to name just a few. As access to rational language falters, a person’s imagination can soar. Memory vs. Imagination You don’t need to be an artist to use the arts for expression. These tools are available to everyone. Over the last 20 years, I have worked to encourage care partners to communicate with people who have dementia through creativity. The shift from expecting and correcting memory to opening and connecting through imagination can be profound, especially for family members. After years of distance, the arts can help families rekindle an emotional connection. I remember in one workshop for caregivers, I was demonstrating how they could use open-ended questions...

How Sharing a Life Story Helps Dementia Caregivers...

Conveying personal info lets others connect with your loved one One day while I was volunteering at a local adult day care, we had a new visitor who was confused and very unhappy that her daughter had left her there with us. She was agitated and was trying to leave. Luckily, when they first arrived, her daughter had handed us a one-page life story about her mother who had dementia. After reading it, I was able to more easily connect with the lady. Sharing Your Knowledge As we discussed her career as a teacher, her agitation slipped away and we ended up having a very nice conversation. Without that knowledge, things would have been more difficult for both of us. If you’re the primary caregiver of a person with dementia, you know your loved one’s likes and dislikes. You can read their moods. You know their routines and the people in their world. Nobody can care for them the same way you do. But the act of sharing your loved one’s life story empowers others to better understand his or her traits, to connect and to provide better dementia care. In turn, you receive peace of mind when you take time for yourself. A Different Reality The reality of a person with dementia often slips into a past era of their life. For instance, it may be typical for the person to prepare for work each morning as they did for many years. Or they might start preparing to send their children off to school although their kids are fully grown and have left the nest. When the people around them don’t understand this different reality, they often struggle to accept what seems like strange behavior. They may even...

7 Common Drugs That Are Toxic for Your Brain...

These widely used medications can be especially harmful for older adults Want to keep your brain — or the brain of someone you love — as healthy as possible? Of course you do. So you’ve been learning about what to do: what kind of physical exercise to try, what kind of brain games to play, what kinds of foods to eat, what kinds of supplements to take, what kind of sleep to get. But you should also be learning what not to do. Specifically, you should learn what kinds of toxins to avoid to protect your brain’s health. And even if you are super-fit and never take any medications, it’s good to know what to help your friends and family avoid. As a doctor specialized in aging, I have noticed that even health-conscious people rarely know that many commonly used medications are bad for brain health. And I’m not just talking about habit-forming sedatives. Drugs like Valium do indeed harm the brain, but they’re much less often used than another class of brain-toxic drugs: the “anticholinergic” drugs. Warning Label Needed? These drugs are in everything from allergy medicines to muscle relaxants to painkillers. They are in many over-the-counter (OTC) medications, and they are often prescribed for a variety of common health complaints. I’ve never quite understood why there isn’t more of a brain health warning on these drugs. They block acetylcholine, a key neurotransmitter in the body. This leads to lower brain function, which people often experience as sedation. Sometimes, that drowsiness is why people take the drugs, and a little sedation might sound benign. But if your brain is older, or otherwise vulnerable, don’t underestimate these drugs. Research has linked them to increased risk of Alzheimer’s disease and...

Current Research Being Done at University of Colorado Anschutz Center...

With the predictions of how many people with be affected by Alzheimer’s Disease over the next decades, it is very exciting to know about the research that is being done. It is very hopeful that there will be a way to stem the tide on the worldwide disease. Dr. Huntington Potter, one of the top Alzheimer’s researcher, has found a common link with those who have Down’s syndrome. This video is long – 1 hour and 14 minutes, but it has a good graphics along with the explanation of the dynamics of the Alzheimer’s disease.  There are excellent questions from an audience that seem to be quite knowledgable. For those who would rather have a written explanation of the disease itself, this can be found on the Alzheimer’s Association’s website. There is also good information on the research that is being done on their website. This site is for information only, and is for your voluntary use at your own risk. See Terms of...