“Back when I was your age, we used to walk 5 miles through 2 feet of snow to get to school every day.”
Sound familiar? Though such stories are often met with children’s giggles and rolling eyes, reminiscing is incredibly important – especially for older adults.
Reminiscence is the process of recalling memories of times past, and often this evokes the emotions that were first associated with those memories.
Reminiscence has a number of tangible benefits for seniors. It has been shown to improve socialization, induce feelings of fulfillment and accomplishment and even ease depression.
In fact, reminiscence therapy is often used with short-term memory loss patients. In these patients, short-term memory is impaired, while long-term memory remains relatively intact. Reminiscing helps these patients ponder on an earlier time when they were more able – both in terms of body and mind – and therefore help them reestablish a sense of power, worth and belonging.
Reminiscing can also be very therapeutic for people dealing with loss. It enables them to relive happy memories about the person who passed away and thereby facilitate their grieving process.
Encourage your aging parents, grandparents or other elderly loved ones to reminiscence on a regular basis. You can help them engage in this process, either in person or on the phone, with a few easy steps.
Start by asking an open-ended question about your loved one’s past. Open-ended questions are important to spark engagement – simple yes/no questions may not lead to any meaningful reminiscing. Triggers, such as photographs, or the incorporation of various senses, such as touch and smell, can help memory recall and facilitate the session as well.
Make sure you actively listen to whatever stories your loved one recounts. Use follow up questions to evoke deeper thought about their experiences or even unearth tangential memories.
If your loved one starts reliving a sad time or negative memory – don’t panic. Allow them to express their emotions and relive those experiences, which can still have therapeutic effect. Re-experiencing them gives the person an opportunity to process what happened and come to terms with it. Simply continue listening and offer a tissue and kinds words if necessary.
Reminiscence is important and therapeutic for seniors. With a few easy steps, you can help create opportunities for elderly loved ones to reminisce regularly and reap the wonderful benefits of this activity.
We all know that regular activity is important for people of all ages, and there is nothing better for the body and mind than taking a walk. Unfortunately, while many of us take mobility for granted, even the simple act of walking can be very difficult for many older adults.
Here are some tips to help your older parents or grandparents incorporate exercise and movement into their daily lives, despite any barriers to mobility they may be facing. Once your loved one’s activity level picks up, it is possible that their initial mobility constraints (pain or other) are relieved to some degree, allowing them to become more active, which results in a “virtuous cycle” effect of sorts.
As a starting point, it may be a good idea to figure out if there are ways to address the chronic pain that may be inhibiting your loved one's mobility. Their doctor can help determine if there are medications or specific stretches and/or exercises that will relieve the pain and facilitate more activity.
Even if walking or moving is a problem, exercises to get the heart rate up are still important for older adults. Suggest swimming to your elderly parents or grandparents as it engages the heart and many muscle groups, while minimizing impact on the body. It can even help ease chronic pain, arthritis and other such ailments.
Yoga is another great option, and has the added benefit of clearing the mind as well. Some gyms and yoga centers offer classes specifically for the elderly, which takes mobility limitations into account.
Stationary bikes can also enable seniors to enjoy a good cardiovascular workout. This is a popular activity among the elderly as they can often watch TV or read a magazine or book at the same time.
Seated cardiovascular training is another possibility. Punching the air and kicking the legs while seated can get the blood pumping while providing support for the rest of the body. However, make sure your loved one uses a stable chair and has something to hold onto so that they avoid injury.
While many think of strength training as an activity mainly for younger people, it is just as important in old age. For example, it can help combat the effects of osteoporosis, or strengthen muscles that have weakened due to lack of use.
Your loved one can start off with some light weights and try bicep curls and shoulder presses. It is also possible to add resistance bands to stable furniture items and then use the bands to work on various muscles. As noted with the seated exercises above, it is imperative that the equipment used (chairs, etc.) are stable and in good working condition.
Many people skip the stretching part of the exercise equation. But it is critical to emphasize the importance of stretching to your older parents or grandparents.
Stretching before beginning exercise helps to warm up the muscles and prevent injury. Stretching afterwards can decrease the risk of cramping and improve workout recovery time.
There are several alternate exercises for the elderly with mobility limitations. Help your loved one to discover activities that are suited to their circumstances and encourage them to get moving on a regular basis.
Grandmothers are mothers too, of course. And there’s no better time to show your grandmother or elderly mother just how much you love them than this Sunday — the 100th anniversary of the first Mother’s Day.
Tandem Lane makes it incredibly easy for you to find the perfect gift for grandma and show her you’re thinking of her this Mother’s Day and beyond. But here are a few other ideas of things that will help bring a smile to her face.
Of course, putting together gifts for elderly mothers and grandmothers need not cost anything at all. Even showing up early in the morning to bring her breakfast in bed or doing chores around the house on Mother’s Day can make her feel special.
Prepare your elderly mother or grandmother’s favorite breakfast foods, and make sure to leave the kitchen spic and span.
Another incredibly simple way to make your elderly mom or grandma’s day special is by finding a special picture — perhaps of the two of you from an outing in the past year — putting it in a nice frame, and surprising her with it on Mother’s Day. She’ll love having the picture of you together, and also getting the chance to talk about and relive the memory you share.
Another way to make a present out of a memory is to write her a letter about it. Letters, after all, don’t just have to be exchanged between people who live far away from one another. Take some time and write it out with your best handwriting. She’ll love reading it, perhaps multiple times. And if, by chance, you do live far away, it can be one of the more meaningful ways to connect.
Consider taking your elderly mother or grandmother out for lunch or dinner at her favorite restaurant. It’s a great chance to share a conversation while she orders her favorite food and drinks off the menu. And don’t let her decline when it comes to dessert!
You don’t have to limit the outing to eating and drinking though. Visiting a museum, going to see a movie, or just walking around the local park can all be great ways to spend some time together and make the day truly special for her.
It may sound counter-intuitive, but this Mother’s Day, consider putting your mother or grandmother to work: Get her to tell you about herself and the family history and help her write it down. She will be thrilled to be making something permanent that your children or grandchildren can read.
There’s no need to limit this to a written document, however. You can also help her create a video, or even prepare a time capsule and bury it somewhere your own grandchildren can one day dig it up.
Coffee and caffeine are bad for you – right? That may have been the prevailing thought at one time, but a number of studies have started to uncover the positive aspects of both coffee and caffeine.
In particular, these can help prevent certain diseases and manage the symptoms and progression of others.
Using a double-blind trial, researchers at Johns Hopkins University discovered that caffeine consumption has the ability to strengthen memories and make them more resistant to forgetting. Specifically, caffeine can aid memory function for up to 24 hours after ingestion.
Dr. Shukitt-Hale of Tufts University also found that drinking coffee had positive impacts beyond that of the caffeine that it contains. Coffee contains polyphenols which help reduce the oxidative stress and inflammation that contribute to brain-related diseases of aging like dementia.
Caffeine has been found to have a preventative effect on Parkinson’s disease. In analyzing 30 years of data from the Honolulu Heart Program, coffee drinkers were found to have a significantly lower incidence of the disease than non-drinkers and this effect was attributed to the caffeine in the coffee.
However, the benefits are not limited to prevention when it comes to Parkinson’s disease. Research from McGill University in Canada showed that caffeine can help with movement speed and stiffness in people that already suffer from the disease as well.
There have been conflicting views about the impact of coffee on the heart as caffeine does have the ability to raise blood pressure.
However, two large studies have shown positive effects from coffee consumption when it comes to heart health. A Kaiser Permanente study has shown (1-3 cups of coffee lowers the risk of arrhythmia, and in women, another study has shown 2 or more cups can reduce the risk of stroke.
A range of studies have found that coffee and caffeine have the ability to inhibit the development of certain types of cancer. The associations for endometrial and liver cancer in particular, have been found to be very strong and consistent across studies.
More recently, research suggests that coffee and caffeine can help prevent relapse and disease progression as well. Specifically, caffeine and certain compounds found in coffee may prevent cancer cells from proliferating and cancer cells to die off. This has been primarily studied in prostate cancer.
Despite the growing list of health benefits attributable to coffee and caffeine consumption, there are downsides to be aware of. Caffeine is addictive, and too much can make you jittery and raise blood pressure. It can also interact with certain medications.
Encourage your elderly loved one to speak with their doctor about the risks and benefits of coffee consumption for them.
Games are not only fun and entertaining, but specific types can be great for cognitive stimulation. Keeping the mind active and challenged is incredibly important – particularly for older adults. Not only can this improve their quality of life by providing opportunities for entertainment and engagement, but it can also help protect against mental decline.
As people age, their ability to concentrate and form new memories deteriorates. Therefore, games that target these areas – such as those discussed below – are a great way to preserve cognitive abilities in the elderly. As even a few minutes a day can make a difference, encourage your elderly loved one to incorporate a variety of games into their everyday life.
Sudoku requires a fair amount of focus and attention, which in turn helps with the formation of new memories. If your loved one is new to Sudoku – instead of starting with the traditional 9x9 puzzle, start with a smaller one. Over time, they can attempt more difficult puzzles. With Sudoku, as with all games and activities, it is important to keep challenging oneself by augmenting the levels of difficulty.
Playing chess exercises both the right and left side of the brain, and has been shown to improve problem-solving skills and math and reading scores in children. But the benefits of playing chess are in fact life-long. This can be a good game that you can play with your loved one if they live close by. You can spend some quality time together while also reaping the benefits of playing chess!
Who doesn't love a good old game of Bingo? As it turns out, this game that is commonly played in senior centers and long-term care institutions is great for enhancing cognition. It is also is well-suited to all seniors – including those with cognitive impairment – and has the added benefit of being a highly social game.
A game that you may remember from long road trips is Word Chain, or Shiritori. In this game, the two or more players must find words that begin with the last letter of the prior word (“flower” followed by “raisin”). This game requires no materials, and can be easily played anywhere, even over the phone!
Completing a jigsaw puzzle allows the “player” to activate both sides of their brain. The left side determines how the various puzzle pieces fit together, while the right leverages intuition and looks at the big picture. Depending on a person’s cognitive ability, more complex or relatively simple puzzles can be chosen, making this game also suitable for almost everyone.