home safety

New Atlas with some new research showing a link between poor sleep and Alzheimers. The study draws a link between circadian rhythms – basically a person’s inherent sleep cycle – and a biomarker associated with Alzheimer’s disease.

“The brain protein in question is called YKL-40 and for years has served as a biomarker for Alzheimer’s, as high levels of it have been found in the cerebrospinal fluid of those suffering from the disease and these levels rise as the disease progresses. The researchers were screening for genes that are regulated by the circadian rhythm, and were intrigued to see the gene for this brain protein pop up.”

Reading the abstract, it doesn’t seem to indicate whether the disruptions in circadian rhythms are a contributing factor to Alzheimers’ or whether they are a result of the disease. In other words: are they the cart, or the horse?

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A great article from The Advocate about how one can be a better caregiver. This passage is particularly important:

“Though patience is often a difficult virtue to achieve, strive to reach it each day with your loved one. The capacity to tolerate without becoming overly annoyed can make you a better caregiver. When tensions rise and you get criticized, frustrated or your feelings get hurt, take a deep breath, walk outside for fresh air, and make allowances of each other’s faults with a positive attitude and grace.”

Care professionals like to use the adage “put your own mask on first.” This refers to the instructions you receive from the cabin crew when flying, specifically in the event of an emergency parents, guardians and other caregivers must put on & secure their own oxygen masks before turning their attention to their charges. This isn’t selfish or uncaring, it’s the realization that you cannot be a good caregiver if you’re out of commission. The same concept applies to caring for a loved one with Alzheimer’s or any other debilitating condition. Carving time out of the day to eat well, take your own meds, do your own exercise, socialize with others and to engage in your own pastimes is self-care, and it’s vitally important. You can’t help someone else if you’re non-functional.

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We recently blogged about light therapy, but this isn’t quite what we were thinking of.

A team of scientists at the UK’s University of Southampton are using UV light instead to create images of neurons without the need for huge, high-energy emitters.

“Dr. Bill Brocklesby, of the Zepler Institute for Photonics and Nanoelectronics, says: “The ability to take detailed images of delicate biological structures like neurons without causing damage is very exciting”

The UV emitters used by UoS are able to produce high-resolution images on par with those previously only available using much less accessible equipment. This means – potentially – that the sorts of imaging needed to really study Alzheimer’s-afflicted cells will be much more accessible to scientists and doctors around the world. As always, it’s still early, but it’s a promising study.

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Making sure seniors get proper nutrition can often be a struggle. But that doesn’t mean mealtime has to be like wartime. With the appropriate preparation and mindset, you can help ensure your senior loved ones enjoy coming down to the dinner table while eating well in the process. 

Routine, routine, routine. – I make this point a lot in these blogs, but I cannot stress enough how beneficial a firm – but not totally inflexible – routine can be. Having a designated time and place for meals not only helps improve seniors’ sense of time, but it also allows their bodies proper time to digest. These routines should not be immutable – if you want to go out with friends, do so, even if it means eating a bit earlier or later – but by keeping to this schedule most of the time, you substantially cut down on meal-related disagreements and flare-ups. 

Ergonomic & Safety Tableware – Even the mechanics of eating can be difficult for some seniors. Arthritic hands can’t always hold a knife and fork very well, much less bring a full glass to their lips. There are tools you can use to make mealtime less of a struggle. 

• Flatware with ergonomic grips, typically larger, rounded & textured. 
• Smaller, lighter & shatterproof drinking cups.
• “Move-resistant” plates & bowls. These typically are either heavier or have ‘grippy’ undersides, to prevent them from sliding around the table. This can also be accomplished with textured placemats.
• Plates & bowls with lips. These not only make them easier to grip and lift, but they also give you a surface to push food against. 

Make sure they have a diet they can live with – Almost all of us “are on a diet,” and that includes seniors. Dietary restrictions tend to accumulate as one ages, and keeping them all in mind when meal planning can be a daunting task. But a diet which is indistinguishable from prison food helps no one. If your senior loved one has a particularly challenging set of dietary restrictions, you really may want to consult with a nutritionist. They not only can tell you what to avoid, but they can also help select foods to replace those you’ve cut out. Most of us are not professional cooks, and even a little guidance can help make mealtimes fun for everyone in the home. 

Do not infantilize your senior loved ones – Reading all of these suggestions, it sometimes sounds like feeding an elder loved one is no different than feeding a child. But it’s critically important to remember not to treat them like children. They see the similarities too and are almost certainly quite sensitive to that comparison. Seniors suffer a lot of indignities, but being treated like an infant by people they very likely raised is one they should never have to deal with. No matter how difficult or frustrating mealtimes become, you must treat them with respect and dignity. In other words: how you would expect to be treated.

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When caring for an elder loved one, some conversations are unpleasant but necessary. One of those conversations is often about alcohol consumption. To be clear right off the bat: this isn’t about alcoholism or addiction. Those are distinct conditions, which have to be addressed on their own.

What we’re talking about here is ‘casual’ or ‘social’ drinking. A beer in the afternoon. A couple of glasses of wine at dinner. A cocktail with their friends. The sorts of activities an older person may have engaged in regularly for most of their lives. But the body of a 70-year-old is not the body of a 25-year-old or a 40-year-old. Metabolisms change, organs and systems don’t heal up as quickly as they used to, and ‘minor’ impairments are more likely to lead to significant injuries. But this doesn’t mean your senior loved one needs to become a teetotaler.

This is one of the core messages you should convey: no one is taking away all of your drinks. Simply telling an elder loved one “you can’t drink anymore” is a fast way to ensure they drink more often and more irresponsibly, going forward.

Try to schedule alcohol consumption in advance. Much the same way, dieting goes better when you have regular “cheat days” to look forward to, and a moderated alcohol intake regimen also works better when there are clear and frequent breaks. Bloody Marys at Mother’s Day brunch? A bit of the bubbly at their daughter’s birthday party? Those are great, so long as it’s not an everyday occurrence.

Family members should also try – whenever possible – to make sure alcohol consumption is done in conjunction with meals and nonalcoholic beverages. Mix in some juice or iced tea in between drinks. One of the biggest dangers of alcohol consumption comes from dehydration, and the elderly are more susceptible than most to that complication. Slowing the absorption of alcohol by eating while you drink, and consuming nonalcoholic drinks will help stave off dehydration.

Some studies show that moderate, regular alcohol consumption can have medical benefits, including improved bone density and better overall cardiovascular health. But those benefits are obliterated once the drinking moves to “excessive” levels. As a caregiver, part of your role is to find ways to allow your elder loved one to have the occasional drink while preventing overconsumption. It’s not an easy task, but a necessary one.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

Sometimes the greatest hurdles when growing old are technological. Seniors often lack the muscle memory or ingrained experiences to properly use modern conveniences. But that doesn’t mean those experiences cannot be made more accessible with some basic tools and aids.

Bluetooth hearing aids – An old medical device, with a modern twist. These hearing aids can connect to audio sources via Bluetooth, allowing persons with hearing impairment to get the sound directly from the source. By connecting wirelessly to your stereo, computer or TV, the wearer can hear their media clearly without boosting all other sounds around them. Many such hearing aids can also boost the clarity of spoken words, helping those with conditions like auditory neuropathy or tinnitus.

Vertical Mice – 90 degrees can make a world of difference. Vertical mice function just like normal mice, but are ergonomically designed to alleviate stresses on the hand, wrist and forearm. They’re often used by sufferers of carpal tunnel syndrome or chronic wrist tendonitis, but they can be extremely beneficial for arthritis sufferers, too.

Digital Magnifiers – These relatively inexpensive items combine a camera and a screen to help magnify small text or objects for the reader. They have several advantages over your basic looking glass, including the ability to take still images, and even to digitally highlight or sharpen text to make it easy to read. Some now even have the ability to ‘read’ text and convert it to speech on the fly. This is a tremendous aide for persons with compromised vision who don’t want to stop living life to its fullest.  

Large-Button or Simplified TV Remotes – We take the remote control for granted. I’m sure a lot of people reading this may never have used a TV without one. But as you grow older, they can become a problem. For starters, the buttons are getting smaller and harder to press in modern remotes. A remote with larger buttons and ergonomic casing can help with that. But then you get to the issue of too many buttons. Modern remotes have so many functions which the average user will rarely – if ever – utilize. In those cases, a simplified remote with fewer functions may be helpful.  

  Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.  

A very, very interesting story about using AI to predict who will get Alzheimer’s.

“An artificial intelligence (AI) model using a short language test was modestly accurate in spotting whether healthy people would have a future diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease, researchers reported.

The model predicted whether cognitively normal older adults would develop Alzheimer’s symptoms before age 85 with an…accuracy of 70%.

Currently, neuropsychological tests and biomarkers like cerebrospinal fluid and imaging are used to monitor Alzheimer’s progression. Potential blood-based biomarkers are being studied to predict Alzheimer’s disease in cognitively normal older adults, but none are available for clinical use.”

Any test that can help identify Alzheimer’s non-invasively and before the onset of obvious symptoms could be a game-changer. At this time Alzheimer’s cannot be cured, but it’s symptoms can be delayed & mitigated to some extent. Getting those patients into treatment regiments early can mean greatly delaying the worst of the effects of the degenerative disease.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

When caring for an elder loved one, some conversations are unpleasant but necessary. One of those conversations is often about alcohol consumption.

To be clear right off the bat: this isn’t about alcoholism or addiction. Those are distinct conditions, which have to be addressed on their own.

What we’re talking about here is ‘casual’ or ‘social’ drinking. A beer in the afternoon. A couple of glasses of wine at dinner. A cocktail with their friends. The sorts of activities an older person may have engaged in regularly for most of their lives. But the body of a 70-year-old is not the body of a 25-year-old or a 40-year-old. Metabolisms change, organs and systems don’t heal up as quickly as they used to, and ‘minor’ impairments are more likely to lead to significant injuries. But this doesn’t mean your senior loved one needs to become a teetotaler.

This is one of the core messages you should convey: no one is taking away all of your drinks. Simply telling an elder loved one “you can’t drink anymore” is a fast way to ensure they drink more often and more irresponsibly, going forward.

Try to schedule alcohol consumption in advance. Much the same way, dieting goes better when you have regular “cheat days” to look forward to, and a moderated alcohol intake regimen also works better when there are clear and frequent breaks. Bloody Marys at Mother’s Day brunch? A bit of the bubbly at their daughter’s birthday party? Those are great, so long as it’s not an everyday occurrence.

Family members should also try – whenever possible – to make sure alcohol consumption is done in conjunction with meals and nonalcoholic beverages. Mix in some juice or iced tea in between drinks. One of the biggest dangers of alcohol consumption comes from dehydration, and the elderly are more susceptible than most to that complication. Slowing the absorption of alcohol by eating while you drink, and consuming nonalcoholic drinks will help stave off dehydration.

Some studies show that moderate, regular alcohol consumption can have medical benefits, including improved bone density and better overall cardiovascular health. But those benefits are obliterated once the drinking moves to “excessive” levels. As a caregiver, part of your role is to find ways to allow your elder loved one to have the occasional drink while preventing overconsumption. It’s not an easy task, but a necessary one.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

I know, I know. The first thing we think of when treating a person with Alzheimer’s typically isn’t decor. But crafting a home space that takes into account an Alzheimer patient’s difficulties while simultaneously turning the home into a memory recall tool is truly inspired thinking. More from WTOP.

Her design philosophy also translates to home settings, and she said having familiar objects around from life events or children can be helpful.

“You might have a notebook full of photos that would trigger memories,” she said. “Anything that would help a person remember certain things or to find joy in those things.”

Design tricks can also improve safety for aging individuals or people losing muscle awareness or strength due to Alzheimer’s disease.

Because people, as they age, see color differently, can’t see depth as accurately, and don’t have the same visual accuracy as when they’re younger, Thoma-Holec said contrasts need to be established.

“You want to make certain that your walls are contrasting with the floor, and that your seats on your chairs contrast with the floor”

This is part of a holistic approach to disease therapy. You don’t just have discrete therapies, you try to incorporate the therapies and protections into as much of their life and home as possible. This makes for a safer patient and a happier caregiver.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.

A potential bombshell study, if confirmed.

“Researchers at the University of Wisconsin–Madison now investigated a stem cell treatment in a mouse model of Parkinson’s disease and found that neurons derived from stem cells can integrate into the correct regions of the brain, connect with native neurons, and restore motor functions.

[…]

Six months after transplantation, grafts from both types of neurons were present in all animals, showing that the transplanted neurons were able to differentiate to respective neuronal types and also project to different brain regions.”

We’re still years away from any practical treatments as a result of this study, but it still reads as a massive advance in the fight against Parkinson’s disease.

Brought to you by smpltec.com, Technology for Seniors News.