What to do all day? Finding activities that the person with Alzheimer's
disease can do and is interested in can be a challenge. Building on current
skills generally works better than trying to teach something new.
Don't expect too much. Simple activities often are best, especially when
they use current abilities.
Help the person get started on an activity. Break the activity down into
small steps and praise the person for each step he or she completes.
Watch for signs of agitation or frustration with an activity. Gently help
or distract the person to something else.
Incorporate activities the person seems to enjoy into your daily routine
and try to do them at a similar time each day.
Try to include the person with Alzheimer's in the entire activity process.
For instance, at mealtimes, encourage the person to help prepare the food, set
the table, pull out the chairs, or put away the dishes. This can help maintain
functional skills, enhance feelings of personal control, and make good use of
time.
Take advantage of adult day services, which provide various activities for
the person with Alzheimer's, as well as an opportunity for caregivers to gain
temporary relief from tasks associated with caregiving. Transportation and meals
often are provided.
Exercise for a Person with Alzheimer's Disease
Incorporating exercise into the daily routine has benefits for both the
person with Alzheimer's disease and the caregiver. Not only can it improve
health, but it also can provide a meaningful activity for both of you to share.
Think about what kind of physical activities you both enjoy, perhaps
walking,
swimming, tennis, dancing, or gardening. Determine the time of day and
place where this type of activity would work best.
Be realistic in your expectations. Build slowly, perhaps just starting with
a short walk around the yard, for example, before progressing to a walk around
the block.
Be aware of any discomfort or signs of overexertion. Talk to the person's
doctor if this happens.
Allow as much independence as possible, even if it means a
less-than-perfect garden or a scoreless tennis match.
See what kinds of exercise programs are available in your area. Senior
centers may have group programs for people who enjoy exercising with others.
Local malls often have walking clubs and provide a place to exercise when the
weather is bad.
Encourage physical activities. Spend time outside when the weather permits.
Exercise often helps everyone sleep better.
Anxiety is a feeling of apprehension and fear characterized by physical symptoms. Anxiety disorders are serious medical illnesses that affect approximately 19 million American adults.
Dehydration is the excessive loss of body water. There are a number of causes of dehydration including heat exposure, prolonged vigorous exercise, and some diseases of the gastrointestinal tract. The best way to treat dehydration is to prevent it from occurring.
Stress occurs when forces from the outside world impinge on the individual. Stress is a normal part of life. However, over-stress, can be harmful. There is now speculation, as well as some evidence, that points to the abnormal stress responses as being involved in causing various diseases or conditions.
Dementia is a significant loss of intellectual abilities such as memory capacity, severe enough to interfere with social or occupational functioning. There are different criteria classification schemes for dementias such as cortical, subcortical, progressive, primary, and secondary dementias. Other conditions and medication reactions can also cause dementia. Dementia is diagnosed based on a certain set of criteria. Treatment for dementia is generally focused on the symptoms of the disease.
Depression is an illness that involves the body, mood, and thoughts and affects the way a person eats and sleeps, the way one feels about oneself, and the way one thinks about things. The principal types of depression are major depression, dysthymia, and bipolar disease (also called manic-depressive disease).
Dysphagia or difficulty in swallowing, swallowing problems. Dysphagia is due to problems in nerve or muscle control. It is common, for example, after a stroke. Dysphagia compromises nutrition and hydration and may lead to aspiration pneumonia and dehydration.
Alzheimer's disease is a common cause of dementia. Symptoms and warning signs of Alzheimer's disease include memory loss, difficulty performing familiar tasks, disorientation to time and place, misplacing things, and more. The biggest risk factor for Alzheimer's disease is increased age. Treatment for Alzheimer's is often targeted toward decreasing the symptoms and progression of the disease.
A number of vital tasks carried out during sleep help maintain good health and enable people to function at their best. Sleep needs vary from individual to individual and change throughout your life. Not getting enough sleep can hurt memory performance, health, and your mood.
Hypothermia is having a body core temperature of less than 35 C or 95 F. Most causes of hypothermia are preventable. Risk factors for hypothermia include age, mental status, medical conditions, and medications. Symptoms of hypothermia generally depend upon the severity of the condition. Treatment depends upon the severity of hypothermia. If not treated early, hypothermia can lead to cardiac arrest, coma, or death.
Stress may be considered as any physical, chemical, or emotional factor that causes bodily or mental unrest and that may be a factor in disease causation. An important goal for those under stress is the management of stress in our lives. Elimination of stress is unrealistic, since stress is a part of normal life. We can however, learn to manage stress through techniques such as exercise, relaxation, meditation, time management, and support systems so that we have control over our stress and its effects on our physical and mental health.
Insomnia is difficulty in falling or staying asleep, the absence of restful sleep, or poor quality of sleep. Insomnia is a symptom and not a disease. The most common causes of insomnia are medications, psychological conditions, environmental changes and stressful events. Treatments may include non-drug treatments, over-the-counter medicines, and/or prescription medications.
Brain lesions (lesions on the brain) are caused by trauma, inflammation, autoimmune diseases, cancers, other diseases, stroke, bleeding, pituitary adenomas, and cerebral palsy. Symptoms of brain lesions include headache, nausea, fever, neck pain and stiffness, affected vision and speech, weakness or paralysis to one side of the body. Diagnosis of brain lesions is generally with imaging studies like CT or MRI scans. Treatment and prognosis of brain lesions depends on the cause of the lesion.
Regular physical activity can reduce the risk of disease. Regular exercise can also reduce the symptoms of stress and anxiety. There are fitness programs that fit any age or lifestyle.
Millions of women suffer from urinary incontinence (UI). UI occurs twice as often in women as in men. There are many types of urinary incontinence: stress incontinence, urge incontinence, overactive bladder, functional incontinence, overflow incontinence, transient incontinence, and mixed incontinence.
Mental health is an optimal way of thinking, relating to others, and feeling. All of the diagnosable mental disorders fall under the umbrella of mental illness. Depression, anxiety, and substance-abuse disorders are common types of mental illness. Symptoms and signs of mental illness include irritability, moodiness, insomnia, headaches, and sadness. Treatment may involve psychotherapy and medication.
Bowel or fecal incontinence refers to the loss of voluntary control of stool, or bowel movements. The condition can include partial incontinence, in which a person loses only a small amount of liquid waste, to complete incontinence, in which the entire bowel movement cannot be controlled. Diet changes and elimination of certain medications can help patients to regain bowel control. Treatment involves a combination of medication, biofeedback, and exercise.
Most often, caregivers take care of other adults who are ill or disabled. Less often, caregivers are grandparents raising their grandchildren. The majority of caregivers are middle-aged women. Caregiving can be very stressful, so it's important to recognize when it's putting to much strain on you and to take steps to prevent/relieve stress.
Depression in the elderly is very common. That doesn't mean, though, it's normal. Treatment may involve antidepressants, psychotherapy, or electroconvulsive therapy.
Alzheimer's disease can be not only mentally devastating to an indivdiual and family, it can also be emotionally devastating. Preparing financially for someone with Alzheimer's disease is an important task to complete so that bills get paid and the best coverage is provided. Learn what Medicade and Medicare will provide for a patient.
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