Elder Care Cafe

Caregiver stress is defined as the emotional and physical strain of caregiving. Researchers call this type of stress caregiver burden for good reason.  We have discussed this topic before on this site, but after an early morning visit today to a caregiver forum, I felt we needed to revisit caregiver stress. Caregiving takes an emotional and physical toll [...]

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According to the American Heart Association (AHA), March is National Nutrition Month. This is a good time to follow the diet and lifestyle recommendations provided by the AHA. There are a number of simple steps that you can take to improve your overall long-term health. Calories do count! As we have discussed before, use up [...]

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According to a recent report, Americans are eating more salt than ever despite numerous warnings to the contrary. The American Heart Association notes our body only needs about 200 mg of sodium per day. In comparison,  1/4 teaspoon of salt equals 600 mgs of sodium. Current estimates show Americans consume anywhere from 6 to 18 grams of salt, or [...]

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The Dana Alliance for Brain Initiatives announces Brain Awareness Week March 16-22, 2009. Their desire is to “advance public awareness about the progress and benefits of brain research” according to an article on the U.S. National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS) website. You will find a link to  the NINDS organization at the end [...]

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Several recent studies show obesity, diabetes, and heart disease can work together to increase the onset of dementia. The key findings indicate that people can make lifestyle changes while still in their forties and early fifties to reduce the likelihood of Alzheimer’s or dementia. For a number of years we have heard how important living [...]

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As more websites allow patients to write online reviews about their doctor and the services and care they receive, the doctors are now choosing to fight back. When people have the opportunity to write anonymous posts, while providing the name of their doctor or the practice, they are much more likely to write whatever they [...]

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This weekend I got the chance to see Momma Mia! on DVD. What a blast that was to watch the fabulous musical starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried, and Stellan Skarsgard. Sophie Sheridan (Amanda Seyfried) is a 20-year-old bride-to-be who lives on a small Greek island with her mother Donna (Meryl Streep). As Sophie is [...]

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Today I ran across an article that addresses the controversy about whether or not our country needs daylight saving time (DST). Most of us know we need to switch our clocks ahead, or back, twice a year. Many of us don’t remember why. Daylight savings time began this morning at 2:00 a.m. and continues until November 1st. Since 2007, [...]

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This year’s Lenten season started February 25th and ends on Easter Sunday. A growing number of Christians are giving up their time spent on such social media sites as Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter during the 40 days of Lent. Most churches encourage their parishioners to give up something or add something during the Lenten season. The idea is to [...]

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Tonight is the night to set our clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings. As a growing number of people question the necessity for daylight savings time, the powers that be continue to juggle the dates the rest of us blindly follow. This morning I read an article listing 8 tips to help you and I [...]

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Many of us have watched the Biggest Loser in horror wondering how anyone can exercise for hours every day, often under extreme pressure, only to step on the scale for varying degrees of success. Or not – sometimes only a pound or two is lost and at other times, no loss or even a slight gain is recorded. [...]

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Apparently our absent-minded random drawings can help boost our memory according to a published report in Applied Cognitive Psychology. Recent research by Jackie Andrade, PhD, of the School of Psychology at England’s University of Plymouth found those who doodle during boring phone calls performed better in recall experiments than those who did not doodle. Dr. [...]

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What is the sandwich generation? I can tell you it is not a generation  of people who tout their favorite PBJ, fried bologna, or avocado with sprouts sandwich, although sandwiches are a staple in many homes. The sandwich generation refers to caregivers of elderly parents who are still raising their own children. Some use the [...]

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A recent study found Alzheimer patients could slow memory loss by listening to their favorite music. When they listened to their favorite music from the past, the music invoked powerful images and memories that help thwart the devastating destruction taking place in their brain. It seems that music and memories share the same area of [...]

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Nutritionists have told us for years that the bottom-line requisite to losing weight is the number of calories taken in as opposed to the number of calories utilized in a given day. Expend more calories than you take in and you will lose weight. It really is that simple. Despite that admonition, an increasing number [...]

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