Senior Health
Midnight Sun Home Care’s collection of articles about Senior Health.
Could Safety Be Compromised for Your Aging Parent? Implementing This Plan Can Help
Watch for these red flags that competency is diminishing in a senior loved one.
The first signs might be so subtle that many people wouldn’t even notice that anything is amiss. Mom is extroverted, friendly, and conversational while visiting relatives and friends and while running errands. But those closest to her are beginning to detect concerns: being forgetful about the soup cooking on the stove, resulting in a scorched pan. Placing her keys in the cookie jar. Neglecting to pay bills. Continue reading
After an Alzheimer’s Diagnosis: The Two Most Common Treatment Options Available
Discover the top treatment options currently available for Alzheimer’s and how they work.
The latest Alzheimer’s data is sobering. The disease has become the 6th leading cause of death, rising above both breast cancer and prostate cancer together. And though deaths from many other chronic health conditions, including cardiovascular illnesses, are decreasing, those from Alzheimer’s have jumped in excess of 100%. The toll the condition takes on family caregivers is likewise astonishing, with more than 16 million Americans delivering over 18 billion hours of caregiving for a loved one with Alzheimer’s. Continue reading
Can Your Marriage Survive the Strain of Senior Care?
Providing senior care can be stressful on a marriage; learn tips to help here.
In marriage we agree to stick with each other for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and in health – but what doesn’t come up during our vows to one another is how to deal with the increasing needs of senior care as our parents age. Continue reading
Time to Rethink Aging
Midnight Sun Home Care, a top Alaska home care provider, points out the many positives to aging.
A simple internet search for the word “aging” gives results such as “coping with aging,” “what you can do about aging,” and “the cure to aging.” The negative view to growing older is, unfortunately, so embedded within our… Continue reading
Ways to Keep Healthy As We Age—Making Time to “Play” as an Adult
Learn how a personal care assistant in Anchorage can help seniors and family caregivers have more time for fun.
Remember that feeling as a young child as soon as the school bell rang, signifying the conclusion of arithmetic and the beginning of the best part of the day: recess? There was an enormous sense of… Continue reading
Alaska Home Care Tips for Seniors: How to Avoid the Holiday Blues
Check out these simple tips to help a senior avoid the blues this holiday season.
Ah, the holidays: they’re sometimes the most wonderful period of the year, or perhaps the most challenging. For some older adults who have lost family members, are struggling with chronic medical conditions, or are experiencing isolation and loneliness, the holiday… Continue reading
Stop Falls Before They Happen at Home with This Fall Prevention Checklist
Learn how planning for a fall can actually help prevent one.
Falls involving the elderly are all too frequent and may have serious consequences. Taking precautionary measures is crucial, such as assessing the home for fall dangers like throw rugs along with other trip and fall hazards, insufficient lighting, and an absence of appropriate grab… Continue reading
How to Enjoy the Holidays and Avoid a Hospital Emergency Room Visit
Learn why ER visits for older adults increase up to 20% over the holidays.
While we may envision a Norman Rockwell-worthy Thanksgiving celebration, with the whole family relishing high quality time with each other and Grandma’s classic feast, the reality for some families also includes something unforeseen: a hospital emergency room visit. Believe it or… Continue reading
3 Things NOT to Say to Someone Experiencing a Health Crisis
Learn what commonly used sentiments are better left unsaid when a loved one is facing a health crisis.
Have you ever walked in to the office or a get-together with friends or family and had a person say to you with great concern, “You really look tired today!” Even though you may have been feeling… Continue reading
Sounding the Alarm Regarding Dementia and Firearms
Dementia and guns: Learn more about this important issue in this article.
With an impassioned level of debate rivaling the Hatfields and McCoys, it appears insurmountable to arrive at a resolution on the issue of gun control. Yet in spite of which side of the issue you are on, there’s one little-discussed situation that should cause us all to take pause: the alarming combination of dementia and firearms.
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Wake Up to the Dangers of Sleeping Drugs for Older Adults
Sleeping drugs double the risk of falls and fractures in seniors, due to the increased dizziness and disorientation they could cause.
Is there anything better than getting up well rested after a great night’s sleep, completely energized and ready to face your day? For most older adults – as much as a third of them – getting enough sleep only occurs inside their dreams. And sadly, it is a common assumption that inadequate sleep is just something to be accepted within our later years – a misconception that Preeti Malani, M.D., chief health officer and professor of medicine at the University of Michigan really wants to dispel. Continue reading
The Radical New Thinking in Alzheimer’s Disease: What Researchers Have Been Missing
Our homecare team is highly trained and experienced in properly managing a few of the more difficult components of Alzheimer’s disease.
Today, Thomas Edison’s words ring true in the race to obtain both the main cause and a cure for Alzheimer’s disease: “I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.” Every day tends to bring hopeful news of still another clinical trial, followed soon after by the disappointing news that results failed to meet expectations – and so the pattern carries on. Continue reading
Is It Just a Case of Senior Blues? Or Could It Be an Elderly Mental Health Concern?
For many, there’s a stigma linked with admitting to and pursuing help for mental and emotional concerns.
They’re common concerns in older years: fatigue, sleeping problems, lack of appetite. And often, they’re written off as just that. Yet for nearly 8 million elders over age 65, these signs and symptoms are indicative of something significantly more than normal aging – they’re signs and symptoms of elderly mental health problems. And only a small number are obtaining the available treatment that could substantially boost their overall quality of life. Continue reading
Solo Agers: Do You Have a Designated Senior Planner?
Baby boomers without children, or solo agers, have to consider different options for their later years than those with children.
If you are a baby boomer without children, the new term “solo ager” applies to you. This strong and self-reliant group faces some distinct concerns in aging, chiefly who to designate as guardian and decision-maker in the event that they become unable to do so themselves. Inside her book, Essential Retirement Planning for Solo Agers, author Sara Zeff Geber, Ph.D. defines several senior planner options to consider: Continue reading
Know the Risks Before Trying Alternative Supplements for Alzheimer’s Disease
Always get the doctor’s approval before trying anything new.
As the saying goes, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. That could very well pertain to the recent influx of corporations touting alternative supplements, dietary programs, and herbal concoctions in order to cure, or at the very least minimize, the ramifications of Alzheimer’s disease. The Alzheimer’s Association would like to advise us, however, to go forward with caution when looking into treatment ideas for a loved one with dementia – and always get the doctor’s approval before trying anything new. Continue reading