An ongoing daily challenge
Is mealtime a struggle for you and your loved one with dementia? Anger, frustration, or refusing foods are signs that your loved one may be overwhelmed. There are several reasons your loved one may not enjoy mealtime anymore. The amount of food in front of them, background noises, distracting design patterns on the serving plate, or even the use of utensils may add to the confusion. Here are a few tips to help. Remove distractions. Turn of the TV and phones. Use a plain but colored plate; blue and red work well. The contrast between the plate color and the food makes is easier to see what...
Read MoreBuilding A Resilient Brain
In 2017, we are no longer passive on-lookers as aging impacts our cognitive functioning. Thanks to exciting and revolutionary new knowledge from brain science, we can now take proactive steps in building up our brain’s defences against dementia. In a local workshop in Victoria BC, we all learned ways to make our brains more resilient to the impacts of aging. An initiative of the Eldercare Foundation, March is “Embracing Aging Month” on Vancouver Island, with many interesting workshops to enlighten and educate. I was fascinated by “Heads Up, An Introduction to Brain Health”...
Read MoreCheat Days
“Cheat days” are everywhere in the health and nutrition information world. However, I’m completely against cheat days. Let me repeat that because I feel so strongly about it. Completely. Against. Cheat days. Cheat days set us up to have a negative relationship with food. I’ve found that the secret to achieving, and keeping, your happy weight is to first create a healthy relationship with food. Then the weight loss will follow. Cheat days take you further away from your goal of a healthy weight and feeling happy about your body. First, let’s look at the term ‘cheat days’....
Read MoreImproving Senior Sleep Patterns.
High quality sleep of adequate quantity is a central lynchpin of senior health. Many seniors have one or more of these sleep problems: trouble falling and staying asleep, waking up extremely early, not feeling rested when waking up, falling asleep during the day, wanting to go to bed very early in the evening, craving multiple naps during the day. Lack of sleep can cause falls and other accidents due to drowsiness, poor concentration, and inability to focus. Worse still, undiagnosed sleep disorders such as breathing trouble and sleep apnea have been connected to hypertension, pulmonary...
Read MoreSeniors & Medicine Safety.
Two-thirds of all seniors take at least one medication each day, and 25 percent take three or more. Many seniors owe their lives—or at least their quality of life—to medications. Of course, medicine doesn’t work if patients don’t take it. Researchers have found that getting older adults to take their medicine is a difficult task—even in those with life-threatening conditions. A new study shows it is almost hopeless to get seniors to take the medicines their doctors prescribe, let alone to follow directions for long periods. “Simple things don’t work and nothing works very...
Read MoreHandyDART survey results
BC’s Seniors Advocate released resultsof a province-wide survey of almost 7,500 HandyDART users in the province today. The survey highlights that while 91% of users are satisfied with the service when they receive it, almost 1/3 of respondents say it is not meeting, or only moderately meeting, their transportation needs. “Obviously there’s good news here,” said Seniors Advocate Isobel Mackenzie. “People are telling us that across many aspects of this service, things are positive, however we are still concerned that there are a significant number of seniors whose transportation needs...
Read MoreAging 101
Aging. We all do it. And we all do it differently. Let’s start with the very basics – you can spell it ‘aging’, or ‘ageing’ – either way it’s something you’re doing right this second! Every single reaction going off in every single cell in your body every micro second makes you a little wee bit older. Every single time you put food or beverage in your mouth, or every time you choose to be active or not, you’re making a choice about how you want to age. Let’s look at the major components of intelligent aging. In my mind the three primary pieces of...
Read MoreAre you Listening?
Hearing your Spirit Guides & Energy Beings. In these tumultuous times, many people are seeking answers to the bigger question – are you too? Are you feeling unsure and fearful of what the future holds, in the big picture of politics, economics, and other global events? Are big changes happening in your own life? For 10 years, I have been doing my work as a healer and now, more than ever, my clients are coming to me in fear of the unknown. Many of them are asking me to help them connect with and hear their Spirit Guides, in the hopes of receiving answers to their many questions. Over...
Read MoreReflexology for Constipation
Constipation can be an embarrassing topic for some people to discuss, but so many of us can suffer from it, it’s an important conversation to have. How you are digesting and excreting food can also have a big impact on your energy levels and mood. Are you feeling lethargic and depressed? Constipation could be part of the problem. During the winter many of us do not intake the amount of fluids or fruit we need too. It’s natural not to feel the compulsion to intake these foods and fluids in the same way we do in the hot summer months. As a result however, this leads to reduced...
Read MoreLiving In The Light
I have always had a burning desire to understand how the Universe works, what life is all about and the meaning and purpose for which I am here. This is a profound question I have often asked myself. I consider myself foremost a spiritual being. I have spent my life seeking my higher purpose. My faith has been tested many times. On my spiritual path I allow the mystical power of living with consciousness to help guide me through. I believe that each one of us has a true purpose and each one of us is a channel for the Universe. After we are born in the body we forget who we really are...
Read MoreAfter A Parkinson’s Diagnosis.
According to Parkinson Society Canada, there are nearly 100,000 Canadians living with Parkinson’s disease. If your elderly loved one has recently been diagnosed with the condition, he or she can continue to live a happy and healthy life with the right support. Here are a few tips to keep in mind. CONSIDER LONG-TERM CARE The rate at which Parkinson’s disease progresses can vary from person to person, and the uncertainty of what to expect can cause a great deal of worry for both seniors and their family caregivers. Sit down with your loved one as soon as possible after the diagnosis to...
Read MoreSigns that something is wrong
Headaches are a sign of the body that somewhere in the head the Chi-flow/energy-flow is impeded. We have to take this seriously. Taking a pill is no solution. Would you unscrew the light bulb in your car that is indicating your car needs oil? You wouldn’t, but many take regularly pills to eliminate their headache. Some headaches are caused by stress, others by injuries to the head, neck, back, and also to the legs. Two meridians run from the toes to the top of the head and go through these areas, Any injury of the areas can have an effect on the Chi-flow in the brain. Many years of an...
Read MoreManaging Disappointment
This morning when I awoke, my little girl, with such anticipation, looked out the window, wanting only for the view to be full of snow. The weather bureau had predicted a blizzard, a foot of snow, maybe more. She was so excited! It had been such a long time since we’d had any snow in Victoria and the excitement that had been building over the past couple of days as the first snow in many years fell has been wonderful! To connect again to that sense of transformation, of beauty and softness that comes when the snow falls. You see, my little girl, when she was growing up in Vancouver and...
Read MoreMedical Marijuana
I recently attended an information workshop in Duncan regarding chronic pain control and was pleasantly surprised by the range of people attending, their ailments, and their ways of dealing with their pain, or not. The participants were adults of various ages, men and women, and they were looking for the relief of chronic pain for themselves. The causes were numerous and varied, caused by accidents’ and ailments. To help control their pain some used various prescription and over the counter drugs. Some were also smoking marijuana, or using other forms of cannabis. Although I know...
Read MoreClose Friendships are Vital
Bonds of friendship are often formed when we are young, and many of these bonds continue to stay strong well into the golden years. It’s important for your senior loved one to stay socially active, whether it’s through maintaining longstanding friendships or building brand new relationships. That’s because the more social connections a senior has, the healthier and happier they generally are! WHY DO SENIORS BECOME SOCIALLY ISOLATED? Older adults who retire or move in with their families may have fewer opportunities to engage with other seniors. Limited mobility and various other health...
Read MoreSigns Our Body is Giving Us
Heart palpitations, anxiety, memory difficulties and more. These and many more signs our body is giving us that it is under constant stress from electro magnetic frequencies emitted by the wireless technology we use (see below). These devices emit radiofrequency electromagnetic fields, including cordless phones, cell phones, IPads, Wi-Fi routers, wireless games, baby monitors, and smart meters. An Information Package was sent to Doctors together with a letter signed by Una St.Clair Executive Director, Citizens for Safe Technology Society. On...
Read More