Tips for Personal Care

Guidelines for Helping with Daily Self-care Tasks

• *Simplify and clarify the task.  Clothing garments with simple fasteners or a permed hairstyle any go far in enabling the person to complete a task independently.  Clarify the task with environmental cues such as a comb and brush set out by the makeup mirror.
• *Reduce distractions such as background noise to confusing cues (such as clutter or similarly colored toilet and dressing stool covers.)
• *Keep a regular routine.  A regular routine makes life more predictable and easier to cope with.  This reduces confusion and improves the individual’s cooperation and ability to perform self-care.
• *Be flexible and patient.  It is important to remain flexible and patient because the first attempt at getting a task done often will not work.  Also, remember to not take refusals personally, the person with Alzheimer’s disease cannot help his/her behavior.
• *Use good communication techniques.

Techniques for Helping

• *Break the task into steps that are small enough to match the person’s abilities.  For example, a person may need to have tasks broken into smaller steps such as:  put toothpaste on the toothbrush, brush your teeth, rinse your mouth, and dry off your mouth.
• *Demonstrate the step.  For example, when you say “wipe your mouth” you can wipe your own mouth.
• *Help begin the action.  Even when you demonstrate a step, the person may still not be sure what to do.  You can help by beginning the action until he/she remembers what to do.
• *Give the person time to finish the step.  Rushing a person with Alzheimer’s dieses usually will increase confusion, embarrassment, and resistance.

 For more information contact 317-218-5111 or www.behomelivelife.com

Socialization Important to Memory

This article discusses recent findings regarding socialization and it’s affects on Alzheimer’s and other related dementias.  Interestingly, more and more research is proving socialization is vital to conserving cognitive function as we age.  It is a reminder in the value of staying connected with others.

Study links seniors’ loneliness to higher risk of dementia

By Kathleen Fackelmann, USA TODAY

Loneliness may put people at risk of an Alzheimer’s-like dementia, a study reported Monday.

“People who described themselves as lonely were twice as likely to develop dementia,” says researcher Robert Wilson of the Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

Other studies have found that people who are unmarried and socially isolated are at higher risk for dementia, including Alzheimer’s. But this study is one of the first to show a link between loneliness — or the feelings of disconnection from other people — and a higher risk of developing dementia late in life, says Laurel Coleman, a spokeswoman for the Alzheimer’s Association and a geriatrician in Portland, Maine.

Wilson and his colleagues studied 823 people who were about 80 years old and had no sign of dementia at the start of the study. The team gave the recruits a loneliness quiz and tested them annually for signs of memory loss and confusion, two key signs of dementia and Alzheimer’s.

During the four-year study, 76 people developed an Alzheimer’s-like dementia, Wilson says. The risk of developing dementia increased about 51% for each one-point increase on the loneliness scale. People with the highest scores had 2.1 times the risk of developing dementia, a group of conditions that destroy brain cells and lead to mental confusion. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of dementia.

Autopsies were performed on 90 people who died during the study. The researchers found no link between loneliness and the development of the abnormal brain deposits that are the hallmark of Alzheimer’s.

That finding suggests loneliness might be triggering dementia through a novel mechanism — one that doesn’t lead to a brain riddled with deposits, Wilson says.

One theory is that people who are lonely over long periods of time might have higher levels of damaging stress hormones. The elevated stress hormones might lead to an accelerated aging of the brain — and perhaps to dementia, Wilson says.

Other research suggests lonely people are at risk of other health problems such as cancer and high blood pressure, says John Cacioppo of the University of Chicago. Still, he says, the new finding, which appears in February’s Archives of General Psychiatry, must be verified by additional research.

The findings didn’t change much when the team factored in markers of social isolation, such as infrequent participation in social events. That means that people who have a small number of good friends might be better off than those with a busy social schedule but chronic feelings of loneliness, Wilson says.

But lonely people often benefit from signing up for a new class or activity, Coleman says. Research shows that such activities might protect aging brain cells. And seniors who are out and about are more likely to make new friends, which might lessen feelings of loneliness, she says.

For more information contact 317-218-5111   or www.behomelivelife.com.