Living with the effects of Alzheimer’s on a daily basis can be challenging for both patients and their caretakers. And communicating with a loved one who has the disease can also take a significant toll on your relationship if you’re not clear on how Alzheimer’s impacts the way your senior relates to others. What many family members may not know about a loved one suffering from the disease is that Alzheimer’s can cause significant damage to the neural pathways in the brain. The brain’s neurons are responsible for sending messages back and forth to different parts of the body. Alzheimer’s interrupts this process, leaving
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Posts by Freedom Home Care
Spending Time With Grandchildren Can Keep You Healthy
Not only is being a grandparent good for your health but spending time with the grandkids has been shown to offer numerous health benefits. According to research results published in the scientific journal Evolution and Human Behavior, a study conducted in Germany and Switzerland says grandparenting actually helps people live longer than they would if they didn’t spend time with grandchildren. A group of 500 participants between the ages 70 and 103 were divided into three groups: grandparents with occasional grandparenting duties, those with no duties, and those who weren’t grandparents, but still performed those duties. Ten years later, half of
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Questions You Should Ask Before Hiring a Home Health Care Agency
Deciding on a quality home health care agency is important not only for the safety and well-being of your senior but for your peace-of-mind as well. While it might take some planning and a little bit of research to determine which questions to ask, this information can actually help you find the facility that best meets the needs of your loved one. Freedom Home Care did some digging and found some things that might be helpful to know before hiring a home health care agency. Interview the Organizations Experts suggest interviewing the organizations that you’re interested in to get a better idea of
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National Senior Citizen's Day
In honor of seniors everywhere and the all the ways they bring wisdom, joy and love to our everyday lives, on August 21st, Freedom Home Care will be celebrating National Senior Citizen’s Day. It’s also a time when we acknowledge the many contributions and achievements they’ve made over the years and to raise awareness about their social, health and economic issues. This was a proclamation made by President Ronald Reagan in 1988 who stated that because of the ways seniors impact our lives, they deserve a day to be honored and recognized. Before that, Franklin Roosevelt signed the Social Security
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A Social Life Leads to Longevity
As a senior, your social health is just as important as your physical health. Experts say that seniors should seek to stay connected with friends and family members every day. Many people don’t realize it, but a lack of social interaction can lead to a number of health risks. But a quality social life can have the same effect on your overall health as a good workout. As more baby boomers near the golden years, the number of seniors living alone increases. According to statistics, older adults without children is on the rise, leaving fewer family members to care for them. As a result, social isolation
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Health Benefits of Laughter for Seniors
They say that laughter is the best medicine. Laughter has been scientifically proven to offer a number of restorative effects in our lives and today Freedom Home Care will celebrate all of its benefits on National Tell a Joke Day. People have been sharing jokes since the 1900s – and perhaps even earlier in some Sumerian cultures. Historians have traced a 1000-year-old double entendre, found in the Codex Exoniensis, back to Britain. What may have started out as innuendo, has grown in form and meaning. Today, jokes can be told in many different ways – from irony, sarcasm, and satire
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Senior Activity: Nature Walk
Being outdoors is therapeutic for human beings at any age. It’s also been shown to be a major positive contributor to the mental, physical and emotional health of seniors. Researchers say that spending time in nature has restorative effects in many ways. Being outdoors has the power to facilitate better moods, decrease depression, improve cognitive function and lower stress levels. The more time your loved one spends in nature, the greater the effects. For those seniors who receive Chicago in-home care or personalized elder care, nature’s advantages are not just limited to being outdoors. Studies show that simply gazing out
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Activities For Alzheimer's Patients
In order to help loved ones with dementia continue to lead a good, quality life and achieve purpose and pleasure, it’s important that they continually engage in activities that will stimulate them mentally, physically and emotionally. Many times those diagnosed with Alzheimer’s are under-stimulated in their daily lives which can lead to a number of things like loss of focus and attention, interrupted sleep patterns, anxiety and depression, and behavioral challenges including repetitive questioning, shadowing and agitation. It’s common, in the first stages of Alzheimer’s, for loved ones to stop doing the things that they once enjoyed. That doesn’t mean they no
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How to Help a Parent That is Refusing Elder Care
One of the most heartbreaking things that adult children deal with is an aging parent that refuses in-home care. Not only is it heartbreaking, but it can also be the most frustrating. You’ve heard these stories before. Mom claims she doesn’t need help bathing and dressing, even though she struggles to do it herself. Dad doesn’t want anyone driving him to his appointments even though the doctor recommended it. You know your parent needs help, but how do you help a resistant loved one get the personalized elder care that they need? On one hand, you don’t want to force
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Why Staying Social is Important for Seniors
They say with age comes wisdom, but what they don’t tell you is that there will also be a whole new set of challenges to face in the later years of being an adult.
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