Page 6 - Dinuba Sentinel 11-1-18 E-edition

A6 | Thursday, November 1, 2018 The Dinuba Sentinel
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When Adult Children Start Helping
By Jim Dueck
Most adults, between the
Forgetfulness can a ect anyone. For example, few, if any, adults can say they have not experienced mo- ments when they could not nd their keys. And once the keys are found, people move on without giving much thought to why they did not immediately remember where they left their keys.
Isolated incidents where people cannot recall where they placed their car keys or other minor bouts with forgetfulness do not occur
by accident. In fact, the Harvard Medical School notes that they are likely byproducts of age- related changes in thinking skills. When people reach their 50s, chemical and structural changes in the brain may begin to occur, and these changes can a ect a person’s
ages of 50 and 70, are busy with their own lives. ey have their own families, jobs, and other responsibilities. But, when things begin to change with an aging parent(s), who is no longer as independent
as they used to be, many nd themselves suddenly involved in a variety of issues, ranging from care giving, to legal docu- ments.
is can be overwhelming when you need to learn about
everything all at once. Be-
ing pro-active and informed about such things as housing needs, medication, insurance, nances, trusts, power of attor- ney, health care directives and long-term care, just to name a few, will not only be less stress- ful for you, more importantly, less stressful for your aging parent.
A dramatic change in health can result from a broken bone caused from a fall, to a heart at-
tack. Each can a ect a senior’s ability to be fully independent. We’ve all heard the phrase,
“what doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger”. Well, that might be true for young adults, but most often, it is not true for seniors. A stroke may not end a life, but it can dramatically a ect one’s ability to remain self-reliant.
I recently visited with a couple in their mid-80’s, who were both in good health and
fully independent. When asked what plans they had made for their future care, should there be a change in their health, they stated that they were ne and didn’t need to plan for that. A few months later the husband unexpect- edly passed away. at was a sudden change that neither of them expected, or had planned for. Now the wife is struggling to make decisions about her future, without the help and
Their Senior Parents
input of her husband. Current statistics indicate
that 50-70% of all seniors liv- ing in the USA will need long term care at some point in their life. Planning ahead doesn’t cost anything, except your time and attention.
If you have aging parents, be encouraged to prepare, and be well informed for what’s ahead. It’s not a matter of “IF” you will need to get involved, it’s a matter of “When”.
often nothing to worry about. But men and women concerned about maintaining their memories can employ various strategies to do just that.
Tips to improve memory
ability to process memories. Father Time may be a formida-
ble foe, but people can take steps to give their memories a boost as they get older.
• Embrace recognition instead of trusting recall. Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist who specializes in be- havioral neurology and neuropsy- chiatry at Massachusetts General Hospital, notes that human beings are better at recognition than recall. at means people are more likely to remember something they read, such as a note or a list, than something they’re simply told.
• Recognize the value of repeti- tion. e Harvard Medical School notes that people might be more inclined to remember what they
hear if they repeat it out loud. Names and addresses might be more easily remembered after they’re repeated out loud because repetition increases the likeli- hood that the brain will record the information and be capable of retrieving it later. When studying for exams, many students repeat important points to themselves time and again, and that same approach can be applied by adults who are trying to improve their memories.
• Eat a healthy diet. A study published in 2015 in the journal Neurology found that people who eat healthy diets with lots of fruits, vegetables, nuts, and sh and little alcohol and red meat may be less likely to experience declines in
their memory and thinking skills. Authored by Andrew Smyth of McMaster University in Ontario and the National University of Ireland in Galway, the study fol- lowing more than 27,000 people in 40 countries for an average of roughly ve years. All participants were 55 and older and had dia- betes or a history of heart disease, stroke or peripheral artery disease. ose who ate the healthiest
diets were 24 percent less likely to experience cognitive decline than people with the least healthy diets.
• Break things down. Breaking things down into small chunks also can help improve memory. If tasked with remembering some- thing extensive, such as a speech, focus on a single sentence at a
time, only moving on to the next sentence when you’re con dent you have successfully committed the preceding sentence to memory.
Periodic memory lapses are
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