We’ve all heard warnings that some medications may be habit-forming, but research also shows that “getting into the habit” of taking a daily medicine in a routine and precise fashion can be a befuddling challenge for some older adults, many of whom tend to err on the side of over-medication, taking a dangerous second dose when in doubt about the first.

“In extended medication-taking situations, the habitual nature of the task may make it difficult for older adults to remember whether or not they took the medication on a particular day, especially if pill boxes are not used,” explains Mark McDaniel, Ph.D., lead author of the study and a professor of psychology in Arts & Sciences at Washington University.

“To remedy this potential problem, older adults could be instructed to take their medication while placing one hand on their head or in some other unusual or silly way, like crossing their arms,” he suggests. “Our results indicate that older adults can use these sorts of more complex motor tasks to effectively reduce repetition errors in habitual prospective memory tasks, such as taking a daily medication.”

The study, published in a recent issue of the journal Aging, Neuropsychology, and Cognition, is co-authored by Julie M. Bugg, Ph.D., postdoctoral research scholar in psychology at Washington University; Grit M. Ramuschkat of the Department of Psychology at the University of Heidelberg, Germany; Matthias Kliegel of the Department of Psychology, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany; and Giles O. Einstein, professor and chair of psychology at Furman University in South Carolina.

McDaniel and Einstein co-authored a 2004 book on “Memory Fitness: A Guide for Successful Aging” and a 2007 book on the latest research into the nuances of prospective memory, the process of remembering to perform an action at an appropriate time in the future.

In previous research, they’ve shown that older adults are more likely to incorrectly repeat an action in situations where a prospective memory task has become routine or habitual in nature.

Extending that line of research, the current study examines whether the tendency of older adults to err on the side of repeating a poorly remembered habitual task could be reduced by providing advance instructions to omit doing a task if in doubt about whether it was previously executed. The study also tested whether doing something unusual while executing a task would help seniors remember having done the task.

Specifically, participants were asked to push the F1 key on a computer keyboard once and only once at some point at least 30 seconds into a series of relatively simple, three-minute-long, letter-recognition tasks, such as pushing the computer key for the letter that comes next in the alphabet after a letter being displayed on the monitor (see a “g” and push an “h”).

One subset of the older study participants was instructed to put a hand on their heads whenever they pushed the F1 key.

In another phase of the experiment, participants were asked to do the letter-recognition task while simultaneously carrying out an additional more complicated and distracting task listening to a series of random numbers and pushing a clicker whenever they heard two odd numbers in a row.

The performance of older adults averaging 72 years of age was compared with results from a group of college students put through the same trials.

“When ongoing task demands were challenging, older adults committed more repetition errors than younger adults, regardless of whether they’d been told in advance to err on the side of omission told not to push the F1 key if they had any doubt about whether it had already been pushed once in the same trial,” says McDaniel.

However, older adults asked to carry out the more complex motor task (placing hand on head) while pushing the F1 key made significantly less repetition errors than older adults not making use of this memory enhancing technique.

And, in situations where the ongoing tasks were not overly complicated and distracting, older adults using this memory technique were able to reduce their repetition errors to levels comparable with those of younger adults.

This finding, along with other data from the study, suggests that older participants can learn to monitor their output and make better mental notes regarding the completion of a prospective memory task.

“For applied purposes, using a distinct motor activity to minimize repetition errors in older adults’ prospective memory tasks would seem to have great potential. In light of these findings, it seems reasonable to conclude that, at least in a context in which the ongoing activity is not overly demanding, older adults can implement strategies that are effective for supporting execution and output monitoring of habitual prospective memory tasks,” McDaniel concludes.

Source: http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/159414.php

Given enough money for paid suppliers or government funding for the same, an individual wouldn’t ever have to leave his home to get long-term care. All services may be received in the home. Satisfactory long term care planning or having significant income can allow this to occur.

We only need to have a look at loaded celebs to recognize this fact. Christopher Reeve, the flick star, was totally disabled but he had enough money to buy care services and remain in his home. President Ronald Reagan suffered from Alzheimer’s for many years but received care at his California ranch. He was also well off enough to pay for care when required. Or what about Annette Funicello or Richard Pryor? Income from their picture careers allowed them to receive care with their multiple sclerosis at home. We will be prepared to bet that Mohammed Ali, who is severely disabled with Parkinson’s disease, will probably never see the within a care facility, unless he chooses to go there to die. With the proper planning and the money it provides, many of us could remain in our houses to receive long term care and we would never have to go to an establishment or a surgery.

In the latter part of the 1800′s because of an increasingly urban society, many urban families were often unable to worry for family because of absence of space or because all members of the family including children were employed six days each week for twelve hours per day. During this period many unfortunate folks needing care were housed in County poor houses or in facilities for the mentally ill. Conditions were lamentable.

In the early 1900′s home visiting nurses started reversing this trend of institutionalizing and allowed many care recipients to stay in their houses. Nursing houses or supposed rest houses were also being built with public donations or govt funds. With the advent of Social Security in 1936, a retirement home per diem stipend was included in the Social Security retirement earnings and this presidency subsidy spurred the development of nursing houses all across the country.

By the end of the 1950s it was clear that Social Security beneficiaries were living longer and that the retirement home subsidy could finally bankrupt Social Security. But to protect the thousands and thousands of existing nursing houses Congress had to find a way to provide a subsidy but remove it as an entitlement under Social Security. In 1965 Medicare and Medicaid were created through a change to the Social Security Act. Under Medicare, nursing homes were only reimbursed for Social Security beneficiaries for short-term rehabilitation. Under Medicaid, nursing houses were reimbursed for bankrupted disabled Yankees and impoverished aged Americans over the age of 65. It has never been the desire of Congress to pay for nursing home care for all Americans. The retirement home entitlement for all aged Yanks was now gone.

Over the last 40 years, there has been a gentle change away from the employment of nursing houses for long term care towards the utilization of home care and community living arrangements that also provide in-house care.

Too frequently, family caregivers are reluctant to desert their patients, even temporarily, or entrust others with their care. But a carer shouldn’t have guilty feelings about watching out for No. 1.
Self-care is not a selfish act. It is an necessary act, because a caregiver who burns out, who becomes very stressed, exhausted or unwell, is no help to anyone. There are many ways for carers to protect their emotional and physical health, and an increasing number of setups that will help. Sometimes all you want to do is ask.

While folk who work as a living typically get lunch breaks, coffee breaks and weeks of vacation, a family carer has no such recess built into the job. Yet it might take a superhuman to meet the demands of caregiving twenty-four hours a day for any period of time without breaking down.

Though President Obama and Joe Biden both have older generations of relations living in their homes, Yankee families that are making a choice to move their seniors into their houses are certainly not doing it solely to follow in their footsteps. So why is it that multigenerational homes are a growing trend?

Families are sharing in caregiving requirements and keeping a lookout for one another. Whether it is due to the fact a senior in the family wants assistance, because a grandparent is providing care for grandkids, or as the family is predicting future wishes, families are far more focused than ever on providing for each other
When seniors experience loss or tussle with the emotional effects of a devastating diagnosis, they can use the support of their family so that they don’t become isolated
The economy is influencing seniors and their families, making it hard to cover basic costs of living. By coming together, seniors and families can share the finance burden of living to make sure that all of their desires are met.

Hi, John, how are you and your family? It’s been long time that we didn’t see each other. I now find myself being the primary caregiver to my parents, Dad is 79 and Mum is 80. As you remember, we suffered a sudden loss of a brother at 52 – so it is particularly hard for both of them – though he has a family of grown children – it still aches to recollect the events of that fateful day.

My 3 other brothers (one of them stay with us with his wife and kid) come to us almost every weekend. My sister who lives with her own family now contributes to looking after her mother in law who is 83 and had recently suffered a fall and has multiple illnesses.

While I am still single, I can truly empathize the many stories of the sandwiched generation. While in Asia, there is much emphasis on filial duties etc, we are also seeing many instances of family issues regarding care of their elderly parents.

One thing I did recently when my parents were in a strange way, taking turns to be in hospital, I took to writing down my thoughts and recollections of being brought up by them. I know there are many who have had very bad childhood and growing up years with their elderly – I also had my fair share too but overall, I am grateful for many things too – :

(a) they both, only until recently have had good health – and gave us many decades of independence and freedom to pursue our dreams and careers.
(b) they taught us well – especially of how to look out for each other as siblings (we are quite close knit – and in recent years have been in much more communication about our aging parents)
(c) they both love each other much and also traveled to many places in their younger days
(d) they showed us that even with the most serious arguments or fights, they also make up – they kept the family together in its ups and downs.

I tell my sister that I am grateful for the opportunities to do things for them now – having left my corporate job for a lower paying teaching one – after more than 22 years. I cook for them once a week – and I drive them around whenever they need to for doctors’ appointments or our Buddhist meetings or gatherings.

I also dread the eventual end – I pray every day that they will be free of unnecessary pain from any illnesses or falls or accidents at home. They had resisted the suggestion of a domestic helper until recently – as I explained that I would not be always available. If and when I do have activities to attend, such as dinners or dates or the gym, I will inform my siblings so that some kind of arrangements can be made to ensure that someone is at home, until our domestic help comes in.

Just some thoughts to share – we are different yet we are the same – in dealing with the cycle of life. Take care ! Bye!

My neighbor – a 91 years old lady says that with help it is possible to survive in your own home, as she does. She gave up her car at the age og 89 and and rapidly realised that this eroded her independence. Fairly soon she suffered a slight stroke. After that she had to adjust to the fact that her speech was affected and she had to re-educate herself to explore all avenues of communication.

She found some positives in this situation including, immediately, that gem, the Meals on Wheels service – whose helpful and considerate volunteers arrive daily and are now an important part of her routine. Her cleaners, two local women who have known her for years, carry out a range of tasks such as posting letters, ironing and watering her tomatoes. Particularly, they are a friendly presence each week and it seems she couldn’t probably do without them.

Yesterday she told me that her useful thought for those able-bodied people in their 60s and 70s who have a social conscience is that they should search out those in their 80s and 90s who would appreciate their care and friendship. It is so true.

She still values her independence: the joys of being in her own home, under own roof, where she can brew tea at 4am and text and email in the middle of the night if she wishes. She said she knows she has more to think about – such as cleaning, repairs, whether the milkman has called and which day to put the wheelie bins out – but she’d rather have her head full of these trivialities than others, such as when the next cuppa is going to be brought to her and what’s on daytime TV.

Her brain has been marginally affected by the stroke, in that her speech is not as it was, but she has been able to understand enough about computer technology to enable her to have horizons beyond the confines of her home. And now she has friends and relatives all over the world who keep in touch with her. All is not lost!

But what about the millions of workers whose working lives afford far less flexibility? According to the 2004 Caregiving in the U.S study, conducted by the National Alliance for Caregiving, AARP and the MetLife Foundation, there were an estimated “44 million caregivers age 18 and older in the U.S. (21 percent of the population) caring for another adult,” a number that will only increase as the population ages.

How to prepare for the inevitable eldercare issues most of us will face?

Here some advices:
1) Plan early — logistically, financially, and emotionally. When your parents are still full of life it is annoying and hard to imagine them being unable to take care about themselves. But in most cases these times comes and you better be ready for that.

Financial: According to a recent research, caregivers, on average, spent $5,500 a year of their own money providing care. That amount increased to $8,728 for long-distance caregivers. Think about what are you going to pay, especially the costs that aren’t covered by outside sources, even by many long-term care insurance policies.

Logistical: Clear the roles that you suppose to play, discuss what are you going to do, when and how? Think about where and how you are going to hire caregiver? Don’t make assumptions about how someone wants to be cared for and who is going to do it. Your assumptions probably won’t match reality, so clarify before you are in crisis.

Emotional: Who is going to support you when you become caregiver? Eldercare is the most emotionally difficult life challenge. Identify, in advance, sources of support outside your family. More employers are establishing eldercare support groups similar to those for parents.

2) Don’t fall into the “all or nothing” trap: Because eldercare is so unpredictable and tiring, it can feel too hard to work while providing care. In fact, 37 percent of the respondents to the caregiving survey said they had to quit working or reduce their hours because of their responsibilities. Be careful that you don’t unnecessarily make extreme choices about work because:

It’s expensive: It bears repeating, that eldercare is expensive and many of those expenses will come out of your pocket. You will need the money. Don’t compound the stress of eldercare with extra financial stress.

You can’t be a 24/7 caregiver, which means that work can be a welcome distraction: You may be tempted to put your career on hold to focus on caring for your loved one full time, but resist that urge. If you don’t get a break, physically and emotionally, you won’t help yourself or the person for whom you are caring.

3) When time comes – try to be flexible: Can you reduce your schedule? Can you work remotely? Can you shift your hours? Can you take any medical leave under the Family Medical Leave Act? Flexibility in how, where and when you work is the tool for finding the work+life fit that allows to you provide care while working.

Most adults over age 50 feel at least 10 years younger than their actual age, the survey found. 30% of those between 65 and 74 said they felt 10 to 19 years younger, and 13% of people 75 and older said they felt 20 years younger.

And at what age does old age begin? Most people in the survey said old age starts at age 68. Not surprisingly, most people over 65 have a different idea about old age. Among those getting the senior citizen discount, most say old age begins at 75.

The same time most people under 30 think you’re old by the time you hit 60.

Currently, about 40 million Americans, or one in eight, are 65 and older. By 2050, one in five American will be in that age group.