Laughter is a sunbeam to the soul
“Laughter is a sunbeam to the soul.” – Thomas Mann Laughing together combats loneliness. It helps build friendships and strengthen relationships. Spending a few minutes laughing together creates bonds and connects us. That connectedness helps us feel safe and secure and allows us to feel more relaxed and supported. It’s much harder to feel resentful, […]
Laughter is the best medicine
Stress makes our immune system work overtime. This contributes to so many physical difficulties: high blood pressure, aches, pains, inflammation. Laughter helps calm and strengthen our immune response. It reduces pain, lowers our blood pressure, and makes us feel better in so many ways. In just a few weeks, I’m launching a new offering that […]
Laugh more. Live better.
We spend too much time in “fight or flight” mode. Laughter counteracts the cortisol and epinephrine produced by our sympathetic nervous system. Laughing produces endorphins, dopamine and serotonin instead. We don’t have to be or feel funny or get the joke either. If you self-simulate laughter, your body doesn’t know the difference. Combine that laughter […]
Longterm Care, Part 2: Assisted Living
I’m wrapping up my birthday month growing old and aging series with the second part of my three-part series on longterm care options for the aging and elderly in society. Today we look at Assisted Living. Assisted Living Facilities (ALF) are growing in popularity with about 1/2 a million aging adults choosing this option in […]
Longterm Care, Part 1: Aging in Place
It’s what most of us wish for: to age in place in our homes. But the reality is that staying in our home or in the home of a family-member is unrealistic without around the clock care and that care is unattainable for most of us. According to HealthyAging.org, more than 80% of people will need assistance with some Activities of Daily Living (ADL) as they age. These activities include hygiene, such as bathing, oral health, as well as dressing, eating, mobility and maintaining continence – being able to get to a bathroom, get off and on a toilet safely and cleaning one’s self after using the toilet.
Aging and Healthcare: A worsening crisis
The elderly and aging in our community deserve to access the care they need to continue to pursue their individual happiness and participate in the lifestyles, hobbies and activities they value until the end on their lives. Our institutions throughout society must shift the way we do things to remove barriers in healthcare for our aging populations. Doing so will improve the lives of us all.
Ageism in Healthcare
We should consider it a blessing if we are able to grow old before we die. There is no shame in being old and continuing to live on this earth and to share the resources, richness, and rights of a living being in our communities. Neglecting our elder population and putting them away out of sight will not stop us from getting old or dying any more than talking about aging and death will cause them. If we can begin to address our fear of death, the terror of or mortality, we can come to love our lives, ourselves, our bodies and everyone else’s, too.
Ageism. The last acceptable bias?
I’m back again today to talk about getting older and aging for my birthday month series. Today’s topic is ageism. Combatting ageism is such an important priority in society that it is one of the main pillars of the World Health Organization’s Decade of Healthy Ageing. Despite the diversity that people add to our society […]
Motivation for Monday
Not gonna lie, I’ve been feeling a bit unmotivated and frustrated the past week. Between bad weather and deathiversaries, I’ve been in my feelings and a bit morose. But the sun came out today, I had an excellent productive meeting, and I have filled my calendar this week with exciting networking opportunities and caregiving. I’m […]
Decade of Healthy Aging
Yesterday, I talked about all the reasons we need to be concerned about our rapidly aging population. Today, I’ll explain how the United Nations is asking all of us in the public and private sectors to come together to create better living conditions for our aging society this decade. The hard truth is that unless […]
