Oral Health is Left Behind for Most Seniors

Date: August 4, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
Oral Health is Left Behind for Most Seniors

Given how important oral health is to overall health, it’s surprising that it isn’t covered by standard insurance. According to a report done by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, most seniors don’t have dental insurance. People who are over seventy-five, Black, Hispanic, or living below the poverty level are even more unlikely to have coverage.

Oral Health is Left Behind for Most Seniors

Oral Health is Left Behind for Most Seniors

 

Dental benefits aren’t covered by Medicare, which is the federal insurance for seniors. Dental coverage through Medicaid, the insurance for those with limited income, varies by state. Many states only offer emergency services, and four states don’t offer it at all.

So the options for seniors are buying the dental insurance themselves or get it as a part of retirement benefits from their employer.

This is a problem because all older adults, even those with dentures, need a yearly dental checkup. With Baby Boomers reaching retirement age, this will be the problem that affects most families, especially because older people have more oral issues than younger people.

They can have multiple illnesses and take medication for it. The medication can have side effects like dry mouth, inflammation, infections, and mouth sores. Once their oral health starts to slide, everything else will follow.

Even if someone no longer has their teeth, they still need to be checked for oral cancer and have a soft and hard tissue exam. Dentures don’t last forever and will eventually breakdown. Dentures that don’t fit right can lead to poor chewing, inadequate nutrition, speech problems, and more.

Read more here.

7 Ways Your Oral Health Affects Your Body’s Health

Date: July 29, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
7 Ways Your Oral Health Affects Your Body's Health

You’d be surprised at how much your oral health affects your body’s health. While it may be easy to ignore a sore tooth, that single tooth can have a strong impact on your overall health. Next time you think about skipping a tooth-brushing session, remember these seven ways that your mouth health affects your overall health.

7 Ways Your Oral Health Affects Your Body's Health

7 Ways Your Oral Health Affects Your Body’s Health

 

You would be surprised at how your oral health affects your body’s health.

1. Cardiovascular Health

Inflammed gums are connected to heart disease and stroke because it increases the inflammation throughout your whole body. Inflammation leads to heart disease. People who have severe gum disease have twice the risk of having a fatal heart attack than those without it.

2. Diabetes

It’s already known that those with diabetes tend to have gum disease more than those who don’t have diabetes. Now, it’s thought that severe gum disease can contribute to diabetes because it messes with blood glucose control.

Gum disease has bacteria, and that bacteria can make toxins that mess with the carbohydrate metabolism in each cell. It can also increase insulin resistance.

3. Lung Infections

Once again, gum disease and its bacteria can cause more lung infections. You are breathing in more germs in general, and more specifically germs that lead to lung infections. For those who already have lung issues, the bacteria can make it worse.

4.  Pregnancy

Pregnant women who have gum disease are more likely to develop gestational diabetes, deliver pre-term, or have a smaller baby. Checkups are even more critical if you are pregnant. Poor oral health can lead to higher risks during birth, like being early or the baby being underweight.

Babies born early can have a higher risk of developing development problems, asthma, ear infections, birth abnormalities, behavioral difficulties, and even have a higher risk of death.

5. Joint Health

When you grind your teeth nonstop, it can upset joints in your lower jaw, which can lead to pain, tightness in the joint area, earaches, and headaches. This is on top of it already slowly destroying your teeth.

6.  Smoking

You already know that smoking can lead to all kinds of cancer, but quitting can lower your risk significantly. Smoking can cause oral cancer and painful lesions in your mouth that never heal. It can also make your teeth fall out.

7. Tounge Health

A third of the bacteria on your tongue doesn’t come from any other surface in your mouth. Stuck on germs can lead to bad breath and affect your sense of taste.

Letting the germs go on for too long can make your tongue turn yellow, white, black, or even hairy looking.

Read more here.

Is Doll Therapy Helpful or Hurtful?

Date: July 29, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
Is Doll Therapy Helpful or Hurtful?

Many times you will see seniors who have dementia with stuffed animals or dolls. Usually, they are petting them or talking to these toys. Doll therapy is when you use dolls to ease stress in those who have dementia or Alzheimer’s. This type of treatment is controversial at the moment because it could be seen as demeaning to have an older adult play with a doll as if they were a kid.

Is Doll Therapy Helpful or Hurtful?

Is Doll Therapy Helpful or Hurtful?

 

Despite the controversy, many senior communities around the country are using doll therapy. It can bring out the best in people and even encourage social activity. Many times, those with dementia or Alzheimer’s still want to feel useful and feel a connection, even if they can’t remember much of their own life.

Those who use this therapy never try to convince seniors the dolls are real, and they aren’t trying to make them seem like children. They see it as a new form of communication.

The benefits of this type of therapy are that it can reduce the need for medications, lower anxiety, and allow seniors to communicate better. Some people believe that the doll can give older adults an anchor in uncertain times. It can also provide them with a sense of independence. It can even allow individuals who can’t participate in activities a way to interact with others.

Read more here.

American Seniors are Dying From Falls

Date: July 21, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
American Seniors are Dying From Falls

We all know how dangerous falls are for seniors, but a new study found that more American seniors are dying from them. According to the study, nearly 25,000 people 75 and older died because of falls in 2016. That’s three times more than in 2000. This number will most likely increase as the older American population rises.

American Seniors are Dying From Falls

American Seniors are Dying From Falls

 

We’ve talked a lot about falls already and different ways to prevent them. Now, we have numbers. Around $50 billion was spent on medical care due to falls in 2015. The rate of death by fall for men rose from 61 per 100,000 to 116. For women, the rate jumped from 46 to 106 every 100,000.

Plus the older you get, the more deadly falls can become. Death due to falls for people 75-79 was 42 per 100,000 while those who are 95 and older had a rate of 591 per 100,000.

Now no one is quite sure why the rates are rising, but what researchers do know is that they are preventable.

It’s not just age that can cause falls. Other factors include a sedentary lifestyle, chronic diseases, neurological issues and incontinence, and higher use of prescription drugs.

But why do people die from falls? Some reasons are head trauma, internal bleeding, and complications of a bone fracture. Fractures can lead to hospitalization, immobility in bed, and infections, which can be deadly.

Make sure to check out our other articles about falls to learn about how to prevent them.

Read more about the study here.

Robotic Caregiving Research is Expanding

Date: July 21, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
How Robotics Are Helping Chinese Seniors with Rehab

We’ve talked a lot about how robotic caregiving could greatly enhance a senior’s life and seems like a lot of other people agree. More research is being done on how to integrate technology into a senior’s life to allow them to be independent longer. The range of robotic caregiving is vast and could change a senior’s life.

Robotic Caregiving Research is Expanding

Robotic Caregiving Research is Expanding

 

Remember our article about robotic pets? Well, that idea is expanding into more human-like robotic companions. Japan, in particular, has been looking into this possibility because their senior population is larger than their younger one. Having robotic caregivers can help supplement human caregivers and assist in not only menial tasks, but offer comfort to seniors as well.

Robotic pets are getting looked at more closely too. It’s been shown that they offer seniors comfort and emotional support. Even the U.S. Food and Drug Administration supports these robots because of the comfort they give. The problem is that these robots’ care are costly. They can cost around $6,400. Because of that, many people are trying to create less expensive versions so they can be more accessible.

Robots Aren’t As Cold As Most Think

While some people may believe there is no replacement for a human caregiver, they may be surprised at how well seniors and robots get along. In fact, some research has shown that robots, like a robotic pet, can encourage more social interaction in seniors. These robots can improve the overall mood in a room or in an individual to make them more friendly.

They are especially great for those with dementia. Often these robotic pets bring back memories of old pets they had and brings comfort to them.

Robotic Backup for Human Caregivers

 

The biggest help could be for caregivers. Robots can help with more physical tasks, allowing fewer accidents to happen. Even more so, they can support the mental health of the caregivers who often give their all to their aging loved one.

Laurel Riek, an Associate Professor of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of California San Diego, has been working with caregivers for a while. Riek and a team of scientists spent six months working with family members, caregivers, and social workers to create a robot to help with those who have dementia.

For those in the early stage of dementia, caregivers wanted robots that were in the background. They helped mediate interactions between caregiver and caregivee. In the later stages, caregivers wanted robots to be more active and offer caregivers a respite.

Riek and her team are now creating prototypes based on the robot designs the caregivers came up with and will be running tests soon.

Robotics Offering Independence

 

It’s not just in the caregiving field that robots and technology can be helpful in, they can also keep seniors independent longer. Tools like a robotic exoskeleton can help those with limited mobility to move easier. Creating smart homes can allow seniors to stay in their home longer. It can be simple things like voice recognition to turn lights on and off and other types of tasks. It can also be more depth with the house watching out for the senior to see there is anything wrong with them.

IBM Research U.K. is going to partner up with a British startup called Cera Care to do a six-month study on Lidar technology. Lidar technology is bounced laser tech that helps autonomous cars “see.” This can be used as a way to monitor someone without infringing on their privacy.

They will be putting these sensors in fifteen different houses to see if this technology, along with machine learning tools, could be helpful with keeping on eye on the senior’s health. The best part of all, once the sensors are set up, they don’t need any servicing.

Read more here.

7 Ways to Stop Snoring

Date: July 14, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
7 Ways to Stop Snoring

Nothing is more frustrating than snoring. Around twenty percent of people snore regularly. Whether you or your partner is the one that’s snoring it disrupts sleep. Disrupted sleep makes for grumpy people. Sleep is vital for your overall health, so here are seven ways to stop snoring.

7 Ways to Stop Snoring

7 Ways to Stop Snoring

 

1. Keep Your Mouth Closed

Humans are made, so we breathe through our noses, and there’s a specific reason for that. Sleeping with your mouth open allows air to hit the soft tissue at the back of your throat, which makes it vibrate and cause the snoring sound. Mouth breathing is probably the most common reason for snoring.

Try using a chin strap that loops under the chin and over your head, or you can try a mouth guard. Whatever is most comfortable for you.

2. Your Nose Needs to Be Open

Having your nasal passages open reduces the chances of you mouth-breathing or snoring. Try using nasal sprays and antihistamines to clear congestion caused by allergies and other parts of life.

Alcohol and smoking also can stuff up your nose, while quitting is the best option. We understand that it’s easier said than done. So, try not to smoke in the four hours before you go to sleep and limit your alcohol intake to two days a week.

Old injuries to your nose could cause your nasal passage to be closed, like a deviated nasal septum. Press hard on one side of the nose and breathe in with your mouth shut. If the other side of your nose collapses inwards and air can’t get through, then you have an obstruction.

You can use nasal strips or dilators that sit inside the blocked nostril to open things up. Septoplasty, aka nose job, can also help.

3. Losing Weight

Having a bigger neck makes you snore because it compresses your airway. Men tend to store excess fat around the neck more than women, therefore tend to snore more. Losing weight will help stop snoring.

4. Look at Your Jaw

A receding jaw, also known as retrognathia, can cause snoring because the tongue is more likely to go back and block the airway when you sleep. To see if you have this, bite together on your back teeth, if your lower teeth are really behind the upper ones, then you have may a receding jaw.

Different devices can help with this issue.

5. Sleep on Your Side

You’re less likely to snore laying on your side versus your back. You can get specific pillows that will prop you up on your side.

6. See Your Doctor

Obstructive sleep apnoea (OSA) is when your throat closes, and you stop breathing for ten seconds or more. Oxygen levels in your blood fall and your brain restarts, usually with a jolt, gasp, or grunt. OSA is horrible for your health. It’s connected to daytime sleepiness that leads to accidents, high blood pressure, increased risk of stroke, diabetes, and depression.

7. Use Your CPAP

If you have OSA, you need a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine. It’s a small pump that gives you a constant supply of compressed air into your nose and mouth through a mask to stop your throat from closing.

Read more here.

Could Parkinson’s Start in the Stomach

Date: July 14, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
What Happens When a Potential Alzheimer's Treatment Fails?

New research is showing that Parkinson’s could start in the stomach. It says proteins that are a main part of the disease can come from the gastrointestinal tract and go up into the brain. The body makes a protein called alpha-synuclein, and it can be found in the brain’s nerve cell endings. When the shape of this protein gets messed up, it’s connected to damaged nerve cells, a deterioration of the dopamine system, and problems with movement and speech. All of which are staples of Parkinson’s disease.

Could Parkinson's Start in the Stomach

Could Parkinson’s Start in the Stomach

 

The research results come from studies in mice. The studies confirm a long-held theory that folded alpha-synuclein could start in the stomach and spread to the brain through the vagus nerve. A vagus nerve is a group of fibers that begins in the brainstem and sends signals to different parts of the body. The way the misshapen proteins spread throughout mice’s bodies similar to human’s bodies.

This study comes after a different one that found people whose appendix was taken out early in life have a reduced risk of later developing Parkinson’s disease. Having both these studies come out so closely helps prove each other’s findings.

How the Study was Done

 

The researchers introduced the misshapen alpha-synuclein to the stomach of healthy mice and followed where the protein appeared in their bodies. After a month, the protein was found in different parts of the brain stem. At three months, it was in parts of the brain like the amygdala and regions of the midbrain rich in dopamine neurons. After seven months, it was found in even more places.

The way the proteins were discovered was similar to the way markers of Parkinson’s disease are released throughout the human brain within different stages of the disease.

More work found that the mice had a drop in dopamine levels in the brain, followed by a slow loss of dopamine neurons after seven months. The mice also had issues with their motor skills, memory, anxiety, and behavior problems.

Mice who had a severed vagus nerve did not develop these proteins in their brain, damage to their dopamine system, or any other problems.

Read more here.

24 Shortcuts to Living Healthier Until Old Age

Date: July 8, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
10 Easy Ways to Reduce Stress in Seniors

It’s easy to forget your health when life gets busy. While you’re younger, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal, and things slide by. You don’t think about how it all adds up when you’re older, after all, you’re living in the moment. Luckily, there are shortcuts to living healthier until old age that you can incorporate into your everyday life.

24 Shortcuts to Living Healthier Until Old Age

24 Shortcuts to Living Healthier Until Old Age

 

You can choose to incorporate a few of them or all of them into your daily life.

1. Check Your Ancestors

While history repeats itself is a cliche, it also speaks the truth. You should start asking your family members about your ancestors. Start a family tree that lists all known illnesses or causes and age of death. You can even do DNA tests and create records of your blood pressure, blood glucose, cholesterol, and vitamin D levels.

The more you know, the more you can prepare.

2. Drink Coffee

Yes, you can enjoy a cup of coffee. It’s rich in antioxidants, polyphenols, and phenylindane, the last of which may help fend off Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease. Having coffee has been linked to reduced risks for different cancers, heart disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Make sure to have your coffee without sugar or processed syrups, and having too much milk can dilute the antioxidants.

3. Walk Faster

Going for walks is good, but if you go at a brisker pace, it could be possible to have a better memory and a healthier, longer life. Try speeding up until you are a little out of breath or sweaty. The best type of walk is outdoors for a half an hour. Being outside gives a dose of vitamin D and light.

Walking in the morning could even help you make better decisions during the day.

4. Exercise in Green Spaces

Trees create phytoncides, which lowers blood pressure, reduces stress, and boosts immunity. Microbes in forest soil have been found to reduce depression and can add to the health of our microbiome. All you need is a fifteen-minute walk to enjoy the benefits.

5. Fast Every Day

It may surprise you, but our bodies have adapted to go without food for a short amount of time. It can even be useful to not eat for a little while. Intermittent fasting is a proven method for a longer life. It may fight against Alzheimer’s, type 2 diabetes, and weight gain.

There are different forms of fasting, and it’s best to find one that fits your lifestyle. The extended overnight fast of 14-16 hours may be the easiest to do. It also improves gut health.

6. Build Muscles

We’ve talked before about how building up muscles throughout your life is essential. After turning 40, you lose muscles at a rate of 1% a year. This increases your risk of heart attacks, strokes, and osteoporosis.

Research found that seniors who do twice-weekly strength training lived longer and with less illness than those who don’t do any.

7. Read

Reading has been linked to a longer, healthier life. A Yale study of 3,600 people over 50 found that reading increased longevity by almost two years. Book readers outlived newspaper and magazine readers. Just thirty minutes a day can help you.

8. Push Off Retirement

While retirement is tempting, a 2016 study discovered that people who work a few extra years live longer. Researchers speculate that this is because working usually has social interaction, movement, and a sense of purpose. Other studies have linked retirement to loneliness, depression, and poorer health.

9. Don’t Stop Learning

It may be surprising, but old brains can build new neurons and synapses like young ones. It works best when you force yourself to learn new things. The brain loves new things, and it triggers the creation of neurons. The harder the thing is, the more rewarding it is for your mind.

10. Nap Often

People who nap are shown to have better attention and focus, and better memory and non-verbal reasoning. Nappers are also better at sleeping at night. The key is to have a power nap, around thirty minutes. Longer naps may make things harder for you.

11.Clean Up Your Medicine

Don’t hang onto old medicine that you don’t use or need. Clean out any unneeded anticholinergics, which are found in antidepressants, bladder drugs, medication for Parkinson’s disease, some antihistamines and travel sickness pills. High levels of anticholinergics indigestion have been connected to Alzheimer’s.

Don’t do this without talking to your doctor first.

12. Only Vitamin D and Zinc Matter

It’s easy to get swept up with all the vitamins and supplements available, but other than Vitamin D and zinc are the only ones that actually do anything. Vitamin D is the perfect vitamin for aging well, while zinc can reduce how bad coughs and colds are.

13. Avoid Pollution

This may be hard to do, but pollution is the biggest threat to our ability to age well. Lots of research links it to lung cancer, heart disease, dementia, hypertension, and diabetes. Try avoiding congested roads, switch to an anti-inflammatory diet, invest in a good quality air purifier and move it throughout the house, and fill your home with plants that can fight pollution.

14. Use Olive Oil

A four-and-a-half-year study using 7,000 older people at risk of heart disease found that eating an olive oil filled Mediterranean diet had 30% fewer instances of heart attacks and strokes. Olive oil has also been connected to improved lipid and cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, slowing the progression of breast cancer, reduced bone mass loss, and better blood glucose control.

15. Build Bone Density

Research has shown that professional tennis players have a higher bone density in their serving arm than their non-serving arm. The best exercise for bone density is jumping. Try jumping ten or twenty times a day with a 30-second rest between them.

Other high impact exercises like running or skipping increase bone density. Resistance training, like lifting weights, boosts bones without the pressure on the joints.

16. Make Friends

Loneliness is a silent killer that’s just as bad as any other disease. Research connects social isolation to dementia, heart disease, stroke, depression, and a 29% greater risk of dying. It’s not just the quantity of friends. It’s the quality too. Make sure they make you feel good and keep you positive.

17. Be Kind to Your Immune System

Instead of weakening as you get older, the immune system works harder. It overworks and creates inflammation in your body when it meets an illness. Inflammation speeds up the aging process.

70% of your immune system is in your stomach, so you need to have good stomach health. Support your immune system through a diet of dark leafy greens, cabbage, broccoli, garlic, leeks, onions, and mushrooms.

18. Change How You Eat

How you eat can be more important than what you eat. For example, try to eat earlier than later. Eating early allows digestion to start before bedtime, meaning less disturbed sleep. Make sure you eat more slowly too; this makes it so that we don’t need to eat as much to feel full.

Grazing and snacking make it so that your digestive system is always working and making insulin. This could lead to insulin resistance, which is a precursor to diabetes.

19. Turmeric, Turmeric, Turmeric

This is a natural anti-inflammatory spice that’s been linked to a reduced risk of Alzheimer’s, cancer, and liver disease. It’s also antiseptic, antibacterial, and full of antioxidants. Curcumin, turmeric’s active ingredient, counteracts low-grade chronic inflammation that comes with age. It can also reduce the pain of arthritis, improve liver function, and give some relief from irritable bowel syndrome symptoms.

20. Meditate

Meditation reduces stress and promotes empathy. Just fifteen minutes a day is enough to strengthen the caps that protect our DNA and have a good impact on blood pressure levels.

21. Eat More Fiber

People who have a high fiber intake from fruit, wholegrain bread, and oats, are the more successful agers. There could be two reasons for this: fiber slows the digestion of food, therefore keeping insulin levels in check. This, in turn, reduces inflammation. The other reason is that some types of fiber ferment in the body, creating short-chain fatty acids, which also reduces inflammation.

It can also help with cholesterol levels, help with heart health, lowers colorectal cancer risk by moving food through the gut quickly.

22. Avoid Blue Light at Night

Electronic devices can mess with our circadian rhythms. The screens make blue light, which wakes you up in the morning. At night, it can reduce the production of melatonin, which is a vital sleep-inducing hormone.

23. Look After Your Eyes

Make sure to eat a diet of foods rich in macular pigments. This means anything bright yellow, orange, or green is the best source. Regular eye tests are critical after age forty. Changes in your eyesight can happen quickly. Wear good sunglasses on bright days and take breaks from screens if you are in front of them a lot.

24. Stay Positive

As we’ve talked about before, people with positive attitudes towards aging do better than those with negative attitudes. Negativity causes stress on the body, which can impact heart health, sleep quality, weight, and cognition.

Read more here.

Can Researchers Figure Out How Your Brain Ages?

Date: July 8, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
Can Researchers Figure Out How Your Brain Ages?

At a community in Florida named Lakewood Ranch 36,000 people have been part of a decades-long study. The study is to learn how your brain ages and what causes its decline.

Can Researchers Figure Out How Your Brain Ages?

Can Researchers Figure Out How Your Brain Ages?

 

The Academy for Brain Health and Performance and Massachusetts General Hospital are doing the study.

A study like this is rare because of how long it takes and how much money it needs. The goal was to be a huge, one of a kind, study to look at issues of the brain.

Little is known about the brain and what can affect it. The study is to help not only learn about the mind but the aging process as well. It should help researchers understand illnesses like autism, addiction, stroke, Parkinson’s disease, dementia, and other diseases better.

While the study has a focus on older brains, participants are of all ages and different brain health statuses.

Phase One Complete

 

The first part has finished, and surveys were sent to the residents to see if they wanted to join the study. Out of everyone, 454 adults and 42 kids want to be part of the study. The group is filled with business leaders, medical professors, teachers, students, people from religious and civic organizations, and other people from different communities. The ages ranged from 17 to 81.

Phase two will build the organization’s infrastructure within Lakewood Ranch.

Read more about the study and its progress here.

Losing Your Sense of Smell Can Be A Sign of Dementia

Date: June 30, 2019
Author: Erynn
Categories: Stories & Tips
Losing Your Sense of Smell Can Be A Sign of Dementia

As you get older, your senses tend to dull in different degrees. Most people think hearing and sight are the first to go. You don’t think much about your sense of smell. A new scientific study has shown that losing your sense of smell could be a sign of dementia.

Losing Your Sense of Smell Can Be A Sign of Dementia

The Study of Smelling

 

The team is part of the National Institute on Aging’s Health ABC study. They looked at smell tests that were done by over 2,200 people between the ages of 71 and 82. The tests were done in 1999 and 2000.

The participants smelled 12 different scents that are familiar from everyday life. Then they had to pick from a list of four options.

They were then graded as having good, moderate, or poor smelling functions.

The health of the participants was followed up on for 13 years, including annual phone surveys.

Losing Your Sense of Smell Can Be A Sign of Dementia

 

After considering other health factors like age and smoking, the team of researchers found that seniors with a bad sense of smell had a 46% higher chance of dying a decade earlier than those with a good sense of smell.

Sense of smell seems to be a good predictor of death for healthy people at the start of the study. Those who had a bad sniff score but were in okay shape had a 62% higher chance of dying in ten years than people with a good sniff score.

One thousand two hundred eleven participants who died by year 13 of the study, around 28% of the increased risk people had dementia, Parkinson’s disease, and maybe even cardiovascular disease. Lung disease or cancer didn’t seem to be linked to the sense of smell.

Some people are wondering if doctors can use a sniff test to diagnose dementia. The area of the brain that deals with smells is usually the first part of the brain to get damaged by Alzheimer’s and other brain diseases.

Read more here.