Smart Senior

Sleep Aids and Seniors

I am a notoriously poor sleeper and I don’t think that I can blame it on my age, but it has been pretty well established that having trouble getting to sleep and staying asleep is common as you get older.

Nonetheless you still need the same amount of sleep that you did when you were younger.  Don’t just throw up your hands and figure it is an age related phenomena without exploring likely causes and solutions.  By solutions I am not talking about begging your doctor for sleeping pills or taking long naps in the day time.

What causes insomnia?  Certain health conditions ranging from arthritis to urgency/incontinence can be culprit. Other conditions such as anxiety, depression, medications, or even the amount of sunlight and exercise that you are getting might play a role in your restless state.

Do not just accept sleeplessness as a given as you get older.  Preventive medicine is the key to wellness and your doctor can help you work on a solution.

Common suggestions include establishing a peaceful night time routine and eliminating or curbing alcohol, caffeine and nicotine consumption. Increase your day time activities and exercise, cut back on napping time, and try relaxing with the help of mediation or soothing music routines.  I have some wonderful meditation tapes by Kelly Howell that leave me in a beautifully relaxed state.  The only problem with that is that you need earphones to benefit from the rhythmic sounds and knowing that I need to be awake to remove the ear pieces and turn off my player is distracting when I am using them to go to sleep.  I often leave the television on when I am going to sleep but am told that this is not a good relaxation technique.  At the recommendation of an acquaintance I am going to try listening to nature sounds and see if that helps.  She had a Sound Spa from Homedics with a timer that you can set for automatic shut off.  The Sound Spa will fill your dreams with the sounds of a summer night, ocean waves, rain, waterfalls, rain forests and even the pulse of a heartbeat.  Sounds lovely doesn’t it?

Exercising the Brain...Language Classes

Learning Exercises the Brain

Learning a new language is a good way to “exercise” your brain.  Impossible you say? Everyone knows that it is easier to learn another language when you are younger, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do it now. I don’t remember that it was all that easy when I was in high school and college either, but I wonder how much of the problem stemmed from being afraid that I would sound silly when I tried to speak it.  The idea still intrigues me and every time I read that the more you use your brain the healthier it will remain, I get a yearning to try it just once more.

If you have always wanted to learn another language and have fun doing it, now is the time.  No stress, no expectations (except your own of course) and you finally have the time to actually practice.  Adult language classes are available through your senior center, the local community colleges, and other cultural centers. If you are like me, you would like to get just a little bit of a head start before joining a group. Try books, audio tapes and computer programs.

A recent article in the Wall Street Journal reviewed computer programs by Auralog, Transparent Language and Fairfield Language Technologies (Rosetta Stone).  The Rosetta Stone programs were rated the best overall approach but the other two reviews were favorable too.  If you are not ready to pay $200 or more dollars for audio or computer programs check with your local library and try them out first.   I was pleased to learn that my local library has the Rosetta Stone Language courses for free. 

Laughing Therapy for Seniors

Yes, there really is something called laughter therapy or laughing yoga.  Genevieve Rajewski tells us to “laugh away your pain” in an article for Arthritis Today (May/June 2007).

Most adults don’t laugh enough.  Somewhere along the line we have lost the ability to throw back out heads and laugh until we are almost sick.  Laughter not only feels good but it is good for you.

A growing number of people are turning to “hasya yoga” which is a discipline that uses playful activities and guided breathing exercises to trigger laughter. 

For people with chronic pain, laughter’s psychological benefits are enormous and serve as a powerful form of pain management.  When you laugh you release endorphins, which are feel good hormones as well as natural painkillers.

Remember the scene from the movie Mary Poppins where Uncle Albert floated to the ceiling as he laughed when uncontrollable glee?  It made you laugh too didn’t it? 

Albert Kataria developed laughter therapy.  He uses techniques like hearty laughter, greeting laughter, open-mouthed silent laughter, humming laughter, lion laughter, and swinging laughter complete with arm movements.  Each laughter exercise is sustained for up to 45 seconds and is followed by deep breathing and stretching exercises.

Kataria says that by embracing the spirit of laughter, it is possible to achieve a more positive outlook, as well as improve lung capacity and abdominal tone.  If you don’t feel like laughing you can fake it!  Just pretending to laugh can turn into the real thing.  The theory is that forced laughter (with yogic deep breathing) relieves stress, pumps up disease-fighting hormones, and help people bond with others.

For more information: www.laughteryoga.org , and www.yogajournal.com

Fun and Games for Seniors

Fun, games, and seniors are terms that are never heard in the same breath.  Why not?  Do toy manufacturers feel that people get too old to have fun?

Please remember that playing the piano is a great exercise for the fingers.  It is one of the few activities in which fingers are individually stretched and strengthened.  So don't give up on the idea of playing the piano  just for the fun of it.

I was just reading about a new video game for kids in the Parade section of the Seattle Times (December 10^th, 2006) called I Can Play Piano by Fisher-Price.  It is a color-coded, three-octave keyboard that plugs into the TV, where moving images guide kids through a series of popular tunes.  Eight songs like The Entertainer, Fur Elise, theme songs, dance songs and popular music are included (plus additional cartridges are available).

I’ve always wanted to play the piano and I even tried a little when my daughter was taking lessons.  Alas, I wasn’t very good at it and even now don’t have time for the hours of practice that I would have to put in to achieve even a modest success.  But that doesn’t mean that the desire doesn’t still lurk in the corners of my heart.  So, why wouldn’t a “made simple” video game work for an adult too?

The whole idea of the game is to trick you into thinking that you are having fun while learning something that you want to learn.  The method is designed to help “children” develop an ear, eye, mind and appreciation for music while learning how to play the piano and read music in a fun, easy way.  Every time you play you get a score and visual feedback on how well you played (do we ever outgrow the need for some positive feedback?)

When you read about the “Piano Wizard method,” a video game approach that integrates a tutorial with a fun, interactive gaming environment, think about grown-ups too. (www.pianowizard.com/i-can-play-piano/fisher-price.php).

Mental Fitness for Seniors

What would you say if I told you that a new study shows that 3 hours of aerobic exercise a day could bolster your memory and your intellect?

Dementia is not a normal part of aging.  New research indicates that physical fitness has a great impact on the level of brain function.  Makes you want to put on your walking shoes doesn’t it?

An article by Sharon Begley in The Wall Street Journal (Thursday, November 16, 2006) suggests that aerobic exercise can indeed bolster your memory and intellect.  The author suggests that regular aerobic exercise like walking, biking or swimming can be just as important as mentally stimulating games when it comes to thwarting mental decline. 

Aerobic exercise apparent increases blood flow to the brain and triggers biochemical changes that increase the production of new brain neurons.  That sounds like good news to me!

New studies indicate that seniors who take up aerobic exercise show improved cognitive function after just a few months.  After three months the people who started an exercise program had the brain volume of people three years younger.  Thanks to modern technology such as MRI testing, the brain volume can actually be measured.  In a study neither the stretcher-and-toners nor the couch potatoes showed any brain changes, but the aerobic exercisers did. I find all of this very encouraging.

This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t continue to do your crossword puzzles, read, learn languages or other forms of mental gymnastics, but keep on exercising too.  It is certainly worth a shot!