Caring Currents

If helping your parents (or yourself ) explore retirement options feels more like a chore than an adventure, check out Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life by real estate guru and Today Show contributor Barbara Corcoran.

Her whimsical yet practical tour of some 100 retirement hot spots offers an assortment of handy tools and checklists that can help make having "the conversation" about retirement both easier and more enjoyable.

Corcoran enlisted real estate brokers across the country to help research up-and-coming retirement hot spots as diverse as Austin, Texas, and the African nation of Malawi.

To help readers figure out who should land where, she sorted retirees into eight cleverly-coined types, such as ruppies (retired urban persons), huddlers (those who seek community), and zoomers (those who retire in far-flung corners of the globe).

The book lit up the...  Read more

It's National Stroke Awareness Month and the internet's abuzz with information, reminders, and personal stories. Whether you're a stroke survivor, or a caregiver, friend, or family member of someone who's had a stroke or is at risk, there's something of interest for you.

In honor of Stroke Awareness Month, I'll be bringing you the highlights of what's happening in the stroke blogosphere -- and beyond. For starters, here's a roundup of some of the personal blogs I'm loving:

• Mystroke.org, a blog for stroke survivors and their relatives
• Stroke hero, author, and Caring.com expert Cleo Hutton's Stroke Awareness and Recovery
• Caregiver Jean Riva's From The Planet Aphasia
• Caregiver Jellen's Post Stroke
• Stroke hero David Dansereau's Know-Stroke

What blogs are you reading...or writing? I'd love to build our network of resources and friends.

Image by flickr user Atmantis used under the Creative Commons attribution license...  Read more

Think “fall prevention” and what comes to mind? Walkers and canes, getting rid of easy-to-trip-on throw rugs, installing bathroom grab bars, maybe checking out senior exercise classes.

Add meat. (Lean, please.)  And eggs, chicken, tofu and nuts. Yep, protein. And make that plenty of it, especially for your mom.

As we age, we lose muscle mass, making us weaker and more prone to falling. Exercise and a balanced diet with ample protein, which builds muscle, help counter this effect.

But when looking closer at the relationship between protein and muscle, researchers at Washington University in St. Louis and the University of Nottingham in England found that protein isn’t as helpful to elderly women as to men. This recent study showed that the muscle of older women didn't synthesize or utilize protein as efficiently as that of older men.

So what’s an old gal supposed to do...  Read more

Even if you gave your mom a gift, here's an after-the-fact Mother's Day present with meaning any time of the year:  A check-up.  If you're a daughter caring for your mom, give it to yourself.

Women around the country are being urged to give themselves a medical check-up, as part of the ninth annual National Women’s Health Week, which kicked off on May 11 (Mother’s Day). Well, not to give themselves a check-up, but to schedule one with their health care provider. National Woman’s Check-Up Day is May 12, and for motivation, you can even take an on-line pledge.

Research shows that women do a much better job caring for others than for themselves. We’ll hustle and bustle scheduling appointments for our parents, kids, and spouses -- leaving our own health as the last priority.

More than a hokey proclamation, National Women's Week, sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, is packed with useful activities, on-line and off...  Read more

Looks like Jack Sprat (the guy who ate no fat) is at risk of developing Alzheimer's right along with his wife who could eat no lean. You've already heard that obese people are at greater risk for developing dementias. A major new Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health analysis of two decades worth of long-term international studies confirms this -- in fact, obesity results in as much as an 80 percent higher risk of developing Alzheimer's in women, a 73 percent raised risk for vascular dementia in men, and a 41 percent higher risk for both sexes of developing dementia generally.

Surprisingly, the researchers found that people who are underweight also increase their general dementia risk, by more than a third! The exact causal relationship between size and dementia isn't clear in either the obese or the scrawny.

But -- hooray for some good news -- people who are only somewhat overweight don't appear to have an elevated risk of dementia or Alzheimer's...  Read more

So we know that being overweight in general, and having too much belly fat in particular, can put a person at higher risk for type 2 diabetes. This kind of fat -- called visceral fat -- wraps around the waist and organs and can lead to all kinds of health problems, including diabetes.

But who would have thunk that an ample derriere might be a weapon against this chronic condition?

Take it from no less reputable a source than internationally-renowned researchers at Harvard Medical School and the Joslin Diabetes Center, who reported this week that body fat found just below the skin -- and especially on the buttocks, hips, and thighs  -- may help reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes.

Should you steal a glance at your parents' backsides -- or your own -- and start placing bets? Probably premature at this point: The study was done on mice, after all.

But the research may pave the way to shaking up some of the current thinking on the role of body fat and its link to type 2 diabetes...  Read more

Adequate sleep…good nutrition…social stimulation...a little fresh air and exercise…Should proper care of a loved one with Alzheimer's or other dementias involve a mental workout, too?

It's a question on many caregivers' minds as they hear about the explosive growth of  the $225 million computer-based brain-fitness industry. And the answer may depend on what you mean by "workout."  More than 400 residential facilities for older adults have launched computer "brain fitness centers," says SharpBrains, which tracks the industry. (The New York Times recently wrote about boomers' panicky self-interest in the products.) More than 20 companies now offer brain-boosting games and, yup, many of their product names play on gym imagery -- implying that if you work hard enough on those muscles, you'll see impressive results.

And it's true that the brain can be strengthened through use, like your muscles...  Read more

Many of us want our parents to have a cell phone to use in case of an emergency. But some older adults can get intimidated and overwhelmed by complicated cell phone calling plans and tiny phones with even tinier buttons and jam-packed with extraneous features they don't need or want, like digital cameras, MP3 players, and wireless Internet access.

Enter Jitterbug, a phone designed specifically for seniors and manufactured by Samsung. On this phone, there are no YouTube videos or Beyonce ringtones. Instead, its features include:

• Large, backlit buttons
• Bright screens with large text
• One-touch access to an operator for 24 hour assistance
• Pre-paid service plans requiring no contracts

The only problem? The target audience isn't so keen on buying a device marketed as a "senior phone." Shelly Kneupper Cupper, explains on her blog, This Eclectic Life:

"...It is exactly what I need. It’s got large buttons for my pitiful arthritic fingers to punch...  Read more

Keep moving! That's the mantra people with diabetes and arthritis hear ad nauseum from their healthcare team. And it makes sense: Studies show that exercise plays a key role in managing both conditions. Lower blood sugar and lower risk of complications for people with diabetes. Less joint pain and more mobility for those with arthritis. Obviously, obstacles to staying fit can hinder folks with these illnesses. Stiffness. Obesity. Pain. Lack of interest. High blood pressure. Difficulty finding something fun or safe. To name just a few.

But what if your parents are afflicted with both conditions?

Turns out, there are a lot of people in that predicament. Folks diagnosed with diabetes are nearly twice as likely to have arthritis, and the inactivity caused by arthritis gets in the way of successfully managing both diseases, according to a study just out from the Centers for Disease Control and...  Read more

Many young people assume that sex is one of the many things you give up as you age, along with late night parties and extreme sports. This was probably never the case, but it's certainly not true today, as people are living longer -- and healthier -- and have access to Viagra and other performance enhancing drugs.

Consider the following:

• A study published in the New England Journal of Medicine found that a majority of older adults are sexually active and consider sexual intimacy an important part of life.
• The topic of sex and aging is becoming part of our popular culture. There are a number of new books on the subject, for example, including Better Than I Ever Expected by Joan Price, who writes a lively blog with the same name. And the movie, "Away From Her," starring Julie Christie, explores the issue of romance between Alzheimer's patients in a nursing facility.

The good news is that...  Read more