Tag Archives: dementia

DANCE TO STAY HEALTHY

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Dance belongs to those things that really can colorize the monotonous life of any person. Dance is good for the emotional state, psychological health and physical condition, together with feeling good and self-awareness in general. When you decide to add physical activity into your life, you try to choose something exciting and entertaining. And what could be more exciting than dances?

The dance with a good reason is called “a song of the soul” – the older a person is, the more meaningful are his or her movements, the more sense and experience it is possible to invest in the dance steps. Dance is a nonverbal way to express yourself, to process the accumulated problems, find new dimensions of the world. One should not also forget what a wonderful way to exercise are the regular!

Dancing is just a perfect way for people, irrespective of age, to keep themselves in a good shape. Dancing is not only fun and enjoyable, but also very good for health. In this article, we will tell you what kind of benefits can dancing bring to your body.

How useful is dancing for the general well-being?

- Dance protects our hearts
Dance is an excellent exercise for people who are living with a high risk of cardiovascular diseases. An Italian study has proved that people with heart failure, engaged in dancing as a kind of exercise strengthen their health, heart and improve their breathing. Their life-quality also improves significantly in comparison with those who are doing exercises on a stationary bike or treadmill.

- Dance helps to lose weight
If you attend dancing-classes regularly, they will definitely help to lose weight. The scientific research has shown that sportive aerobics based on dance movements, is as effective for losing weight and gaining of a good shape as cycling or running.

- Dance gives energy
Do you feel during the day, that you do not have enough energy? Dancing is one of the things which can help you regain it. Yet another scientific study found that weekly dancing can improve the physical condition and make adults more energetic.

- Dance endows with flexibility, strength as well as endurance
Ever and again dances require flexibility from you. Most dance classes are started with a warm-up, when people are doing stretching and suppling exercises. During the dance, you have to do your best to have all the muscle groups involved.
Dancing makes you stronger, causing the muscles to resist the weight of your own body. Many styles of dance, jazz and ballet among them, include jumps. In order to jump, your leg muscles need to be particularly strong.
It’s not a secret that dance can be called a physical exercise that is why it makes everyone more enduring. And what is endurance? It is the ability of muscles to work each time for more time without getting tired. If you’re dancing regularly, especially if you are doing some energetic style, you will be much more enduring.

How useful is dancing for the emotional state?

- Dance brings happiness
Dance is a special action which is enjoyed by any person. If you watch a dancing person, you will certainly notice a big happy smile on a dancer’s face. Smile and laughter while dancing is absolutely normal! That is because dancing provides an opportunity for real enjoyment of life and each other. Unlike other physical exercises, dancing has no age limit. A person irrespective of age can dance and take advantage of the benefits that this activity brings to his/her health.

- Dance saves from depression and de-stresses
It is proved that the dance can prevent mild depression and make a dancing person more self-confident. Depression is becoming increasingly common problem in teenagers and adults of various ages.
The research, published in the International Journal of Neuroscience, has proven that therapy that includes dance moves, not only helps to get rid of depression, but also helps to fight stress, since it regulates serotonin and dopamine levels in organism. Taking into account that dance has also a social aspect, it helps to get rid of feelings of loneliness, from which so many people in depression are suffering, and very often – elderly people living alone.

- Dance enhances the self-esteem
Dancing helps to become more self-confident. Each time you master a new movement, a wee bit of confidence is added to you and your mood gets better. And this increased self confidence extends to all areas of your life.
As we have already said, dance is a social action. Studies of specialists have proved that strong social relationships and communication with friends help to increase self-esteem and give a positive attitude towards life. Dancing gives you plenty of opportunities to meet other people. Sign up for dance classes and it will give you a chance to raise the self-esteem and make new friends. Considering that the physical exercises relieve tension and stress, dance will allow you to feel good in general.

How useful is dancing for the state of mind?

- Dance improves memory
Scientists have proved that dancing can improve memory and prevent dementia. Scientists have found that aerobic exercises help to prevent reduction in the hippocampus volume – the part of the brain responsible for memory. Hippocampus in a natural way diminishes during adulthood. This often leads to problems with memory, and sometimes to dementia.

- Dance helps to combat Alzheimer’s disease
A study involving elderly people, represented in the New England Journal of Medicine, enlightened the fact that dance frequently helps to prevent symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease along with some manifestations of dementia. Moreover, dancing makes people of any age smarter. This study also manifests that people having Alzheimer’s disease are capable to restore forgotten memories when dancing to familiar music.

- Dance makes people smarter
For centuries, books and other writings about dancing praised benefits of this activity for health, considering dance, as a rule, as a physical exercise. Today, thanks to the scientists, the benefit of dancing for the mind has been proved. The main quality of an intelligent person is the ability to make decisions. The ideal way to develop this ability – to get engaged in an activity that requires a constant fast (within seconds) decision making. Thus, to become smarter, it is enough just to work on your dance style, without having to remember the sequence of movements.

What is the best dance style?

There are many dance styles. Jazz, salsa, merengue, bachata, reggaeton, zumba, hip-hop, ballet, etc., all of which require different music. Each dance style is equally useful. Any dance gives an opportunity to live a healthy lifestyle. Dancing can help in many different things. All kinds of dance are equally effective, the main thing to choose the style that you prefer, and do it regularly, so that this pleasant activity brings benefit to the health.
During the scientific study the specific dances have been established, which have the most positive impact on the state of health of elderly people. These include: Waltz and Argentine Tango.

Activities for Patients with Alzheimer’s

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activities-for-patients-with-alzheimer
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, but it is very serious. The disease can cause serious problems, among which is memory loss.

Memory loss may start as mild forgetfulness, but usually the disease worsens over years. What can be done to keep patients with Alzheimer’s happy and active?

Activities and hobbies that your loved ones liked in the past will be really helpful. Help them to continue staying busy with the things they like.

Doctors agree that such activities help to stir memories, lessen the irritability that the disease may bring, develop emotional connections and help to self-express. What is more important, all these activities should be meaningful, not just usual activities to fill the time. You also need to keep in mind that Alzheimer’s disease affects not only memory, but also behavior and senses. Be careful with choosing activities for your loved ones!

If we talk about the suggested activities, doctors suggest:

  • Play music and sing sons
  • Engage you loved ones in doing arts and craft
  • Clean around the house
  • Read books and newspapers together with your loved ones
  • Cook and bake together
  • Play with puzzles
  • Enjoy watching family videos

Always remember that every person should be approached differently. Be supportive and flexible. If your loved one doesn’t want to be engaged in any kind of activities – take a break and try later.

Keep in mind that with seniors who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease, the result is not so important as the process. Enjoy the process of an activity together with your loved ones!

Vascular Dementia and Alzheimer’s disease: What’s the difference?

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Alzheimers_text_640Very often these both diseases are mistaken for each other, this happens because both vascular dementia and Alzheimer’s disease are the forms of dementia. It is very important for family members to distinguish the difference between them.

· Alzheimer’s disease is more common that vascular dementia. The cause of Alzheimer’s disease is still unknown, and the cause of vascular dementia is a stroke or lack of normal blood supply to the brain. Doctors believe that the risk of vascular dementia can be reduced by preventing a stroke: monitoring cholesterol level, blood pressure help a lot in preventing strokes.

· The symptoms of the forms of dementia are different. The symptoms of vascular dementia are observed on an earlier stage because they are really severe and sudden. Seniors with vascular dementia experience problems with walking and movements earlier than seniors with Alzheimer’s disease.

· The difference is also can be found in the progression of the diseases. Seniors who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease experience slow cognitive decline, but patients with vascular dementia experience sudden changes one day and then have a period when these changes remain the same and then they experience another sudden changes.

· The prognosis for both diseases is also different. People who suffer from Alzheimer’s disease usually live longer because the disease progresses slower than vascular dementia. it is also harder to diagnose the survival time with vascular dementia because the main word for describing this disease is “sudden”. Please, keep in mind that statistics is only statistics and proper treatment and care can help patients to live longer.

· Both of the diseases may be difficult for family members to handle both emotionally and physically. Alzheimer’s disease and vascular dementia cause unpleasant changes in people and it is very important for every family member to be positive.

Is it Dementia or Depression?

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It’s not a secret that dementia is one of the most misdiagnosed diseases. If you see that your elderly parent begins to forget or has real problems concentrating, may be your loved one suffers from dementia? Or it can be usual depression?

To tell you the truth, it is very easy to diagnose these diseases wrongly. Both have very similar symptoms: sleep problems, loss of appetite, weight loss, difficulties with concentration, loss of interest, people become irritable and have problems remembering things.

As well as there are similarities between diseases, there are differences between them. Depression, for example, causes loss of energy and suicidal thoughts; and dementia can cause problems with organizing things, speech problems and incontinence.

People who suffer from dementia seem very unreachable, but there are several ways that help to unlock their hearts and emotions.

Very often such people make statements that are not correct and your reaction is very important. First of all, it’s better to be silent than start correcting. If you are silent, there is no tension between you and your parent. Your loved one feels secure and not frustrated. If you choose to correct, be ready to cope with anger and grief that were trigged by your correction. It’s much better to say something neutral or change the topic asking a question.

It is also very important to remember about the 5-minute rule. Caregivers and doctors know that people who suffer from dementia have short memory. If your parent refuses doing something, stay calm and wait for a little bit, then return with the same question. Usually their reaction is changed. Very often 5-minute rule helps to keep stress on a low level.

If you have questions or problems with taking care about your parents, Day View Adult Home in Renton will gladly help you. Contact us and our professional team will resolve your problem.