From the desk of Rosemary Laird, MD
Founder of Navigating Aging Needs (NAN), LLC
How to Get Through the Holidays
As the year winds down into its closing weeks and we head into the holiday season, I want to pause, take a breath, and say thanks, thanks, thanks, to you all!
Coping with Holiday Travel
Human beings are one of the most peripatetic creatures on earth: We love to travel. We’re not quite at the level of the Arctic tern, which flies about 44,000 miles every year — roughly the circumference of the earth — during its annual migration. But we do like to get around, especially during the holidays.
Your Greatest Holiday Gift
This year, Thanksgiving came late in the month. No sooner did the turkey get polished off and the dishes put away than we began preparing for the next holiday right around the corner. That's OK with me: I love the season's gathering of family, friends, and festivities. Still, the time crunch adds to the stress of preparing for the coming events, and even more so for caregivers of loved ones living with Alzheimer's disease.
The Gift of Gratitude
Being a caregiver is one of the most difficult jobs in the world—and being a caregiver of someone with Alzheimer’s disease even more so! It’s hard work, full of ups and downs, deep uncertainties, and the heartache of seeing someone you love slowly lose their abilities.
Get Ready for the Holidays!
If you are like me, anticipating the coming of the fall/winter holiday season comes with a flood of joy, tinged with just the tiniest bit of dread. I love the thought of being with family, friends, and neighbors, seeing the bright lights and decorations, and celebrating the overall festive nature of the times. But then there is the slightly nagging bloat of my growing “to do” list, the anxious feeling of the need to orchestrate, delegate, and plan, and the overall sense that there will never be enough time to do it all.
Facing the Long Goodby
Here in Florida, we don’t experience the changes of Autumn as dramatically as people elsewhere in the nation, particularly in the northern states. Still, there is no getting around the fact that the coming of winter is literally “in the air,” whether it’s a puff of cooler breeze, the rays of the setting sun slanting lower in the sky, or the sight of a dead leaf falling from its branch and spiraling to the ground.
Be the Change!
I know you face the uncontrollable changes of your loved one's illness each day. That feeling of being powerless to stop this inevitable decline can take your spirits, and your energy, to low places.
Coping with an Uncertain Future
While anxiety might perhaps seem like a natural response in these troubled times, it still isn’t good for you. Studies have shown that having long-term anxiety can trigger a host of issues in a person’s physical and mental health, including high blood pressure, digestive troubles, a weakened immune system, sleep disturbances, and fatigue.
Let's Get Personal
You may have heard talk during the COVID pandemic about the risks we face from social isolation. As a caregiver of a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s, you no doubt have had multiple hurdles in trying to maintain your personal life and interacting with your social community.
Finding the Calm After a Storm
Like all big storms, Milton left in its wake a loss of sleep, a flooding of stress hormones, and the exhaustion of being buffeted by the winds of change. As a caregiver, you must dig out, take stock, and make a plan for the path ahead.
Get Ready for the Upcoming Storm!
We know many of you are facing the additional pressures of dealing with our back-to-back storms. When stress mounts, and your mind feels overloaded, it can help to have clear guidelines to choose your next steps.
The Dangers of Wandering
One of the more challenging aspects of caring for a loved one suffering from Alzheimer’s is the behavior known as wandering. The illness can change aspects of thinking that keep a person oriented and aware, and so your loved one may simply leave the house, lose their bearings, and end up wandering through the neighborhood without any specific purpose or destination in mind.
You are what you eat: The MIND Edition
Can you eat your way to better cognitive health? According to a recently published research paper, the answer is a resounding “yes”!
Your Body On Fire
The new drug known as Ozempic is being seen as something of a wonder drug for helping people lose weight. But the drug also points to a new way to think about the causes and treatment of dementia, including Alzheimer’s disease. That’s because Ozempic, and other drugs like it (which are known as “GLP-1 receptor agonists”) appear to target what is rapidly beginning to be realized as a major factor in many of the diseases that affect modern civilization — inflammation.
Do Hospitals Make a Person Better or Worse?
Thanks to the rise of modern medicine, hospitals are now thought of as places people go to “get better.” But several studies have shown that in fact, elderly people who must undergo a hospital stay often get worse. For our loved ones with Alzheimer’s disease or other forms of memory loss the risk of complications during a hospitalization are high.
Labors of Love
Caregivers of loved ones with Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia work as much as 40 hours a week caring for their loved one, nearly 30% more time than caregivers tending to people who do not have dementia. A 2019 study found that family caregivers provided more than 18 billion hours of unpaid care to loved ones with dementia, and a 2023 study estimated that the unpaid hours caring for loved ones with dementia could be valued at $346 billion.
Good Reads!
A recent cartoon in the New Yorker magazine says it all: At the top of the drawing is the label “The Complete Book of Caregiving.” and below it is a drawing of an open book. But the book only has one page, and on that page are written the words: “Too tired to write it”. It’s very funny, and of course very true.
Empower Yourself!
I love This week marks the anniversary of the ratification of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women in the United States the right to vote. Though the Amendment was passed by Congress a year earlier, in 1919, it had been ratified by only 35 states — one short of what was needed to be adopted as part of the Constitution. A vote was held in Tennessee, the 36th state needed for ratification, in 1920, and it passed by a single deciding vote from 24-year-old Harry Burn, who had been considered to be against ratification. But Burn instead voted for it, citing having received a letter from his mother urging him to support the amendment!
Nature's Bounty!
I love summer when it gets into full swing. Sure, it is occasionally very hot, and there are occasionally fierce storms, but the sun and water that power these weather phenomena also have the wonderful effect of making plants explode in growth at this time of year. The local farmers' markets burst with flavors and tastes of all kinds, from plump tomatoes to crunchy carrots to juicy watermelon. Every bite reminds me of the amazing natural processes that, almost miraculously, have evolved the ability to turn sunlight and water into food for us to eat.
Going for the Gold!
Every Olympic season, I marvel at the sheer majesty and perfection of the human body as the athletes run, swim, and hurdle through space during the Games. The feats of athleticism, for which these competitors have trained all their lives, is truly inspirational.