They like to move it!!!

We all know exercise and sport is good for health, some people believe it might be too strenuous or dangerous for seniors but a recent study from Israeli researchers proved the opposite.

As reported by Lindsey Tanner an AP Medical Writer: The results of the study "clearly support the continued encouragement of physical activity, even among the oldest old. Indeed, it seems that it is never too late to start," the team wrote in Monday's Archives of Internal Medicine, which published the study. The results show that "As little as four hours a week was as beneficial as more vigorous or prolonged activity," said study author Dr. Jeremy Jacobs, a geriatric specialist at Hadassah Hebrew University Medical Center in Jerusalem.

It's time to get these old sneakers out now that there are no other excuses! When it comes to seniors the overall condition of their health needs to be taken into account, but their age should by no mean be a reason to refrain from any type of exercise. There are many resources available to provide ideas such as video training.

Also, the actual mix of activities is pretty standard. As mentioned by the NIH, seniors need four types of exercise:

1. Endurance activities - like walking, swimming, or riding a bike - which build "staying power" and improve the health of the heart and circulatory system
2. Strengthening exercises which build muscle tissue and reduce age-related muscle loss
3. Stretching exercises to keep the body limber and flexible
4. Balance exercises to reduce the chances of a fall

The NIH also provides great resources on how care givers can help seniors exercise; these can be found here

A service like Linked Senior has many applications and we're sometimes even surprised of seeing people use it in a way we hadn't thought of. People use our service to load up some exercise session with high rhythm, sing alongs or simple relaxation music which is always great for yoga!

Proaging Event at Vinson Hall - Celebrating Activities people

We'd like to thank everyone that came to the Proaging event last week at Vinson Hall. The room was packed and our speaker, Ms Nancy Ewald from Activity Connection gave a great seminar on what she sees as the future of activities and life enrichment for senior communities.

Check some pictures here:


Charles de Vilmorin, CEO of Linked Senior & Steve Gurney of the Guide to Retirement Living

RADM Kathy Martin, CEO of the Vinson Hall Retirement Community

Nancy Ewald from ActivityConnection.com


Marta Harkins, Linked Senior user and one of our biggest supporter

A room full of senior care professionals (including a great number of activities people!)


The video will come soon!


Best,


The Linked Senior Team

Bringing the loners out

We were demonstrating our product to residents of a nearby facility last week and they were very excited; but one of them just sat in her corner and didn't seem to care much about what was going on.
After asking her what she thought about all this, she simply replied: "I am 94 years old, I have traveled everywhere I wanted to go, seen many many things and don't really care for more anymore. I just like being in my room"
The activity director mentioned the fact that she was more of a "loner" type.
All communities have their queen bee, their active social clubs and their loners - one of the challenges of Activities in general.

An individual who has been a on the lonely side of things all their life might not have a desire to spend time socializing all of a sudden and may simply want to be left alone. Every person is unique and every situation is different.
The National Center for Health Statistics from 1997 show us that more than 50% of nursing home residents have no close relatives. The likelihood of severe isolation increases with age as the increased likelihood of living alone account for much of this increase.

But communities have a duty of providing personalized activities and life enrichment experiences to all residents and make sure that they are all getting some kind of stimulation.

The easiest way to provide this is to gather information from their move in questionnaires, other internal reports and their family. Then, the best way to reach them is through unscheduled and spontaneous activities where they won't have the feeling of being "obliged" in any ways - this is was sometimes sparks some negative reactions. To go even further, personalized activities that can be enjoyed alone might be what works the best at first. Many examples can be found on activityconnection.com

At the end of the day, one must realize that sometimes it is very hard to bring someone out - one must respect that some people want to remain that way. In some cases it might be just impossible are due to things like aphasia. Justin Zarb from the activity director blog recently put together a great piece together on this here.