grow older better

Author: Lynn Dorman, Ph.D.

  • 5 Misconceptions About People Over 65

    "old" lady with beer after a 36 mile bike ride"OLD" lady with a beer after biking 36+ miles over 10 PDX bridges!

     

     

     

     

    The 5 most common misconceptions about older people:

    1- Older people always get fat

    They can get fat – but so can a 3 year old! Do they have to get fat? Of course not. Metabolisms change but the changing of one's eating habits and the increasing of exercise will do wonders about weight.

    [I'll let you in on a secret – this works for all ages!]

    2- Older people are fragile and hunched over

    I hear people say this and I am not sure what they mean by fragile. Do they think bones just break, that older people fall all the time or are so weak they can't move around?

    Bones lose density; especially for post-menopausal women but there are ways to help that not happen. Now that we know more about osteoporosis I expect we will see fewer older persons who develop the hunched over position.

    As for fragility? Ski areas on Mt. Hood in Oregon offer free skiing for those over 71 or 72 depending on the area.  I've met skiers over 80 skiing away there.  Fragile?  Nope.  Maybe the regular skiing keeps them strong?

    3- Older people are poor and subsist on social security checks

    4- Older people are inactive

    5 – Older people are unhealthy

    I teach lifespan human development and many in my classes are nurses. A student once said that he never realized that older people could be healthy – his entire experience with persons over 65 was in a hospital. It was an "AHA" moment for him to learn that he [and we] know little about healthy persons as they age – precisely because they are not in hospitals or assisted living homes where studies can easily be done.

    Read the full article about these 5 myths and then please come back here to chat about them.

    Comment below – thank you muchly

     

  • 5 Stress Busters

                             Are you stressed?

     

    Or are you among the rare 25% of Americans who are not greatly stressed at least once a week?  [A number down from 45% about 25 years ago.]

    Why we have so many more people feeling stressed these days has been attributed to factors such as job concerns, crime, changing societal and religious practices, etc.

    I am not sure what stresses you, but I do know that the two reasons most people do not sleep well at night are worries about their health and their finances.

    And I also know that lack of adequate sleep is one major cause of stress and that stress is a major cause of health problems.

    A caveat – some stress is good for us – it can be motivating.  This is about that great stress that can be harmful.

    Stress takes one on a cycle of – well – more stress.

    The cycle goes like this:

    • worry about health and money
    • sleep less well
    • get more stressed
    • get stress-related illnesses
    • worry more about health
    • sleep even less well
    • get even more stressed
    • and so on…..

    Here are 5 ways to start reducing your stress:

    1 – you must get adequate sleep

    How?

    • going to bed at the same time every evening
    • not watching TV in bed
    • not having an argument before bedtime
    • not reading murder mysteries at bedtime
    • no late night eating – except maybe a glass of warm milk

    2 – you must exercise

    I know it's harder to exercise when you are stressed. So think of daily small things you can do that make your body move.

    • stairs instead of elevators
    • walking more
    • jumping jacks.
    • hopping or running in place in your house while watching TV or listening to the radio

    3 – you must eat properly

    4 – you have to socialize

    5 – And the hardest for many – you must earn more income

    To read the specifics for stress busters 3, 4 and 5  – please read my article 5 Stress Busters and return here to chat about it and the stress busting methods you use.

     

     

  • Stress and Women

    If you are a woman, you are most likely not getting enough sleep – or enough exercise.

    Why?  Because, in spite of any changes in our cultures, women still have the most responsibilities.  And when pinched for time, women forgo sleep and exercise.  I know – because I do this too – for me it's the exercise….if I get busy, I don't go to the gym – knowing full well that any intention of "working out" at home – is really a feeble excuse to skip the work out entirely.

    From a National Sleep foundation Study we learn:

    "… that when pressed for time, one half of women responded that sleep (52 percent) and exercise (48 percent) were the first things sacrificed.

    But when women were tired or ran out of time, 39 percent also reduced the time they spent with friends and family, 37 percent stopped eating healthily and 33 percent stopped having sex with their partner. '

    Read the full article Stress and Women

    and return here to comment and discuss

    Thank you

  • My quacking alarm clock

    duck

    Every neighborhood needs a town crier or a quacker for an alarm clock – doesn't it? 

    If you miss having one in your area, come visit ours :)

     

    My neighbor, Doug, fed this duck once and the duck has returned every day  and quacks at Doug's house for more food.

    And as Doug lives right next to me, I too am serenaded every day.

    Also – the ducks are not afraid of my cat or dog [more on cat and ducks in another video]

     

    [cross posted with some minor changes from gray wolf productions

    Please comment below…thank you

  • DON’T FALL FOR THE SCAM WITH THE PUPPY DOG EYES!

             puppy

                          Sometimes the ad offers a free puppy. 

     Or, maybe a pure bred dog needs a new home.

    The scam works like this: although the dogs are "free," the seller will ask to be wired money in advance so the puppy can be safely shipped to its new owner. Some victims have even gone to the airport to pick up their new pet only to discover there is no dog and they've been scammed.

    A recent version of the "puppy scam" offered two registered English Bulldogs "free to a good home."  Fortunately, the scammer's attempt was thwarted because an alert Southern Oregon newspaper editor publisher smelled something fishy and refused to run the ad.
     
    The puppy scam relies on the best intentions of animal lovers.  Another version of the puppy scam involves a con artist posing as a "puppy mill rescue group".  These ads claim to be seeking good homes for a batch of purebred puppies rescued from a puppy mill.  In reality it is the puppy mill operator who has posted the ad and is looking to cash in – sometimes asking $1,000 or more per puppy.
     
    For more information about other puppy scams, and expert advice on humane pet adoption please check out the ASPCA Web site. 
     
    Anyone who believes they have been approached by a scammer should call the Oregon Department of Justice Consumer Hotline at 1-877-877-9392 or go to the Department's Web site: www.oregonattorneygeneral.gov.