Episodes

Stress & anxiety relief through music therapy is definitely something you can do at home. There is abundant research that proves listening to music helps to reduce our levels of anxiety. Anxiety, one of the most common, and most devastating, of all mental conditions, has become somewhat of an epidemic in modern-day society. What is the leading cause of anxiety? The enormous amounts of stress in our lives. This is because stress builds up and up and, if left untreated or unaddressed, results in u...

One of 5 authors of the books “365 Caregiving Tips” Not all tips will fit every caregiver, but every caregiver will find tips that fit. Those are the wise words you find when visiting the website, www.365caregivingtips.com. Joining me, again, is a favorite guest, Gincy Heins. She was so delightful I knew I had to have her back. Caregiving is a marathon of a journey. The more advice we have to help us navigate this responsibility, the better off everyone will be. With their fourth book, Gincy and...

Looking for ways to have better visits with my Mom is the genesis of the Fading Memories podcast. After two and a half years, I've learned a lot more about engagement. By learning how to give seniors a purpose and find things they enjoy, we go a long way into having meaningful visits. By bringing an entertainment and participation component, Make Grandma Smile is looking to standardized senior engagement and activities.

How can you survive being an Alzheimer's caregiver and remain a well spouse? When you are experiencing sorrow, fear, frustration, agony, exhaustion, and depression, and when the level of caregiving stress makes you feel on the verge of a total breakdown, know that you are not alone. There is not the way, there is not a single right way and there is definitely no easy way. However, there are paths through this arduous task.

When you've decided to manage care, other steps are now needed. It's essential to develop a care philosophy, goals, and strategies for reaching the target with the patient. A plan will allow everyone involved with the care to have a clear understanding of the patient's wishes. You'll have a plan to deliver them.

Sometimes caregiving can feel like we're living on Planet Alz Caregivers live on Planet Alz, which is a different planet than earth. When you see us walking down the street, you may think that we look normal, but we are not. We are actually on a different planet. In our world, the normal rules do not apply. Everything is unpredictable, and anything can happen at any moment. As caregivers know, living with Alzheimer's is like living on a different planet. Sometimes we're with our intergalactic tr...

Finding joy is easier when we have positive connections with our loved ones. Finding joy and contentment is easier when we have positive connections with each other. Our words and actions play a significant role in determining the quality of our loved ones' lives. Creating happy moments with my Mom was a top priority while I was caring for her. It was an elusive and challenging goal but a worthy one. Since our mental well being also plays a significant role in their quality of life, it's crucial...

Can the digital networks that record our footprints hold us steady when dementia threatens to push us off the path? The question has real stakes for data analyst Charlie Sanders, His best hope for a father succumbing to Alzheimer’s comes from assistive technology that Charlie helps design. Will Charlie keep his father and his country on track or turn a whole generation into glitches?

Longer and longer lives are becoming the norm. Understandably, caregiving, and employment are bound to become a clash of responsibilities. Caregivers and employers working together can avoid complicating these competing responsibilities. In the end, what's good for the employee is good for the employer, right?

Part of forming your caregiving team might include a millennial or even a younger person. Learning about their unique challenges will allow all of us to handle caregiving in a more compassionate and understanding way.

Flexing our brain muscle is important but it also needs to be fun! Are you looking for a way to flex your brain muscle in a fun and creative way? Would you also like to improve your connection with others, especially your loved one? Fun makes us stronger and feel better. Games that engage, entertain and stimulate the brain in a fun and creative ways help you think differently, improve your concentration, and might even help you spend some quality time with the person you care for. If you’ve trie...

In this episode, I bring you as many tips, suggestions, and ideas as we could fit in an hour. My guest, Barbara Cohn cared for her husband for a decade. He had younger-onset Alzheimer’s. In writing her book Calmer Waters, it was Barbaras' goal to help other caregivers feel happier, have more energy and time for themselves, sleep better, and feel more relaxed.

We all want to avoid cognitive decline. What if you could fill your room with a light that promotes brain health? Would you use a product that enhances your daily routine, promotes wellness in a safe, non-invasive way?

What can we do to live healthier lifestyles, feel, and look better? Is there anything we can do to lessen the risk of Alzheimer’s or dementia? If you want to take care of your health and need a system that is simple and successful with positive results in as short of time as possible then this is the podcast episode for you.

When we think about our golden years we think we'll live the rest of our days in our own home. However, what if that's not an option? Have you had conversations with your family about your wishes for your final years? What if something happens and what you wanted is no longer an option? What if the option you decided on no longer fits your needs? This is a podcast conversation about assisted living, nursing homes, long term care and what options we should consider.

We all look for ways to make our caregiving responsibilities a little easier, a little less time consuming, and the Memoryz app app might be a solution you’re looking for. Tune in to this podcast episode to learn more.

Are you caring for someone with Alzheimer’s or another challenging disease? Does the knowledge that you have to get them to a doctor fill you with dread? Have you said, on more than one occasion that what you really need is someone to come to you? Having abruptly entered a phase of “safer at home” more and more medical professionals are offering telemedicine. However, that’s only useful for some health care situations. There’s a lot more involved in providing care – is there a solution for those...

Is it possible to use technology for better caregiving? Most of our loved ones make it very well known that they want to continue to live in their home until the end. That’s easier said than done especially if you’re one of the millions of sandwich generation caregivers with a full-time job and a family. How do you juggle everything and keep everyone happy?

Staying home is how most people want to live out their life. When Alzheimer’s becomes a part of your life you’ll likely hear, more often than you care to, that this is probably not possible. There are three things necessary for a podcast to be successful. One, great listeners like yourself. Two are sponsors who help cover the expenses of producing the podcast. Three great listeners who help support the podcast by taking advantage of the sponsors' special offers. With that said, here are our spon...

Would you be surprised to learn that Alzheimer’s is the fourth leading cause of death for African Americans? Alzheimer's is often referred to as a “Silent Epidemic” among African Americans. This is due in part to an unwillingness to acknowledge and discuss the disease.

Do you ever feel like disease has taken over our world and we’ll never be free of its devastating effects? Fortunately, while we’re caregiving for people living with Alzheimer’s there are people living Alzheimer’s research daily.

Having many tools to use while caregiving is important. It is not uncommon to have to try a lot of things before you find tips that work. Of course, once you find tips that work, you still need tools in reserve for the day things change.

Too often, when someone receives a diagnosis of any type of dementia, they are seen a just that; a person with dementia. These stories are about human beings. They are about people like you and me; people with hopes and plans for the future, a life worth remembering.

Change is stressful. You need to decide if you want to deal with the stress of the same old routine or deal with the stress of trying something new. Coping with change temporarily may lead to a better quality of life.