Reuter’s news has reported on a survey that shows a large number of preventable hospitalizations are occurring at VA hospitals. The Journal of the American Geriatric Society published a study on drug reactions suffered by Veterans over the age of sixty-five between the years 2003 to 2006. The study reveals that many of these hospitalizations could have been avoided with better medicine management.

One finding showed that over half of the unfavorable reactions were caused by the wrong drugs being prescribed to veterans. These findings, along with patients

Every physician asks for a detailed medical history prior to or during the initial visit. Providing answers to these questions can get more difficult as we age so it’s a good idea to keep track of past ailments and treatments for future reference.

It’s also good to keep track of ailments suffered by blood relatives as well if possible. Remembering what diseases and conditions your parents and siblings have had can be a way for your doctor to get an idea of what problems you may be predisposed to contracting also.

If you are offering in home assistance

The effects of age are felt by all of us. Aches and pains become more frequent and many adults come to think of them as a fact of life. Occasional mental lapses like misplacing your keys or not remembering someone’s name may also become more frequent which can be a source of frustration.

Younger people in America for years have been looking at diet and exercise as a way to stave off the effects of old age. It should be remembered that if you are caring for your parent or parents, improving diet and increasing exercise has been shown to help people as they age as well.

Check with your loved one’s doctor prior to making any adjustments to your older parents’ activity levels or diet. There are many studies that show the elevation of one’s heart rate even for as little as a 10 minute period each day can do wonders for the heart and cognitive awareness.

More than a third of U.S. seniors find themselves struggling to manage more than one chronic health condition.  Many patients that struggle with conditions like diabetes and heart problems also suffer from some level of depression.

Researchers at the University of Washington conducted a yearlong study on the effects of “team treatment” for patients with multiple chronic conditions.  The findings of the study not only shed some light on a course of treatment that is much more effective, but that could result in substantial savings on health care costs as well.

A study published in a recent online issue of Neurology suggests a possible connection between walking and a reduced risk of developing memory problems.  The study consisted of recording the daily walking distances of approximately three hundred people of the average age of seventy eight.  Brain scans were performed at pre-determined intervals to measure the subject’s volume of gray matter.

At the nine year mark, the participants in the study who walked the most had a higher volume of gray matter than those who walked less.  Information revealed in the study indicates

Making the decision to quit smoking is probably one of the best decisions that you will ever make.  Some folks who believe that they’ve been smoking too long or are too old to quit couldn’t be more incorrect – you are never too old to get healthier by foregoing your habit of smoking cigarettes, but you do have to be careful about how you go about doing it.

Electronic cigarettes are the latest gimmick being advertised as a safe and healthy way to quit smoking regular cigarettes, but recent warnings from the FDA are bringing to light many of the potential dangers of this smoking alternative.  Five electronic cigarette manufacturers have been cited by the FDA as having unsafe manufacturing procedures, for containing unapproved drugs and for containing ingredients or quantities that weren’t consistent with what was advertised.

Each of the five companies has been given a brief window of time to correct the violations, but there also seems to be concerns about other companies that manufacture these devices so even if these particular infractions do get corrected, using any electronic cigarette as a means to kick the habit may not be the best idea.

You don’t necessarily need to rely on gadgets or gimmicks to quit smoking. Ask your doctor or home health aide for suggestions about safe and effective prescription and over the counter treatments that are available to help you with smoking cessation.  If you aren’t crazy about the idea of taking a medication to help you quit, consult your doctor or health aide about natural remedies or support groups to help make the transition.  Quitting may not be easy and it may not be fun but it can save you a substantial amount of money and, even more importantly, help to make dramatic improvements to your health.

Restless nights full of mediocre sleep and tossing and turning can leave you feeling worn out and unmotivated all day long.  Even if you’re past the point of retirement, there are plenty of things that need to be done during the day and feeling exhausted certainly won’t help you get them done.  If you want to feel better and more energized during the day, you probably need to get better sleep at night – and here are some tricks that can help you do it.

Using your living room as your living room and your bedroom as a bedroom can lead to a more restful night’s sleep.  Avoid planning on watching a show, watching a movie, eating or playing a game of solitaire in bed – the excitement, stimulation or aggravation will most likely keep you up longer than you’d intended and doing a multitude of activities in bed can make it difficult to identify the actual time you went to sleep, which can seriously throw off your schedule.  In order to make the most of your time in bed, schedule a bedtime that will allow you at least seven consecutive hours and make an effort to stick to it.

Getting on a consistent daily schedule for the majority or your activities, not just bedtime, can help you to get better sleep as well.  Seniors who are past retirement age often fall out of regular habits, but if you stick to a scheduled time to get up every morning, set regular meal times and regular times for activities sticking to your bed time will be much easier.

Making sure that you get your daily exercise can do wonders for your sleep habits as well.  You don’t have to run a marathon or take up body building, but a simple 30 minutes of aerobic activity a day, like walking will get you looking, feeling and sleeping better in no time.

Remember to consult your doctor or health aide prior to beginning a new exercise program and if the night time sleeplessness continues after you’ve tried the tricks and tips above, you might want to discuss your diet and medications with your doctor or home nurse to see if any of the things that you are consuming are interfering with your regular sleep pattern.

Adding ample amounts of fresh fruits and vegetables to your diet has many benefits, but recent research shows that dark, leafy greens in particular may have an added benefit that medical professional were previously unaware of.  The research, conducted by a research nutritionist from the University of Leicester, found a strong link between dark, leafy greens and type 2 diabetes.

The research looked into six separate studies comprised of more than 200,000 people and the information collected concluded that people who consumed at least one and a half servings of dark leafy greens a day could possibly reduce their risk of developing type 2 diabetes by as much as fourteen percent.  The findings from this research aren’t quite being accepted with open arms among the medical community as the original studies were performed to necessarily find a connection between dark leafy greens and diabetes, but the information does seem very promising.

There are already studies in place that link consuming more fruits and vegetables to a reduction in the risk for certain cancers and heart disease, so whether the information gathered in this latest of research is completely accurate or not it may be a good idea to up your intake of fruits and veggies and it certainly couldn’t hurt to include plenty of dark leafy greens.

If you need suggestions for getting started on a healthier diet, consult your doctor or home care nurse and if you want to add some regular physical activity into the mix in order to keep yourself as healthy as possible, get clearance from your doctor or home care nurse prior to beginning to ensure that the activity that you choose is right for you.

Diet is a huge part of overall health – in order to be as healthy as possible and to ward off many serious diseases and ailments you need to keep a close eye on both the types and the quantities of foods that you are consuming.  Most Americans now aware that eating a diet consisting mainly of fried foods and foods that are high in saturated fats and sugar can contribute to obesity, heart disease and diabetes – but far fewer realize the potential negative effects that can be brought on by how you eat the food that you eat.

A great starting point for controlling your consumption is to slow down the pace at which you eat.  Chew each bite thoroughly and take the time to take a breath between bites.  Your stomach needs time to communicate the fact that you are full to your brain; if you are inhaling your food at every meal you could be consuming many more calories than you actually need to feel satisfied.

Another great trick is to make meal time for meals and nothing else.  Don’t plant yourself in front of your favorite television show or computer game with heaping helpings of food, because eating while you’re distracted often leads to overeating as well.  Focusing only on your food will go a long way toward helping you keep your portions under control.

If you are going to have snack foods around as an occasional treat, be sure that you put them where they belong.  Keeping bowls, boxes or bags of snack foods where they are visible will almost always lead to unnecessary snacking.  Keep your food in the cupboards where it is out of sight and you’ll be less likely to eat it when you probably shouldn’t.

Your primary care physician or home care nurse should be able to provide more advice on structuring your diet and if you are looking for healthy ways to control your weight beyond your diet, your doctor or health aide may be able to provide suggestions on a regular exercise routine as well.

For those of you that suffer from joint pain on a regular basis, attempting to alleviate it by doing more moving seems like the most painful possible solution to the problem, but in order to move without pain, you’ve got to keep moving.

“If you don’t use it, you’ll lose it,” is a pretty accurate assessment of how your body reacts to a completely sedentary lifestyle.  Though you may not completely lose the ability to get around, the more time you spend avoiding movement, the more difficult and painful moving will become.

Regular exercise is not only beneficial to our bodies in terms of building and maintaining muscle and losing excess body fat, low impact movements also help to reduce your stiffness and keep your joints healthy and pain free.  As an added bonus, the weight loss from regular exercise will help to minimize everyday stress on the hip, knee and ankle joints which will help reduce lower body pain even further.

Even when you aren’t participating in your daily exercise routine, it’s important to get up and move around.  While watching television, knitting or performing other sedentary activities for extended periods, it’s good to switch positions frequently and to get up and move around a bit to reduce the possibility of stiffness and pain that could present itself after several hours in the same position.

Maintaining healthy joints and good mobility are one of the keys to remaining independent.  Being able to live at home with scheduled visits from a home nurse is a much more attractive option to most than being ushered off to a facility, but if you can’t move freely, the option of home care could be more of a dream than a reality.  Have a talk with your doctor to get some suggestions for low impact exercises that will help you keep your joints healthy and then start reaping the benefits of pain free movement.