Exercise for the Brain
According to the 2019 Alzheimer’s Facts and Figures, “Brain Health is affected by the health of the heart and blood vessels. Although it makes up just 2% of the body weight, the brain consumes 20% of the body’s oxygen and energy supplies.” Researchers have found that factors that protect the heart may also protect the brain and reduce the risk of developing Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia.
At Parkside Assisted Living and Memory Care, our residents stay physically active every day. We have learned through clinical studies that those who remain physically active throughout their life have a reduced risk of getting Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia.
Our daily exercise reinforces the point that any movement is good movement.
Fall Management
According to a study done by the National Institute on Aging, “more than one in three people age 65 years or older falls each year resulting in an injury. The risk of falling and fall-related problems rise with age.”
At Ally Senior Living, we take the safety of our residents seriously. Our communities are designed to decrease the fall risk for our residents. All of our flooring surfaces are non-slip, including in the bathrooms of the apartments. All carpeting is short pile reducing the risk of tripping and falls. Our communities have no thresholds throughout again reducing the risk of tripping and falls. Finally, all bathrooms have safety rails and hallways have handrails throughout the community.
Medication Management
According to a recent article in Better Health While Aging, “seniors often feel a burden when taking medications due to numerous medications that need to be taken at different times each day. At a minimum, this is often a hassle; at worst, it becomes a serious drain on quality of life.”
At Ally Senior Living, we understand the potential harmful effects that missing medications or taking them at the wrong time can have on Seniors. According to the same article, “depending on which medications are missed, this can cause serious effects on an older person’s health.”
Therefore, we have invested in an Electronic Medications Administration Record or eMar system. This is a software system that helps ensure that our residents are taking the right medication at the right time.
The eMar system alerts staff to which residents need medication, what the medication is, and will not allow staff to close it out until each resident has received their medication. Additionally, the system tracks the medication inventory and reorders when needed. Finally, the system will alert our staff when a resident is given a new medication that might have a drug interaction with current medication.
At Ally, we take the health of our residents very seriously. This system takes as much human error as possible out of the medication management process.
Mental Stimulation
According to the Alzheimer’s Facts & Figures, an annual report from the Alzheimer’s Association, “people with more years of formal education are at a lower risk for Alzheimer’s and other dementias than those with fewer years of formal education. Having a mentally stimulating job and engaging in other mentally stimulating activities may also help to build cognitive reserve.”
At Ally Senior Living, our residents are always exercising their brains. From our One Week University program, which has university professors come into our community to teach classes, to other mentally stimulating activities, we want to reduce the chances of developing Alzheimer’s and other dementias or slow the progression of the disease for those who have it.
It is also fun for our residents to do games, crossword puzzles, trivia games and just continuing to learn and exercise the brain.
Social Interaction
According to the Alzheimer’s Facts & Figures, an annual report by the Alzheimer’s Association, “studies suggest that remaining socially and mentally active throughout life may support brain health and possibly reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and other dementias. Remaining socially and mentally active may help build cognitive reserve.”
At Ally Senior Living our residents stay busy. They have plenty of opportunities to be socially active. We have movies, arts and crafts, and lunch outings. Even daily meals offer our residents opportunities to be social and interact with each other as well as our staff.
Who would have thought laughing and talking with others would be good for brain health?
Peripheral Vision
According to the organization All About Vision, “aging causes a normal loss of peripheral vision with the size of our vision field decreasing by approximately one to three degrees per decade of life. By the time we reach 70’s and 80’s, a person may have a peripheral visual field loss of 20 to 30 degrees.”
This loss of peripheral vision can often lead to senior’s inability to judge depth. This loss of peripheral vision and depth perception can lead seniors to misjudge the end of hallways and not realize that the hallway is not a dead end. At Ally Senior Living, our communities built for seniors. The community has no stiff line walls and the end of hallways do not give the appearance of dead ends due to the design and construction.
Vitamin D
According to a recent study in the medical journal Age and Aging, “Vitamin D deficiency may contribute to osteoporosis, muscle weakness, hip fractures, diabetes, cancer, heart disease, arthritis and poor general health in seniors.”
At Ally Senior Living, we understand the effects that vitamin D deficiency has on our residents. While there are numerous foods that contain vitamin D naturally, and others that are fortified with vitamin D, sunlight remains the most important source. Therefore, our residents have numerous areas to enjoy the outdoors and access sunlight. Whether it be in our beautiful courtyards or in the front of our community, our residents enjoy the great outdoors!