_ Financial Issues for Caregivers By article By Hilary Young While caring for a loved one may seem like the better, cheaper alternative to assisted living, there are actually many financial issues to consider. Understanding these issues and knowing how to cope with them is vital because people are now living longer than ever before and many family members will eventually take on the role of caregiver.
Watch Out for These Destructive Types By blog Like so many Americans, we changed health care plans this past month. Mike and I shared a terrible experience this week when we went to meet a new doctor It was truly the worst behavior I have ever witnessed from a trained professional.
Re-Emerging By blog One definition of the word re-emerge is to once again make popular. Life has a way of going full circle and dreams from our past at times re-emerge. I found this to be true when my husband completed an improv class a few months ago. As a child, Kevin enjoyed entertaining his family by putting on silly shows and making them laugh. Many times things we are passionate about are things we did when young. If we are lucky and smart when grown we allow ourselves to let them re-emerge.
Frayed: Adventures on the ACA Trail By blog The following is a journal of my experience with the Affordable Care Act and specifically my application process with Covered California. In the spirit of “sometimes you just have to laugh” I have taken a humorous approach. However, the many problems of enrolling in a health care plan were frightening and filled with frustration. I know I am not alone with these thoughts and feelings.
Why the Next Big Frontier in Medicine is Energy Medicine By blog I first heard about Dr. Mehmet Oz in 2000 when I was writing my book The Whole Man Program: Reinvigorating Your Body, Mind, and Spirit After 40. Dr. Oz was one of the top heart surgeons in the world at New York Presbyterian Hospital/Columbia Medical Center. I wanted to find someone with the best scientific credentials to help me better understand heart disease so I could help other men. Dr. Oz was a wonderful resource. He is still one of the best surgeons in the world but he has since expanded his view of what constitutes good medicine.
Midlife Bloggers Want a Seat at the Table By blog It is that time of year again. Almost daily, I receive an invitation or update in my inbox about upcoming blogging conferences. Since I started blogging three years ago, I’ve attended my share of blog events, from small gatherings with only a handful of attendees to huge conferences with thousands of bloggers from far-flung locations. However, last year I opted out of blogging conferences and this year doing the same.
Home Health Care: Navigating Racial and Cultural Differences By blog Roz, now 95 years old, spent all her life in Westchester County in the company of Jewish people like herself. She was not strictly religious, but she grew up in a time and place when, as she said, "like associated with like." She still recalls one evening, some 70 years ago, when she went on her first and only date with a non-Jewish boy. "I felt like the whole town was watching and judging," she said.
_ Watch: Weight-Loss Self-Inspiration By Jane Farrell article Here's another addition to our ThirdAge Video Collection. Press play to start learning!
The Joys of a Birthday Morning on Facebook By Sondra Forsyth blog When I booted my computer early on the morning of January 14th 2014, I went straight to my Facebook timeline. Sure enough, the birthday wishes had already begun to arrive. What a joy to be in touch with such a diverse group of people! I had long since lost touch with many of them before I started to use Facebook at the end of 2008. In a very real sense, the hundreds of people who are my Facebook friends give me the invaluable benefits of social support -- the buzz phrase for having frequent contact with people you care about and who care about you.
_ The 7 Hidden Causes of Fatigue By Jane Farrell article From the Cleveland Clinic Fatigue can signal anemia, diabetes, hypothyroidism or hepatitis C. But once your doctor rules out major medical causes of fatigue, it’s time to consider hidden ones. "We look for the less obvious roots of fatigue — that’s our job,” says Tanya Edwards, MD, Medical Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Center for Integrative Medicine. Hidden causes include: 1. A junk food diet
Making Peace with Failure: A Love Story By blog Allegedly, it is life at its best when we are succeeding and life at its worst when we are failing. How do we define success and failure? How do we come to have such a strong attachment to success and a deep aversion to failure? How does our relationship to success and failure define our relationship to life? What is Failure?
_ Aging Well Welcome, Youngest Baby Boomers! By Sondra Forsyth article Here at ThirdAge, where we focus on the health and well-being of women 50+ and their families, we want to extend a heartfelt welcome and a happy 50th birthday to those of you who were born in 1964 -- the last year of the post-war baby boom. The oldest Boomers, born in 1946, are 18 years older than you are so plenty of people point out that your coming-of-age experiences are a lot different that those of people in the 60+ cohort.
Pets Include Pets in Healthy Weight Resolutions for 2014 By article Nearly half of all Americans make New Year’s resolutions and of those, almost 40 percent are related to weight loss. This year, why not include pets in a weight management program to ensure they’re at a healthy, optimum weight? One type of tool veterinarians use to rate the body condition of dogs and cats is a scale one to nine, with a healthy pet being in the four to five range. When a pet is at a healthy weight, a pet parent should be able to feel the ribs, but not see them.
_ Apologizing After a Caregiving Blowup By Jane Farrell article Caregiving, even during the best of times, can be stressful. Family members and friends who are clueless about the realities of caregiving, often add to the stress by offering "advice," which sounds to you like criticism rather than help. You're a good person and likely they are, too, so you stuff your irritation, bite back a sarcastic response and let the comments or actions pass – this time.
_ Glaucoma Senior Health Vision Health What You Must Know About Glaucoma By Sondra Forsyth article By Sondra Forsyth In April of 2013, I went for my annual eye exam. I’ve worn glasses or contacts for distance correction ever since elementary school but over the years, other than the usual age-related need for “readers”, I’ve never had any vision problems. This time, though, I saw a look of concern flash across the optometrist’s face when she did the test for ocular pressure. “Is something wrong?” I asked.
How Can I Give What I Never Had? By blog Most of the insecurity and low self-esteem in the world is caused by rejection by a parent, boyfriend/girlfriend, husband or wife, or the loss of a parent or some other significant other early in life. Early shame, rejection or abandonment may become internalized at an early age, making us feel worthless and unworthy of love. The greatest loss and the most difficult to work through is the death of a parent.
_ Women's Health and Wellness High BP Riskier for Women By article Doctors may need to treat high blood pressure in women earlier and more aggressively than they do in men, according to scientists at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. The study was published in the December 2013 edition of the journal Therapeutic Advances in Cardiovascular Disease.
Sex and Depression: A Gender-Specific Approach to Healing By Jane Farrell blog Depression runs in my family. I became aware of that fact when my father took an overdose of sleeping pills when I was five years old. Growing up I had little understanding of what had happened or why he was hospitalized and disappeared from our lives. But I did grow up with a hunger to understand depression and a terror that I would become depressed myself and face my own suicidal demons.