Alternative Solutions in Long Term Care and Susan Berg Team Up

prlog
Susan Berg, Certified Dementia Practitioner and author, announces that her book, is now available at Alternative Solutions in Long Term Care. Learn about this premiere website and Susan Berg
Susan Berg, Certified Dementia Practitioner and author, announces that her book, Adorable Photographs of Our Baby Meaningful Mind Stimulating Activities and More for the Memory Challenged, Their Loved Ones and Involved Professionals is now available at Alternative Solutions in Long Term Care http://www.activitytherapy.com/store/books.html (Go to the bottom of the page)
Susan Berg, is a seasoned dementia healthcare professional. She has much experience engaging those with dementia in meaningful activities. She shares some of these.....read the whole story

Dementia Information blog is write on

Today.com
I have to compliment Dr. Susan Berg at Dementia Today. She has been running a couple of post series at her site dedicated to dementia. The first was Top ways to enjoy Thanksgiving with those who have dementia (ten parts). The second has been Creativity and dementia which has covered a wide range of creative ideas to share with those close to you who suffer from dementia. This is such an important time for families and in many instances a difficult time to celebrate with those suffering from dementia. I want to bring Dr. Susan' Berg's work into the creative spotlight since her dedication to the topic of dementia should be commended. I hope all enjoy their time with friends and family this Thanksgiving, especially those dedicating a special amount of time to those in need. ........read the full article

New center to tackle obesity epidemic

Chicago Tribune
By Deborah L. Shelton Tribune reporter
Health professionals fear life expectancy may fall for 1st time
a major initiative aimed at addressing a local and national health epidemic, Northwestern University's Feinberg School of Medicine recently opened a center to research the causes of obesity and find new ways to treat it.The Northwestern Comprehensive Center on Obesity will focus on treatment, research, education and advocacy, officials said.More than one-third of U.S. adults and about 17 percent of children and adolescents have a body-mass index that qualifies them as obese, according to the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. A high body-mass index indicates a weight greater than what is generally considered healthy for a given height.Some health professionals fear that so many adults and children are becoming obese that life expectancy could fall for the first time in the nation's history. Obesity has been tied to a wide range of health problems, including type II diabetes, high blood pressure, cardiovascular disease, breast and colon cancer and possibly Alzheimer's disease and other dementias.
"This is the major epi- demic of our time," said Dr. Lewis Landsberg, founder and director of the center. "Obesity and its complications threaten to replace smoking-related diseases as the pre-eminent health problem that we face."Obesity has root causes that are evolutionary, biological, psychological, sociological, economic and political, Landsberg said."We recognize there are metabolic differences between those who are obese and those who are lean," he said. "It's not just gluttony and sloth, despite what people think. What maintains the weight of one person will cause somebody else to gain weight, independent of activity."One mission of the new center, which is in the new Center for Lifestyle Medicine in the Northwestern Medical Faculty Foundation, is to combat stigma by educating medical students, physicians and the public.One program targets obesity and weight gain during pregnancy, a critical time for excessive weight gain and developing complications as a result, said Dr. Robert Kushner, director of clinical care for the new center and co-director of its obesity and pregnancy program.The idea that pregnant women can eat anything and as much as they want is faulty, he said."Currently, there has been very little focus on restricting weight gain in women who are pregnant or on counseling women who are overweight and about to become pregnant," Kushner said.Women who pack on too many pounds during pregnancy increase their risk of developing high blood pressure, gestational diabetes, cardiovascular disease and type II diabetes. They also are more likely to have a Cesarean delivery.In 2007, almost half of the women who.......read the whole article
Read all 11 comments »

Submitting to the Science of Prevention

Wall Street Journal
By LAURA LANDRO
I've had clothes custom-tailored by a seamstress. I've had vacations custom-planned by travel agents. And now, I've received a custom-designed personal health plan from medical experts.
Recently, I joined a group of volunteers at Emory University submitting to an exhaustive -- and exhausting -- "predictive health assessment" that researchers used to determine the specific health risks I face and to prescribe changes to my behavior and lifestyle with the aim of reducing those risks.
On two separate visits, researchers measured everything from the thickness of my arteries to the density of my bones. I answered countless questions about my social functioning, my emotional health, my eating habits and the quality of my sleep. I gave up samples of blood and other bodily fluids for standard tests, like cholesterol and hemoglobin levels, and more experimental tests, such as the levels of inflammation in my body and my ability to regenerate stem cells. After developing a personal health plan based on some of the results, I agreed to be nudged on a regular basis by a health coach to make sure I was adhering to my regimen.
Emory's Center for Health Discovery and Well Being, a partnership between Emory's Predictive Health Institute and the Georgia Institute of Technology, is part of an effort to answer one of the most pressing questions for health care in the U.S.: how to reverse the growing burden of chronic disease.
Many experts believe the answer is...........read the full article

In case you missed this comment, http://www.blogger.com/profile/11110241396415155655 said...
I'm sorry but all 'ways to keep Alzheimer's away' simply aren't plausible. Alzheimer's is a physical brain disease. You can do all the brain exercises you want but it will still happen if you are so genetically disposed. If brain exercises work then why did intelligent authors like Terry Pratchett get it and Iris Murdoch who continued writing with it too? And countless others who kept their brain active?More research needs to be done. Alzheimer's is a disease just like cancer and heart disease. You can do an amount in terms of diet in the hope you won't get ill but what is needed is real recognition that this disease is endemic and needs the best drugs available to help fight it. These drugs must not be spurned because of expense. More practical help is needed for sufferers and carers and this costs money. Governments need to recognise Alzheimer's is as prevalent (if not more so) than cancer and deserves the corresponding attention.



Sally is right Alzheimer's disease is a disease like cancer. Just like with cancer, heart disease, and other seious illnesses, if you take good care of yourself physically and mentally, you will get the disease later than you would if you did not take care of yourself.



True some highly intelligent people came down with Alzheimer's disease. However what about their lifestye. Was it healthy?



Alzheimer's disease and related dementias are complex. Like cancer, it is going to take a lot of research and clinical trials to finally find a cure. It will be expensive. It will take time.



Healthy lifestyle habits are something you can do right now. Although it may not prevent Alzheimer's disease if you are genetically predisposed to getting it, it will delay the onset and slow the progression.



Comment please

10 Steps to Avoid Alzheimer's

By SixWise.com
Every 71 seconds, someone develops Alzheimer's disease, according to the Alzheimer's Association's 2008 Facts and Figures. While over 5 million people in the United States are already living with the disease, it's estimated that 10 million baby boomers will develop Alzheimer's during their lifetime -- and this number is expected to triple by 2050.
.............................The Most Common Form of Dementia
Dementia is a loss or decline in memory and other cognitive abilities that is severe enough to interfere with daily life. Alzheimer's disease is the most common cause of dementia, accounting for 60 percent to 80 percent of cases............................read the whole article

How Red Wine Compounds Fight Alzheimer's Disease

ScienceDaily — Scientists call it the "French paradox" — a society that, despite consuming food high in cholesterol and saturated fats, has long had low death rates from heart disease. Research has suggested it is the red wine consumed with all that fatty food that may be beneficial — and not only for cardiovascular health but in warding off certain tumors and even Alzheimer's disease.
Now, Alzheimer's researchers at UCLA, in collaboration with Mt. Sinai School of Medicine in New York, have discovered how red wine may reduce the incidence of the disease. Reporting in the Nov. 21 issue of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, David Teplow, a UCLA professor of neurology, and colleagues show how naturally occurring compounds in red wine called....read the whole article