How to Live Better and Smarter: Exercise Your Brain

Walking, stretching, jumping jacks – we all know that getting the circulation moving in your body makes you feel better and maybe live longer. But it’s just as important to get the blood moving through your brain, says Vickie Wilk, a psychiatric nurse practitioner.

Improving vascularity in the brain can help stall cognitive decline and dementia, and help keep your mind sharp long into old age.

Vickie will speak about "Helping Prevent and Living with Cognitive Decline" on Tuesday, May 28, 2013 at 5:30 p.m. at the Westminster Institute. It’s the second in Westminster Cares’ Speaking of Aging series.

She will explain exercises that can keep your mind nimble, and how and why they work. She’ll discuss recent research into prevention of dementia, and the difference between depression and dementia and how important it is to recognize that difference. She’ll also have tips on how to interact with a family member or significant other who has cognitive decline. Bring your questions about any of these aging issues.

Exercise can help slow the potential onset of dementia, research shows. “I don’t expect people to get out there and run a marathon,” Vickie said. “But 20 minutes, three times a week can improve vascularity, even if it means getting on the stationary bike and getting your heart to pound a little. All of it helps.”

Mental exercise, good for neurological and physiological growth of the brain, is just as important. So give your brain something new and different to do, Vickie suggests. Learn a new language. Play a number puzzle, like sudoku – especially if you’re used to doing crosswords or other word puzzles—and vice versa.

Another area that interests Vickie is the difference between depression and dementia. Depression is often mistaken for dementia, particularly in the elderly, she said. The usual barometers she uses to measure for depression are things like lack of focus and concentration, loss of appetite and poor sleep habits. “But in an older person, those tend to be there anyway. So I’m more apt to look at their mood, their feeling state and level of anxiety.

It’s crucial to diagnose depression early to help prevent dementia,” she said.

Vickie became a nurse because of her godmother, Anna Booniarz, known as “Hanti,” Polish for “Anna.” Hanti was a nurse, who developed Alzheimer’s disease in her seventies. “I used to take her out to lunch, and I began to see signs of decline,” Vickie said. “So I had first-hand experience. And it really stimulated my curiosity.”

One of Vickie’s first jobs was on a research unit, studying the neuropsychological underpinnings of depression. Immersion in the professional world of biological psychiatry and her aunt’s decline both led to her current interest “Geriatric psychiatry is the last challenge in my professional life, and I really want to stimulate myself.”

Vickie is a married mother of two daughters and two grandchildren, and is in a small private group practice, Otter Creek Associates /Matrix Health System, in Brattleboro. She has worked in psychiatry since the days of state hospitals. She received both her BS and MS degrees from Boston College School of Nursing, and has worked at McLean hospital in Belmont, Mass., along with other hospitals in Massachusetts, and has taught psychopharmacology.

Vickie is also the founding mother of an Indochinese psychiatry clinic in the Boston area, started in the early 1980s, when many Cambodian refugees from the Khmer Rouge regime settled in Boston.

    

To thank the community for 25 years of support, Westminster Cares is presenting a series of speakers to explore key issues in aging. Speaking of Aging is sponsored by the Fanny Holt Ames & Edna Louise Holt Fund, Bank of America, N.A.,Trustee.

Two more Speaker Series events are schedule: Dennis McCullough, M.D., on Tuesday, August 6, and Willem Lang, author and VPR commentator, on Tuesday, September 17. Find more at www.westminstercares.org.

“Aged in Vermont” is a monthly article on aging issues, organized by Westminster Cares. Ideas for future columns? Would you like to write one? We’d like to hear from you. Email Ronnie Friedman at wecares@sover.net.

A Pet Can Make Your Life Better - Part 2

In January, Aged in Vermont looked at how pets can help seniors with the aging process. This month, we discuss how companion animals may help them deal with some of the physical and sensory changes that come with aging. 

Vision: With proper correction of visual deficits, seniors can watch fish swim in an aquarium, or watch wild animals in the yard or birds flying. Important sensory stimulants like these keep an older person connected to the environment.

Hearing: Hearing loss is the third most frequently reported chronic condition of people over 65. A companion animal can alert its owner to both guests and intruders.  And in taking a pet for a walk, a senior often starts conversations with others.

Touch: Sensitivity to touch, which helps us perceive and express feelings, is reduced with aging.  At a time when there is a greater need for tactile stimulation but there are fewer opportunities to touch or be touched, pets can fill that need.  “The cold wet nose of a faithful canine friend, the velvet feel of a cat’s sleek coat, the softness of a bunny’s ears, the gentle peck of a budgie can be the stimulus that connects the older person to reality.” 

Smell and Taste: Changes in olfactory and gustatory systems are less noticeable but play an important role in the health and well-being of older persons. The diminished sense of smell may indirectly affect appetite and be accompanied by a gradual loss of taste buds so that a senior can’t enjoy the flavor of foods as much.

Good nutrition is critical to the overall health of older persons. Food intake is also influenced by the social environment so, for an older person living alone, having to prepare food for a pet may encourage them to prepare food for themselves. Often, pets can substitute for other social contact during meals.

Also, if a senior is less able to smell smoke from fire or toxic odors, pets can often alert their owners to those dangerous changes in the environment.

Cardiovascular System: Companion animals can make an important difference in promoting quality of life for seniors with cardiovascular disease.  Watching or petting a pet can help them relax and lower blood pressure.  Walking a pet or playing catch may be just the stimulus an older person needs to engage in activity.  Having to walk or care for pets becomes a reason to get up in the morning.

Musculoskeletal System: Changes in the musculoskeletal system directly affect how well older persons can move about in their environment. Disuse impairs many functions. Companion animals can play a very important role here: Brisk walking, easily done with a dog, is the simplest form of weight-bearing exercise.  Throwing a toy or holding an object for a cat to paw provides an opportunity to exercise arm and shoulder joints.

A pet can help an older person, not only with better physical health, but with dealing with loss, improved social attitudes, mental health, and happiness. All good reasons to own a pet!

Excerpted from “The Role Animals Play in Enhancing Quality of Life for the Elderly.”