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Getwell.org
The Physical Connection

The Physical Connection

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The Secret Ingredients of Cognitive Wellbeing

Physical activity is an integral part of who we are. However, when someone suffers an accident or contracts an illness, a whole part of the self goes dormant until reawakened by some known sensory input. Adaptive sports address that very issue. It has the power to give someone new wings.

My personal experience on this subject was with my husband. Before his head injury, we were always doing some form of sport recreation, skiing, or bicycling. After his injury, it stopped, we did PT and speech therapy, and it helped. However, the day he joined an Adaptive Sports program with Spaulding Rehabilitation, a side of him woke up again. After he returned from the first recumbent bike session, his face and words had changed. His eyes sparkled glitters. “I have not had that much fun in a very, very long time.” It was as if it had awoken some other part of his being as if he had found a new purpose. Being an adventurous person by nature, the experience had brought back all the things he once enjoyed, or he had once wanted to do. Now he would say: “Let’s have a ride in a Hot Air Balloon.” He watched now program with a sense of: “I could do that.” The skinniest skyscraper was now something we could visit, as he marveled at the design and engineering ingenuity. Some parts of himself were reborn, and he was enthusiastic once again. I cannot enumerate the many aspects of the beneficial effects of the few sessions we attended.

We also experienced something similar when I had hired someone to do Yoga classes. Debra Hyson, a Certified Yoga Instructor with extended experience teaching elders, reconnected his right and left. It also seemed to coincide with his losing the left neglect he had been experiencing in the past two years.

In summary, I experienced a close-up of the precious gains from any physical activity on cognition and moods.

By Nicolette Asselin, writer at Reflex-ions

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Music

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How can music help people who with Cognitive Decline?

How can music help people who with Cognitive Decline?

Jonathan Graff-Radford, M.D.*

Research suggests that listening to or singing songs can provide emotional and behavioral benefits for people with Alzheimer’s disease and other types of dementia. Musical memories are often preserved in Alzheimer’s disease because key brain areas linked to musical memory are relatively undamaged by the disease.

For example, music can:
Relieve stress
Reduce anxiety and depression
Reduce agitation
Music can also benefit caregivers by reducing anxiety and distress, lightening the mood, and providing a way to connect with loved ones who have Alzheimer’s disease — especially those who have difficulty communicating.

Read more
  • Jonathan Graff Radford, M.D., studies normal aging, mild cognitive impairment, cerebrovascular disease and neurodegenerative disorders. Specific disorders of interest include mild cognitive impairment, vascular cognitive impairment, Alzheimer’s disease, Lewy body dementia, corticobasal syndrome, posterior cortical atrophy and frontotemporal dementia.
Uneasy about vaccination?

Uneasy about vaccination?

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March 30th, 2021

COVID-19 vaccine: It’s our turn to roll up our sleeves and get vaccinated!

It’s hard to imagine a time when we didn’t know COVID-19 existed. Now when people say “virus,” we know what they mean. The impact of COVID-19 on our lives, our activities, and our freedom has affected us all. The responsibility is ours, as a community, to help stop this virus. Now we have a new, safe, and effective tool to help us do that—COVID-19 vaccines.

It takes everyone.

We all need to step up to beat COVID-19. We ask you to join us in protecting yourself, your family and friends, and our community by getting vaccinated.

“COVID-19 vaccination is one of the strongest tools we can use to fight this pandemic together,” says Nicolette Asselin, M.D. writer for Getwell.org.

Getting vaccinated adds an important layer of protection for you, your family, and loved ones. Here are some things you should know about the COVID-19 vaccine:

  • All COVID-19 vaccines currently available in the United States are very effective at preventing the disease.
  • The most common side effects are pain in the arm where you got the shot, feeling tired, headache, body aches, chills, and fever.
  • Stopping a pandemic requires using all the tools we have available—wearing masks, staying at least 6 feet apart from people who don’t live with you, avoiding crowds and poorly ventilated spaces, washing your hands frequently, and getting vaccinated. (CDC recommendations.)

We want everyone in our community to be safe and get back to hugging our families and friends and shaking hands with our neighbors.

We all play a part in this effort, and you are key. Please sign up to get your COVID-19 vaccination or ask assistance to do so, Vaccinefinder.

Additional Information:

At OasisWeCare we want you to be safe.

Please, use the reply space if you have a question.

Head Injuries

Head Injuries

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Can one get Dementia from Brain Injuries?

A concussion or other traumatic brain injury (TBI) can increase the risk of developing dementia even 30 years later, according to a new study published recently.

How Does Dementia from Head Injury differ from other type of dementia?

A number of medical conditions can cause dementia. Some are reversible while others can lead to more permanent states of dementia. Alzheimer’s diseaseaccounts for about 55 percent of all dementia cases. Dementia due to a head injury is comparatively rare and accounts for less than 5 percent of cases.

Traumatic Brain Injuries (TBI’s) affect an estimated two to three million people in the United States each year. Between 400,000 and 500,000 people are hospitalized. It is difficult to find accurate statistics on how many people with a TBI go on to develop significant dementia, but there are three areas that we need to consider. The first is the link between Alzheimer’s disease and TBI;   the second, post traumatic dementia affecting the elderly and thirdly dementia pugilistica, (also known as chronic traumatic encephalopathy). cont

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Health Central

Christine Kennard HEALTH PROFESSIONAL

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Challenges

Challenges

by getwelleducation

In dementia, day to day tasks can become a challenge, even with simple things, like getting dressed…

The family caregiver’s role is changed and comes without defiance, protest, and dare. Both involved will need to learn new roads and understand each other in new ways.

Anxiety – Agitation

In the following video, UCLA professor for the Alzheimer’s and Dementia Care Program demonstrates new approaches to those behavioral challenges. He offers new ways to communicate and decrease anxiety or agitation.

Dementia?

Dementia?

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What is Dementia? Print

Dementia isn’t a disease but a group of symptoms caused by other conditions. It is also  called neuro-cognitive disorder. The good news is that some causes are curable. This is the reason why an assessment by a board certified neurologist is very important. 

Some cause for these symptoms are curable, it is why it is very important to have an accurate diagnoses for it’s cause.

Causes of dementia that may be reversible include:

These forms of dementia are partially manageable, but they aren’t reversible and get worse over time:

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