15 Easy Ways to Stay Active With Arthritis

Play Video Games

Grab a gaming system but get off the couch. Research suggests some sports video games may burn as many calories as a brisk walk. In a study funded by Nintendo, the Wii Sports tennis, baseball, and boxing games all qualified as moderate-intensity exercise. For joint flexibility and to improve your range of motion with arthritis, try your hand at balance games and yoga exercises.

Get Your Dog and Start Walking

An eager dog can be the perfect cure for couch potato syndrome. He can keep you company and keep you motivated during your daily walks. Because walking keeps your joints flexible and your muscles strong, this low-impact, weight-bearing exercise is a good choice for people with arthritis. Research also suggests dog owners tend to have lower blood pressure and cholesterol than their pet-less peers.

Wash Your Car

Washing your car offers the chance to get a workout and clean car at the same time. But don't just stand there spraying the hose at your windshield. You need to get your heart working. That means soaping up a rag and scrubbing your car from bumper to bumper. An hour's worth of hearty work can burn more than 300 calories for a 155-pound person.

Carry Your Groceries

Make the most of your supermarket trip by carrying your groceries in the store and to your car. The weight adds intensity to walking and helps strengthen your upper body. Carry your bags across your arms to protect your hands. For an extra challenge, carry your bags up steps. Research suggests people who can carry groceries and climb stairs are less likely to have a stroke than those who can't.

Clean Your House

Don’t dread housework; it's a way to avoid the gym. Cleaning the floor counts as moderate exercise because it raises your heart rate and makes you breathe faster. Other good exercise: washing windows, hanging laundry, and cleaning the bathroom. To protect your joints: Alternate motions and the hands you use. Don't overextend your reach, and bend with your knees to save your back. Consider knee pads for kneeling.

Dance Through Your Chores

Some household chores, like unloading the dishwasher, don't raise your heart rate on their own. But you can kick things up a notch by putting on music and moving! Try dancing while dusting, vacuuming, cooking, or putting away dishes. The trick is to use music you love, so you'll have fun while working up a sweat.

Tend Your Garden

Gardening can provide a surprisingly well-rounded workout. Wielding a rake or shovel can strengthen your muscles, improve flexibility, and raise your heart rate. An hour of weeding or digging is great for endurance, too. To avoid stooping, use long-handled tools or build raised garden beds. As a bonus, whether your focus is on tending flowers or fruit, you’ll have something to show for your efforts.

Find Fitness Friends

Instead of planning lunch dates, suggest meeting friends for a brisk walk through the mall or a park. While you may be tempted to shrug off a solo workout, you will be less likely to stand up a friend. And being active can help you meet weight loss or goals if you have them. If you're overweight, losing extra pounds can help reduce arthritis pain -- especially in the knees.

Volunteer Your Time

Help yourself and other people by taking on volunteer projects that benefit both mind and body. Consider walking dogs at the local animal shelter, planting trees, coaching a youth sports team, or building houses. Studies show that older adults who volunteer regularly have a greater sense of well-being than those who don't.

Hike or Bike on Your Next Outing

You may be in the habit of driving everywhere, no matter how close your destination. But think about some of your favorite places -- stores, restaurants, the library, parks. Are any of them close enough to reach safely by bike or foot? If so, you'll get exercise while saving gas money. In addition, biking is easy on your joints while still giving you a good workout.

Take the Stairs

When you head toward an elevator, think before using it. By taking the stairs, you can weave exercise into your daily routine without setting aside time for a workout. However, if you have knee osteoarthritis -- a condition that affects nearly one in two people before age 85 -- your health care provider may suggest that you consider another form of exercise.

Park in the Last Spot

Walking is one of the best forms of exercise for arthritis, so find ways to fit it into your day. Whether you're driving to the mall, office, or supermarket, make a habit of parking in the spot farthest from the entrance. Then power walk to the front door. When this becomes too easy, try parking a couple of blocks away from your destination. Wear a pedometer to see how much ground you’ve covered.

Take a Class

Like working out in a social setting? Sign up for a class. You'll have a regular exercise time and place, plus a group of people who expect to see you. Remember, a fitness class doesn't have to mean aerobics. Always wanted to learn karate or salsa dancing? Look for a class that will keep you coming back. Or join a walking group or masters swim team. Both walking and swimming are especially easy on the joints.

Add Up Your Exercise Time

You don't have to do all your exercises at once. It’s OK to do it in 10-minute spurts. If you're new to exercise, aim to be active 15 to 20 minutes a day, three days a week. Then work up to 30 minutes every day. The key is doing activities that will work your large muscle groups, quickening your breathing and heart rate. Unsure about which activities may be best for you? Ask your doctor.

THIS IS ONLY FOR INFORMATION, ALWAYS CONSULT YOU PHYSICIAN BEFORE HAVING ANY PARTICULAR FOOD/ MEDICATION/EXERCISE/OTHER REMEDIES.                                                                                                                                                                                                        PS- THOSE INTERESTED IN RECIPES ARE FREE TO  VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                           https://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/  

FOR INFO ABOUT KNEE REPLACEMENT, YOU CAN VIEW MY BLOG-                                                                                        https:// kneereplacement-stickclub.blogspot.com/                              
FOR CROCHET DESIGNS                                                                                                                                                                                                                                 https://gscrochetdesigns.blogspot.com

Five Signs of Senior Stress

Stress is a common factor in life. Children experience stress from school, new social situations and simply growing up. Adults feel the stress of working, paying bills, raising kids and maintaining households. Seniors also feel stress, even though some may have retired, raised their children and paid off their homes. Certain amounts of stress are a part of life for people of all ages.

For seniors, stress has the potential to be especially overwhelming. This type of tension in older adults has unique contributing factors, such as the loss of an elderly spouse or friends. Living alone can increase the sense of isolation. Sometimes the simple tasks of everyday life can cause stress in those who experience physical or medical limitations. The effects of stress can sometimes exacerbate health conditions from which some seniors suffer, causing additional worry.

Stress can present itself in various ways. Here are five of the most common ways to detect if a loved one’s stress is cause for concern:

1. Changes in eating habits, such as overeating or loss of appetite, can be caused by overwhelming stress.
2. Mood swings due to stress may present in increased irritability, general sadness or depression.
3. Memory issues may arise in the form of increased forgetfulness of names, places or other things that normally come naturally. Lack of concentration may become a problem. Some seniors may exercise poor judgment, such as excessive spending when they are already on a limited budget.
4. Physical signs of stress can include body aches and pains or increased episodes of illness. Changes in sleeping patterns — either trouble falling asleep or interrupted nighttime sleep — can signal significant stress.
5. Seniors experiencing overwhelming stress often isolate themselves from others, refusing to socialize or participate in activities they used to enjoy.

Family caregivers of seniors should be cognizant of stress as it relates to their loved ones. Knowing the signs and detecting them early on can help seniors learn to recognize stress factors and to take steps to alleviate the effects stress can cause. Activities such as yoga, walking and other physical exercises designed for seniors are great tension relievers. Many seniors enjoy the benefits of tai chi classes geared to their physical abilities. The Mayo Clinic supports this gentle form of martial arts as a way to relieve stress and help other health-related conditions.

Some seniors are unable to participate in physical activities, but there are other ways to reduce stress. Eating a healthy, well-balanced diet and getting a good night’s sleep can keep stress at bay. Joining a non-physical group activity, such as a bridge club or volunteering, offers socialization and a chance to clear the mind of daily responsibilities. There are also local agencies that can help with tasks that might cause undue stress for seniors. Respite care organizations can help with housework or grocery shopping. Religious organizations often have groups who can assist seniors with yard work or other strenuous tasks around the home.

The fact that stress is a part of life does not mean that overwhelming stress is a burden seniors have to shoulder all alone. With help, seniors can combat stress and its negative effects. Spend time helping seniors determine what burdens they face. Help them plan ways suited to their lifestyles that are not only fun but that can minimize the pressures stress can cause. By doing so, the quality of life seniors experience can increase, further paving the way for them to lead independent lives within the comfort of their own homes.

ps- this is only for information, always consult you physician before having any particular food/ medication/exercise/other remedies.

ps- those interested in recipes are free to view my blog-

http://gseasyrecipes.blogspot.com/

for info about knee replacement, you can view my blog-

http://Knee replacement-stick club.blogspot.com/

for crochet designs

http://My Crochet Creations.blogspot.com

HOW TO WARD OFF DEMENTIA !

Most of us start worrying about dementia after retirement - and that may be too little, too late. Experts say that if you really want to ward off dementia, you need to start taking care of your brain in your 30s and 40s - or even earlier.
  
More and more research is suggesting that lifestyle is very important to your brain's health. If you want to live a long, healthy life, then many of us need to start as early as we can.

TIPS TO WARD OFF DEMENTIA

1.  Join clubs or organizations that need volunteers. If you start volunteering now, you won't feel lost and unneeded after you retire.

2.  Develop a hobby or two.  Hobbies help you develop a robust brain because you're trying something new and complex.

3. Practice writing with your non-dominant hand several minutes everyday.  This will exercise the opposite side of your brain and fire up those neurons.

4. Take dance lessons. In a study of nearly 500 people, dancing was the only regular physical activity associated with a significant decrease in the incidence of dementia, including Alzheimer's disease.  The people who danced three or four times a week showed 76 percent less incidence of dementia than those who danced only once a week or not at all.

5. Need a hobby? Start Gardening.  Researchers in New Zealand found that, of 1,000 people, those who gardened regularly were less likely to suffer from dementia!  Not only does gardening reduce stress, but gardeners use their brains to plan gardens; they use visual and spatial reasoning to lay out a garden.

6  Walking daily can reduce the risk of dementia because cardiovascular health is important to maintain blood flow to the brain.  or...Buy a pedometer and walk 10,000 steps a day.

7 Read and write daily. Reading stimulates a wide variety of brain areas that process and store information.  Likewise, writing (not copying) stimulates many areas of the brain as well.

8. Start knitting. Using both hands works both sides of your brain.  And it's a stress reducer.

9. Learn a new language. Whether it's a foreign language or sign language,you are working your brain by making it go back and forth between one language and the other.  A researcher in England found that being bilingual seemed to delay symptoms of Alzheimer's disease for four years.  And some research suggests that the earlier a child learns sign language, the higher his IQ - and people with high IQs are less likely to have dementia. So start them early.

10. Play board games such as Scrabble and Monopoly.  Not only are you taxing your brain, you're socializing too.  Playing solo games, such as solitaire or online computer brain games can be helpful, but Nussbaum prefers games that encourage you to socialize too.

11. Take classes throughout your lifetime.  Learning produces structural and chemical changes in the brain, and education appears to help people live longer.  Brain researchers have found that people with advanced degrees live longer - and if they do have Alzheimer's, it often becomes apparent only in the very later stages of the disease.

12. Listen to classical music.  A growing volume of research suggests that music may hard wire the brain, building links between the two hemispheres. Any kind of music may work, but there's some research that shows positive effects for classical music, though researchers don't understand why.

13. Learn a musical instrument. It may be harder than it was when you were a kid, but you'll be developing a dormant part of your brain.

14. Travel. When you travel (whether it's to a distant vacation spot or on a different route across town), you're forcing your brain to navigate a new and complex environment.  A study of London taxi drivers found experienced drivers had larger brains because they have to store lots of information about locations and how to navigate there.

15.  Pray. Daily prayer appears to help your immune system.  And people who attend a formal worship service regularly live longer and report happier, healthier lives.

16 Learn to meditate.  It's important for your brain that you learn to shut out the stresses of everyday life.

17. Get enough sleep. Studies have shown a link between interrupted sleep and dementia.

18. Eat more foods containing Omega-3 fatty acids: Walnuts (which are higher in omega 3s than salmon) and flaxseed. Flaxseed oil and walnut oil are good sources too

19.  Eat more fruits and vegetables. Antioxidants in fruits and vegetables mop up some of the damage caused by free radicals, one of the leading killers of brain cells.

20. Eat at least one meal a day with family and friends.  You'll slow down, socialize, and research shows you'll eat healthier food than if you ate alone or on the go.