^{BRAIN DISEASE AND BRAIN HEALTH:}

^{REAL REASONS FOR HOPE}

^{Greetings… I hope all of you had a wonderful holiday season celebrating with family or friends. For those of you who were less fortunate lets hope that next year will be fuller as we help build meaningful connections which are a vital part of maintaining optimum brain health.}

^{I am honored being given the opportunity to write this column. Currently brain health is our most important health topic. It’s on everybody’s mind, from the aging baby boomers “worried well” who noticing their memory isn’t what it used to be… to the courageous individuals caring for family members with dementia. And then there are those of us who are scared because we have a genetic loading for Alzheimer’s disease. From where I sit I see both an individual and a collective fear mounting as our population continues to age and the cure for brain disease still eludes us.}

^{Nostalgic America’s new commitment to the topic of brain health reflects an obvious and overwhelming concern amongst its readership, which extends to most everyone over 50. That is, modern medicine has afforded us longer life by keeping our bodies alive, but what about our minds? And what about the quality of our day-to-day existence if we start having memory problems? What’s so great about living longer if we cannot remember who we are and the lives we’ve lived?}

^{We try not to think about memory challenges. And generally we avoid talking about our concerns with others. We’re much more likely to laugh it off and make jokes about lapses in memory, which actually is a good thing. Humor helps in most every imaginable human situation. But without learning to express our concerns, vent our feelings and making an action plan our joking will never be enough to quell the fears that wells up inside all of us.}

^{All that said there is good news at hand. The race for the cure is ON! Research dollars, both private and public are pouring in. New medicines are being tried. And there is some very promising breakthrough work being done in stem cell and gene therapies. For example, a cell biologist at Sloan Kettering recently cured a rhesus monkey of Parkinson’s disease with a stem cell intervention!  Another very exciting part of this breakthrough is that researchers are finally seeing that their collaboration speeds their knowledge acquisition and greatly increases the likelihood that the cure will come sooner than later.}

^{In the meantime our knowledge about how to cope with symptoms of brain disease is also increasing. It turns out that lifestyle choices play a very important role in brain health. Its been estimated that maintaining a combination of a heart healthy diet and regular exercise reduces your risk of brain disease by over 40%. That’s astounding!}

^{If you were to do one thing to keep your mind healthy it would be to exercise most every day. Current research has shown that exercise can actually help your brain grow new cells right in the areas of the brain associated with memory and learning. So today wouldn’t be too soon to get out there and take a brisk 20-30 minute walk every day! And if you are unable to do that, try some other way to get that heart rate up.}

^{Still, we here at Lifespan are concerned about all the barriers and the stigma that still exist regarding brain health.  Our newest project is memory improvement classes, using a traditional classroom environment to help folks improve their memory. These classes and individual tutorial in the home will go a long way to helping you stay mentally fit and get connected to other who share you concerns and your desire to actively do something about it. Look for our announcement for class times and locations this spring. By the way these classes will be covered by Medicare!}

^{All in all it’s an exciting time for brain health. More than any time in history there is reason to believe that the cure for brain disease is not far away.  Hope is a good thing.}

^{Be well… stay well.}

What impressed me the most were three 90 plus year olds who approached me after my talk. you should have seen their eyes… full of life, full of curiosity, eager to share their “secrets” to longevity. truely inspiratonal. i felt honored to have met these people. Vi is certainly helping these folks “live” to their fullest.

Our suspicions were confirmed as people approach our table: there is considerable apprehension out there about memory evaluation, we think because people believe there is nothing you can do about declining memory. we’re out to change that perception! Beginning this Spring Lifespan will offer evidence based memory improvement classes. Looking forward… stay tuned!

As Dr. Dan explains, “Its no coincidence that so many of our patients feel cared for and rate our services so highly. That kind of patient rating is what Lifespan strives for… its part of our mission. translating our philosophy into a reality involves hard work and a commitment to detail. Our achieving this has been largely due to Dr. Faraldo’s efforts. Day after day she goes the extra length for our patients.”

Dr, Faraldo will oversee all aspects of Lifespan’s growing number of clinical services, from out-patient services at our two office locations, to the newly created home care and facilities divisions. She will also supervise the clinical work of Lifespan’s growing clinical staff. If you have questions about our services, complaints, or want to offer welcomed feedback please call Dr. Faraldo directly at 954-812-0900.

Do you want to know the secrets of living to 100? Possibly the biggest secret is that there may be no secret at all!

Some feel its strictly a matter of the luck and blessing of good genetics. Others feel that cultivating a positive attitude and appreciating every day is the key.  Still others claim that remaining active, interested and curious about everything is critical. But all agree that you must learn to play the hand you’re dealt!

Click here… Secrets of the Centenarians … and listen to interviews with 8 centenarians share their insights. Interesting.

All you have to do is click on the link below, fill out the contact form and our intake coordinator will set up your in-home appointment. Or you can call us at 561-969-0102… Its that easy:

http://lifespanhealthservices.com/contact/

Along with this outreach program came the formation of  strategic partnerships with two leading  home health care agencies in south Florida: Expicare Nursing Agency and Boca Home Care. Both these agencies have been providing highest quality in-home nursing care to south Florida residents for many years. Their reputation is unparalleled in the industry.

Up until now traditional home health care has not included mental health services. This is remarkable especially because home bound elderly clients are at increased risk for mental health challenges. BothBoca Home Care and Expicare become industry leaders in recognizing this need and forming an alliance with Lifespan to help them provide services such as:

• individual counseling/coaching
• mood and memory testing
• cognitive training
• emotional support for caregivers and family members

ALL OUR SERVICES …WHETHER IN YOUR HOME OR IN OR OFFICES… ARE COVERED BY MEDICARE

EASY AS 1-2-3… CLICK TO BOOK AN APPOINTMENT FOR YOURSELF, YOUR PARTNER OR FOR YOUR FAMILY: http://lifespanhealthservices.com/contact/

Expicare writes: “Expicare Nursing Agency has been gratefully providing home health care to our clients for 27 years and now we are excited to partner with LifeSpan, a very impressive company that meets the emotional and mental health needs of our elderly population”.

To learn more about Expicare Nursing Agency you can click here to visit their website: www.expicare.com or call them directly at: 561-392-0844

To learn more about Boca Home Care click here to visit their websites: www.bocahomecareservices.com and www.bocahomecare.com, or call them directly at: 561-989-0611

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/01/health/research/01happy.html?emc=eta1

Adding to this concern is the myth that still persists amongst us oldsters, namely that age related brain changes are to be feared because nothing can be done to prevent dementia. The Alzheimer’s Association estimates that at the current rate  the number of cases of Alzheimer’s and all dementias combined with rise dramatically in a short period of time from now 4-5 million to 15 million, largely because 78 million baby boomers are now turning 65. That’s scary news for many of us.

What’s new and positive in the conversations i’ve been having with other aging folks is that the core “nothing you can do about it anyway” myth is breaking down with exciting developments in brain science and intervention. Turns out there is indeed tremendous value in knowing early on one’s mental strengths and weaknesses. Turns out once we know about these we can get on a cognitive fitness program that can substantially reduce your risk of dementia, and at the very least, delay its onset. That’s good news in an otherwise dismal prediction.

Oldsters are interested… very interested in what they can do about keeping their brain’s healthy. We go to the gym, we try to eat right… can we really hire a trainer for our brains and get us going in a direction that can make a huge difference over time?

The simple answer is an unqualified YES… if we start early enough and are earnest and reasonably disciplined in our efforts. We can accurately evaluate our brain’s weaknesses and then go about strengthening those weaknesses through novel learning, computer exercises and certain lifestyle adjustments. Combined, these activities can reduce our relative risk of dementia by up to 40%. Who wouldn’t want to do that?

My community conversations have been stimulating and inspiring. Its very exciting help lead a growing body of exciting scientific development and public interest brain health that until now has been plagued by fear and bad news.

I invite you to join in the conversation.

This got me thinking about the importance of living a meaningful, purposeful life at any age, but especially as we grow older, when we can start feeling the we’ve already made our contribution raising our kids and our career. Many of us have time on our hands but struggle with what to do with that time. Often i hear comments from people whose calendars are filled but their activities sometimes lack deeper meaning or purpose. this becomes an insidious recipe for sadness, loneliness, and even depression.

Stories like Bob’s help us realize that there are limitless possibilities for plugging into our passions… finding what moves us personally and ACTING!

Inspiring… for sure. put a smile on my face this morning… for sure.

Check out this article by clicking on the link below:

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/08/us/08aging.html?ref=todayspaper

this being very impressive, also… keep in mind that if you are not quite up for climbing Mt. Everest, there is plenty of simple stuff you can do to stay active and fit. Not quite as demanding or exotic but still quite impressive in its own way: a regular discipline of almost daily exercise, maintaining a healthy diet, active socialization, and of course, continuous novel learning opportunities for brain health. and sometimes,  simple is best. we make things more complicated and exotic than life ever has to be.