Mental health
Looking for ideas for brain stimulation? Caring for parents with advancing dementia? We share tips and advice on mental health
Can we help those with dementia to sleep through the night?
Many carers report that their relatives living with dementia struggle to sleep through the night. Sleeplessness is a problem many of us face, whether we’re carers, cared-for, or just living our normal lives. It’s a particular problem for those with dementia because of worries over their safety, especially if they live alone. If they get […]
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What are the best options for individuals with dementia?
Collaborative Post If you have an elderly relative who is suffering from dementia, you will know that trying to figure out what is best for them can be very hard. Dementia affects around 850,000 people in the UK alone, and can put pressure not just on the individual but on their surrounding family and community. […]
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Can social prescribing help with mild dementia and cognitive impairment?
Social prescribing has been much in the news over the last year, but many of us have a fuzzy idea of what it is and whether it can be useful. The idea is that a health professional, such as a GP or other primary health workers, can prescribe activities such as exercise or joining an […]
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Can we avoid Alzheimer’s?
Not so many years ago Alzheimer’s disease was a mystery to many. It wasn’t easily identified, and for many of us, its implications weren’t widely understood. When it struck members of our family, we didn’t know how to cope. And we certainly didn’t know how it had happened. Much has changed in recent years. There […]
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Mental capacity and Covid-19
There have been some changes to the way that people lacking mental capacity are cared for during the Covid-19 pandemic. The UK Government has published guidance on the key points of the Mental Capacity Act (2005) and deprivation of liberty safeguards (DoLS) in England and Wales, and what has changed temporarily. The changes centre around […]
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Will Brexit affect the supply of medicines and medical devices?
As we enter our middle years, many of us are starting to build a collection of daily medications to address issues such as blood pressure, mood and aching joints. Our older relatives are quite likely to be taking even more medication and need more medical devices to achieve the best possible quality of life. While […]
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Are our elders suffering with secret anxiety?
Collaborative Post Sometimes it seems like anxiety is a young person’s game. We constantly hear of the terrible toll living in a constantly connected, always on digital world causes, of the uncertainty that younger generations face in their homes and careers, and about their body image crises and financial stresses. The older generation are much […]
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5 tips for creating a dementia-friendly garden
Nicky Roeber is the Online Horticultural Expert at Wyevale Garden Centres. Here, he shares his top tips for creating a garden in which someone living with dementia can feel safe and happy. There are currently more than 850,000 people with dementia in the UK, and that number is expected to rise above one million by […]
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Official advice on reducing the risk of dementia
There isn’t a cure for dementia, yet. But the World Health Organisation (WHO) has drawn up guidelines to help us reduce our risk of dementia. Focusing on those who are not showing any or little sign of congnitive decline, the organisation has taken a look at the evidence of what may or may not help. […]
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Can we delay the symptoms of dementia?
When They Get Older reader Roger Burgess has been looking at some suggestions around the causes of, and possible ways of delaying, the symptoms of dementia. Here are some of the ideas he has discovered. Roger is at pains to emphasise that he is not a physician or academic – but he has been affected […]
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