Finding meaningful activity for adults with Alzheimer’s or other types of dementia helps make the days feel productive and purposeful. It improves self-esteem and gives a sense of independence. Gardening is one such activity.

Gardening reaps many health benefits, especially for people with a memory impairment. Planting and nurturing flowers and vegetables calms the mind while boosting the spirit. Gardening also helps the senior maintain core strength and balance, both of which are key for preventing falls.

Gardens that stimulate the senses through aromatherapy can be of special interest to adults with dementia. These are known as sensory gardens.

6 Tips for Planting a Sensory Garden with an Adult Who Has Dementia

Aromatherapy has long been used in memory care communities as a tool for elevating mood, increasing appetite, improving sleep, and more. Sensory gardens can offer similar benefits. The smell of roses and peonies can be a reminder of pleasant times. Many find the texture of herbs like rosemary or lavender soothing to touch.

Sensory experiences like these can trigger memory centers in the brain. It may help the senior reconnect with memories the disease has stolen. If you aren’t sure how to start a sensory garden, this step-by-step outline can be useful:

1. Find a space: A sensory garden doesn’t have to be very large. You can even set one up in containers on a porch or patio. Just make sure the spot you choose is secure and accessible for your senior loved one. A location with neighborhood distractions might encourage wandering, so keep that in mind.
2. Monitor light: Watch the area you’ve designated for your garden to see how much and what type of light it receives in a typical day. Is it in direct sunlight? Or is it more on the shady side? This will determine what types of flowers and vegetables will thrive in your sensory garden.
3. Choose plants: Once you know how much shade or sun your garden will receive, you can start choosing what goes there. You and your senior loved one can search online to find fragrant flowers and herbs or enticing vegetables. Once you have a list, make sure each plant isn’t toxic if ingested.
4. Invest in good soil: Inexperienced gardeners may underestimate the role soil plays in a thriving sensory garden. A garden center is usually the best place for advice on local soil conditions. Call one near you to find out what you need. If your sensory garden will be planted in the ground versus in containers, call your county extension offices to inquire about soil testing. They will ensure you are planting in good dirt or offer suggestions for amending the soil.
5. Purchase plants safely: If you are trying to avoid crowds because of coronavirus concerns, find a local greenhouse or garden center that offers curbside pickup. You may also be able to have the plants shipped directly to your doorstep from an online nursery.
6. Read plant markers: A marker with directions is typically included with each plant. Make sure you save and follow the directions for each type of plant. It can help you and the senior determine how often to water and fertilize.

Depending upon the climate you live in, a sensory garden can encourage more quality time with your older loved one.

Memory Care at Five Star Senior Living

Gardening is just one of many activities you’ll find at Five Star Senior Living communities across the country. If you are searching for memory care for a senior in your life, we invite you to consider Five Star. Call (853) 457-8271 today to learn more!

It’s common for people unfamiliar with dementia to use the terms Alzheimer’s and dementia interchangeably. Alzheimer’s is actually one type of dementia. While Alzheimer’s is most common, accounting for between 60 and 80 percent of all cases, there are others. One is Lewy body dementia (LBD).

What Is Lewy Body Dementia?

Lewy body dementia is an umbrella term that encompasses Parkinson’s dementia and dementia with Lewy bodies. It is named for neurologist Dr. Friedrich Lewy, who discovered LBD while researching Parkinson’s.

According to the Lewy Body Dementia Association, nearly 1.4 million people in this country live with LBD. Until the death of popular comedian and actor Robin Williams, few people had heard of it. Williams’s death by suicide was linked to depression attributed to LBD.

Lewy body dementia is a progressive brain disorder which causes abnormal protein deposits to accumulate in the brain. Over time, these deposits damage the areas of the brain that govern thought, movement, behavior, memory, and sleep. It also impairs basic bodily functions, including bowel and bladder control.

9 Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

Because this type of dementia isn’t as prevalent, people experiencing it may be misdiagnosed. Symptoms may be attributed to stress or aging. The most common signs of LBD often include:

1. Tremors
2. Memory problems
3. Delusions or hallucinations
4. Insomnia or other sleep disturbances
5. Difficulty with abstract thought
6. Fatigue or sluggishness
7. Decreased attention span
8. Muscle rigidity
9. Loss of coordination

Unfortunately, there currently isn’t a cure for Lewy body dementia. Physicians work with other health care professionals to create a care plan for their patients to help manage the difficult symptoms of LBD. Here are a few ways they do that.

3 Ways to Manage the Symptoms of Lewy Body Dementia

1. Utilize therapies: A care plan that incorporates a variety of therapies is important. Combining physical, occupational, and speech therapy may help patients navigate mobility impairments, diminished verbal skills, and other physical deficits caused by LBD.
2. Try pharmacological interventions: If an adult with LBD is suffering from delusions or hallucinations, their quality of life and their caregivers suffer. A physician can prescribe pharmacological solutions that may keep these difficult symptoms under control.
3. Consult a sleep specialist: Sleep issues are another common symptom that can prove difficult for a person with LBD and their family caregiver. This is where the assistance of a sleep specialist can be beneficial. Among other interventions, they can order sleep testing. This aids in developing a treatment plan that may allow the patient to enjoy a good night’s sleep.

Memory Care Communities Improve Quality of Life

As is true for many types of dementia, managing the care of a loved one with LBD at home can be challenging. If you are a family caregiver struggling to provide quality care to a family member with LBD, a memory care community might be an ideal solution. Memory care can improve the quality of life for both the person living with LBD and their caregiver.

With communities in more than 30 states, Five Star Senior Living is a leader in dementia care. Call the community nearest you to learn more today!

The very nature of Alzheimer’s disease often causes stress and anxiety. When faces or places don’t look familiar, it can be frightening and isolating. It’s a difficult situation for seniors and their friends and family.

The unpredictability of Alzheimer’s and other types of dementia also makes it a difficult disease for family caregivers to navigate. A senior loved one with Alzheimer’s may start the day feeling happy and positive. As the day turns to night, sundowning syndrome may cause agitation and even anger.

Dementia experts say keeping older adults engaged in meaningful activity may be the secret to calming anxiety and restlessness. However, it can be difficult to find activities that allow older adults to feel successful while considering memory impairment and coordination or mobility difficulties.

This is why the idea of using virtual reality in dementia care is gaining in popularity.

What Is Virtual Reality?                                                                   

If you aren’t familiar with virtual reality (VR), it is a broad term that encompasses everything from three-dimensional games teenagers play online to programs used to train professionals, such as police officers and airline pilots.

VR participants wear a headset and goggles that work together to simulate a situation or environment. For example, the police might set up a scenario where an officer is responding to a terrorist threat. VR can aid in training them how to respond to the situation.

Many researchers believe virtual reality can help caregivers conquer a common challenge: helping people with dementia engage with their environment and feel joyful.

VR and Dementia Care

Memory impairment, especially short-term memory loss, is common among adults with many forms of dementia. It makes it difficult to maintain a conversation, play games, or even enjoy a movie.

While short-term memory may be gone, long-term memory might remain. That’s where VR can help. Virtual reality can allow a senior to be transported to a time in life that looks and sounds familiar.

One program, The Wayback, is connecting people with dementia to virtual reality. For co-founder Dan Cole, The Wayback’s mission is personal. Dan’s father had Alzheimer’s. He watched helplessly as the disease robbed his father’s memory and communication skills. Dan’s goal was to make it easy for families to use familiar photos and props from a senior’s past to create short virtual reality experiences.

Another virtual reality platform for families of seniors with dementia to explore is Rendever. Their custom reminiscence tools allow an older adult to virtually revisit cherished times and favorite destinations, such as their childhood home or their wedding. It can also be used to help the person check items off their bucket list. If a senior never made it to the Grand Canyon or the Eiffel Tower, you can use Rendever to help them get there.

Visit the Physician through Virtual Reality

If you’ve ever struggled to take a loved one with Alzheimer’s or another type of dementia to a doctor’s appointment, you’ll appreciate the idea of using VR to take the place of an in-person visit. Instead of requiring an already-overwhelmed caregiver to interrupt the senior’s day to bring them to the doctor, VR brings the office to them.

It is more than just a simple Skype call. Virtual physician appointments utilize tools like a digital stethoscope to listen to a patient’s heart or a digital otoscope to check their ears.

Memory Care at Five Star Senior Living

At Five Star Senior Living communities, we take an innovative approach to memory care. Our goal is to use old and new practices to allow seniors with dementia to live their best, most independent lives.

You can learn more by scheduling a personal tour. Contact the Five Star community nearest you or call (853) 457-8271 to set up a time!

People who have Alzheimer’s often lose an unhealthy amount of weight as the disease progresses. Research shows up to 40 percent of people with advanced Alzheimer’s lose too much weight. Learning more about what causes this type of weight loss and how to work around those issues is essential for family caregivers.

From vision changes that make it difficult to distinguish food on the plate to loss of dexterity, which impedes hand-eye coordination, here’s what you should know to help your loved one.

Causes of Weight Loss in People with Alzheimer’s Disease

A leading reason for weight loss is impaired manual dexterity. This causes difficulty manipulating silverware. It can cause the senior to become frustrated and give up.

Vision changes are another cause. Issues with depth perception and the ability to see color make it difficult to see food on a plate. While chicken tenders are easy for people with Alzheimer’s to eat, they can disappear on a plate of the same color.

Other challenges that lead to weight loss in adults with Alzheimer’s disease include:

• Loss of appetite or change in taste buds that makes food unappealing
• Difficulty swallowing or frequent choking episodes
• Improperly fitting dentures that make it hard to chew

Lastly, the dining environment can also affect mealtime for adults with memory impairment. Noise can be especially problematic. It can make it tough for someone with Alzheimer’s to concentrate on eating. A busy or cluttered dining room can also increase anxiety and agitation. Both can result in pacing and wandering instead of eating.

Steps to Good Nutrition for Adults with Alzheimer’s

Here are a few ways you can encourage healthy nutrition in a senior loved one who has Alzheimer’s disease:

1. Dining room: An orderly dining room free from noise and distractions can encourage the senior to eat. Remove everything from the tabletop except necessary dinnerware. If your loved one responds positively to music, play it softly in the background.
2. Finger foods: Serving finger foods, those that don’t require utensils, can promote nutrition while requiring less hand-eye coordination. A few to consider are chicken nuggets, fruit smoothies, sandwich wraps, fresh vegetables, and chicken quesadillas.
3. Place settings: Use plates and placemats in contrasting colors. Colorful plates and dishes make food easier to distinguish. Red has been particularly useful in encouraging appetite. The Red Plate Study at Boston University showed people with Alzheimer’s ate 25 percent more food if it was served on red dinnerware.
4. Adaptive serving ware: If your loved one is having difficulty manipulating silverware, talk to their primary care physician or an occupational therapist about adaptive options. Plate guards and food bumpers are two devices that make it easier to pick food up off the plate.
5. Flavorful seasonings: Since taste buds may be impaired by Alzheimer’s, adding flavorful seasonings and herbs may stimulate appetite. It may also help to add more seasoning than you typically would to enhance the taste.
6. Dental checkups: If you haven’t taken your family elder to see the dentist in a while, an appointment may help. There may be an undetected tooth problem or their dentures may not fit due to weight loss. The dentist might be able to detect a problem that makes chewing painful.

Finally, be flexible. If your loved one feels best during the morning, serve a hearty breakfast. Or if your family member has difficulty sitting very long, serve small, frequent meals and snacks throughout the day instead of several large ones.

Memory Care at Five Star Senior Living

In our memory care neighborhoods, residents benefit from specialized dining. It helps them maintain a healthy weight. The best way to learn more is to visit a Five Star Senior Living community in person. Call (853) 457-8271 to schedule a time!

Dementia impacts the lives of an estimated 50 million people worldwide, according to the World Health Organization. Another 10 million new cases are diagnosed each year. Of those living with dementia, nearly 80% have Alzheimer’s disease. It’s by far the most common form.

In the United States alone, 5.8 million people have Alzheimer’s. As baby boomers continue to grow older, researchers believe this number will climb significantly. It’s important for adult children to be aware of signs a parent may be struggling with memory impairment. While many symptoms associated with mid- and late-stage Alzheimer’s are clearly noticeable, others aren’t.

Less Common Symptoms of Alzheimer’s in a Senior

Most people think of memory problems or even a senior getting lost while driving when asked about the signs of Alzheimer’s. While those are classic symptoms, they aren’t the only ones.

Some symptoms of Alzheimer’s are easy to overlook or mistake as something else, including:

1. Change in disposition: If a senior loved one has undergone a marked change in disposition, discuss it with their physician. For example, if your father has always been friendly and kind but is becoming short-tempered or suspicious, there might be something wrong. While he may just be going through a difficult time, it can also be an early sign of Alzheimer’s.
2. Financial mismanagement: Another easily overlooked red flag is an older adult making mistakes with finances. Because seniors are often the target of telemarketing or other scams, family members don’t realize something is wrong. They just think their loved one was the victim of a con. Other financial warning signs include making purchases they can’t afford or loaning large sums of money to people they don’t know well. A senior with dementia may neglect to pay some bills, while paying others multiple times.
3. Withdrawal from social activities: If an older adult is beginning to recognize something is wrong, they may be afraid to admit it. It often results in self-isolation. Seniors may drop out of volunteer projects, social clubs, and even skip religious services. They are often embarrassed when they can’t hold up their end of a conversation or remember people’s names.
4. Difficulty writing: Verbal skills aren’t the only communication difficulties a person with Alzheimer’s or another form of dementia may develop. For some, an early warning sign is trouble writing a letter, a grocery list, or even a check. It is often linked to short-term memory problems common early in the disease.
5. Loss of interest: A senior with Alzheimer’s or dementia may appear less empathetic and more apathetic than they previously were. This personality change is caused by both physical and emotional challenges of the disease, not by a change in the senior’s feelings about loved ones.

Protecting a Senior with Dementia

As one of the nation’s largest providers of memory care services for adults with dementia, we understand the struggles family members face. One is protecting their loved one’s pride and self-esteem as the disease progresses. You can learn more about this by visiting “Helping a Senior with Alzheimer’s Maintain Dignity.”

For questions about memory care or to schedule a tour of a community near you, please contact us!

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