Nursing homes simply were not ready - Are we prepared to make them better?

Last week the Chicago Tribune reported 286 at nursing homes estimating 25% of our deaths in Illinois at the time. In the general population today it is an estimated 200,000 people worldwide. Considering our interventions out of 8 or 9 billion people those numbers are low compared to what it could've been.

 In the city of Joliet where I live, Symphony had 84 cases, and 24 deaths reported to lead the state. The caregivers at Symphony stated that they had the highest rate of testing in the state. They claim every nursing home needs testing to see what is going on. 

 The New York Times reported from the article 6,900 COVID 19 deaths were tied to nursing homes nationwide. About 20% of all the COVID 19 deaths reported. The State of Illinois has about 23% of those who died of COVID 19. The variance of numbers could be related to the testing done in the state compared to the national average. but a ballpark figure is relatively the same throughout the states. Any state with a higher population is going to have greater numbers. 

 Nursing homes provide a service in our country but they exist to be the lowest cost possible. The cost to the people in the nursing home usually dries up their life savings. If they live longer then projected their resources are less. Caregivers they use don't match the qualifications found in hospitals. Training and in-services do not match the same levels as hospitals. What are our expectations? We have the neediest with fewer resources. What did we expect as an outcome? I know our hospitals weren't ready and I know our nursing homes came into the virus war already stressed, overworked, and undertrained. 

 A reality check as we age our ability to fight diseases lessen. For many people who are older and healthy, 80-90’s it is the flu or other viruses that lead to pneumonia and death. A new virus-like COVID 19 which is a very contagious will, hit heavily in elderly care. 

What can we do?

• All of our retirement plans must invest in nursing home care. 
• We have to encourage qualifications with an incentive for education. I always knew to improve job performance as para pros in education, (they are good people) but to improve work there have to be incentives for education and qualifications. Many para pros in healthcare are there as aids. They are needed, but they need to be educated in qualified as professionals in their work. Nursing homes depend a lot on LPN’s. Their training is about a year unless it's been updated. But they need incentives for education for example level one two and three. Each with training to go with it. Their license may require education units to stay licensed. But these incentives have to be matched with pay. Not a lot of people are going to do this for nothing.
• Maybe it is time for nursing homes to employ physician assistants.
• Nursing homes can develop a mobile virtual assessment cart. Here the Dr. can see the patient and have the necessary vital signs the doctors looking for to help evaluate care. Working with the doctor's assistants, RNs, and staff. Puts the elderly patient in quarantine or even regularly in better contact with the physician. 
• We have on a personal level to expect as we get older will have more health issues. We are not all going to be working on a beach in the Caribbean. 
• I think about veterans in VA homes, many older people in nursing homes are lonely and forgotten. In what I hope is a historical event, not a regular one, we need to prepare virtual visits that we give regularly to the ones we love. Life isn't perfect but there's a lot of things we can do.

Sharing new ideas to help strength and weightless as we age.

I came across an article from the Cooperized newsletter related to strength training as we age. It is to our advantage to learn to use resistance training as we age. I have read many studies that show we can slow the rate of muscle loss or even add muscle well into our 90's. We are not all at the same level of health and with our doctor, we can design a fitness program tailored to our needs and health.
There are a variety of tools out there and gyms to use at home or the gym fit for seniors.
Combining walking, biking, running, swimming, gardening, housework there are ways to boost our war to 150 minutes of active movement we need as we age.
In the Article, Lean In and Tone Up Patrick Fisher Cooper Fitness Center Professional Trainer shares the benefits of building lean muscle and practical ways to develop a routine. Because most of us are on some calorie reduction diet we are not taking in the time or calorie intake of muscle builders to bulk up.

60 and after he recommends 45% of our fitness is
strength training. This helps muscle loss and bone
density.

In the article, he talks about changing reps from 12 to 20 or 30 reps which will keep the body challenged to develop muscle definition. 12 reps more weight, 20 to 30 less weight. Several weeks for each one.
Dr. Ken Cooper shares a chart on how the % of cardio and strength training changes as we age. The older we get the more strength training we need.
In practical terms, this helps our heart, brain, and ability to keep us independent able to do what we need to do. Muscle is one way to increase our metabolic rate. Losing muscle makes it harder to lose weight. Keep walking

https://cooperaerobics.com/Health-Tips/Fitness-Files/Lean-in-and-Tone-Up.aspx

Building strength and muscle can be part of healthy aging

Looking at related articles from the NYT and LA Times I started with an article from Gretchen Reynolds March 20, 2019 “Why lifting Weights Can be So Potent for Aging Well”.

One thing I like about the Times is the practice of linking you to their sources which will be other articles or medical research and studies. This part of the reading is less sensational and more informational. Here you can see the strengths and weaknesses of the studies. What seems to be verified and what are the questions and concerns to be looked into more. 

Some highlights

• only 17% of seniors actually do resistant training.
• The study was done of 81 healthy seniors between the ages of 65-75
• for three months they all did and twice a week, the next 3 months still supervised once or twice a week they continued, workout at a gym paid for by the study - all improved their strength.
• Then supervision stopped and they were on their own (Would they continue?) It was predicted 30% would continue. 46% of the participants continues working out. (This stat was given in the study itself, Reynolds estimated around 50% in her article) Some of them just once a week. All of them continued to improve strength. 
• One reason was presented as a factor in them continuing, they felt confident at the gym. 

This is a small study and it deals with healthy aging. The study confirms earlier studies that we can build muscle in our old age. We can improve our strength. This translates into confidence which will improve our chances to continue.

Expect a slower rate of growth of muscle mass due to age. Grab onto we can still gain strength. Developing a fitness strategy in retirement ages to our interest in life, promotes a healthy brain and can lead to motivation to live better.

Gym workouts, weights, bands, TRX, cans and containers from the pantry, body workouts can lead to stronger bodies. 

A stronger body can continue to live more independently and help gives us more days worth living. 

Yes, I know we can improve our spiritual, mental, social lives as well, but I believe those goals are enhanced by good fitness routines we can develop. Tomorrow I will share some things that can help us if we are not so healthy. Keep walking.

Exercise is good medicine

Is exercise medicine?

Reviewing studies and health articles my perspective of being 67 this April the short answer is yes. Is it the only medicine? I would say no. Ask your doctor and see if he or she agrees with me.

Exercise has been known to help every part of the body. In short we were created to move. 

Some of the surprises I have learned: 

• 30 minutes of walking helps the brain health more than doing brain games. Brain games and new learning is very good for brains at any age. Healthy brains make new cells and rewire new learning throughout life.
• We can grow new muscle into our 90’s and I have known healthy centenarians to add muscle for increased sport and function performance. If we don’t work at it our muscle mass will decline as we age. I knew exercise slows muscle loss, but several studies has shown seniors can gain muscle mass to help maintain independence. 
• Based on my rehab experiences health can be restored
• My recumbent indoor bike has given me hope and health. I encourage every senior to get one. They are easy to maintain, easy to get on, safe and you are in control to follow doctor’s recommendations.

Recently I experienced my cerebral palsy made me tighter than a board. I never

see how easy it is to step through

experienced the extreme tightness in my upper body. I got on my bike at the easiest level and biked for 20 minutes then stretched. Felt better that night and the next day. Music, sports, audio books, indoor bike workouts - virtual or spin classes can help keep the biking interesting. Experiencing the benefits also helps. 

Lifestyle changes including exercise is not the only medicine. That would be a myth and propaganda. Many good people doing the right things will get sick and have terminal diseases. 

Medicine gives us many options with our health concerns and as we age it would be foolish not to take advantage of a medical team to capture as many good days as the Lord gives us. The myth would be that medicine cures all our health misfortune. No before it is all said and done we will have to cope with many conditions for the rest of our lives. 

Finding ways to exercise will help our senior years and help us to get the most out of the time we have left. Keep walking

Revisiting the blue world - support mental health

Over the weekend visited a friend who was interested in the details on my experience I'm choosing to going to a mental hospital and resulting care. For several years my depression and anxiety has been in remission. I could describe what I went through from memory; but I know you are think that way. The blue of depression has long been lifted. Particularly my all too frequent panic attacks I no longer feel.
I in particular read some of the journals from that time period and found them painful to reread. I was glad to put them down. My overall memory of the hospital and later day care treatment was positive. Learning and practicing the therapy immediately brought relief. I would fine-tune my therapy in the years ahead and practice specific techniques that were very helpful when I was sick with the flu or reading the signs of stress early enough to defuse this negative energy.
The medicine I take prevents rumination and allows my brain cells to pass on information. There are Remission is different then healing. Occasionally I feel stress and have to engage a meaningful therapy from my bag of tricks. Once in a blue moon Barb gives me cues that help.  Depression can come back, as insomnia can also. In some form so can panic attacks. But today in these last few years I am not experiencing these things. It is a little harder to recall them and that's good.

Picture of painful thinking

other skills I practice that help sleep. Living your life in a blue world or under the black dog it is completely different when you're illness is in  remission.
We still do not live in a time where we except mental-health and mental illness. Mental illness is more likely to be linked with criminal behavior and weakness we fear and cannot accept.
The majority of people with the mental illness issue are not criminal. Treatment should be accepted without proof a danger to self or others. We should expect like every part of our body problems particularly as we age. Cost for medical care is too high so we have to find ways to make healthcare affordable and here on-topic mental health.
Consider:
At age 63, 25% of us can be described as clinically depressed
CDC reports 20% of people over 55 have some sort of mental illness
WHO reports 15 % 60 or older

Reminder to have compassion on
our political leaders

At 85, 50% of us have dementia. Just recently Justice O'Conner shared her diagnosis
As we age our problems continue. You can see different numbers, but factor in the reality of loneliness in old age and I think the real numbers are higher. I believe we cope with less than perfect health mentally far more than we should.
Most insurances do not cover mental health. With Medicare I had to drop my therapist, I was close to ending therapy anyway. We should not lose rights automatically for entering mental health care voluntarily.
I was very fortunate Barb was a rock during the dark days. It is probably true I be hard to put up with on a good day, let alone a bad day. (For the record I know that is not a true statement, it just sounded funny) Keep walking

More strength training this week - Variety can be the spice of life

He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. Ps. 18

Continued success through week six. 110 minutes this week were aerobic with a circuit training that included strength moves. Strength training I did 48 minutes. Short walks were less, but more fitness was done instead. On one day I did a mile walk at 4 and 3 minute segments. 
Biking remains my #1 aorobic activity. I did a few minutes each biking at a higher intensity level than before. Level 1 warm up and cool down, level 2 my control level, level 3 my intensity push and this week I did a few minutes at level 4 in two bike workouts.
Circuit training is real easy to design. You can choose weights, resistant bands, TRX, body exercises, cans and bottles and mix in 1-3 minutes of walking, biking, running. You can do this on your walks by bringing a resistant band with you. With a park bench or picnic table you have a gym. Below is a military circuit training I did using bands, TRX, and body exercises for a 20 minute workout. 
After my 4 set workout using blue and black tubes (heavy) I needed a day off. Using strength, aerobic, walking activities I was able to reach 172 minutes and still counting. 
Three things I want to leave you with is I am still at it👍 and there are a lot ways to get there which includes things like gardening, bird watching, going for walks, swimming, games, you get the idea. This week I improved my strength training and I used a few new ideas. 💬 Keep walking

Reporting for duty sir

In a health blog such was mine, I am grateful to be reporting progress in lifestyle gains. For you as a reader it has to be somewhat on the boring side, and I get it. We do want to move on to things.  But on the other hand I disclose my battles because I think they are quite common to all of us as we age. My motivation really is share what I find is working for me and it is really a work in progress.
What I have experienced is aging really can slow you down. All my years falling has come back to bite me, but giving into it isn't the answer. So with that in mind, how am I progressing this week?
I will share two stickies I keep on my computer to track a few things.

One thing I want to do is 150 min. of exercise that improves my aerobic capacity, strength and flexibility. Another thing I want to do is to keep walking in a way where I do not fall and improve my balance as well. With cerebral palsy I can lose the ability to balance like many people do in there 70's and 80's. Balance can improve but with an impairment the progress can be a bit slower. As you get older you may find balance issues you never had before. Take heart you can recover balance with a little know how and practice.
This week on my bike I did more intense workouts for aerobics. I applied an virtual walk walking an Hawaiian coast with the wonderful sound of the ocean and scene on my TV screen.  I also played an audio mystery and the time flew. Hearing the ocean was cool.
Every day I took short walks and a couple household shores. Granted the walks were only 80 to 100 feet, but I took them anyway. Included in thee walks was stair climbing. I also had brief workouts in home walking with moves side to side and backwards, kicking and high knee lifts. The movement include upper body movements all designed to move everything and balance. There was strength moves as well with TRX, body exercises, bands and weights. Well, I made my 150 minutes and then some and I can see the more I put into the easier it is.

A side benefit is less pain. Right now I can walk for 4 minutes rather than 2 or 3 before pain hits and my knees feel better. Biking with the support from the recumbent bike is pain free. Breathing is better and balance. It is still ongoing.
Don't get hung up about what you can do and not. You can break up the fitness any way it works for you. I am a big fan of a recumbent bike, they are easy to step into and the resistance is easy to more challenging resistance. TV, music, audiobooks, ambient sounds help the time on the bike. In outdoor biking has its own enjoyments. Assisted mother with bike actually is fun. Keep walking.

Include weight training in your fitness goals.

While my weekly goal of 150 minutes is ongoing, I have already reached it with a day and a half to go. Included this week, were minutes dedicated to strength training using body exercises, exercise bands, dumbbell exercises, and TRX training. None of these programs are new to me, but they count in a senior fitness program.
In an article, May 9, 2018, from AARP Why it gets harder to drop pounds after certain age, list two reasons to lose weight; loss of muscle and decreased activity. Caroline Aprovian MD sites we lose 5 to 10% of your muscle mass each decade after the age of 50. She recommends a diet in which 30% is protein and at least two days a week a weight lifting. One study, reported 3 pounds of muscle gain after 10 weeks.
Another article dated May 16, 2018 Get Moving! A Fitness Plan for Dropping Pounds gives practical advise on getting started and recovery.
There are many types of exercises of light resistance that add muscle to our body. Swimming and
water resistance, light exercise bands, all can help. Taking weight training to another level when we are increasing the weights and reps as you improve. Overall I think this is a good idea, but each of us have our own goals to consider. Being in touch with yourself and your doctor is always the first step in starting an exercise program. Being 50 years old or 80 years old are two different realities.
As we get older we do not process food as well as we did when we are younger. When we exercise we do not get the same rate of return that we didn't we were younger. For example the benefits of exercise may only increase 5% to 10% when we are older, but the important thing is there can still be a positive return as we age. There have been 90-year-olds who through the effort of weight training have been able to put on 2 or 3 pounds of muscle. Not only did they stop the decline of muscle loss but they actually added it to it.
If you are on the younger side of 50 it is a great time in your life to add on muscle. I like to think of it as saving for a rainy day. Having muscle to lose is a good thing.
There is flexibility in 150 minutes a week. There are days where not much is done. I have been at this awhile and I know there are set backs. I hope at least to be encouraging as that point. As long as we draw breathe we can get up again and bugger on. The week allows one to get back on tract. Having many ways to exercise has a way of adding up. Am I improving? I think so, but the return is not as fast as when I was younger. Being at it 4 weeks is cool. Keep walking
Ps.
Harvard Medicine reported on a study in April 2018 Jama Internal Medicine, extra protein does not add muscle in older men average Age 73. Looking the exercises done in the study may be a reason why. Training may have to be more vigorous. Protein drinks may not be as able as real protein from natural food?  Aging a muscle loss is the norm. Most believe life style changes can slow the process down. Finding strategies that actually add muscle is a new thing. It does take some doing.

Improving fitness

This is what I did aerobically this
week. Goal will be to increase
aerobic walking.

Guidelines for adults our goal is to strive for 30 minutes a day of exercise. Walking, running, swimming, biking all good ways to get us moving. The guideline of 150 minutes a week is reached with 5 days of walking. The benefits of exercise this way are one of the best ways we dealt with the stuff that means us harm. Exercise helps, the heart, the brain, the immune system, weight control, balance, blood sugar, memory. What ever is part of our aging story.
Guidelines are goals which may mean we are starting somewhere below those goals and hope to build ourselves up to reaching those goals. There are many reasons why we find ourselves unable to reach them. It is also possible we may have to change how we exercise, from running to walking, from swimming to water aerobics, from walking to biking, from biking on a two wheeler to a trike. There may be other changes as well.
Your goals may have to be defined between you and your doctor. Shorter walks in your 80's and 90's have been reported to be of tremendous value. When I started this blog I worked with the foundation of aerobic, strength, and flexibility. In aging balance becomes part of fitness equation.
The more time I am up and moving the better my balance is.
So here is the biggest thing of all - do it! Keep walking

Facing up to the 10th cause of death in aging men

In walking with the fat man, we face probably four major issues as we age. Cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes and dementia are the culprits who prevent us from a healthy aging. If we are able to age healthy we face normal aging process where we just wear out, overcome due to pneumonia for example. But there is more…

According to an article that I read from Todays Geriatric Medicine March April 2018, p. 23-27 How Physicians Can Help Prevent Elders Suicide, the 10th cause of death among elderly man is suicide. 

Why as we age is suicide a factor? You may have come across the phrase, “Getting old is not for sissies.” For men loss of spouses, increasingly becoming disabled, chronic pain and illnesses, early onset of dementia, in particular terminal conditions set the stage for depression and suicide. 

Only 5% of people who are depressed will commit suicide in their lifetime. But men who reached the age of 85 are more open to the idea of suicide believing that their situation is hopeless. Finding hope in terminal conditions may be the hardest thing that we have to do. The article shares insights in how the doctor can intervene and I think the ideas are well worth reading.

Depressed thinking with people who reached the age of 85 is I think reasonable to assume that there many reasons to be depressed. Pain and suffering from chronic terminal diseases can take a toll on our mental health. Losses all prepare us for the biggest loss in life, our own. We all have a lot in common with those who are suffering with depression as they age. Eventually in our life there are problems that we cannot solve. There may be strategies to help us cope better, but sometimes we face an outcome that we cannot overcome.

I am not endorsing suicide, but I understand it. One of the things that comes into play as we age we may lose cognitive ability to make good decisions. Becoming disabled is very stressful. In many types of dementia there is actual loss in brain matter relating to decision-making and other cognitive skills. There are many types of medicine that can fog our brain. 

I would like to mention two things to consider:

• Because at 63, 25% of us could be clinically depressed. At the age of 85, 50% of us are suffering from some type of dementia. Dementia directly affects how we think and evaluate things. If we see signs of the negative change and you're more likely to see it in a family setting then in a doctors office, we should be part of the intervention. Does the elderly man have a gun? Is it time to confiscate the gun especially in cases of dementia or in periods of depression? The loss of the gun should be determined by the condition the elderly man faces. Will he recover from depression? Is there in the dementia now going to be part of a permanent condition? Is the treatment for some other disease clouding up his use of the brain? It is reasonable to me that we respond to safety of the elderly man and his family.
• At a time on a person may need mental care the most it is actually harder to get professional help. Medical coverage is not available. There are two sides to the coin in my opinion. One his medical care is too expensive to begin with. I'm sorry but I believe greed enters into the equation. On the other hand, we make it too difficult for people to get mental health care in the first place. The criteria of harm to self or others is to narrow. If we treat the heart because we discover the many things go wrong, why haven't we taken the same approach with our brain? The brain is the most complicated organ in our body. Isn't it strange that we should not assume that things may go wrong as we know with our heart. Our brain only faces greater challenges as we age, and yet we ignore this and don't improve how we treat this stuff. 

Vital connection

We need to stay connected. Many of the elderly are isolated, alone dealing with serious medical problems and loss of loved ones. This problem is only going to get worse. Our children and grandchildren live in a lost world isolated on their devices. They are too preoccupied to play one of the biggest rolls in their lives. They don't have time to learn to love and care for their grandparents or parents. You can't call them because they only respond to a text. Maybe? But they're actually building isolated walls for themselves. This aging stuff will fall harder on them. 

I will follow up this post with ideas that are more positive. I think it's a good idea to read about the issues as we age. I'm one hand we can't dwell on them, but on the other hand we need to be informed with the things that we are facing. Living better with whatever we face is one of our goals. Keep walking

OK I am 65, how do I make spin classes work for me?

I have moved one more notch down the BIM scale and into another level to be reached. One bowling ball lighter, I can get my mind around 6 to 7 lbs. at a time. 

Spin cycling using an indoor recumbent bike.

Similar to using Leslie Sansone indoor walking one uses the cadence of this music to keep pace. The same is true in indoor biking. Try to follow the beat of the music. 

The workouts that I have experience from YouTube I have to make adjustments from my recumbent bike which differs from the upright bikes for spin classes. My next recumbent bike will I have an RPM measurement. Cycle routines measure effort by RPMs and resistance. 

Ah adjustments

One thing is clear the bikers in the spin classes and young and fit. So what ever they are doing it was clear to me that I would not keep up. The fact is I shouldn’t. Their bikes have ten levels and my has 8 levels. 

They are able to bike 8, 9, 10 and I am able to bike up to 5 levels. I really haven’t tried level 6, 7 and 8 yet. So when they are at level 8-10 I counter with levels 4 and 5 on my bike. When they are at 4-7 I am at level 2, 3. When they are at levels 1-3 I am at levels 1, 2. 

These bikers are fit and are trying
to push their heart rates faster than
we should. So we adapt.

Two things change my biking to gear down is breathing and heart rate. If my heart rate goes close to the high end of my targeted heart rate I gear down and my heart rate moves to an aerobic safe zone for me. I want to take deep breathes but I don’t want to be out of breathe. My goals at 65 are different then their goals as younger adults.

In senior fitness we have to push within our limits and not the limits of a twenty something. I want to improve my aerobic capacity by 12%, not to enter the olympics. As I improve I can adjust my goal. Maybe I can be as fit as a fit person in their fifties. Right now I am trying to be fit for my age in the 60’s, I got a way to go. 

Cycling fitnesses using interval training where you have a base line that is aerobic in pace with brief periods of higher intensity of resistance (higher levels of adjustments on the bike). 

How do you make it work for you? 

It always starts with a visit to your doctor. You want to start at where you are now. For your age and weight what heart rate can you have at your highest level of intensity. You do not want to bike into a heart attack or stroke. 

Your number will be different from mine. If you are starting out from sedimentary or low activity your bike should be at low levels until you improve your fitness. Your doctor and physical therapist would be most helpful here. 

Your stationary bike should have a heart monitor on it. 

Where to start

There is nothing wrong with a ride at level 1. I have done it many times. (Even now when I am recovering from an illness or had a day of to much sitting easy biking at low levels really gives me a boost.) Breathing and heart rate in mind. My goal here is the mindset of a stroll on a bike. Biking at low resistance and slow steady cycling where you keep the pedals moving but taking it easy. In 10, 15, 20 minute ride you have gently moved your muscles, improved blood circulation, and taken in relaxing deep breathing. Peddling you are steady but you adjust as your heart monitor tells you your heart is pumping in a safe zone for you. Sometimes I visualize walking a beach hearing the sounds of the waves and gulls. A sound app may have relaxing sounds to achieve the ambiance. Listening to a book I have also done this biking. Great for the end of the day to unwind the tight muscles and prepare them for sleep. With my CP I have eased tightness and pain this way many times.

As your fitness improves

Beginning work out

Warm up level one 2 to 5 minutes

Core level 2 where you return to for most of your ride 1-3 minutes

Short intervals of 1-3 minutes at level 3. 

You can start with a 4-5 minute ride or increase to a 10, 20, 30 minutes ride by repeating the routine as fitness improves.

Where I am now This workout is now possible for me in my heart rate limits. My cadence is a little slower than my young friends in the videos. Different bike and age.

3-5 minutes at level one for warm up

3-5 minutes at level 2 part of my base level

All movement is good

3 minutes at level 3 part of my base level

1-2 minutes at level 4 or 5 for intensity. Based on my heart rate level 3 can also be part of my intensity movement

2-5 minutes cool down at level 1

My minute count is from 20 to 60 minutes in my work out.

Throughout the work I am monitoring breathing and heart rate and I go to lower levels as needed.

Following a routine from a class

If they follow a 1-10 level program you adapt your program to a 1-3, 1-4, 1-5 levels on your bike. 

Actually I believe it is OK to adapt using a 1-2 program. Level one being your warm up and controlled biking and level 2 being your resistance. If heart rate jumps to high for you, lower to level one and feel free to slow biking down to lower your heat rate. Stop at any time if you need to. Recumbent indoor bikes are great for rehab and instead of this type of work out you may need to follow your doctor's program which is better for you. You and your doctor know your body. Keep walking

Be positive, adapt, work through challenges

One of the purposes of my blog is to record my journey for better health and fitness as I age. One of the things that I've noticed my story is not one  and done and happy forever and ever. No for me it is a series of changes, some of them unexpected. 

Part of the John Lennon quote, “Life happens” challenge my possible success story. I never anticipated falling into a depression and anxiety from a long term insomnia. Walking was also helping me sleep. Lifelong stressors then adding a few more setbacks, my brain wasn't working right. Like Humpty Dumpty I wasn't able to put my life back together. 

TRX give it a try

Returning to health I was back on the walking trail, but a serious fall in the winter two years ago and walking as I had known it changed forever. (I still have issues) While I was recovering I was able to improve my resistant training with body exercises, TRX, and resistant tubes.

Walking was replaced by my indoor recumbent bike, indoor walking with Lessie Sansone with brief periods walking that I could tolerate with my backache.

Having cerebral palsy with thousands of falls has a practical outcome of joint pain from head to toe. Pain management involves help for my GP, physical therapists; but surprisingly, the most relief comes from therapeutic movement, resistance training, aerobic training. Flexibility has

It hurts but latter you
will feel better

issues all the time in the life of someone who has cerebral palsy. What I have found it is easy to have more problems; for example, putting my socks and shoes on. I suppose many seniors experience the pain is they age into their 80s and 90s. But for me right now it is extremely painful. What do I do to relieve the pain? Two or three times a day I cross my feet on my knee and rotate the foot at the ankle joint and each day the pain is less. (I have to work through the pain and I can’t let it go) This was something I never had to do it when I was younger, but pain teaches you new things.

I want the blog to be a positive experience as I share some of my successes. The fat Man exercises, adopted push-ups, sit ups, dips, squats, heel raises, walking stairs are all just about anybody can do as we age. These moves are adapted to fit you. A push-up off the stairs from lower stair to four steps up give you a push-up from hard  to easy. Using a countertop, table top or a wall give other levels of resistance. Dips can be done at a corner on counter top in the kitchen. You use your legs to vary the resistance. The Internet can showing you how to do body resistance exercises.

Today I did I hitt program enjoying the Internet cycling workout 30 minutes. The exercise

The bike I use

includes interval training of high intensity, higher resistance cycling with periods of lower intensity and resistant cycling. The cyclists in the program are all using hi end indoor bikes. Once again I adapt the program to use my indoor recumbent bike and to keep my biking in the heart range that is good for me at 65. I am not going to compete with Younger more fit people on the screen. I follow the beat of the music and keep my pace up and increase resistance in the sprint periods. 

I stayed in my heart range and following program I've biked about a mile longer then I would have if I was biking by myself. 

I really strongly recommend an indoor recumbent bike. The comfort and adaptability to bike listening to a book, watching TV, listening to music; you will find yourself biking every day. You don't have to buy the most expensive one, but by a good one. Biking is a good way to battle diabetes and for many of us get the steps we need each day to be healthier. For me it is an activity where I have no back pain.

If you go to YouTube and typing cycling workouts you will get a lot of options. Check out the link below. Work with your doctor in this. Keep walking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WRylMkvahjM

We are getting older embrace mental health p. 1

“Don't worry about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. 7 And the peace of God, which surpasses every thought, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Phil. 4:6, 7 Like Ps. 4 at the end of a stressful day we can call on the Lord in our anxiety and He can give us peace.

I have had many days where God gave me peace and a confidence to trust him concerning something I was worried about. I have read along time ago that 95% of the things we worry about never come true. That should give us confidence, but we are probably thinking about the 5%.

Due to long term insomnia, triggered by traumatic recovery my mental health broke down. As savvy as I am concerning awareness from scripture, psychology and 50+ years I could not resolve my problems. With panic attacks, sleep deprivation I slipped into a clinical depression. Inside my brain was not functioning the way it should. Insight from my son and wife told me I could not solve this. I needed help.

On one side, we are told to understand people with mental illness with compassion. There is more hope today

Will, my son intervened when I needed
it most. Will earned his masters this
summer from Kansas University this
summer, (proud dad!!!!)

to help people cope with their illnesses. After both medical and therapeutic support my depression and anxiety is in remission. These days I am actually sleeping and I feel pretty good mentally. I am going to start a treatment to boost my metabolism to counter act the weight gain that comes with the medicine. Every medicine we take has the side effect. This latest treatment I am going to double check with my GP, and there may be adjustments. 

On the other side, being open about mental illness can also have a negative affect as to how people view you. Generally I am okay with this because I want people to feel good about seeking care for a mental health as we get older. Some things I know:

• 25% of us at the age of 63 may be clinically depressed
• By the age of 85, 50% of us have some form of dementia
• My uncle from my mother side told me how many people in the family develop panic attacks around the age 55
• Wear and tear in our body also occurs in our brain. We are becoming aware of concussions that we may have had earlier now come to roost as we get older. Sad but true, I have two rocks in my head from previous injury. Those of you who know me you might be thinking "I knew it!” 
• I am just learning process of Alzheimer's developing in the brain. It is now believed it starts in about 20 years before any symptoms develop. It could be soon we learn how to be detected earlier and work on treatments to further delay development of disease. There are eight other common dementias.

Obviously mental health is personal and there are genetic factors from all sides of my family. But I am becoming aware through both experience an increasing data that as we age our brain ages with us. Every part of us ages. I believe it is imperative that we developed a friendly view concerning mental health. Rather than fear it let's embrace it.

Getting treated for depression is certainly better than trying to live with it on your own.

Mental illness is not first and foremost criminal. The vast majority of people are trying to cope with mental illness as best they can. We need to make it easier for people to get help. Right now to enter a mental hospital you have to demonstrate you are a danger to yourself or others. I think this is okay for a legal point of view to help people who are in danger to themselves or others. But the vast majority of people with mental illness may need to technology in the hospital for evaluation and emergency care. In my experience, I under went five days of evaluation in the mental hospital and then continued my care as an outpatient. In the daytime I underwent intensive therapy and medicine adjustments. I could sleep in my home bed and begin practicing the therapy I was learning with panic attacks. 

I have known hundreds of mentally ill people from my seven years of working in the mental hospital and 9 weeks of therapy that included group education and group therapy. My perspective now comes from both sides of care and being cared for. People who were severely mentally ill are not generally criminal. There are a very few who are extremely dangerous. I personally know two people that would become mass murderers. Both had informed others of their intentions before they happened.

I have known several to attack their own families. Many chronic mentally ill people there occurs a painful unofficial divorce that usually happens in their 20s. This isolation is real and you can see it in the many single room hotels and homeless peoples through out our country. There is a large gap between the poor and working poor and mental care. The cost of the mental health professional is too high for too many people. No professional in any field wants to cut their salary to care for the poor. Greed is a powerful thing.

From many I have known there is a sincere desire to get help and be for functional in their relationships, work and daily living. There are many who do just that.  Getting older,  consider adding a mental health professional on your care team. Keep walking

Do the elderly or police need to trained about their encounters?

Today I think we have a heck of a topic to think about. I think we should think about it and read good interventions before they happen in our lives. They will happen if we live old enough.
Do the elderly need to be trained in their encounters with the police?
Looking for picture of older people attacking others only revealed the younger abusing the elder. But older people do strike out. Police are summoned and encounter older people being harmed or harming others. Maybe they are doing something that breaks the law. Abuse of the elderly is a problem, but it is not at all one sided.
With my cerebral palsy I find it more challenging to put on shoes and joint mobility. To get on the ground is a major effort. If I was arrested having my hands tied behind the back getting in and out of a car would be difficult. What I am describing will be a challenge to those you live into their 70’s to 90’s and beyond. When we are older we may get to frail to be handled like we could when we are younger.
A few years back I had a discussion with teens on how they should respond to police. Most teens never really are given information about this. A teen, cop encounter can quickly progress to an ugly, dangerous situation.
Paula Span writes an article, Another Possible Indignity of Age: Arrest for the New York Times where she shares several encounters the elderly have had with police. The link for the article is below.
Older people can be very difficult to deal with. They can be easily injured, frail, fall and be combative as well. These issues are not just for police but family and care takers as well. Old people can strike out and hurt others.

This is not going to end well, but what can we learn?

Fourteen years ago in the baseball playoffs a classic baseball fight occurs. Pictures tell us the problem of engaging the elderly the wrong way. Don Zimmer coach for the Yankees charges out like he always would of done. He is angry at Pedro Martinez. The difference now is he is 72 years old in far less shape to boot. Pedro throws him down and Zimmer is cut and pulled a groin muscle and is taken to the hospital after the game. Nothing can be undone. There is not a redo. But we can learn from the incident. Nobody is ejected in the fight, but everybody knew you don't win throwing down an old man. But what would you do if Zimmer came after you? At my age and condition I am in Zimmer's situation. Tables do turn.
It is fair to let you know what I did. Right or wrong I learned from it. When I was in my early 20’s I

There are consequences if we choose to fight when we are
older.  Sometimes we have no choice. I still have the fire
to do silly things like Zimmer did here. What can I learn? 

was caring for a farmer who was 85. The man was suffering from depression. I knelt down to communicate with him in a gentle way. I was asking what I could do for the old gent when out of the blue with the speed of Ali facing Patterson, the old farmer hits me with a straight right jab sitting in a wheel chair. He hit me square on the nose and soon my nose is gushing with blood everywhere.  I told my mates to continue the intervention and I walked way stunned and unsure if I could continue without blowing my stack.
The farmer was unharmed which I was glad for. His depression was deep and later it was decided he would have to undergo electro shock treatments. For many of them I was assigned to assist in them and help him through it. He took a series of treatments over the next few weeks. His resolve about suicide was broken and mood improved. Shock treatments are not used as often today, but they are still an option when other treatments have failed.
I was determined to work with him because of the hitting incident and He was a nice enough guy. I never approached him from the side again. In talking to him he gave me a line I have used for years. I have asked him, “How you doing Mike?” and he would answer right on cue, “Fair to midland”.

Even though she is smaller and maybe weaker she wins with
a gentle affirmative response.

The old farmer assaulted me, he was frustrated and angry for being in the hospital against his wishes. He just wanted to commit suicide. I was part of a team of medical people who were trying to stop him. I had to step away for practical and emotional issues. We were all laughing about it later. If I hauled off and hit him that would have indicated the worse on my part. No, I learned from the incident and became more aware. I learned to help people on their worse days and had the confidence that we will get through this and we will be all right.
Generally speaking, people with dementia will pick up on anger around them, a lauder voice of care giver that is frustrated and the sufferer of dementia will strike out in anger. Never more truer a line of Scripture, “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Prov. 15:1
With dementia and mental illness it is probable the police are the ones who will need to be trained with older people. They have parents, grandparents, they would want care for them. I believe the people in blue want to feel better about how they intervene with older people. Police often meet people on their worse day.
Still many older people still have awareness. Following police instructions and not escalating the situation is good. Communication of current disabilities and problems may also help police handle with care. But if the elderly are a danger to themselves or others, than police need tactics that would be more helpful and safer for the elderly and themselves. Training, reviewing past incidents would probably yield much helpful information.
It is just another factor that aging isn’t easy. Keep walking
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/health/older-americans-arrests.html?_r=0