Travel Tips for Senior Citizens

If You Are a Senior Citizen Looking to Plan a Trip, Take a Look at This Tip

Find the Right Company:

There are several travel companies that specialize in providing services to senior citizens. If you aren't a travel aficionado and you are looking to travel to someplace that you are very unfamiliar with, you should absolutely look for a company that is experienced at providing travel services to the seniors. Travel agents and companies that are not seasoned with senior travelers' needs will not be as well-equipped to prepare you for your vacation so that you can have a safe and memorable trip. Don't worry that companies that are geared towards seniors will offer exclusively boring and unadventurous vacation options - quite the contrary, in fact! If you want a laid back and relaxing vacation, certainly a senior-oriented travel agency will be able to find a trip to satisfy your wishes. However, if you are looking for a more action-packed excursion, these companies will also absolutely be able to deliver. Just be specific with your travel agent as to what you are looking for in a vacation. If there are certain activities that you are particularly interested in indulging in, such as scuba diving or an equestrian trip, make sure that you say so. If you don't feel that the company you are dealing with is up to par, don't hesitate to go to another place or a different agent.

Make it a Group Thing:

Two heads are better than one! It is advisable that senior citizens don't make vacations solo operations. It is better - and far safer - to travel with at least one other person. If you have a group of friends that you think might be interested in joining you on a trip, ask them to come along - the more, the merrier! Family members also make fantastic travel buddies. Another plus to traveling with a group is that you can often find discounted rates from travel companies when you book for multiple travelers.

Do Your Research:

Plan your trip as far in advance as you possibly can so that you have plenty of time to prepare. If you are traveling to a foreign country, you should research the culture and traditions in that nation so that you do not stick out like a sore tourist thumb. You do not want to offend people from a foreign country by engaging in a behavior that is averse to their lifestyles. For example, in some nations, handshakes are not an acceptable greeting. If you are traveling to a non-English speaking nation, you should certainly learn as much as you can of the language before you depart for your trip. Get travel language guides at your local book store or through an online retailer. There are several companies that sell CDs so that you can listen to the language as you learn it. If you have enough time, you might even decide to take a course in the language at your local community college or to hire a tutor to teach you at your home. Don't look at this as work - think of it as the fun lead-up to your big vacation. The more you know about where you are traveling to, the more you will enjoy your experience and get the most out of it.

The Senior Olympics - 2011 National Games

The National Senior Games Association (NSGA) announced that Houston will host the 2011 Summer National Senior Games—The Senior Olympics—one of the largest recurring multi-sports events in the United States and the largest multi-sport event in the world for seniors.

Approximately 15,000 top male and female senior athletes, ages 50 and older, from across the United States are projected to compete in 18-20 different sports within separate age divisions at venues located throughout the Houston Area during the 16-day event, set tentatively for June 19 – July 5, 2011.

For more information on the 2011 Summer National Senior Games – The Senior Olympics, please call 713-437-5296.

Contact Name: Emily Yates
Contact Phone: (713) 308-5908
Contact Email: eyates@houstonsports.org

Indian Aging Congress – 2010

A joint VIII^th Annual Conference of Indian Academy of Geriatrics and XV Biennial Conference of Association of Gerontology, India is being organized as INDIAN AGING CONGRESS – 2010 at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi ( India ) on 12^th, 13^th and 14^th November, 2010.

Address: - Conference Secretariat

Dr. I. S. Gambhir, Organizing Secretary,

Professor & Head,

Room No- 1363 (B), Department of Medicine,

Institute of Medical Sciences,

Banaras Hindu University,

Varanasi – 221005 (India).

E-mail:iac2k10@gmail.com, iac.bhu.2010@gmail.com

Ph. No. 09415255998 (Mob)

Fax No. 0542-230-7520

Web Address: www.bhu.ac.in/IAC/ (for outside BHU users)

http://internet.bhu.ac.in/IAC/ (for BHU users)

Simple Tips to Motivate Yourself to Exercise

There are a million ways to motivate yourself to exercise, actually, but these are a few that really worked for you.
• Have fun. If you hate running, don’t go to the track for exercise. Find something you like. The only really important thing is to get your body moving and your heart rate up.
• How you feel after a workout. You always feel great after a good workout. It’s a high. And you let that motivate you for the next time.
• Calories burned. If you count calories (and it’s really one of the most effective ways to lose weight), you know that the more you exercise, the more calories you burn — and the bigger your calorie deficit.
• How you’re going to look. Imagine a slimmer, fitter you. Now let that visualization drive you.
• Change it up. Even if you have a routine you enjoy, mix it up from time to time. Try entirely different exercises. You can check out a tape at the library and try yoga or kick boxing for an afternoon. This will not only keep you interested, it will break your muscles out of their routine and help produce better results.
• Get a buddy. Exercising with a friend introduces a positive kind of peer pressure. You will be more likely to go to the gym if you know someone is waiting there for you. Talking and laughing while exercising will also keep you from being bored.
• An exercise log/graph. For some reason, writing it down is extremely important. Really. Do it for a week and you’ll see what I mean?
• Get appropriate clothing. If you don’t have the appropriate clothes for the exercise, it can be irritating, uncomfortable, frustrating, or even unsafe. If you exercise outside after dusk, be sure you have reflective clothing to prevent traffic accidents. Also be sure the clothing looks nice; if you don’t like the way your clothing looks, you may feel uncomfortable, and less likely to exercise.
• Pack Ahead of Time: An iPod, athletic shoes, a towel… whatever. Walking around the house trying to find stuff is a good time to lose your resolve. Put everything together in your gym bag. When you finish working out, take out things that need to be laundered and replace them immediately.
• Have a Goal. What do you want to achieve? Make it specific, make it meaningful, make it obtainable. Be sure to have short-term benchmarks along the way. It’s OK to change your goals if the original plan doesn’t work, but have a goal. Regularly evaluate how you are doing on your goals.
• Success stories. You find the success stories of others incredibly inspirational. If a fitness website has success stories, you’ll almost always read them.
• Reward Yourself. Have a healthy reward when you reach a goal. Buy a new yoga video. Whatever works for you to celebrate in line with your healthy lifestyle!

Dance Exercise for Seniors

It is important for everyone--including seniors--to find and enjoy a fitness routine. For senior citizens, low-impact dance can be a fun and healthy way to add exercise while enjoying a social atmosphere.

Choose Your Dance

Types of dancing for seniors are ballroom dancing, tap dancing and square dancing. These kinds of low-impact dances are not only fun, but they strike a sentimental chord with seniors. And they allow everyone to interact in a lively and social way, without causing too much stress on aging joints.

Livestrong.com (Lance Armstrong's exercise-focused group) describes the dances as follows:

• Ballroom dancing may bring back a memory from the past that makes it enjoyable and sentimental.

• Tap dancing is their chance to stomp it out on the dance floor, while improving their coordination and balance.

• Square dancing is a dance type that engages the seniors as couples working with a group. Many seniors belong to square dance clubs which travel to dance conventions where they meet and dance with other seniors enjoying life.

"Dancing is a great way for seniors to get more cardiovascular exercise in their lives," report experts from Livestrong. "The movement of the dances improves their circulation, lowers blood pressure, reduces stress and eases tension. In addition, dancing helps seniors become heart healthy."

Chair Dancing

Another great way to utilize dance as a senior is to do the "Chair Dance" workout. This program developed by Jodi Stolove allows seniors to groove to the music without leaving their chairs. The workout can help coordination and offers a fun activity for those who may not be so sure on their feet. Stolove tells seniors that this fun and upbeat low-impact workout can be done at any time of day and requires no aerobic ability.

All dances improve cardiovascular circulation, and the movements, and especially the camaraderie in a class setting, have been known to lift the spirits of participants.

Many local gyms and senior citizen clubs offer dance classes. To find one that suits you, check with your local organizations catering to seniors. If a dance class isn't offered--start your own!

Source:http://www.ehow.com/way_5661884_dance-exercise-seniors.html

Senior Citizen Exercise Appears to Prevent, Improve Mild Cognitive Impairment

Moderate exercise in late life for men and woman was associated with a 32% reduction in the odds of developing cognitive impairment.

Moderate physical activity performed in midlife or even as a senior citizen appears to be associated with a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment, whereas a six-month high-intensity aerobic exercise program may improve cognitive function in individuals who already have the condition, according to two reports in the January issue of Archives of Neurology, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

Mild cognitive impairment is an intermediate state between the normal thinking, learning and memory changes that occur with age and dementia, according to background information in one of the articles. Each year, 10 percent to 15 percent of individuals with mild cognitive impairment will develop dementia, as compared with 1 percent to 2 percent of the general population.

Previous studies in animals and humans have suggested that exercise may improve cognitive function.In one article, Laura D. Baker, Ph.D., of the University of Washington and Veterans Affairs Puget Sound Health Care System, Seattle, and colleagues report the results of a randomized, controlled clinical trial involving 33 adults with mild cognitive impairment (17 women, average age 70).

A group of 23 were randomly assigned to an aerobic exercise group and exercised at high intensity levels under the supervision of a trainer for 45 to 60 minutes per day, four days per week.The control group of 10 individuals performed supervised stretching exercises according to the same schedule but kept their heart rate low. Fitness testing, body fat analysis, blood tests of metabolic markers and cognitive functions were assessed before, during and after the six-month trial.

A total of 29 participants completed the study. Overall, the patients in the high-intensity aerobic exercise group experienced improved cognitive function compared with those in the control group.These effects were more pronounced in women than in men, despite similar increases in fitness. The sex differences may be related to the metabolic effects of exercise, as changes to the body's use and production of insulin, glucose and the stress hormone cortisol differed in men and women.
"Aerobic exercise is a cost-effective practice that is associated with numerous physical benefits. The results of this study suggest that exercise also provides a cognitive benefit for some adults with mild cognitive impairment," the authors conclude.

"Six months of a behavioral intervention involving regular intervals of increased heart rate was sufficient to improve cognitive performance for an at-risk group without the cost and adverse effects associated with most pharmaceutical therapies."

In another report, Yonas E. Geda, M.D., M.Sc., and colleagues at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn., studied 1,324 individuals without dementia who were part of the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging. Participants completed a physical exercise questionnaire between 2006 and 2008. They were then assessed by an expert consensus panel, who classified each as having normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment.

A total of 198 participants (median or midpoint age, 83 years) were determined to have mild cognitive impairment and 1,126 (median age 80) had normal cognition. Those who reported performing moderate exercise—such as brisk walking, aerobics, yoga, strength training or swimming—during midlife or late life were less likely to have mild cognitive impairment.

Midlife moderate exercise was associated with 39 percent reduction in the odds of developing the condition, and moderate exercise in late life was associated with a 32 percent reduction. The findings were consistent among men and women.

Light exercise (such as bowling, slow dancing or golfing with a cart) or vigorous exercise (including jogging, skiing and racquetball) were not independently associated with reduced risk for mild cognitive impairment.

Physical exercise may protect against mild cognitive impairment via the production of nerve-protecting compounds, greater blood flow to the brain, improved development and survival of neurons and the decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases, the authors note.

"A second possibility is that physical exercise may be a marker for a healthy lifestyle," they write. "A subject who engages in regular physical exercise may also show the same type of discipline in dietary habits, accident prevention, adherence to preventive intervention, compliance with medical care and similar health-promoting behaviors."

Future study is needed to confirm whether exercise is associated with the decreased risk of mild cognitive impairment and provide additional information on cause and effect relationships, they conclude.

Source:http://seniorjournal.com/NEWS/Fitness/2010/20100111-SenCitExerciseAppears.htm