1. As a family, elders and caregivers co-creating a better life for everyone. We have each other, we can always do better...

2. The benefits of Yoga for our elders and caregivers

3. Geriatric Mental Health: How To Self-Nurture The Neurobiology Of A Healthy Brain. Talk at the Jewish Women International.

4. Season greetings from our colleagues and readers...

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Co-creating better energy and healing to detox our bodies and rejuvenate our cells, from inside out... It is simple and very beneficial for elders and caregivers to incorporate, as part of your daily life-style:

- 10 minutes relaxation a day: connection with our divine source of love and ourselves.
- Incorporate moments of hydration, skin brushing, eating portions of fruits or drinking natural fruit juices during the day
- 5 minutes of better breathing exercises (twice a day)
- 5 minutes of visualization (twice a day)

The daily practice of Yoga helped us being in the present moment, quiet all inputs coming into our senses, improves concentration and stress reduction.

Monitor your progress, listen to your body, write down your observations.

Lily Tomlin

WEL, World Elder Land has teamed up with the Jewish Women International, and the Alzheimer's Association to provide a meaningful and informative education and prevention program for elders and caregivers.

Geriatric Mental Health: How To Self-Nurture The Neurobiology Of A Healthy Brain

For decades it was a believed that the brain ceased to grow new cells after we reach a certain age and that as our brain ages we lose thousands of brain cells that cannot be regenerated. However, numerous research studies in relation to the neurobiology of the brain have shown that while the brain's neuronal cells can shrink or grow with age, most are retained through life. Furthermore, some parts of the brain do indeed grow new brain cells when these parts of the brain are stimulated.

Neurogenesis, the formations of new nerve cells, takes place in several different regions of the cortex that are crucial for cognitive and perceptual brain functions. The 'cerebral cortex', also known as the 'gray matter' that consists mostly of the bodies of neurons, is the most complex area of the brain and it is responsible for high-level decision making, "executive" learning, judgmental roles, emotional and planning functions. There are six layers or 'laminae' of neurons with many dendrites and dendritic spines. This structure allows the brain to integrate a large amount of data.

Recently, Recreation Therapists or Occupational Therapists working with spinal cord injury patients have discovered that some patients are able to re-route signals from the brain to other parts of the body and to recover functions after a stroke, 'growing new connections to existing nerve cells.'

Research studies suggest that most of the patients that lose brain mass 'cerebral atrophy' or brain shrinkage, as they get older, are able to rehabilitate their brains (develop neuroplasticity (1) and cognitive reserve) and nurture new brain connections by developing new brain cells, new brain circuits and associations, as some parts of the brain are stimulated.

For example:

1. Eating or brushing your teeth with your non-dominant hand, allows your brain to nurture pathways that are not frequently accessed. This exercise helps to activate areas of the cortex that process touch, visual and mental-spatial objects.

2. Listening to your favorite music while smelling a particular aroma or looking at a particular color. This exercise also helps the brain to combine two or more senses adding new 'wiring', new brain connections and exercising multiple parts of the brain.

Physical exercises, meaningful social relations, creative art programs that nurture and stimulate or facilitate creativity, programs that foster learning, concentration, abstract reasoning and motor coordination promote the growth of new brain cells. (Fred Gage from the Salk Institute in La Jolla, California, busted that myth in 2000 when he showed that even adults can grow new brain cells. He also found that exercise is one of the best ways to achieve this.)

The importance of Clinical Therapeutic Recreation for Mental Stimulation and a Healthier Brain.

After 55, learning a new language or art classes; music, dance, free compositions and collages, etc, whether joining a formal class or learning on your own is beneficial. As long as you learn something new, the nerve cells in your brain will grow and the connection between them will continue to strengthen. Clinical Therapeutic Recreation For Elders©, the innovative combination of specific interventions, which can be measured, is aimed at influencing the behavior of a part or multiple parts of the brain by exploring, adventuring, having fun, creating, associating, judging, problem-solving, memorizing, socializing, nurturing self-actualization and much more...

It is Clinical because individual interventions (or activities) are founded on observations, application of knowledge, implementation and treatment over time, which can be measured. These interventions do not necessarily take place in clinical settings.

(1) Neuroplasticity refers to the brain's ability to change (organize and reorganize) its structure as a result of internal (genetic) factors, as well as external (experiential) factors that lead to new learning. Examples of these kinds of changes in brain structure are increases or decreases in: 1) connections among neurons, the main type of brain cells, 2) number and size of cells that support neurons, and 3) the blood supply to brain cells. Periods of rapid change in brain structure occur when the immature brain first begins to process sensory information (developmental plasticity) and continue throughout our life when we alter our behavior based on new information (plasticity of learning and memory). Neuroplasticity also occurs as an adaptive mechanism to compensate and adjust for lost function and/or to maximize remaining functions in the event of brain injury.

OTHER FACTS ABOUT THE BRAIN

Although the brain is only 2% of the body's weight, it uses 20% of the oxygen supply and gets 20% of the blood flow. Blood vessels (arteries, capillaries, and veins) supply the brain with oxygen and nourishment, and take away wastes. If brain cells do not get oxygen for 3 to 5 minutes, they begin to die.

The average human healthy brain weighs about 3 pounds (1300-1400 g)

75% to 78 % of the skeletal muscle of the brain is water.

The number of internal thought pathways that your brain is capable of producing is: one followed by 10.5 million kilometers of standard typewritten zero's.

Our brain consists of about 100 billion neurons! That's about 166 times the number of people on our planet "Earth".

Overexposure to aluminum compounds - in foil, cookware, deodorants, antiacides, and toothpaste-- can affect brain function and kill brain cells.

Many studies have shown that alcohol-dependent individual have smaller brain volume than non-alcohol-dependent individuals. It is widely believed that this is due to the toxic effects of ethanol (Ethanol, also known as ethyl alcohol, drinking alcohol or grain alcohol, is a flammable, colorless, mildly toxic ingredient, best known as the alcohol found in alcoholic beverages. In common usage, it is often referred to simply as alcohol), which causes the alcoholic's brain to shrink, damaging brain cells permanently over time to a greater extent than the non-alcoholic's. (George Kunos M.D., Ph.D., Scientific Director, Division of Intramural Clinical and Biological Research, NIAAA and Abramson CI, Fellows GW, Browne BL, Lawson A, Ortiz RA., Psychol Rep. 2003 Apr;92(2):365-78.)

REMEMBER THIS... the brain is an organ of your body and it is connected and interrelated to the rest of your body. To maintain a healthier brain we need to nurture, stimulate and care for the rest of our body too; from the hair, to the eyes, to the feet, to the soul to all the 'invisible' parts of our body; mind, physical and spiritual body... and the environment, our extended body.

New year resolutions... discuss this information and your own life-style better practices with your primary doctor. Start your own whole-person-centered wellness plan and your Journal For A Better Life, nurturing body-mind and spiritual health. Plan your weekly meals ahead of time. Clean your kitchen cabinets and refrigerator of foods and drinks that are not healthy. Organize your space by eliminating clutter. Eat and drink more helpful and nutritional foods like green vegetables, fruits, fruit juices, alkaline water (with a pH greater than 7.0), antioxidants, and more...

Articles like this one can be illuminating and meaningful to better understand how to co-create health and wellness in our lives. It is the integration of this information and the practice and listening of our own body what makes a profound and systematic development toward healing and healthy living.

In 2008 decide to activate whole-person-centered wellness in your "self" and communities.

Real strength is not in power, money, or weapons,
but in deep, inner peace."
Thich Nhat Hanh

Dear Colleagues!

Merry Christmas and Happy 2008 Year!

I wish you and your families healthy, wealthy, joyful and prosperous year 2008!

Sincerely Yours,
Jennet Appova (Ms)
National Programme Officer - Turkmenistan


Dearest Colleagues and Friends cooperating in implementation of MIPAA!

I would like to join in wishing everyone of you to have wonderful holidays and happy and healthy New Year! My grateist wish is also, to continue good work we had together and make it better in the New Year!

Lidija Kozarcanin, Focal Point on Ageing - Serbia

Dear Kathy, I am an elder 98, I always read your blog and the information is invaluable to me and my son.

Namaste and Merry Christmas Kathy
Ron, Australia

Dear All,
Let me take this opportunity to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. And indeed, let us hope that in 2008 'ageing' will get the attention it deserves
Ronald Schoenmaeckers, New York

Hello Kathy, this is Veronica Espinoza, I was working with you on a research project at EOFULA, I am very happy with you because you are working very hard for our seniors. God bless you today and for ever and He gave you health and prosperity to continue with your mission.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!!!!!
Veronica

Whole-Person-Centered Wellness workshop with elders at
Victory Terrace, Independent Living, Potomac, MD.

How each individual, elders and caregivers, can incorporate
and nurture all aspects of whole-person-living and the environment as our extended body, creating harmony and healing for a better life.

A meaningful discussion about wholistic living, gratefulness,
life purpose, how and which environmental factors affect our lives, wellness and much more...

If you did not know how old are you, how old do you think you will be?

How to adapt our better practices to our personal circumstances.

How to allow discipline in wellness to give us the freedom and ease to enjoy our own process of betterment.

For our elders as for everyone, it is vital to be and feel connected with their community and the world. Therefore, we need to focus on better ways to facilitate meaningful inclusions of our elders in our communities.

Everyone is encouraged to start a meditation garden or peace corner at home, work, office... The practice of nurturing and connecting with our spiritual self is very important for our overall wellness and better health.

The JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, states that health care for the elderly in US remains fragmentated and non-comprehensive despite concerns for the need of an expanding elderly population. Everyone is invited and encourage to network, share better practices, listen to our elders and caregivers, host wellness support groups for elders, facilitate geriatric educational material for the betterment of our elders and people who provide services to our elders.

We have each other! We can always do better! KJW