Cantissimo Senior Living Blog

With the start of the new year, many people have found the motivation to improve their lives. While some individuals may have big plans for the upcoming year, like losing significant weight or starting a multimillion-dollar company, most people take this as a time to set realistic and positive goals. One of the most common New Year's resolutions is to correct bad habits like smoking, nail-biting, eating junk food, and other things of that nature. It's easy for humans to get stuck in their ways, which means that habits can be difficult to shake, but not impossible.

To successfully kick your habit, you need determination and self-control. With a positive outlook and the right tools for success, anything is possible! If you're interested in dropping that bad habit this year, allow us to share our top ten tips and tricks for getting rid of bad habits:

Peace, tranquility, and relaxation are desirable to anyone. Unfortunately, this doesn't come easily to everyone, especially older adults and those with anxiety disorders. A day gone wrong may sometimes disturb the whole week or even longer. As such, it is critical to learn healthy ways to ease stress.

Regardless of the causes of stress, these tips will enable you to live a more stress-free life. Let's start:

The year is almost over, and it's time to look forward to the new year. With the new year comes a fresh start. While it's hard to keep a New Year's resolution throughout the entire year, it's still best to try. While reflecting on the last year, think about all the new experiences waiting for you. What will you put on your New Year's resolutions list? The possibilities are endless. If you're not sure yet, or are looking for additional ideas, here are some suggestions that may be just what you want to add: 

     10. Eat Healthier – Eat Better – Eat Consistently

Too often, we find ourselves hurrying through the day, not realizing that we haven't stopped to eat breakfast or lunch. Food is fuel for the body, and without it, it doesn't take long until we start slowing down.

➡️ New Year's Resolution – Promise yourself that you will eat better, make healthier choices, and eat at the same time every day to provide balance. Set your phone alarms to go off when you are supposed to sit down and eat. Set the alarm to go off one hour ahead of time so that you have time to prepare the food. Go online and find videos and recipes so that you have something new to eat each day or each week. Healthy food leads to a healthy life!

This year has been one for the books, and the COVID-19 pandemic has a considerable effect on our holidays and how we spend them. Unlike past years, many older adults will not be able to spend the holidays with their loved ones, and this may be affecting your mood. So, is this gloomy mood due to this crazy year, or could it be something more?

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a form of depression that comes in cycles with the seasons. You may notice that you begin to feel less motivated, have a suppressed appetite, and don't engage with the things and people you love as much as you used to. As the days get colder and shorter, your circadian rhythms, or your internal clock telling you when to wake up and go to bed, get out of balance. In turn, this can affect your hormone regulation, which leads to the feelings associated with depression. 

People who live farther away from the equator, and those with anxiety or bipolar disorder are more likely to be affected by Seasonal Affective Disorder than other individuals. If you have been feeling depressed and it has lasted for more than a few weeks, you may want to try taking some steps to combat this and speak to your doctor about additional options to help you feel better this winter season.  

Review the following six tips to help combat Seasonal Affective Disorder this winter season:

Dig back into your childhood memory, and you'll recall your mother telling you to stop fidgeting and sit still. (Or maybe you said that to your own kids!) Youth and its boundless energy make young people into seemingly perpetual motion machines. Yet as we age, the inevitable slowdown takes place. We need to consciously make an effort to be active.

The Problem of Limited Mobility

This becomes particularly difficult when mobility becomes limited due to illness or injury. With the onset of disabilities, physical and non-physical such as memory issues, even routine activities become challenging. The temptation to become inactive can be overwhelming.

This leads to numerous health risks. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) states that disabled adults have a threefold chance of experiencing major diseases like cancer, stroke, cardiac issues, or diabetes. On the flip side, the CDC says disabled people who engage in aerobic exercise can cut disease risk in half compared to those who are inactive. 

In our recent blog, 5 Ideas to Safely Celebrate the Holidays During COVID-19, we mentioned that playing games on a Zoom call is a fun way to safely stay in contact and have fun with family and friends. While there are endless games that can be played over Zoom, here is a list of ten games and instructions on how to play each game:

     1. Charades

To begin playing charades over Zoom, split the participants into two teams. Each player can write down ten phrases on pieces of paper (person, place, thing, movie, book, TV show, etc.), fold up the papers, and put them in a bowl. When a player's turn is up, they can choose a phrase and act it out on camera for their team members to guess within a time limit. If their team correctly guesses the phrase, their team earns a point, but if they cannot guess the phrase in time, the other team gets the point. At the end, the team accumulating the most points wins!

     2. Pictionary

Like charades, split the Zoom participants into two groups and have each player prepare ten phrases on pieces of paper, fold them, put them into a bowl, and mix them up.

Ted had always looked up to his father as a tower of strength and inspiration. Often laboring seven days a week for decades to build a successful small business, he still found time to coach sports teams for Ted and his three other children.

Ted's dad and mom were able to retire comfortably at an age when they could still enjoy an active lifestyle. They caught up on all the travel and other leisure activities they put off during their working years. After enjoying this wonderful life for 17 years, Ted's mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was gone in a matter of months.

His dad held up well despite feeling devastated. After a couple of years, he almost seemed to be his old self. However, Ted noticed some changes. A fastidious dresser all his life, his dad began to neglect his appearance. It wasn't surprising to find him in the middle of the day wearing the clothes he slept in the night before. Also, as a business owner, he had expertly managed his finances over the years. Now Ted was finding past due bills.

Ted came to the realization his dad was having memory and cognition issues. After a series of doctor visits, it was clear his dad needed a memory care living arrangement.

Ted's story is one example of a scenario faced by many families of older adults. However, it may be difficult for adult children to admit a parent is suffering from memory and cognition problems. One reason is some older adults with memory deficits can be otherwise healthy. This seems to make it easier for families to deny there are problems.

Another reason is denial due to a feeling of shame about dementia and memory loss. Due to common misunderstandings about these afflictions, they have acquired a vicious stigma that leads to needless suffering due to delays in seeking treatment and support.

Families who educate themselves about memory and cognition issues are better prepared to seek assistance sooner. Here are ten signs that a loved one may benefit from memory care:

When I was five, my parents made a fateful decision. They invited my widowed great-aunt to live with us.

My mother's parents had both died by the time she was twelve. She was adopted by her Aunt Lillian and Uncle George, who lived in a large Newark, New Jersey brownstone with Lillian's parents. A three-generation household came into being.

By the time my mom and dad were married, her grandparents and Uncle George had passed away. When my father was transferred to Dallas, mom and dad felt anxious that Aunt Lil would be alone in Newark. So began our 17-year stint as our own three-generation family.

The situation had its ups and downs. Lil had a bedroom of her own, but that was her only private space, which was probably difficult for her. Childless herself, she seemed to compete with my mom for the title of family matriarch. Reminiscing years later, my mom said that was the most challenging aspect of the arrangement.

From a child's perspective, three generations living under one roof seemed normal. It drilled into me the value of "we take care of our own." While the whole family pitched in, my mother was the primary caregiver all the way to the point where Aunt Lil was bed-ridden. It wasn't until Lil acquired bedsores that my parents arranged for a skilled nursing home. Ironically, the day before she was to move in, she died.

This experience drove home for me the sometimes complicated nature of a multigenerational household. While we gained much as a family, it was also stressful. Therefore, families must carefully consider the implications of older parents moving in with their adult children.

As the United States enters the tenth month in quarantine due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the holiday season will look different this year.

Within the past month, coronavirus cases have risen. November 3rd, 2020, marked a record high of 100,667 COVID-19 hospitalizations. As of the beginning of December, the U.S. has had 14,736,470 reported cases of COVID-19 and 285,280 deaths.

After Thanksgiving, there have been reported spikes of coronavirus cases, most likely caused by college students going home and families gathering, as usual. With Thanksgiving in the past, the temperatures will continue to drop, and the opportunities to gather outside will soon be even more limited for many states. Now, looking forward to Hanukkah, Christmas, and the new year, extra safety precautions must be taken to ensure others' safety. At the same time, the nation patiently waits for the arrival of a vaccine.

While it is disappointing to break holiday traditions, there are still ways to celebrate the holidays safely. Now is the time to make new traditions and continue showing love and appreciation for loved ones.

There's nothing better than sitting back and listening to your favorite music. Even the most mundane tasks become fun with the right playlist playing through your headphones or speakers. Nowadays, there are many ways to enjoy your favorite songs (and find new ones). The best listening option, in many ways, is streaming music. With music streaming services, you can search for songs, create playlists, and find new music based on your musical tastes. With premium accounts, you can stream music anywhere, any time, even when you're not connected to the internet. There may be many streaming options out there, but not all of them are worth the effort of making an account.

Listed below are six music streaming services you'll be glad you tried: