Brain Power

I admit I worry about getting Alzheimer's. I ~ and more than 62 percent of Americans ~ worry about getting Alzheimer's.


Years ago I did what scientists recommended to exercise my brain; I worked crossword puzzles. Beginning with easy ones in the daily newspaper, I dutifully penciled in UMA (__ Thurman), ERMA (__ Bombeck), and OKRA (gumbo veggie) until I was confident enough to use ink. Then I moved on to harder puzzles in pencil until penning a puzzle did not result in a smeary mess. It still takes me all week to complete three Sunday Chicago Tribune puzzles, but after I get better at those in ink, I have my pencil and large eraser ready to attack the New York Times puzzle. Don't hold your breath. My NYT puzzle attempts have been dismal so far. If the daily paper's puzzles were mental jumping jacks, the NYT puzzle is a triple flip from a back handspring. The point is not how good I get; it's that I'm intentional about giving my brain bigger challenges. 

More research is coming out now that proposes that the best mental exercise is physical exercise. In today's Caregiver.com article Physical Exercise: Good Medicine for the Brain, Leilani Doty, Ph.D., touts a regular (preferably 30 to 40 minutes five times a week) exercise routine as not only a way to healthier heart, bones, and digestion, but also to improved memory, thinking, and attention span. Aerobic exercise is a great stress reliever, too ~ never a bad thing.

  For more about the research and most effective types of exercise, read the whole article by clicking here, Good Medicine for the Brain. Doty emphasizes it's never too late to begin. So whether you don't have dementia or have some stage of it, tuck that crossword puzzle into the cushions of your easy chair, and lace up your sneakers.

Caregiver Resources

Ever feel lonely? You sure would like to sip coffee with a friend or have some therapeutic belly laughs at a comedy movie, but picking up the phone to arrange a break is too much effort. No doubt about it, caring for a parent saps your energy, which in turn isolates you.

AARP Foundation is testing a buddy program in Chicago to encourage caregivers. Connecting Caregivers to Community, or CC2C, trains volunteers to understand how feelings and energy can be drained by caregiving and to know what community resources might help. These trained volunteers then partner with caregivers to help for a time. A minister at Trinity United Church of Christ coordinates CC2C.

You can read more in AARP Bulletin's November 2013 issue, or in the online article: states.aarp.org

Caregivers Balance on Giving/Keeping Train Tracks

Have you ever walked a set of train tracks? The tracks split the horizon’s corn fields, forests, cliffs, or whatever terrain you’re in. Sometimes, straight-ahead, sometimes curving, the tracks also lead you toward the horizon. Miles of parallel rails give you goals and steely resolve to get there. Wailing whistles from afar do not deter you from your journey. Only when the train’s rhythmic clacking echoes in your ears and its rotating beams blind you can you know you’ve reached the horizon. Your walk is over—almost.

Sometimes I feel elder care is like walking on train tracks toward a horizon-goal of loving your parent well until he or she dies. Normal-sized people walk the wooden ties under the tracks; only a giant could actually reach both rails with his feet. But if you’ll give me license to imagine elder care with one caregiver foot on each rail, I’ll continue with this word picture.

The horizon is the true end—the “Well done, good and faithful servant” we all want to hear regarding how well we loved our aging parent. The train is Mom or Dad’s physical death. Changing landscapes are new diagnoses, physical and mental declines, varying demands of managing two lives—yours and your parent’s. The rails you must balance on are the giving-to-your-parent rail and the keeping-for-yourself rail.

When Mom or Dad is rushed to the ER, we sprint on the giving rail until we’re completely sapped or the crisis passes, whichever comes first. When we take a vacation, we can take a foot off the giving rail, but our loved one is never out of mind, so at best, vacations are limping along with one foot on the keeping rail and one on the railroad ties. When we’re flat-on-our-back sick, we rest on the keeping rail. But most days, we are quite intentional about toggling upright and strong on both rails—tending to our parent’s meals, doctor appointments, bills, social life, electronic traumas, as well as our own.  

Much has been said about the need to take care of your own physical and mental well-being. I will not detail suggestions except to provide a link to an excellent list on Caregiver.com. I really struggle to keep one foot firmly on each rail. The older I get, the more I appreciate how much my parents gave—and give—to me. I wish I could run on the giving rail all the time. Also, the older I get, the more aware I am of my own energy limitations. That blessing, more than any wisdom I could brag about, enables me to accept giving less in order to hang ten on the keeping rail.

When a parent dies, as my father just did, the train flattens you for a time. My walk with my father is over—almost. You lie there trackside in the weeds wondering who you are now, what just happened, and what your life might look like going forward. It’s too soon for me to fully answer those questions. My more immediate concern is when to mount the giving track again to walk with my mother toward a new horizon at the end of the tracks.