Caregivers should resolve to maintain physical and mental health

http://blog.alz.org/the-caregiver-solution-to-new-years-resolutions/

Like many people, caregivers of people with Alzheimer’s may have a difficult time keeping New Year’s resolutions. A caregiving expert has a solution: Re-wire your brains to think, “What am I giving myself?” rather than, “What am I not going to give myself?”
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One of the things I hate about New Year’s Resolutions is they seem to be about taking away something rather than giving yourself something.  I suppose one could argue if you lose weight with more exercise and eating more nutritiously you are giving yourself a longer, healthier life.  But when our brains think of resolutions as punishment rather than pleasure, it’s hard to maintain them.

For caregivers, resolutions are even harder since you are typically juggling many of life’s balls  — children, career, caregiving — and most often, the ball getting dropped is the one that says “self-care.” Adding one more thing to your To Do List in 2013 is enough to make you cry (or scream, or throw something or grab that pint of mint-chocolate-chip ice cream that makes you feel better, until you step on the scale).

But, there is hope.

Here is my solution for caregivers to those daunting New Year’s Resolutions.  Let’s re-wire our brains to think “what am I giving myself” instead of “what am I not going to give myself.”  This year, you are going to give yourself a gift — that’s right — no cutting back, no cutting out and no cutting corners. If you follow these steps, you will not only improve your physical health but your mental health and that is a resolution worth celebrating.

The Me Time Monday? Reality Show (52 Episodes)

When you become a caregiver, you often feel like you entered one of today’s popular reality TV programs — it is like Survivor and The Amazing Race all at once. Instead of frantically looking for clues, or worrying about what the tribe will say,  let’s call your 2013 reality show Me Time Monday; there are 52 episodes (one each Monday).

What Is Me Time?

Why Monday?

Monday is part of our cultural DNA. It is the start of the work week, the school week and we feel renewed energy to start something after a nice weekend break. The Monday Campaigns was founded in 2005 in association with Columbia University, Johns Hopkins University and Syracuse

University in order to apply marketing best practices to public health challenges. According to the research, The Monday Campaigns show a projected 74 percent of American adults older than age 25 believe giving healthy intentions a Monday start will make them more lasting throughout the week. Part of the Monday Campaigns is Caregiver Monday, a specific campaign targeted to helping the nation’s caregivers take care of themselves.

“Day in and day out, millions of caregivers give so much of themselves caring for their loved ones that they often neglect their own health and well-being,” says Sid Lerner, founder and chairman of The Monday Campaigns. “Caregiver Monday encourages them to use that first day of each hectic week as their recharge day, to refocus on their own condition to better serve their dependent parent, child or spouse.”

How to ‘Make It Work’

The famous saying by Tim Gunn on the Project Runway reality show works for your Me Time Monday as well.  Think about the following:

1. Write it down.  Put your Me Time Monday activity on sticky notes. Post these notes on your refrigerator, your bathroom mirror, in your wallet, on your smartphone, on your car dashboard — anywhere you will see the words every day.  These are love notes to yourself.
2. Take baby steps. If your Me Time is taking a 30-minute walk to enjoy nature and outdoors (a great stress reliever), start with buying new walking shoes on your first Monday (it’s all about the shopping for me). The following week it may be getting just a few minutes to walk around the block — you don’t have to achieve 30 minutes on Week 1 — just get started. Once you get in the groove you will find you plan your Me Time because of the comfort it brings you.  If you miss a week – don’t beat yourself up. Evaluate what derailed you and see if you can eliminate the obstacle the next week.  What’s great about Me Time Monday — you have 52 chances to stay on track! And you don’t have to do your activity on Monday — just use Monday as your “check in” point for the week to figure out what you are going to do and how to find that time.
3. Track your progress. Put a little heart on your weekly calendar when you do your Me Time or tell a friend who can be your cheerleader about your plan and let them applaud your weekly progress (and help give you a caregiving break so you can get your Me Time – see the Alzheimer’s Care Team Calendar as a great way caregivers can get help to get a break).  Getting reinforcement — whether through a friend or seeing a lot of hearts on your calendar will keep you motivated.
4. Live in the moment. When you are practicing your Me Time take a few minutes to really feel it. Close your eyes and put your imaginary remote control on “Pause.”
   Feel everything around you. Stop and try to use each of your senses in what you are doing.  Can you see yourself happier?  Do your shoulders relax? Do you feel a little more refreshed? Do you hear the sounds around you?  Do you smell the wonders of your environment? Do you feel re-energized so you can keep caring for everyone around you because you took a little Me Time? Sensory cataloguing is a great way to revisit your Me Time and re-wire your brain to crave that Me Time so it becomes essential to your well-being.

Now push “Play” on your imaginary remote control and let your Me Time Monday reality show begin!

To view the Me Time Monday videos, visit the Caregiving Club YouTube channel.

Note:  This blog is adapted from A Cast of Caregivers – Celebrity Stories to Help You Prepare to Care by Sherri Snelling (Balboa Press, Feb 2013).

Learn More:

• Alzheimer’s Association Caregiver Center
• Being a Healthy Caregiver
• Caregiver Support Groups

About Blog Author Sherri Snelling

Sherri Snelling, CEO and founder of the Caregiving Club, is a nationally recognized expert on America’s 65 million family caregivers with special emphasis on how to help caregivers balance “self care” while caring for a loved one. She is the former chairman of the National Alliance for Caregiving and her book, A Cast of Caregivers – Celebrity Stories to Help You Prepare to Care will be published by Balboa Press, division of Hay House Publishing in February, 2013.

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Federal government launches new Alzheimer’s clinical studies

http://consumer.healthday.com/Article.asp?AID=672492

Four U.S. government-funded clinical trials have been announced that will search for new therapies for Alzheimer’s disease, including exercise and drug treatments. While these studies are significant, many more valid and necessary investigations aren’t being funded. The Alzheimer’s Association believes a greater commitment to research is needed if we are to more quickly unravel the important questions about cause, risk, treatment and prevention of Alzheimer’s.
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Registration for the Alzheimer’s Association Advocacy Forum is open

Join hundreds of advocates in our nation’s capital April 22-24 for the 2013 Alzheimer’s Advocacy Forum. Share your personal story, learn about the latest Alzheimer’s legislative efforts, celebrate accomplishments and urge elected officials to make a greater commitment to fighting the disease. This year’s gathering is the 25th annual Forum — in honor of this historic anniversary, the Alzheimer’s Association is providing complimentary registration. Don’t miss this amazing opportunity to participate in the nation’s premier Alzheimer’s advocacy event.
Learn more and register >>

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Raising Awareness and Funds

http://www.alz.org/dm/2012/accomplishments.asp

A number of key events increased our visibility and generated much-needed funds.

Raising Awareness and Funds

On June 20 – the longest day of the year – participants in the Alzheimer’s Association The Longest Day^® event honored the passion, dedication and strength displayed by those facing Alzheimer’s. This first annual sunrise-to-sunset event raised funds to fuel the care, support and research efforts of the Alzheimer’s Association. Participants around the globe were challenged to push their physical limits and complete 16 hours of consecutive endurance activities such as biking, running or walking.

Walk to End Alzheimer’s^® helped build awareness in more than 650 communities, engaging individuals and raising critically-needed resources for the cause. More than 350,000 walkers joined us nationwide, participating on nearly 39,000 teams. We raised more than $50 million during the 2012 season, a new all-time high! Â Through Walk, we’ve raised awareness of the disease and of the Association. In the world of entertainment, NBC recently revealed the contestants of next season’s “All-Star Celebrity Apprentice” and the Alzheimer’s Association is honored to have actress, author and Alzheimer’s Champion Marilu Henner participate in season 13.  As a celebrity contestant, Ms. Henner will raise money and awareness for the Alzheimer’s Association. Each episode will offer her the opportunity to talk about Alzheimer’s disease and to potentially win money for the Alzheimer’s Association

Care and Support – New Online Services

In 2012 we launched our comprehensive Alzheimer’s and Dementia Caregiver Center, which brings unique caregiving information and tools together into one easy-to-navigate site, featuring new and expanded information on early-, late- and middle-stage caregiving and other topics.

We also launched two new, free resources for families impacted by Alzheimer’s disease:

• Alzheimer’s Navigator^™, an online tool that helps caregivers and people with dementia evaluate their needs, identify next steps through customized action plan sand connect with local programs and services.
• ALZ Connected^™ is the first social networking community designed for caregivers and people living with Alzheimer’s – a place to connect and communicate with people who understand the unique challenges of the disease and caregiving.

Advancements in Research

In our 30th year of supporting Alzheimer’s research through our International Research Grant Program (IRGP), the Alzheimer’s Association has reached a milestone: Since 1982, we have awarded more than $300 million in funding to more than 2,100 scientists around the globe.

As part of our commitment to investing in research, we recently awarded our largest-ever research grant – nearly $4.2 million over four years – to the Dominantly Inherited Alzheimer’s Network-Therapeutic Trials Unit (DIAN-TTU), based at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The grant will enable the program to move forward more quickly with innovative drug and biomarker trials in people with genetically based, younger-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

Scientists at DIAN-TU announced the selection of three different types of drugs to be tested next year in the first large-scale international attempt to prevent Alzheimer’s in people who carry a dominantly inherited Alzheimer’s gene. These three drugs each target beta amyloid – the main substance in the brain plaques associated with Alzheimer’s – in a different way. We’re hopeful that the trial will yield results that can quickly be translated into therapy options for families who have genetic mutations that cause the disease. Of additional importance, these findings may also translate into preventing the development of late-onset Alzheimer’s disease, the major form of this disease.

Data was recently released from two Phase 3 studies of solanezumab for mild-to-moderate Alzheimer’s completed earlier this year. While the drug did not meet the endpoints originally identified in the trial, further analysis indicated a statistically significant slowing of cognitive decline in people with the mildest form of Alzheimer’s compared to the more advanced patients. This is an encouraging result and suggests this type of therapeutic strategy could be a viable approach to pursue in the fight against Alzheimer’s for those in the earliest stages or even those individuals showing no symptoms.

Advocacy – National Alzheimer’s Plan

The release of the National Alzheimer’s Plan was another positive step toward the nation’s first-ever strategic plan for Alzheimer’s, and one in which the Association was intimately involved.

Comprehensive in scope, the plan addresses issues that are important to the Alzheimer’s community including developing new treatments that prevent and effectively treat the disease, delivering much needed support for families, and enhancing care quality and effectiveness.

Your support makes milestones possible

What do these accomplishments have in common? The support of friends like you. Please help us achieve more milestones in the fight against Alzheimer’s this year.

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http://www.alz.org/join_the_cause_planned_giving.asp

Thank you for caring about the Alzheimer’s Association – today we’d like to take a moment and let you know about a special opportunity to take our work even further in 2013. If you took a distribution from your IRA in December 2012, you may be eligible to make a special gift to the Alzheimer’s Association.

Congress just passed legislation to extend the IRA charitable rollover for 2012 and 2013. The law allows individuals who are 70½ to make special gifts to charity! Individuals who took a taxable distribution from their IRA in December 2012 can avoid taxes on the distribution by making a gift to a charity such as the Alzheimer’s Association in January 2013.

Contact us at 866.233.5148 to learn more about how you can convert your taxable IRA distribution and potentially reduce your taxes. Time is almost up, learn more now.

Consider leaving a legacy of support by making a planned gift to the Alzheimer’s Association. Planned gifts allow you to combine your charitable giving goals with your estate and financial planning goals. Your gift will provide lasting benefits through our Alzheimer’s research program and community care and support programs.

Planned gifts for all income levels

We offer planned giving arrangements that are feasible for donors of all income levels. Gifts vary from a simple will bequest to arrangements that help you maintain financial independence through favorable income and tax-saving benefits.

Opportunities include gifts from a will bequest, living trust, charitable gift annuity, charitable life income trust, retirement plan, life insurance and real estate. We encourage you to contact our Planned Gifts staff to discuss your options.

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