Research To Help People With Dementia Live Independently

As a condition, dementia is particularly complex and it manifests in a range of different ways, with different people affected by it in their own unique way. 

Given research from Alzheimer’s UK showing that 85 per cent of people with dementia would choose to live at home for as long as possible following their diagnosis, it is vital that work is undertaken now to ensure that this can be facilitated.

To this end, the government has just announced that it will be supporting innovative research to address the debilitating symptoms of the condition, including communication difficulties, memory loss and managing everyday tasks, to help people live more independently in their own homes.

In all, four new research networks are being established, working closely with dementia patients and their carers, to position lived experiences and evolving needs at the heart of innovation, and deliver better patient outcomes while reducing pressure on the NHS.

These networks will collaborate with organisations including Age UK, the NHS itself, Alzheimer’s Research UK and the Alzheimer’s Society, as well as local authorities, to deliver these projects, which are being backed by £6.7 million in government funding.

Karin Smyth, minister of state for health, said: “Dementia is a cruel and heartbreaking disease, not only for those living with it, but for the families and friends who often watch their loved one become a shadow of the person they once were.   

“Backing these ground-breaking technologies won’t just help people with dementia – it’ll transform their lives, giving people the freedom to stay in their own homes, around the people they love.   

“Moving care out of hospitals and into communities isn’t just smart healthcare – it’s about giving people independence.”

 

How to make your home dementia-friendly

We recently blogged about the home adaptations you could potentially make to ensure that your living spaces are equipped to handle changes in your physical needs following a dementia diagnosis.

Potential accessibility changes include ramps and steps, ensuring that bathroom facilities are easy to access, widening doorways and corridors to account for wheelchair use and putting switches and sockets within easy reach.

Another key point to consider is lighting, as people with dementia often see colours and shades differently. Changing the lighting to account for this, ensuring that it’s natural and consistent to keep glare and shadows to a minimum, can go a long way towards making the property safer in which to live.

Also consider switching out your flooring for improved health and safety, getting rid of any reflective or slippery surfaces, as well as anything with a bold pattern, as these can have an impact on your perception.

For the bathroom in particular, use toilet seats in contrasting colours to the appliances and walls so that they’re easier to see, doing similar for grab rails in the shower.

If you’d like to find out more about home adaptations such as these, get in touch with the Practical Bathing team today.

Average Home Adaptation Completion Times ‘Climb 18%’

Ageing in place is something that the majority of people want to be able to do, living independently for as long as possible over the years. To this end, it may be necessary to carry out home adaptations in order to ensure that the property is accessible, enabling you to continue living there even as your physical needs evolve and change with time.

However, although the government states that 95 per cent of routine adaptations should take six months or less to complete, with all but the most complicated of jobs finished within nine months, figures obtained by the BBC show that average completion times have climbed 18 per cent in the last five years.

It now takes on average 357 days in some parts of England, Wales and Northern Ireland for these works to be carried out where they’re overseen by a single council, or by the Housing Executive for people in Northern Ireland.

The concern is that the UK’s ageing population will only exacerbate the situation, coupled with an apparent increase in more complex cases that involve children with special needs. In at least 21 local council areas across England and Wales, there are still cases in progress after five years or more.

Funding for disabled and elderly residents is available for various changes to their homes, including accessible bathrooms, stairlifts and structural extensions. Under the Disabled Facilities Grant, the maximum amount that councils can provide in England is £30,000, which is means-tested for adults, but not for children.

Expansion of England’s adaptation system is underway, increasing to £711 million (a rise of £86 million), which should see 7,800 more people able to access necessary support.

One of the most important areas of the home to consider adapting is the bathroom, as a particularly hazardous room where you’re more likely to suffer slips, trips and falls.

Investing in walk in baths, shower seating, grab rails and other such features can make a significant difference to your quality of life. If you’d like to find out more, get in touch with the Practical Bathing team today.

Poor Quality Housing Crisis ‘Affecting People’s Health’

As we get older, we become more vulnerable to chronic health conditions, everything from diabetes, depression, arthritis and osteoporosis to cancer, kidney disease and cardiovascular disease… but it’s possible that many of these conditions can either be delayed or prevented with healthy behaviours and lifestyle changes.

Interestingly, while many of us are keen to live independently for as long as possible in the comfort and safety of our own homes, it seems that it’s our homes themselves that could potentially be putting us at risk.

New research from the Centre for Ageing Better (CAB) has revealed that more than one in five of people over the age of 50 in England are currently living in poor-quality homes that could be exacerbating their current health conditions.

The study looked at a range of different health issues affected by substandard homes, such as asthma, heart disease, congestive heart failure and respiratory diseases. The housing problems identified in the report included bad condensation, rising damp, water leaks, rot, decay, electrical and plumbing issues, structural concerns and being too cold in winter.

It was found that 33 per cent of those over 50 years old now live in a house with a housing issue, while 15 per cent report having three or more problems with their house.

Such concerns appear to be particularly prevalent among renters, with 51 per cent of older people with health and housing problems living in rented accommodation. Older renters with health conditions are 14 per cent more likely to have five or more problems with their house, compared to their peers who own their own home.

Dr Carole Easton, chief executive at the CAB, said: “Older workers living in homes that are making their health conditions worse are going to be less likely to be able to work and help grow the economy.

“Older people whose serious health conditions are made worse by their homes will require treatment, putting additional winter pressures on our health system. All could be averted if we tackled poor-quality housing with the urgency and priority it demands.”

Making sure that your home is fit for purpose is key to being able to age in place. If you’d like to find out more about how home adaptations can make a significant difference to your quality of life, get in touch with the Practical Bathing team today.

Our Future Homes: Recommendations For Older People’s Housing

The final report of the Older People’s Housing Taskforce, compiled on behalf of the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government, and the Department of Health and Social Care, has been published, with nine key recommendations made to help support people to live well and longer in age-friendly, faith and culture sensitive, and dementia-inclusive communities.

When questioned about their housing arrangement priorities, the most-cited aspect by senior citizens was independence, with facilities and fittings/fixtures at home that best support their needs, while enabling social connections with loved ones and the wider community.

However, the report acknowledges that there is no single best approach for providing this later on in life.

There are currently many different types of older people’s housing (OPH) and later living homes (LLH) that do meet the needs of residents, including co-housing, communal living, adapted mainstream homes, and those that have been deliberately designed and built to support evolving needs.

But these housing options need to be expanded, in terms of variety and volume alike, so that senior citizens are provided with a greater amount of choice as their health and lifestyle needs change over time. 

Currently, however, the housing market is falling significantly short when it comes to delivering accessible and affordable LLH, with the new report bringing some alarming facts to light.

For example, an estimated 30 to 50,000 new LLH are required each year in order to meet the needs of an ageing population, but only approximately 7,000 are being constructed annually. 

While more than nine out of ten people over the age of 65 currently live in mainstream housing, just 12 per cent have level access at the building entrance and less than 50 per cent have a bathroom on the entry level of the property.

And older people admit to being unaware of the different housing options available to them, saying that they often find themselves burying their heads in the sand, avoiding the topic of their future housing needs altogether.

To tackle issues such as these, the Housing Taskforce has come with nine core recommendations for government, local systems and industry partners to deliver a comprehensive and balanced package that, if followed through, will have a long-lasting impact on the housing landscape.

These recommendations include:

 

Incentivise a wide range of OPH/LLH options

Housing choice should be available and accessible to everyone, with the fact that senior citizens are highly diverse in terms of identities, backgrounds, wishes and needs. 

Housing challenges include unsuitable mainstream housing, a dearth of faith and culture-sensitive options for later living and underoccupied dwellings. Existing stock must be adapted and upgraded, and accessibility standards raised for new builds.

 

Design more housing for later life

All forms of OPH/LLH needs to be optimised to ensure that the country’s housing stock meets the needs of an ageing population, including mainstream housing, service-led housing, community-led housing and care homes.

 

Strengthen planning policies

The development of new forms of OHP/LLH can be incentivised and accelerated through national and local planning policy and practice, helping to shape mainstream housing and the built environment so that it is inherently more age-friendly, faith and culture-sensitive, and dementia-inclusive.

If the various challenges are successfully addressed, people will be enabled to live well for longer in the place of their choice and in meaningful communities, in places they consider to be home. Millions of pounds will also be saved for the NHS and social care system through the reduction and avoidance of hospital admissions and readmissions.

In order to realise this vision, the range of housing options must be urgently expanded and housing, ageing, wellbeing and inclusive communities put at the heart of all action taken, with the government leading the way.

Exercise Linked To Reduced Dementia Risk

Getting into health and fitness as early on as possible is one of the best ways to ensure that you can protect yourself as you get older. 

Regular exercise has long been associated with reduced risk of many health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, cancer and early death… but now new research suggests that it can also help protect against dementia, particularly if you have a genetic predisposition for the condition.

Carried out by researchers from the Karolinska Institute in Stockholm, this latest study indicates that people genetically at risk of dementia can reduce the chances of it developing by up to 35 per cent through increasing their fitness.

Furthermore, high levels of fitness were also found to be associated with better cognitive ability, as well.

Weili Xu, lead author of the study and professor of geriatric epidemiology, commented: “Our study shows that higher fitness is linked to better cognitive function and reduced dementia risk. In addition, high fitness could attenuate the effect of genetic risk for all dementias by up to 35 per cent.

“Our findings suggest that maintaining good fitness may be a strategy to prevent dementia, even among people with high genetic susceptibility.”

The body’s ability to deliver oxygen to its muscles is based on cardiorespiratory fitness and this declines as we get older and we lose more skeletal muscle. Fitness levels start to decline by between three and six per cent per decade during our 20s and 30s, but this then accelerates to over 20 per cent per decade by the time we reach our 70s.

As such, prioritising exercise throughout the course of your life can make a huge difference to your overall health and wellbeing as you get older, reducing the likelihood of developing all sorts of diseases, including dementia.

Exercise tips for older people

Although we all know that keeping active is essential for good health, it can be difficult to exercise if your mobility is restricted or if you live with a chronic long-term health condition.

Being more active doesn’t have to involve going to the gym or going for a run. It can simply mean moving more each day, in line with your own physical capabilities. Even a few little changes here and there can make a big difference to how you feel, physically, mentally and emotionally.

If you find yourself sitting a lot, aim to get up once an hour to stretch and move around if you’re able to. If not, just moving your arms and legs while sitting can help get the blood flowing.

Chair-based exercises are also great options for older people and you can do these easily at home by yourself, although it’s possible that there are also classes in your local area where you can join in with others, helping you to socialise at the same time.

Gardening is also excellent exercise and it’s been found to help improve cognitive function, as well, so could be another way to go about preventing the onset of dementia.

Considering home adaptations to facilitate successful ageing in place? Practical Bathing has a range of products in stock, ranging from shower seats and walk-in baths to easy access showers.

Horticultural Therapy For Older People With Dementia

As we get older, our physical needs are likely to change and we become more susceptible to certain health conditions, including the likes of high blood pressure/cholesterol, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease and so on.

However, cognitive changes are also a serious possibility, with short-term memory affected as we age, alongside our reaction times and problem-solving skills. Cognitive decline is something that we all need to be increasingly aware of, given research showing that dementia has been the leading cause of death in Britain for the last ten years.

Figures from the Alzheimer’s Society show that there are more than 900,000 people living with dementia in the UK today, with millions more people taking care of their loved ones.

While the condition can affect us in terms of memory loss, language and communication, concentration, confusion and mood changes, it can also affect us physically, making us more prone to slips, trips and falls.

As we get older, the function of the systems we have in place that regulate our balance and gait control start to deteriorate, meaning we have greater difficulty in maintaining balance and we find it harder to regain it if and when we do lose it. Gait also starts to slow down and become more unsteady – all of which can be exacerbated by dementia.

However, there are ways in which this can potentially be mitigated, with a new study from Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary, investigating the benefits of horticultural therapy and how it can affect the balance and walking speed of older people with dementia.

It was found that after hour-long gardening sessions that involved weeding, preparing flower beds, trimming, harvesting and so on twice a week for 12 weeks, the study participants maintained their baseline performance on static balance. 

Meanwhile, the control group who did no gardening saw a decline. The gardeners also saw improvements to gait speed, while the control group saw no difference.

This could certainly prove to be excellent food for thought for anyone concerned about cognitive decline and who wants to stay living independently in their own homes for as long as possible.

Being able to maintain your balance is key for preventing accidents at home, particularly in hazardous places like the kitchen and bathroom. 

Of course, it will likely be necessary to carry out home adaptations to ensure that you can navigate your way through your living spaces safely, but keeping yourself as physically strong and capable as you can is essential, with regular physical activity a must.

While you may not be able to go to the gym or exercise as hard as you used to when you were younger, you can always change your routine up with slower, more gentle activities… such as gardening. 

The added benefit of this is that you’ll be spending more time in nature as a result, which is excellent for your mental health and wellbeing… so it’s a very real win-win!

How To Make Your Home Dementia-Friendly

There are many aspects of getting older that are inevitable and we’re all sure to start slowing down at some point in our lives, but there’s a lot that we can do to protect our physical health and ensure that we can continue living independently for as long as possible. 

Steps include following a well-balanced diet, getting regular exercise, maintaining a healthy weight, avoiding alcohol, not smoking and so on, all of which will help ensure that we remain resilient as time goes on.

One of the biggest health concerns of the modern age, however, is dementia, with figures showing that one in three people born in the UK today will develop the disease. 

An Alzheimer’s Society report published this year found that approximately one million people in the UK now have some form of dementia and this is expected to increase to 1.4 million by 2040.

Dementia itself is not considered to be a natural part of the ageing process, caused instead by damaged nerve cells in the brain. 

Although every person with dementia will have their own individual experience of the disease, there are common early signs and symptoms to look out for, including memory loss, difficulty concentrating, organising and planning, problems with communication and language, confusion over time and place, mood changes, difficulty controlling emotions and problems judging distances, patterns and the edges of objects.

It’s not entirely clear why some people develop dementia while others don’t and it can be down to a combination of factors including lifestyle, genetics, age and pre-existing health conditions. 

You can reduce the risks by getting plenty of regular physical exercise, drinking less alcohol, not smoking, managing health conditions hypertension, diabetes and high cholesterol, and protecting your eyesight and hearing.

However, if you are diagnosed and want to stay living in your own home for as long as possible, it will be necessary to make adaptations to facilitate this.

Potential changes will include ramps and steps to ensure accessibility, adapting the widths of doorways and corridors, ensuring easy access to bathroom facilities, wall-mounting switches and sockets so they’re easy to reach and changing the lighting to make sure that it’s natural and consistent so as to reduce shadows, glare and pools of light.

Because people with dementia perceive colours and shades differently, you can make a big difference to how you perceive your environment by taking the light reflectance value of paint into consideration, creating higher contrasts between walls, doors and floors, for example.

Changing the flooring can also help make your home safer. Avoid reflective and slippery surfaces wherever possible, as well as any bold patterns as these can affect your perception. 

Make sure that trip hazards like steps are clear and well defined, marked out by paint or bright tape, and avoid creating contrasting areas on the floor through the use of rugs and mats.

In the bathroom, which is one of the most dangerous places in the home, you can make life easier by using toilet seats in a contrasting colour to the rest of the appliances, as well as the walls, to make them easier to see. Similarly, you can use contrasting colours for grab rails in the shower.

If you’d like to find out more about what changes can be made at home to help people with dementia live more independently, get in touch with the Practical Bathing team today.

Are Your Slippers Posing A Risk To Your Health?

One of the biggest causes of injury and death among elderly people are slips, trips and falls – and our risk of falling grows as we get older, leading to potential consequences including hip fractures, pain, loss of confidence, surgery, distress and so on.

As such, reducing the risk of falls taking place in the home will be paramount over the years, including everything from installing anti-slip mats and walk-in showers in the bathroom to bringing in grab rails throughout the house, ensuring that carpets and rugs are firmly fitted to the floor, keeping living spaces free from clutter and so on.

Home assessments can be useful if you’re unsure as to what poses specific risks, with a healthcare professional visiting the house to review it and make recommended modifications.

Making sure you get regular exercise and prioritise balance, gait and functional training can make a huge difference when it comes to fall prevention, as well.

However, one little change that you could introduce immediately and which would afford you greater protection against falling is not wearing slippers when at home.

What’s the problem with slippers?

As cosy and comfortable as slippers may well be, they can cause all sorts of problems and can increase your chances of having a fall.

Slippers are naturally loose-fitting and, as such, they can come off quite easily or get caught on something on the floor, which can result in you tripping and losing your balance. This can lead to serious injury, if you’re not careful.

You’re also not afforded much in the way of arch support when you wear slippers and this can cause problems for your feet, including the likes of plantar fasciitis and heel spurs. Sore and fatigued feet can mean you’re more at risk of slipping and having a fall.

Balance is also something that can be affected by wearing slippers more often than not. You need to work all the little muscles in your feet in order to maintain strength and balance, but if you don’t wear shoes that give you the proper support, your general stability will likely be affected.

Free slipper exchanges

To help reduce the risk of trips and falls, many places around the UK offer free slipper exchanges, where you can take your old worn-out pairs and get a brand-new pair for free.

While wearing other forms of shoe can afford you the best protection against falling, slippers are successful at keeping your feet warm and snug – but it’s vital that they’re kept in good condition to ensure that you can stay safe while standing up and moving around.

Wearing worn-out slippers or padding about in socks can significantly increase your risk of slips, trips and falls, so if you are wedded to your slippers finding a free exchange programme in your local area could be a wise move.

How To Improve Your Balance To Prevent Injuries

One of the biggest causes of injury among older people is slips, trips and falls, so it’s essential that we do all we can to protect ourselves as we age by maintaining our physical health and getting as much exercise as we’re able to do on a regular basis.

A big part of preventing accidents such as these is to work on improving your balance, as this is how we control the position of our bodies, whether we’re walking around, getting up from seated or just completely stationary.

In order to maintain our balance, our visual, vestibular and somatosensory systems need to work together, with our brains processing all the information that these systems transmit so that we can function and move around safely. As we get older, the integration of these three systems can get worse, which is why we become more susceptible to falls.

However, there’s lots you can do to improve your balance and make sure that you’re able to control your core muscles, arms and legs effectively. To help you work on your balance, here are some exercises you can easily do at home that should make a significant difference to your strength, mobility and confidence.

The grapevine

This exercise involves walking sideways by crossing one foot over the other. Start in a strong standing position, then cross your right foot over your left and bring the left foot round to join it. Repeat five times on each side. You may need to take bigger steps at first, but aim to make them as small as possible, as this will help you improve your balance the most.

The one-leg standing position

Single-leg exercises are particularly beneficial for building strength and balance. To do a one-leg stand, start by facing a wall with your arms out and your fingertips lightly touching the surface.

Lift your chosen leg, keeping your hips level and a slight bend in the opposite leg. Then put your foot back down on the floor. Hold the position for five to ten seconds, repeating three times on each side.

The tightrope walk

This exercise involves walking along a straight line, with your arms extended out to the sides. Start off slowly, keeping your feet on the line at all times as you go and walking heel to toe, with five seconds before each step.

Lunging

Another great exercise to try is lunging, as this will help you recover quickly should you lose your balance while walking. Simply stand up straight with your hands resting on your hips, then step a foot forward and bend at the knee, lowering yourself down until your thigh is parallel with the floor below. Breathe, hold and then slowly return to your starting position.

Of course, as important as exercises such as these are, it’s also essential that you ensure your home doesn’t pose a risk to your health. Make sure that rooms are kept free from clutter so there’s nothing to trip over and consider using anti-slip measures in places like the bathroom and kitchen to afford you further protection against injury.

With just a few little changes here and there, from lifestyle factors to home adaptations, you should be able to successfully protect yourself as you age.

How To Reduce The Risks Of Falls As You Get Older

As we get older, it’s not unusual to start feeling increasingly unsteady on our feet. One of the biggest reasons for this is sarcopenia, or age-related loss of muscle mass and strength. Joint movement also becomes less flexible and stiffer because the lubricating fluid inside our joints starts to decrease, while the cartilage becomes thinner.

While some age-related changes are largely inevitable, such as grey hair and wrinkles, it’s important to remember that we don’t have to accept these physical developments as an unavoidable part of the ageing process. 

In fact, there’s a growing body of research that suggests we can reduce the risk of changes to muscles, bones and ligaments by staying as active as possible and getting regular exercise.

It can be tempting to move less if you’re worried about slips, trips and falls, but the best way to ensure you can continue to be mobile and live independently is to move as much as you can. This will help you maintain your strength, coordination and balance, all of which will help prevent the falls you’re worried about.

It can also be helpful to learn how to fall safely in a bid to reduce the risk of hospital admissions, which is something that British Judo is now promoting as part of the Finding Your Feet scheme, in collaboration with the University of Hertfordshire and Anglia Ruskin Hertfordshire.

According to the BBC, the programme will see qualified judo coaches teach people safe falling techniques based on the martial art. Approximately 18 different judo techniques have been adapted to help older people, including yoko ukemi, which is a sideways fall that includes protecting the head.

People will also be taught how to tuck their chin in if they’re falling backwards, how to fall forward without using their hands and how to roll properly in order to get back up safely.

Professor Mike Callan of the University of Hertfordshire – and a member of the International Judo Federation Scientific Committee – said: “Judo coaches have a valuable skill set, as they understand the key principles of falling safely. By teaching these techniques to older adults, judo can make a significant contribution to a particular problem for society.”

Making adaptations is also another key way you can reduce the risk of slips, trips and falls within the home. The bathroom is one of the most hazardous parts of the house, so it makes sense to start there when considering making rooms more accessible.

Installing anti-slip flooring is an excellent place to begin and once this is in pride of place, you can make other changes like walk-in baths and showers, shower seating, grab rails and so on. 

Bringing in new features in line with your changing needs is one of the best ways to ensure that you can continue to age in place, living independently within the comfort of your own home for as long as possible.