The Lifestyle-integrated Functional Exercise (LiFE) program is a way of reducing the risk of falls by integrating balance and strength activities into regular daily tasks. Unloading the dishwasher becomes an opportunity to improve strength. Brushing your teeth becomes an opportunity to improve balance. In the LiFE program, every daily task becomes an opportunity to improve balance and strength. This is a different approach to a traditional program where you would be required to complete a series of exercises a certain number of times a day for a set number of days each week. The trainer's manual outlines the principles of the LiFE program and provides a step-by-step guide for therapists and trainers to implement the program with their clients. It should be used in conjunction with the participant's manual so that the program is fully understood from both the trainer's and participant's perspectives.
The progressive growth in the number of older adults worldwide has led to a modification of the current healthcare scenario and a parallel increase in the use of public resources. In this book, we propose a conceptual framework within which aging, frailty, and care are analyzed through the lens of complexity medicine. Therefore, we present a multidimensional perspective that takes into account biomedical, (neuro)psychological, and socio-ecological vulnerability. The theses presented are the result of an inductive approach, based on many years of experience in the field, which has made it possible to identify strategies for frailty recognition and effective responses even in complicated clinical settings. The book is intended to be a tool of concrete and easy consultation, rich in reflections and suggestions.
The WHO World report on ageing and health is not for the book shelf it is a living breathing testament to all older people who have fought for their voice to be heard at all levels of government across disciplines and sectors. - Mr Bjarne Hastrup President International Federation on Ageing and CEO DaneAge This report outlines a framework for action to foster Healthy Ageing built around the new concept of functional ability. This will require a transformation of health systems away from disease based curative models and towards the provision of older-person-centred and integrated care. It will require the development sometimes from nothing of comprehensive systems of long term care. It will require a coordinated response from many other sectors and multiple levels of government. And it will need to draw on better ways of measuring and monitoring the health and functioning of older populations. These actions are likely to be a sound investment in society's future. A future that gives older people the freedom to live lives that previous generations might never have imagined. The World report on ageing and health responds to these challenges by recommending equally profound changes in the way health policies for ageing populations are formulated and services are provided. As the foundation for its recommendations the report looks at what the latest evidence has to say about the ageing process noting that many common perceptions and assumptions about older people are based on outdated stereotypes. The report's recommendations are anchored in the evidence comprehensive and forward-looking yet eminently practical. Throughout examples of experiences from different countries are used to illustrate how specific problems can be addressed through innovation solutions. Topics explored range from strategies to deliver comprehensive and person-centred services to older populations to policies that enable older people to live in comfort and safety to ways to correct the problems and injustices inherent in current systems for long-term care.
Social isolation and loneliness are serious yet underappreciated public health risks that affect a significant portion of the older adult population. Approximately one-quarter of community-dwelling Americans aged 65 and older are considered to be socially isolated, and a significant proportion of adults in the United States report feeling lonely. People who are 50 years of age or older are more likely to experience many of the risk factors that can cause or exacerbate social isolation or loneliness, such as living alone, the loss of family or friends, chronic illness, and sensory impairments. Over a life course, social isolation and loneliness may be episodic or chronic, depending upon an individual's circumstances and perceptions. A substantial body of evidence demonstrates that social isolation presents a major risk for premature mortality, comparable to other risk factors such as high blood pressure, smoking, or obesity. As older adults are particularly high-volume and high-frequency users of the health care system, there is an opportunity for health care professionals to identify, prevent, and mitigate the adverse health impacts of social isolation and loneliness in older adults. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults summarizes the evidence base and explores how social isolation and loneliness affect health and quality of life in adults aged 50 and older, particularly among low income, underserved, and vulnerable populations. This report makes recommendations specifically for clinical settings of health care to identify those who suffer the resultant negative health impacts of social isolation and loneliness and target interventions to improve their social conditions. Social Isolation and Loneliness in Older Adults considers clinical tools and methodologies, better education and training for the health care workforce, and dissemination and implementation that will be important for translating research into practice, especially as the evidence base for effective interventions continues to flourish.
1. An introduction to aging. 2. Energy, work, and efficiency. 3. Motor control, coordination, and skill. 4. Physical-psychosocial relationships. 5. Physical performance and achievement.
Humanity is aging. In the last century, life expectancy has increased by as much as 25 years, the greatest increase in 5'000 years of history. As a consequence the elderly constitute today the fastest growing segment of the world's population. This new situation creates many social problems and challenges to health care which both the developed as well as the developing countries will have to cope with. The present publication shows that scientific progress has reached a level where nutritional interventions may play a decisive part in the prevention of degenerative conditions of age, improvement of quality of life and impact on health care burden and resources. Topics deal with such different aspects as the influence of prenatal and early infant nutrition on the future aged individual and effects of energetic restriction on longevity. Further contributions include studies on mitochondrial alterations, digestive problems, specific metabolic deviations mediated by insulin, bone degradation, structural changes, neuromuscular dysfunctions, mental state of the elderly as well as the response of the immune system to nutrient intake. Finally the book offers a review of requirements appropriate to meet the age-related public health challenges of the 21st century.
