Four Questions to Ask Yourself When Choosing a Retirement Community

Not all seniors that choose to move to a Continuing Care Retirement Community (CCRC) do so because they need assistance with daily living. There are a variety of reasons why older adults choose to move to a CCRC. The large home where they raised their family is no longer needed. Possibly the neighborhood has changed with younger families moving in. Or it could be the hassle of keeping up with the maintenance on a large home. Whatever the reason more seniors are choosing CCRCs knowing their needs will be met and they have options if those needs should change.

Senior Health Trivia

Here's a little health trivia that may interest seniors and young alike from your friends at the Glemoor Retirement Community in Jacksonville, FL

• You burn more calories sleeping than you do watching television.
• All US Presidents have worn glasses. Some just didn't like being seen wearing them in public.
• The average human body has 14 to 18 square feet of skin.
• The temporal lobe is the area of the brain that allows humans to hear and understand people speaking.
• The average human eyelash lives about 150 days.
• The average human has about 10,000 taste buds — however, they're not all on the tongue. Some are under the tongue; some are on the inside of the cheeks; some are on the roof of the mouth. Some can even be found on the lips — these are especially sensitive to salt.
• The thumbnail grows the slowest; the middle nail grows the fastest.

New Year Resolution Ideas

It's that time again!
Here are a few resolution ideas designed to help you maintain your physical and mental health, improve your social life and help you live a happier and fuller life:

Participate in cognitive health activities
Mental health is an important aspect of health that we tend to overlook . Keep your mind engaged and stimulated through a language class, book club or by playing brain games and trivia on the computer. Take in an OLLI Class or a Flagler Lecture here at Glenmoor!

Why Now Is The Right Time

It's the right time to move into a retirement home when other options are no longer viable. That sounds simple, of course, but here are some guidelines to know when it is the right time to move yourself or your elderly loved one into a retirement home.

One of the best ways to sell yourself or your loved one on the idea of a retirement home is to take a look at ways in which the move can improve on every aspect of living.

Music and Memory

Scientists have not found a way to prevent Alzheimer's or dementia, but there is research to support the notion that playing music may help seniors build brain power, or "plasticity," which describes the brain's ability to build new neural pathways. Neural pathways are connections that help us learn new things and perform various functions.

Dr. Aniruddh Patel, at the Neurosciences Institute in San Diego, said that neuroimaging he has studied shows that music involves large areas of both hemispheres of the brain, rather than just isolated areas or "hot spots."

Stress relief from laughter

A good sense of humor can't cure all ailments, but data are mounting about the positive things laughter can do.

Short-term benefits A good laugh has great short-term effects. When you start to laugh, it doesn't just lighten your load mentally, it actually induces physical changes in your body. Laughter can:  Stimulate many organs. Laughter enhances your intake of oxygen-rich air, stimulates your heart, lungs and muscles, and increases the endorphins that are released by your brain.

When it comes to Shopping skills—Age and experience saves.

Do seniors get more for their money? Researchers say they do. After looking over nearly a million grocery receipts, a 2007 university sponsored study revealed the differences between younger and older shoppers:

Those 65 years and older shop nearly eight times a month, compared with six and a half times a month for youngsters. Elders take advantage of discounts more than two-thirds of the time compared with half the time with younger shoppers. The result is that seniors save 3.4 percent more on groceries.