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5 Things Every Senior Home Should Have to Live Smarter

1/15/2015

This blog was written by Amanda Jaylene, an enthusiast of everything innovative and efficient for modern day living. With a background in healthcare and technology, she’s got a lot to offer for both worlds to combine cohesively into one for better, healthier living. You can follow her on Twitter @AmandaJaylene.

Your senior years are your time to live well with ease. While a variety of devices on the market can help make your life simpler like smart home, vehicle and hearing aid technology, the best are those that also help you live smarter. According to architect David Levy, living environments designed for independent seniors are a necessity. Today’s seniors are tech-savvy and benefit from assistive devices that go beyond medical alert technologies; they make everyday life more efficient.

Home Technologies to Help You Live Smarter

1. Programmable thermostats: Make your home as smart as you. Programmable thermostats help make home comfort simple by making your dwelling the right temperature at the right time, which may help lower your energy bills. The latest technology allows the thermostat to “learn” your weekly routine and comfort level so you don’t even have to program the thermostat.

2. Wireless Bluetooth headphones: Investing in surround systems for elevated sound and audio for entertainment isn’t something that every household needs, but it is a great idea when one or more of the residents is hard of hearing. Blasting your TV’s favorite show at high volumes can be extremely annoying to those around you so investing in headphones that offer comfort, sound quality, portability, and long lasting durability is the best option. With the improvement of hearing aid technology and the advancements in Bluetooth technology, anyone that’s hard of hearing at any age can enjoy their shows at volumes everyone can enjoy.

3. Front door video security system and an electric door strike: Know exactly who is at the door with a video security system. This type of system connects to a computer monitor, smartphone or tablet so you can see what’s going on in real time. With a telephone or intercom system, you can learn about a visitor’s intentions without opening the door. By installing an electric door strike, you no longer have to worry if you remembered to lock the door because it automatically locks. You then unlock the door with the push of a button, a fob or even your smartphone.

4. Lighting: Good lighting may help improve your quality of life because it can reduce some of the negative changes that aging eyes experience, according to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. Consider using lights with motion sensors in strategic places around your home, like bathrooms, garages and hallways.

5. Automated pet items: Automated pet items help make caring for your animal companion a no-brainer. Automatic feeders or pet dishes give your pet the perfect amount of food at the same time every day, so you don’t worry about cutting an evening short to feed her. Water bowls have also gone high-tech with fountain-like devices that have filters to keep the water fresh. If you have a cat that’s litter box-trained, consider a self-cleaning litter box. These litter boxes sense when a pet enters and leaves, and automatically scoop the waste into a dedicated bin.

While it’s not exactly “The Jetsons,” the futuristic homes that people once dreamed about are here today. When thinking about technologies to install in your home, keep in mind that the best investments are in devices that are user-friendly or worth your time to learn.

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10 Things to do Before the End of the Year (or later if you can't get it done now)

12/26/2014

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Three-fourths of people like making lists. Literally 3 of the 4 people I asked said they like making lists. Although obviously not very scientific, I think it’s probably true. If not ¾, then something close. After all, we love to read lists: the 10 celebrities who have royal blood; the 17 best colleges (the listmaker’s alma mater being number 17 of course); the 25 best songs you never heard of; the 10 smartest dogs (9 border collies and 1 poodle who grew up with border collies). Even my own books have lots and lots of lists. My publisher told me I had to include as many as I could. The comments I’ve gotten suggest that the publisher was right. People like lists.

So toward that end, I’m going to provide you with an end-of-year list. This one won’t be quite as frivolous as the ones you can read on the web. And there won’t be pretty pictures of celebrities, cats, or dogs. But I will venture to say that it’ll make life a lot easier for yourself and your loved ones. It may save you money and may get you a better night’s sleep.

The 10 Things You Should Do Before the End of the Year
(or after New Year’s if you can’t get it done sooner)

1.     Put together a rough itemization of where you spent your money this year. Deal with the big stuff first (mortgage/rent, debts, lattes, etc.) then look at one or two month’s expenditures on groceries, gas, and other expenses like that. Then add in the occasional purchase. Approximate, don’t calculate. And don’t think of it as a diet, it’s a guestimate.

2.     Figure out if you spent more than you received. Celebrate if you came out ahead, Think about what you can do differently if you spent more than your income.

3.     Contribute to your grandchild’s 529 plan (if there isn’t one, set one up). It’s easy to do and the reward is priceless. Plan to be around for your grandchild’s college graduation so you can see where that 529 money went.

4.     If you or your partner are approaching 70, talk to someone about the required minimum distributions you’ll have to take from your retirement accounts in the year you reach 70 ½. “Required” is the operative word here. The penalties for not doing so are steep.

5.     If you can, and you expect your income to go down next year, pay your January mortgage payment by December 31st. Then you’ll be able to deduct the mortgage interest from this year’s taxes. It may save you a few bucks.

6.     Add up all your assets. Yup, I really mean that. It’s not as hard as it sounds. In fact, it’s kind of fun. But also scary, rewarding, unsettling, and illuminating. Chances are if you have any money invested in the stock market, you’re probably ahead of where you were last year. That’ll make you feel good. I always like feeling good.

7.     Share this information with your partner. Make sure you both have a glass of your favorite beverages.

8.     Show your partner the budget you made up in step 1. If you’ve been adding to your assets and if you realize you’re spending less than your income, have a second glass of your favorite beverage. If you’re under water with spending, hold off on that second beverage.

9.     Take the number you came up with in step 6 (your total assets) and figure out how much it will grow at a return of 5% per year. If you’re still working, think about how long until you retire. Then figure out how much in assets you’ll have then. Doesn’t sound like enough, does it? Hmmm, so then you probably need to add to those assets now while you still have some income.

10. Show your partner the results you just got in step 9, that is, what you’ll be worth when you retire. If you’re one of the lucky ones, you’ll be able to nod your head and have a nice dinner to go along with that beverage. But if you’re like most of us, that number is gonna cause some headshaking. And a good, honest conversation with your partner about your future.

After all is said and done, enjoy your New Year’s Eve party. And enjoy spending time with friends and loved ones. Happy New Year.

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November 27th, 2014

11/27/2014

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Silver Architecture: A New Approach in Housing that Should Get Design Awards

11/3/2014

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I read an article in the Sunday, November 2, 2014 NY Times by Louise Aronson in which she lamented the fact that so many of our buildings were inappropriate for many seniors and disabled people, despite the advances and regulations in the Americans With Disabilities Act. Accompanying her ailing father, she soon realized that many of the buildings, while ADA-compliant, did “not ensure access or safety” for what she noted was a rapidly growing population.

My wife and I realized that years ago when we were dealing with our aging parents. We made do as so many still make do. But it wasn’t easy. Now that I have some difficulty with my own mobility, and I have a lower score on the Level of Activity Scale I designed for my book, AARP Roadmap for the Rest of Your Life, I realize how poorly our society has dealt with this issue of inaccessibility. As Ms. Aronson noted, “Just as green architecture and design came into being in response to the energy crisis of the late 1970s, we in the 21st century have to start creatively building to meet the challenges of our aging population. We need ‘silver’ architecture and design.”

What does she mean? She means, for example, having well-lit areas and doors that don’t take a great deal of strength to open. Nor requiring small keys that are hard to manipulate and fit into even smaller keyholes. She has other suggestions, much like those we find in many books about caring for older people—my own book included (Baby Boomer’s Guide to Caring for Aging Parents).

What Ms. Aronson and I both hope is that her article goes viral and leads to more developers, architects, and urban planners designing buildings and communities that are more accommodating to me and to those who need a bit more help than younger and healthier people. We both hope there are schools or architecture that offer programs in cooperation with geriatric programs and that some foundations set up awards for the most creative designs in silver architecture that meet the needs of residents who may not see, hear, or walk as well as some others. I’d love to not walk up stairs if I don’t have to—I’m not as steady as I am on ramps. I’d love to be in buildings that have adequate lighting and adequate seating. And please don’t make me walk the entire length of the Metro or subway platform to find the elevator! Especially when I have to walk back the other way again when I get to the street level.

As we Baby Boomers age, more of us are going to want silver architecture in our homes, businesses, and public areas. We’re already seeing and using more “smart” homes that take care of some of our needs. We have green buildings to help reduce our energy consumption. Now we need to focus our energy on encouraging more builders to come up with creative ways to handle our changing physical needs. We boomers have been instrumental in making lots of other significant changes. Maybe we can do this one too.

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What to Expect at Your First Hearing Appt.

9/24/2014

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Knowing what to expect at your first hearing aid test appointment will help you benchmark your expectations against the actual service you receive. Paul Harrison from Hearing Aid UK has had 15 years in the hearing aid industry and supports hearing aid users not only in the UK, but also the US and Australia. Today he offers his tips and advice to prepare you for that all important appointment.

First, when choosing an audiologist, make sure the person has the proper training and is certified by a government organization. He or she should be happy to tell you their experience and qualifications.

At your first appointment, before your hearing test begins, audiologists generally ask you a series of questions about your hearing and general health. They will need to know if there is a family history of hearing loss or if you have suffered an injury or illness which could have caused hearing damage. They will also ask some lifestyle questions to see if there are any activities such as swimming or going to concerts, which could be affecting your hearing.

They will check your ears for any signs of illness or infection which could be affecting your hearing using an otoscope. This is a small magnifying glass with a light on the end which lets the audiologist see down the ear canal and the eardrum. This should not hurt, and if you do feel any pain you should tell them immediately, an inflamed or sore ear canal is a sign of infection.

Your audiologist will carry out a series of hearing tests, these will determine the level of hearing loss you have as well as whether your hearing loss is conductive (due to a blockage or damage to the ear preventing sound from getting through to the inner ear) or sensorineural (due to nerve damage in the inner ear)

During the hearing test, tones of different frequencies will be played to you through headphones. When you hear the sound you will be asked to either press a button or raise your hand. To test how well you hear in noise, a rushing sound will be played alongside the tones. Two sets of headphones will be used during the hearing test. One set will fit over your ears. A different set will be placed on the bone either behind or in front of your ears. This is a bone conduction test to see how well the nerves in your inner ear are working.

If there is a difference in results between the headphones on ears test and the bone conduction test then you may have conductive hearing loss. This means that the nerves are working well but something is preventing the sound from getting though. This could be caused by a build up of wax or a damaged eardrum. You may be sent for a CT scan or an MRI to clarify what the problem is.

If both results are the same, the hearing loss is likely to be due to nerve damage or natural nerve cell death as part of the aging process.

The results of the test will be plotted on a chart called an audiogram. This will show the frequencies or pitches in Hertz (Hz) that you can hear, and how loud in decibels (dB) the sound has to be before you can hear it, these are your hearing thresholds.

Ask your audiologist to go through your audiogram with you, if you do have hearing loss they will be able to tell you whether it is mild, moderate or more severe. Your level of hearing loss could determine the style of hearing aid you can use. Some hearing aids have programs specially designed for high frequency loss called sound compression, which lower the sounds and bring them within an audible range. Others have lots of channels to process each sound and make it clearer. Talk to your audiologist about which programs would work the best for you and your lifestyle. Ask for a copy of your audiogram for your own records.

Your audiologist will talk to you about the types of hearing aids which are suitable for your hearing loss. They may even have a sample one which you can try out. Some of the very small, invisible in canal styles are unsuitable for those with severe and profound hearing loss. The smaller invisible styles are also less likely to have certain features due to their size, such as directional microphones, so check with your audiologist whether the features you want are available in the styles which you prefer.

Depending on the style of hearing aid you choose, you may need to have a mold made of your ear. The hearing aid specialist will make a mold of your ear using soft putty. This may be just the outer shell of your ear if you are having a larger style, or they will put the putty further into your ear canal for the smaller styles. While this may feel very strange it won’t hurt and only takes a few minutes.

If your ear canal is very narrow or small you may not be able to wear the smaller, invisible in the ear styles.

If you are having a mold made, you will need to make another appointment for a fitting. If you are having a behind the ear style with an open fitting you may not need to wait.

When your hearing aids are fitted for the first time everything may sound too loud and uncomfortable. This is perfectly normal. Your audiologist will program the hearing aids to compensate for your level of hearing loss. If you have been without good hearing for a while, it may take a little time to adjust to normal hearing levels again, so you need to make sure that you wear them as much as possible.

Ask your audiologist to go through the program settings with you, some hearing aids come with a remote control so you don’t need to fiddle around with buttons or dials. It may also feel very odd having something in your ear, although this will soon pass. If it is very uncomfortable, tell your audiologist, you may not have put it in correctly and they can help you to adjust it.

Book a follow up appointment with your audiologist so they can see how you are getting on with your new hearing aids, and resolve any issues which arise in the first few weeks.

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August 14th, 2014

8/14/2014

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No Matter How Smart You Are about Something, Someone is Always Smarter

6/17/2014

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Raul Valdes-Perez conducted a webinar about his book, Advice is for Winners: How to Get Advice for Better Decisions in Life and Work. Raul is a fellow Carnegie Mellon University alum and the University sponsored the event. Raul is a very successful—and smart—man. He talked about how getting advice is what winners do, and he went into the various reasons people do not seek advice. Yeah, it’s true that many men don’t ask for directions because it’s less “manly.” But read his book to learn about many other reasons. In the webinar two lines that really struck me that he spoke of. The first is, “No matter how smart you are about an issue, someone is always smarter.” And the second, somewhat of a corollary, and I’m paraphrasing here, “You can learn from someone who knows less than you do.”

Both of these seem obvious. And I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t just say, “Duh!” when hearing that. But what’s amazing is how often we aging baby boomers don’t seek others' advice, often when we don’t think the other person has anything to offer. And, similarly, when we do ask, we pay so little attention to that advice. Sure, we give it lip service and thank the person. But you and I all know that more often than not we barely hear what the other person said. Most of the time we already have our minds made up if we’re making a decision. We may not articulate it. But as soon as the words come out of the other person’s mouth you know that you already had decided. If the advice given is the opposite of what you were planning, you almost immediately start to rebut, poised for the attack. If the advice is supporting your decision, you right away say, “Hey, you’re right.” So why did we bother asking? That’s the million dollar question.

This reminds me of when, years ago, I was getting set to watch a football game on TV between the NY Giants, the team I had grown up rooting for, and the San Francisco 49ers, the team I had adopted after years of living in the Bay Area. When asked which team I wanted to win I said, “I’m not sure.” And I honestly thought I wasn’t sure.

The ball was kicked off and immediately my body started moving with the Giants’ kick return specialist, trying to dodge the defense. It was pretty clear to me who I was rooting for. But if I had just stopped to think, and not waited for my body language to spill the beans I would have realized how obvious it was. I wasn’t going to throw away decades of cheering on a team for a few years of living in a different area.

So the same can be said of seeking advice. The question is, are you really seeking advice or are you simply looking for confirmation?

I’ve gotten a bit wiser with age, just as my parents said I would (damn them for being right!). So while my wife might disagree, I do seek advice more now—maybe not directions, but then again, who needs it with our smart phones and GPS. Equally important, when I seek that advice, I listen. And, perhaps most important, my mind is not already made up. I’m not seeking validation.

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If Something's Not Impossible, There Must be a Way of Doing it!

5/1/2014

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In the “60 Minutes” broadcast on April 27, 2014, Bob Simon reported on how Nicholas Winton helped save hundreds of mostly Jewish children from Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia on the eve of World War II, a story that came to light 50 years later. Even the children he saved did not know about him.

The story is a fascinating tale about a person managing to do something against extraordinary odds. What’s particularly amazing is that this now 104 year old set out with absolutely no experience or idea about what to do. But he went to Prague to see if he could save some people. When Bob Simon asked him what made him think he could do it, he responded, “I work on the motto that if something’s not impossible, there must be a way of doing it.”

Isn’t that one of the most inspiring lines you’ve ever read? Doesn’t that bring to mind visionaries like Steve Jobs? Nelson Mandela? Martin Luther King, Jr.? But does it also bring to mind you, in your own small way? What problems do you have for which there is no apparent solution? Is the problem unsolvable? Not likely. So then, since it’s not impossible, there must be a way of doing it. If it’s physically possible, then by golly, there’s a glimmer of a chance that you can come up with a solution.

Steve Jobs liked to say that he didn’t want to provide something that people wanted, he wanted to invent something that people didn’t know they wanted until they saw it. Did anyone have any idea that we really, really wanted to be able to walk around listening to our digital music on our iPods? Jobs did and he came up with a way. He came up with many other ideas that we treasure now.

Sir Nicholas Winton was dedicated to that same principle. And the result is that 669 children escaped Nazi Germany. He didn’t do the impossible. He simply found a way, perhaps the only way, to make it happen.

What’s stopping you from overcoming what seems impossible? You may not save hundreds of children, you may not come up with the iPod, smart phone, iPad, etc. But you may just break through a barrier that you thought was impenetrable. Go for it.

Click here to see the “60 Minutes” show or read the transcript.

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April 18th, 2014

4/18/2014

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Stress Busters - for an Instant Hit of Relaxation

3/18/2014

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When talking to friends who are active gym users and who also like to get some exercise in the outdoors on weekends, I’m amazed at how many times they tell of their latest muscle strain or minor ailment. They usually admit either that they have not warmed up properly or have not taken the time for proper relaxation or recuperation between exercise sessions. Those two steps are critical in any kind of exercise routine, and are especially important for those who are 50+. As always, I issue this warning: if you haven’t been active in a while, you should check with your medical team before jumping in.

But in addition to the standard methods of helping us get those muscles to unwind and give us a little reprieve from our aching bodies, there are some innovations in the products available that are extremely effective helping folks prepare for and recover from strenuous exercise.

The first product is a heated seat and back massager. This device effectively gives you the equivalent of a full back massage to the upper back and shoulders even reaching to the lower back and hips. Most of the devices have settings to choose from and the option of heat can give relief to the normal aches and pains associated with a little too much exercise or work related strains.

The motors on some of the massagers can create different waves of massaging pulses controlled by a hand-held remote so as a user you can choose what setting feels right for you.

Another great idea is to invest in a circulation booster. This gadget has electrode pads and allows you to sit back and enjoy a heat and muscle stimulation experience that gets the blood flowing, rejuvenating tired muscles and aiding a faster tissue recovery.

Circulation boosters come in a range of models and at varying price points but they all do pretty much the same thing: they use “Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation (T.E.N.S.) body pads that send pulses of gentle electrical stimulation to the muscles. By placing the pads at different parts of the body a wide range of areas can be targeted for relief.

The devices are controlled via a remote control device so you can adjust the level of intensity to your preferred setting. One thing to bear in mind with circulation boosters is they are not suitable for users with pace makers, pregnant or those with epilepsy.

Another great idea, just for some gentle exercising in-between your other activities is a pedal exerciser. Not to be confused with a normal exercise bike, the pedal exerciser gives a gentle workout and stretch to the arms or lower limbs. The pedal mechanism can be fitted to a table or can be used on the floor from a seated position. The benefits of using a pedal exerciser are that you are getting a passive exercise that can ease aches and minor knocks and injuries. Also, you can be doing this activity while watching TV or reading. Safe, low impact and able to be transported anywhere, a pedal exerciser is an inexpensive way of keeping your muscles active, even during recuperation, and can be used for an easy cool-down or warm-up.

These are just three particular products that can help you keep in top shape either in addition to your gym sessions, or just for general wellbeing. When searching the web for products such as these, you’ll find that Googling mobility and healthcare products will take you to firms selling products geared for those with disabilities. Most of these companies also offer the kind of exercise equipment discussed here. By adding the word “exercise” to your search you’ll find many more products used to help you keep fit.

This post was written by MobilitySmart director Andrew Atkinson. Mobility Smart is a UK based online retailer of mobility and healthcare products.

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