- April 18, 2024
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When it comes to exercise, anything is better than nothing. But don't just exercise your body, doctors say; exercise your mind.
BY WAYNE GRANT | STAFF WRITER
Maintaining good health is more important than ever as people get older. And as parents grow older, many sons and daughters find themselves wondering how they can help.
There’s one key thing to keep the older person healthy, according to Virginia LeBeau, of Ormond Beach, who operated an assisted-living facility in the area for about 35 years.
“Keep them happy,” she said. “They will eat anything you ask them to eat; they will take their medicine, exercise.”
LeBeau, 82, after a lifetime of running an assisted-living facility, is currently rehabbing at Avante at Ormond Beach, a skilled nursing facility, after a heart condition.
“After running assisted living all my life, now I’m a resident,” she said with a smile. After being released, she will go to live with her daughter Sandra LeBeau-Davis,
LeBeau-Davis, who worked with her mother at the assisted-living home while growing up, agrees with the mental aspect of health.
“The best thing you can do is talk,” she said. “They love to tell their stories and I love to talk to older people. They are so interesting."
LeBeau sold her nursing home several years ago and said she misses the residents.
“I loved my career,” she said. “I loved the old people … hearing about things that happened 70 years ago.”
Keeping up a person’s spirits also involves helping them look good, LeBeau said. She said she always had a hair dresser on staff.
“If you look good, you feel good,” she said.
Besides keeping a good attitude, getting out and socializing is also necessary for a senior’s health. LeBeau said she always took her residents on trips.
“We took them out in a bus and did wonderful things,” she said. “A day out is huge.”
Dr. Andrew Niewald, a family physician at Florida Hospital Memorial Medical Center, in Daytona Beach, agrees on the importance of feeling like a part of the world.
‘Socialization may be just getting out of the house to go out to eat or going shopping,” he said. “If there’s no interaction, it could lead to depression.”
He said the elderly can fall into a downward spiral. If they don’t feel good, they don’t want to exercise, and if they don’t exercise, their health declines further.
“It begins to feed on itself,” he said. “I see this often. People retire and become sedentary. People who do well in retirement keep active and keep their weight down.”
Exercise, though, should be individually designed.
“Some people have physical impairments,” he said. “Just some hand weights are good if that’s all they can do. Any kind of exercise is better than nothing.”
He also cautioned that many elderly people have a danger of falling, which must be taken into account.
As people get older, Dr. Niewald said, the focus changes from prevention to keeping the person healthy “here and now.” The doctor looks less “down the road” and more at treating current ailments.
“At the age of 75, the prevention stuff is phased out,” he said. “We look at problems as they come up.”
That is why when an older person goes to the doctor, it’s important to talk about the patient’s complaints so the doctor can deal with it.
Another important thing for the older patient is to watch for changes.
“If there is weight loss or lack of sleep, go in to see the doctor,” Niewald said. “Sometimes people think they are getting Alzheimer’s and it turns to be depression.”
Mind stimulation is also important, Dr. Niewald said.
“Work puzzles, games, anything,” he said. Even conversation can be enough to stimulate, he added.
He said people should not look at their age, but rather how they feel.
“I have patients in their 90s who are active and people in their 60s who are sedentary,” he said.
LeBeau-Davis, who now works at Grand Villa of Ormond, said as a parent gets older, the children need to start thinking about the future for when the parent needs more care.
She said if the parent cannot remain at home, the children should be aware that rules that determine whether a person can go to assisted living or skilled-nursing clinics are always changing, so they should educate themselves on the current guidelines.
