Daily Links

Empathy Without Boundaries (new York Times blog from June) – I thought this relevant given the recent disturbing images seen in the Peterborough Long Term Care case.

Excerpt: “We have to be very aware of our body language — being centered, present, not being distracted — when we’re with someone with dementia,” he said. “If we’re not, they’ll pick up on it and it will begin to shut them down.”

“If we are calm, we can bring people with dementia to a calm place,” he said. “And if we are anxious, we can amp people up.”

Also, recognizing that people with dementia live in a world suffused with emotion can help caregivers understand the importance of identifying feelings that may underlie a patient’s behavior and respond to those, meeting needs that someone is no longer able to express directly.”

Also on a more positive side:

Brain-training video games may help reverse cognitive decline in old age (Guardian UK)…and the research

Study Finds Brain Training Enhances Brain Health of Adults Over 50 (PR Newswire)

And some more detailed analysis

Breakthrough discerns normal memory loss from disease (Cornell University)

Neural Mechanisms of Brain Plasticity with Complex Cognitive Training in Healthy Seniors (Cerebral Cortex) –

Clearly there is a lot of room for pushing the boundaries of healthy aging……