Pet ownership is well known to have some great benefits. These benefits include companionship, reduced stress, lower blood pressure, and increased physical activity for older adults.

However, there is a troublesome aspect to pet ownership. And that is a fall risk.

Friends Life Care is proud to have a committee of industry professionals dedicated to reducing falls within our member community. As part of this, the committee has assessed our members’ most lovable, furry risk factors.
Pets Can Increase Risk of Falls
The CDC’s National Center for Injury Prevention and …

Research shows that there are many benefits to mindfulness. This is true for people of any age, including aging adults.  From lowering stress and anxiety to coping better with everyday challenges of life, mindfulness can have a positive impact on your wellbeing. The idea is to be present in the here and now rather than ruminating about the past or fretting about the future.
Practicing Mindfulness Through Meditation
One way to practice mindfulness is through a grounding meditation technique.   This simple approach can connect us with the experience of our body and what …

Self-care is any activity you perform that helps you maintain and improve your own well-being.  When I speak with clients, I often use the analogy of a mug full of tea.  You start off with a full mug and then you may pour some to your grandchildren, to your volunteer activities, to a parishioner at your church.  By the end of the day, your mug is empty, and it needs to be filled back up.  Self-care helps us do that.

One of the best ways to start a self-care plan is to focus in on the dimensions of wellness.  These dimensions are: physical, intellectual, emotional, s…

Older adults can make 2022 even better by following – and perhaps even falling in love with – some of the biggest wellness trends this year.

And one of the best things about wellness is you can focus on one, several or all areas of it.

Wellness covers a lot of ground – physical, social, intellectual, financial, spiritual, emotional and occupational. Some areas might be more important than others to you now, as the pandemic still lingers on. And other areas might be more important as the year – or years – goes by.

What’s important, is to focus on wellness trends tha…

Have you ever thought about adult development?

You probably spent a lot years developing yourself to be better in your profession, marriage and hobbies.

But did you ever try to be a better adult?

It’s something to consider as you age in place. And it’s something retired Harvard researcher and professor Dr. Robert Kegan thought about quite a bit – and eventually created the Theory of Adult Development. Technically, it’s the “evolution of consciousness, the personal unfolding of ways of organizing experience that are not simply replaced as we grow but subsumed into m…