10 reasons seniors can’t or won’t give up their stuff and what to do about it.

1. THE SENTIMENTAL ATTACHMENT. The beloved prom dress represents the history and memories of the event; it’s not the dress itself. Save only a piece of the dress to make a quilt or display in a shadow box. Scrapbooking and converting photos to DVDs are other ways to save treasured keepsakes without all the extra mess.

2. THE SENSE OF LOYALTY. Older adults who’ve received gifts from family and friends may be reluctant to part with them. Encourage your loved one to give unused gifts back to the giver or grandchildren.

3. THE NEED TO CONSERVE. Seniors are the original green people. Appeal to a senior’s desire to help others.“You went through the Great Depression, now it’s time for you to let go and help someone else.” Counter a senior’s inclination to conserve by appealing to their desire to give back.

4. THE FATIGUE. A home with a lifetime of memories can easily become too much for an older adult to handle.Help seniors manage clutter by establishing online bill paying. Also, get your senior off junk mail lists, which can put them at risk for identity theft, and buy them a shredder.

5. THE CHANGE IN HEALTH. Seniors who have suffered a brain trauma or stroke, who are wheelchair bound or who are experiencing dementia may no longer be able to manage household duties, which could contribute to clutter. If you see a health change, encourage your senior to visit his or her doctor and consider a professional organizer and caregiver to help your loved one.

6. THE FEAR. Seniors often fear what will happen if they give up their stuff, like the older adult who saved three generations of bank statements. Use logic and information to help seniors understand it’s O.K. to let go.

7. THE DREAM OF THE FUTURE. Those clothes in the closet don’t fit anymore, but your loved one is sure that some day she’ll lose enough weight to get into them. Ask seniors to fill a box with clothing they don’t wear much and make a list of the items in the box. Agree that if they have not gone back to the box in six months to wear the item, they will donate that to charity.

8. THE LOVE OF SHOPPING. Today’s seniors have more money than any other previous generation of older adults and they love to shop. Clutter can become so bad seniors can’t find things and they repurchase items they already have, contributing to the clutter cycle. Try to convince seniors to cut back and to say “no” to free stuff.

9. THE HISTORY AND MEMORIES. Keepsakes represent history and memories. Encourage seniors to take old photos to a family reunion and share with several generations. Let seniors know they can contribute to the history of their time and leave a lasting legacy by donating to museums and historical societies, a theater and library, or churches and synagogues.

10. THE LONELINESS. Stuff can become a misplaced companion. Loneliness may also lead to depression, which makes it difficult for seniors to get organized. Consider the services of a professional organizer and caregiver. For more information, go to the National Association of Professional Organizers at www.napo.net, or visit www.seniorsbayarea.com

Dementia Updates with Teepa Snow

Teepa Snow is a dementia expert who trains and consults for healthcare professionals and families privately. As a certified Occupational Therapist, Teepa has the unique medical perspective on how the brain controls our body and our behaviors giving her the perfect medical degree to explain how a brain disease like dementia affects a person. Teepa Snow is a dementia expert who trains and consults for healthcare professionals and families privately.

Teepa has extensive experience as the key note speaker at dementia conferences, presenting single sessions to small groups, as well as all day in-depth trainings. All of her lectures are CEU worthy and can be presented privately with a consultation to a healthcare facility or publicly for local area professionals and family caregivers.

Below are the presentation documents from the event in PDF format.


Teepa Snow - Bathing.pdf


Teepa Snow - Building Skill handouts.pdf


Teepa Snow - Challenging Behaviors.pdf


Teepa Snow - Changing Challenging Behaviors forms.pdf


Teepa Snow - Gems of Caregiving.pdf


Teepa Snow - Why do they do that.pdf

Mental lapses among older people occur more often in those developing Alzheimer’s disease than in their healthy peers, according to new research.

Cognitive fluctuations like excessive daytime sleepiness, staring into space and disorganized or illogical thinking are mental fluctuations that often precede Alzheimer’s, say researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

"If you have these lapses, they don't by themselves mean that you have Alzheimer's," says senior author James Galvin. "Such lapses do occur in healthy older adults. But our results suggest that they are something your doctor needs to consider if he or she is evaluating you for problems with thinking and memory."

Researchers evaluated more than 500 older adults with memory problems. They were given standard tests of thinking and memory skills, and researchers interviewed participants and family members.

Those with mental lapses were 4.6 times more likely to be diagnosed with Alzheimer's. Of 216 diagnosed with very mild or mild dementia, 25 had mental lapses; of the 295 with no dementia, only two had mental lapses.

Galvin said further study is needed to determine the best way to include mental lapses in diagnostic procedures for Alzheimer's.

Exercise May Prevent Mental Decline for Seniors

Two new studies suggest that exercise may help prevent and improve mild cognitive impairment. Researchers found that people who did moderate physical activity in midlife or later had a reduced risk of mild cognitive impairment, and that six months of high-intensity aerobic exercise improved cognitive function in people with mild impairment.

In one study, 1,324 dementia-free volunteers taking part in the Mayo Clinic Study of Aging completed a physical exercise questionnaire and were assessed as having normal cognition or mild cognitive impairment. Mild cognitive impairment is an in-between state between the normal changes in thinking, learning and memory that come with age and dementia.

Those who said they did moderate exercise, such as swimming, brisk walking, yoga, aerobics or strength training, were 39 percent less likely to have cognitive impairment.

According to a report in Health Day, Mayo researchers said exercise may guard against mild cognitive impairment through production of nerve-protecting compounds, increased blood flow to the brain, improved development and survival or neurons, and decreased risk of heart and blood vessel diseases.

The second study included adults with an average age of 70 who had mild cognitive impairment. They were randomly assigned to do high-intensity aerobics or to a control group that did stretching exercises and kept their heart rate low. After six months, those in the high-intensity group had improved cognitive function compared to those in the control group.