My Journey With Health And Fitness – Learning From Others

This morning I tried a new workout video. While it was a little less cardio than what I would have liked, it was probably the most fun out of all the ones I have tried. I liked it because they warned what the next steps would be and taught you them at 1/2 speed before doing the full moves. As tomorrow is likely the last morning I need to do a video workout (the new treadmill arrives sometime tomorrow so note that Thursday’s blog will be all about the new toy) and I think I will do that one again.

Today was my bi-weekly volunteer gig where I facilitate a caregivers’ support group. These sessions have at times been brutal as I recognize how difficult it must be for so many of these people dealing with their partners who have dementia. But it has also been a huge learning opportunity for me as to what dementia can look like and how it can be handled. More importantly, what resources are available.

What I have learned about dementia is there is no normal. Often times one of the participants will say, my partner did this, is that normal. Well, it is normal for them. Yes there are certain traits that tend to appear with many forms of dementia but it is so individualized. I also learned that sometimes dementia is used as a catchall phrase. It actually is an umbrella term for the loss of cognitive functioning – thinking, remembering and reasoning. There are many forms of dementia such as Alzheimer’s, Frontotemporal, Lewy Body, Vascular and mixed dementia which is a combination of two or more forms of dementia. Each has its own causes such as different protein buildups in the brain. However, it seems to me that most people touched by any of these just simply refer to it as dementia.

While obtaining help in caring for people with dementia can have its own challenges, help is out there. But what I have learned from my group is that they are so reluctant to use all of the help available. I think this is often because they feel the need to take care of their loved one as they know them better with everyone else. The problem is the person suffering from dementia needs to be registered in the system so that if there is suddenly an issue they are not delayed by the intake process. And, I think people need to be encouraged with the idea that accepting help is ok and takes nothing away from your committed support.

Today was probably one of the best sessions I have facilitated for this group. As always there were several heavy topics that were discussed and at the beginning of the session many emotions were basically analyzed. But then something happened, the discussion turned really light. For about 20 minutes at the end the talk was about walking pets, COVID weight gain, cracking jokes at ourselves and finally to cooking appliances. Seriously, there was a big discussion on the merits of the air fryer. This was the first time in any session I have been involved in that everyone seemed to walk out with a smile and saying how good they felt. Made me feel like I had just made a difference.