10A • COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL • JULY 18, 2018
Senior
News
Line
By Matilda Charles
Summer Activities Close to Home
Seniors’ senses of smell and
taste change with age
Forgetfulness can affect anyone. For ex-
ample, few, if any, adults can say they have
not experienced moments when they could
not fi nd their keys. And once the keys are
found, people move on without giving
much thought to why they did not immedi-
ately remember where they left their keys.
Isolated incidents where people cannot
recall where they placed their car keys or
other minor bouts with forgetfulness do not
occur by accident.
In fact, the Harvard Medical School notes
that they are likely byproducts of age-relat-
ed changes in thinking skills. When people
reach their 50s, chemical and structural
changes in the brain may begin to occur,
and these changes can affect a person’s
ability to process memories.
Father Time may be a formidable foe, but
people can take steps to give their memo-
ries a boost as they get older.
• Embrace recognition instead of trusting
recall. Dr. Joel Salinas, a neurologist who
specializes in behavioral neurology and
neuropsychiatry at Massachusetts General
Hospital, notes that human beings are bet-
ter at recognition than recall. That means
people are more likely to remember some-
thing they read, such as a note or a list,
than something they’re simply told.
• Recognize the value of repetition. The
Harvard Medical School notes that people
might be more inclined to remember
what they hear if they repeat it out loud.
Names and addresses might be more easily
remembered after they’re repeated out loud
because repetition increases the likelihood
that the brain will record the information
and be capable of retrieving it later. When
studying for exams, many students repeat
important points to themselves time and
again, and that same approach can be ap-
plied by adults who are trying to improve
their memories.
• Eat a healthy diet. A study published in
2015 in the journal Neurology found that
people who eat healthy diets with lots of
fruits, vegetables, nuts, and fi sh and little
alcohol and red meat may be less likely to
experience declines in their memory and
thinking skills. Authored by Andrew Smyth
of McMaster University in Ontario and the
National University of Ireland in Galway,
the study following more than 27,000
people in 40 countries for an average of
roughly fi ve years. All participants were
55 and older and had diabetes or a history
of heart disease, stroke or peripheral artery
disease. Those who ate the healthiest diets
were 24 percent less likely to experience
cognitive decline than people with the least
healthy diets.
• Break things down. Breaking things
down into small chunks also can help
improve memory. If tasked with remem-
bering something extensive, such as a
speech, focus on a single sentence at a
time, only moving on to the next sentence
when you’re confi dent you have success-
fully committed the preceding sentence to
memory.
Periodic memory lapses are often nothing
to worry about. Men and women concerned
about maintaining their memories can em-
ploy various strategies to do just that.
The various types of arthritis
Arthritis affects hundreds of millions
of people across the globe. The Arthritis
Foundation® notes that more than 50
million adults in the United States have
some type of arthritis, while the European
League Against Rheumatism estimates
that rheumatic diseases such as rheuma-
toid arthritis affect more than 120 million
people in the European Union. In Canada,
the Canadian Community Health Survey
found that 16 percent of Canadians age 15
and older were affected by arthritis.
The Arthritis Foundation notes that
arthritis is not a single disease. In fact, the
word “arthritis” is something of an umbrel-
la term and an informal way of referring
to joint pain or joint disease. While these
conditions may produce some common
symptoms, such as swelling, pain and stiff-
ness, learning to distinguish between some
common types of arthritis can help men
and women manage their conditions more
effectively.
Osteoarthritis
Osteoarthritis, which is sometimes
referred to as “degenerative joint disease”
or “OA,” is the most common chronic
condition of the joints. The symptoms of
OA vary depending on the joints that are
affected, but pain and stiffness, especially
fi rst thing in the morning or after resting,
are common. OA can affect the hips, knees,
fi ngers, or feet, and those with OA may feel
limited range of motion in their affected
areas. Some with OA may hear clicking or
cracking sounds when the affected joints
bend, and pain associated with OA may be
more intense after activity or toward the
end of the day.
Infl ammatory arthritis
Infl ammatory arthritis occurs when
the immune system, which can employ
infl ammation to fi ght infection and prevent
disease, mistakenly attacks the joints with
uncontrolled infl ammation. Such a mistake
can contribute to joint erosion and even
organ damage. Psoriatic arthritis, which the
Arthritis Foundation notes affects roughly
30 percent of people with psoriasis, and
rheumatoid arthritis are two examples of
infl ammatory arthritis. Genetics and envi-
ronmental factors, such as smoking, may
trigger instances of infl ammatory arthritis.
through a puncture wound near the joint or
during surgery near the joint. Intense swell-
ing and pain, typically in a single joint, are
the most common symptoms of infectious
arthritis, which is most likely to affect the
knee, though it can affect the hips, ankles
and wrists. Some people with infection ar-
thritis may also experience fever and chills.
Metabolic arthritis
The body produces uric acid to break
down purines, a substance found in many
foods and in human cells. But some people
produce more uric acid than they need,
which they then struggle to get rid of
quickly. As a result, uric acid can build
up. The Arthritis Foundation notes that
this buildup can lead to the formation of
needle-like crystals in the joints that cause
sudden spikes of extreme pain.
Arthritis can affect people of any age,
race or gender. More information about
the various types of arthritis is available at
www.arthritis.org.
Infectious arthritis
Bacterium, a virus or a fungus that enters
the joint may trigger infl ammation and lead
to infection arthritis. The Arthritis Founda-
tion notes that the most common bacteria
to cause infection
arthritis is staphylo-
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After a long winter that kept
many of us indoors, summer is
finally here. Let’s take advantage
of it and be out and about! All
of these ideas involve the coop-
eration of others.
•Ask at the library about start-
ing a seniors’ nostalgia book
club in the evening. Read books
that you read many years ago
and talk about whether your
opinions have changed. Find
out if the library can show old
movies that you haven’t seen in
years. Consider making these
grandparent/grandchild nights.
On that same theme, look into
craft nights with your grand-
children at the library. Offer to
volunteer during the week in
exchange, perhaps teaching a
small class on one of your skills.
•See if a local coffee shop is
willing to let a group meet one
morning a week. Ask for volun-
teer speakers from community
businesses.
•Check in with your local
senior center and see what’s
on the schedule. Group field
trips can take you to interesting
places, generally by bus, so you
don’t even have to drive.
If they don’t have activities that
interest you, make a suggestion,
or better yet, volunteer to lead a
group to plant flowers or paint
some rooms. Organize a bar-
becue in the parking lot, or an
early-morning walk or a picnic
at a local park.
•Do you have a community
pool? Ask about opening it one
morning per week for seniors
only. Is there a college pool
nearby that might do the same?
How about a small group mu-
sic-lesson series at the college?
•Will a local bookstore offer
discounted coffee and snacks
in their coffee shop if you meet
there once a week?
Sometimes all you need to do
is ask, and local businesses and
organizations would be happy
to have you.
Mastered Cellphone?
Step Up to Tablet
What do you buy after you have
your cellphone but you’re not
ready for a full-size computer?
Chances are a tablet would be a
good next step.
Tablets are like oversized
cellphones in their capabilities,
only better. With tablets you
can check mail, watch videos,
make a grocery list, share
pictures, check the weather,
play games and look around
the Internet. Some tablets have
drawing capabilities with a
special pen.
If you have Wi-Fi in your
house, a tablet can connect to
it without incurring additional
fees to connect to the phone
carrier.
Tablets are portable, easier to
tote around. If you want to take
your tablet out to lunch and
read online news while you eat,
assuming the restaurant has
Wi-Fi, you can do that. If you
have a reading app for books
you’ve downloaded, you don’t
even need the Wi-Fi.
Chances are a tablet won’t come
with a keyboard, unless you get
one fancy enough to attach to a
Bluetooth keyboard. Otherwise
you’ll type right on the screen.
You won’t need a mouse.
How to pick out a tablet:
* Try to sample different types
in stores, such as Apple iPads
and Android, and the various
sizes. The 9.7- to 10.1-inch
display sizes are a good place to
start; the 12-inch models can be
heavy.
* Read the reviews online.
You’ll care about battery life,
weight, price and ease of typing.
Don’t forget to add in the cost
of any extra goodies you want,
like the drawing pen if your
tablet can use it, and a new
case. (I recommend the Speck
Balance Folio, for the sturdiness
and the locking cover that pro-
tects the glass front. See them
at www.speckproducts.com.)
If you enjoy playing music,
investigate the cost of Bluetooth
speakers.
Secret Shopper Scams
Old scams don’t go away, and
one of the scams that has come
around again is the secret
shopper scam. Most people like
shopping, and if someone offers
payment for it, many of us will
try it. After all, it sounds like
fun.
Secret shoppers often are hired
by legitimate companies to visit
one of their stores and make a
purchase. Afterward you make
a report on things like cleanli-
ness, pricing, employee attitude
and more. In response you
might get either a free gift or a
cash payment.
When it comes to scams, how-
ever, you’re given the payment
first. You’ll be sent a check
and will be told to cash it, and
then go shopping immediately.
You’ll likely be told to “test” the
service at the Western Union
desk, or whatever location
will transfer money. You’ll be
instructed to test the system by
sending the money you’ve just
received when you cashed the
check. What you won’t find out
for a long time is that the check
you cashed is no good. You
used your own money to send
a wire transfer, and you’ll never
get that money back.
Or you might be told to use
the cash to buy a handful of
gift cards. Again the check will
bounce and you’ll end up out of
pocket for all that money.
Warnings: If you’re ever asked
to cash a check and send some-
one else the money, it’s a scam.
Don’t ever pay to sign up as a
secret shopper, even to buy a
so-called directory. And don’t
fall for the certification fraud
-- you don’t need a certificate to
do secret shopping.
If you’re interested in having
a legitimate part-time job as
a secret shopper, go online to
mysteryshop.org to search their
database of legitimate compa-
nies. Read more at the www.
consumer.ftc.gov website about
secret shopping scams.
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