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Southfield, Michigan 48033-7496

 

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Presbyterian Villages of Michigan is committed to serving seniors and communities. It’s our goal to be a first-line provider of resources, including information. Aging should be an adventure, not a scary trip!

In the PVM Blog, the experts at PVM will regularly publish articles and information. Topics may range from smart ways to age in place in your long-time home, to tips on how to shop for a senior community. We will have articles on transportation, wellness, nutrition, technology, activities, outlook-on-life, and more.

Please let us know your ideas for topics and comments on our articles. We succeed as seniors in our community have the best Aging Adventure!

The summer is saying goodbye to us. Boaters are taking their last cruises. Others are getting ready to place their patio furniture in storage. Our children and grandchildren are headed back to school. Even years after we graduate from school we sense invigoration and new beginnings in the air.

In last month’s column I shared that due to some minor repair work I spent a little over a week without a car, yet still had things to do and places to be. Heeding the advice of my daughter’s boyfriend, I decided to look for apps I could download onto my smartphone that would help address this dilemma.

Over the years our Girl Scout and Boy Scout leaders as well as teachers and parents have told us to BE PREPARED. This advice takes on new meaning when we prepare others for the inevitable time when we will pass away and leave the responsibility of handling our affairs over to our loved ones. When we go not prepare we can inadvertently cause much consternation and difficulty for those left behind.

Recently I experienced good karma in a way which affirms my belief in caring about others. My grandma was right when she used to say: "What goes around comes around." I have witnessed this phenomena in many ways over the years. In my recent experience I was attending an annual meeting with an organization still somewhat new to me; and more than several attendees reached out to me in an intentional manner to include me and make me feel welcome. I am usually that person that notices when a fellow human being needs to be welcomed so this was a gratifying experience for me.

In December, I introduced you to MESH. It’s an acronym that stands for Move, Eat, Sleep, Heal and is what renowned geriatrician Dr. Bill Thomas refers to as the key to healthy aging. According to Dr. Thomas, neglecting to do any one of these things can negatively impact our health. This month we will focus on the “S” (sleep).

According to Dr. Thomas, we shouldn’t accept unrestful, unsatisfactory sleep as a natural consequence of aging, because it’s not.

Everyone needs sleep. Sleep is nature’s way for us to recharge. While we sleep, our bodies repair the damage done to our cells during the day; our brains reset their connections that enhance memory and learning; and our immune systems release substances that fight disease and infection. Without quality sleep, our bodies won’t adequately heal; our memories and thinking will suffer; and we will become much more likely to get sick.