Alzheimer’s Caregiving – Rummaging Behavior

Dignity Care - Alzheimer’s Caregiving – Rummaging Behavior

Rummaging and hoarding are common behaviors associated with Alzheimer’s disease.  Although these actions may seem random and meaningless to the frustrated caregiver, rummaging actually serves a purpose in the middle stages of dementia. You won’t be able to stop the behavior but understanding what’s behind it may make it easier for you to cope with it.

I found a great description of what is happening on the blog The Dementia Queen.

Senior Hoarding and Rummaging

“In the middle stages, rummaging is largely a coping mechanism for language deficits and the need to be repetitive.  Once speech and comprehension skills decline, a person in the middle stages has to find another way to interact with the environment.  Using her hands to explore the world is simply a function of survival- if she can’t tell you that she is hungry, then she will just start searching for food herself.  Repetitive actions, such as pacing and saying the same word or phrase over and over again, is usually a behavior used by the person to relieve anxiety and search for reassurance.

It is also the case that people with Alzheimer’s in the moderate stage need to have meaning in their lives. They need to do something other than sit. They need to have control over something – because throughout their lives, they engaged in meaningful action to one or another degree and had some control over what they did or didn’t do.”

There are many websites with tips on how to approach caregiving for someone with dementia. HelpGuide.org is one of them.

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Exercising Seniors Hold Alzheimer’s At Bay

Dignity Care - Exercising Seniors Hold Alzheimer’s At Bay

You have another excellent reason to get out and exercise. This time you are holding Alzheimer’s at bay. Research studies with seniors have looked at the impact of exercise on brain function or on its effects on slowing the progress of dementia. A recent study at the Cleveland Clinic looked at the actual physiology of the brain and found that the brains of people who exercise do not atrophy even if they are at high risk for Alzheimer’s.

As many as 1 in 4 of us can carry a specific gene – ApoE4 – that triples the risk of developing Alzheimer’s. Those are pretty bad odds, but the Cleveland Clinic followed people with this gene and found that those who exercised regularly showed no shrinkage of their hippocampus. In other words, even though they are at high risk for Alzheimer’s disease their brains looked just like the brains of people at much lower risk for the disease.

This link to an article about the study gives you more specifics about the extent of exercising you need to do to keep that gene under control.

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