Senior Living Blog by UMH

The Importance of Celebrating Valentine’s Day with Your Aging Loved One

By: Marissa Salvesen February 14th, 2017

Valentine's Day is a holiday for couples. This holiday can be very painful when a loved one doesn’t have their husband or wife by their side. For your widowed mom or dad, they could be experiencing this pain. Watching others celebrate with their spouses can trigger deep sadness, and even depression, in your aging loved one.

The Importance of Keeping Your Aging Senior Active

By: Marissa Salvesen May 14th, 2016

As you think about the best ways to care for your aging parent or loved one, one of the things you can do that will provide the most benefit in all areas of life is encouraging exercise. Being active can help your aging senior in a wide range of ways, from strengthening social relationships to improving memory and even preventing depression.

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4 Daily Exercises Every Senior Should be Doing

By: Marissa Salvesen February 6th, 2014

Exercising, for seniors, helps maintain flexibility, endurance and strength, all while improving heart health, which is important for older adults. Exercising, when chosen carefully and found to be in line with what the senior body can handle, helps improve overall quality of life, lessen problems from balance and coordination issues and aids in maintaining strength.

Understanding Anxiety Surrounding the Holidays

By: Marissa Salvesen December 26th, 2013

The holiday season can be a difficult time for many older adults. The loss of loved ones, close friends, physical mobility, and independence can be a very hard thing to adjust to. For many older adults, these changes can make the holidays quite different than they once were.

10 Inspiring Quotes about Aging

By: Marissa Salvesen November 29th, 2013

How often do you hear inspiring words about aging in our fast-paced, modern world? So much about our culture is focused on youthfulness, it would seem that we hardly stop to think about the wisdom that comes with many years lived on this earth. Here are a few witty, practical, and engaging quotes that celebrate healthy aging and provoke thought. Because, after all, “Age is only a matter of mind, and if you don’t mind, it doesn’t matter.”

Seniors and Depression: Education and Awareness

By: Marissa Salvesen November 1st, 2013

Depression is common among the elderly. However, it’s not a normal part of healthy aging. A major problem that stands in the way of treatment for seniors is that families often confuse the disease with signs of grief, which is natural in the face of major life changes. For this reason, it is not uncommon for seniors to struggle with depression and receive no medical attention. Or if they are seen by a physician, depression can often be misdiagnosed for a similar reason altogether and no treatment is administered.

Activities Across the Generations...Enriching the Lives of Seniors

By: Marissa Salvesen October 8th, 2013

Celebrating Relationships! Celebrated on the first Sunday of October, Intergeneration Day provides a great opportunity to celebrate relationships between seniors and younger generations. When most people think of intergenerational activities, they typically envision children and seniors together in that picture. We invite you to pause for a moment and expand that picture and remember that activities that bridge generational gaps reach out to a wide variety of different age groups. In honor of Intergeneration Day, think about how you can help connect your aging loved one with meaningful intergenerational experiences.

7 Reasons to Consider Assisted Living

By: Marissa Salvesen October 2nd, 2013

There are many valid reasons to consider assisted living, with each holding a different value depending on your personal journey. Assisted living communities provide a broad range of services and your decision to consider making a move will depend on both your present and future needs and the timeline in which those needs must be met.

The Difference Between Age and Maturity

By: Jim Stinson September 30th, 2013

And The Mountains Echoed is a fascinating and disturbing novel by Khalem Hosseni, author of The Kite Runner and A Thousand Splendid Suns. In heart wrenching detail, he tells the story of a family from Afghanistan over a sixty-year period, each one of who continue to be affected by decisions made in earlier generations. It is a sometimes-grim reminder that, while we are free to alter our responses to the events of our lives, thus changing ourselves in some real way, we are always to some extent the product of our past.

Assisted Living Communities Celebrate National Senior Citizen’s Day

By: Elizabeth Bemis August 21st, 2013

August 21, 2013 is National Senior Citizen’s Day! This is a time to give special recognition to a remarkable group – our nation’s seniors-- who represent the fastest growing demographic in the world. Who Is A Senior Citizen?

Aging Seniors and Their Children: Knowing When to Let Go

By: Elizabeth Bemis July 26th, 2013

Imagine you walked into your mom’s assisted living community and noticed she bought a new outfit from a catalog. Has your first response ever sounded anything like this: “Stop wasting your money, Mom; haven’t I asked you to stop buying things you don’t need?”