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Natural Awakenings Central New Jersey

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Keep Your Brain Fit through Play!

Most people focus on exercise for the body – which is one of the key ingredients for us to age in a healthy way. Do you know that we also need to exercise our brains in ways that go beyond crossword puzzles?


According to the Center for Disease Control, there are about 5.8 million people in the United States who have Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias. This includes 5.6 million aged 65 and older and about 200,000 under age 65 with younger-onset Alzheimer’s.* While it’s still not known exactly what causes dementia, eating a Mediterrean diet, and regular exercise are at the top of the Harvard Health Publishing list. 


With that said, welcome to fun, Anti-Aging Exercises that Almost Anyone – of Any Age – Can Do! 


The 21 Tools of Ageless Grace® address primary factors that causes aging in the body — and stimulate and utilize the five major functions of the brain – analytical, strategic, kinesthetic learning, memory/recall and creativity and imagination.


Think about when you first learned to ride a bicycle or swim. Functional and cognitive skills were developed through typical childhood games, sports and activities that are now no longer “practiced” as adults.  The 21 Tools of Ageless Grace® re-open those pathways and, equally important, create new pathways by practicing functional movements we don’t already know how to do.

Practicing, remembering and learning these simple skills allow positive results to come surprisingly quickly – much like remembering how to ride a bicycle after many years. 


Ageless Grace® is designed to be practiced only minutes a day. The movement moves are organic rather than choreographed with focus on moving the body to stimulate both cognitive and physical function simultaneously – enhancing neuroplasticity (the ability of the brain and nervous system to change structurally and functionally), which is vital to active aging and youthful function. 


The Tools are practiced in a chair to strengthen the core of the body and stimulate vital organs. Chair practice opens the opportunity to seniors, baby boomers, young adults and people with weight, joint, diabetes and other challenges, those in wheelchairs or with other physical limitations. Kids absolutely love it!  This is a wonderful multigenerational program for grandparents, adult children and grandchildren to share.


Ageless Grace® was created by Denise Medved, who spent 7 years with a Duke–affiliated hospital and a university graduate department to develop this creative approach to aging.   


Try an online class now with Teresa D’Angelo, Ageless Grace Educator and Trainer at www.live-love-move.com and send your brain to the gym! 


Sources:

www.agelessgrace.com 


* https://www.cdc.gov/aging/publications/features/Alz-Greater-Risk.html


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Tick Talk

Spring officially sprung on March 21. We have turned our clocks ahead. We are looking forward to warm winds, sunny skies and the smell of fresh cut grass. The daffodils and tulips have recently bloomed and we are just starting with the yard work that comes with the warmer weather.  Sadly, another season has started ramping up.  Tick season.

•             The best form of protection is prevention. Educating oneself about tick activity and how our behaviors overlap with tick habitats is the first step.

•             According to the NJ DOH, in 2022 Hunterdon County led the state with a Lyme disease incidence rate of 426 cases per 100,000 people. The fact is ticks spend approximately 90% of their lives not on a host but aggressively searching for one, molting to their next stage or over-wintering. This is why a tick remediation program should be implemented on school grounds where NJ DOH deems high risk for tick exposure and subsequent attachment to human hosts.

•             Governor Murphy has signed a bill that mandates tick education in NJ public schools. See this for the details.  Tick education must now be incorporated into K-12 school curriculum. See link:

https://www.nj.gov/education/broadcasts/2023/sept/27/TicksandTick-BorneIllnessEducation.pdf

•             May is a great month to remind the public that tick activity is in full swing. In New Jersey, there are many tickborne diseases that affect residents, including Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, Ehrlichiosis, Lyme disease, Powassan, and Spotted Fever Group Rickettsiosis.

•             For years, the focus has mainly been about protecting ourselves from Lyme disease. But other tick-borne diseases are on the rise in Central Jersey. An increase of incidence of Babesia and Anaplasma are sidelining people too. These two pathogens are scary because they effect our blood cells. Babesia affects the red blood cells and Anaplasma effects the white blood cells.

•             Ticks can be infected with more than one pathogen. When you contract Lyme it is possible to contract more than just that one disease. This is called a co-infection. It is super important to pay attention to your symptoms. See link.

https://twp.freehold.nj.us/480/Disease-Co-Infection

A good resource from the State:

https://www.nj.gov/health/cd/topics/tickborne.shtml

 

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