Senior 2014 Stockholm

Between 14th and 16th October 2014 there's going to be a festival for active seniors held in Stockholm.

Senior Expo is an important event that will take place at Stockholm for three consecutive days. It arranges for some vital exhibitions that attract thousands of visitors and exhibitors to come at one place and build a good bond with each other. This event is made in such a way that will mingle both the activity programs along with environment which is the best measure for the visitors who are planning to attain this event. Senior Expo is going to be a major event mainly for the seniors. It will exhibit certain topics such as Travel and Tourism, Accommodation and Services, Fashion and Health, Health Care and Motor and Hobbies. It also holds a stage program with a wide variety of artists, fashion shows and travelogues.

It will have more than 117 exhibiting companies. This event will also hold exhibitions that hold media channels such as Advertisement and Exhibition Journal directed to 270 000 readers in the greater Stockholm area, Veteran SPF Member Journal and The pensioner PROs member magazine.

More at: http://www.seniormassan.se/

MEETING IN FINLAND

The final meeting of the project ACTIVE BODY + ACTIVE MIND = HEALTHY SENIOR
was held in Kouvola, Finland, on  24.-26.6.2014. There were 19 participants from the partner countries. Additionally, all in all 35 members of KuuRet 55+ also participated in various events of the meeting. The idea of the meeting was to find out and experience how nature and moving in the natural environment can support the health and well-being of seniors.  All partners have different opportunities to enjoy their natural surroundings in their own countries. Kouvola area especially offers a lot of opportunities to hike in the forest, go on picnic, boat on the many lakes and even pick natural produce like mushrooms and berries at certain times of the year.

                                   
                                           Hiidenvuori hill

Nordic walking is becoming more and more popular in many European countries.  This form of exercise  is good for muscles of legs, arms, neck etc. Walking along natural paths in the forest refreshes the mind and the body- In the forest you can enjoy the sounds of nature - and even a complete silence. During the meeting we did Nordic walking. We also hiked and had picnic in Repovesi National Park.

We also visited Verla Mill Museum which is a  Unesco World Heritage Site.

The participants were received at Kouvola Town Hall by persons responsible for senior citizens' services and benefits. During the visit they were told about different forms of services for elderly citizens. Afterwards there was the opportunity to get acquainted with the centre of Kouvola.

On the last evening of the meeting there was a social gathering in the garden of Olli and Pirjo Mattila. There  was singing and instrumental music - some participants even danced on the lawn. Some people enjoyed sauna and swimming in the river.  Everybody enjoyed a delicious dinner.  There was a bonfire by the river.  The evening was spent in a friendly atmosphere, and it was almost daylight although it was nearly midnight.

The group before setting off to a hiking tour in Repovesi National Park

Healthy ageing - Design criteria for the indoor environment for vital elderly

It's well known fact cognitive functions are decreasing when people are getting closer to their senior age. Researchers from Dutch university therefore conducted a study to find out the best living conditions for seniors, because they can be quite different from the conditions of younger people.
Several scientific studies show that the indoor environment affects alertness and cognitive performance of people (Wargocki and Wyon 2006; Fang, Wyon, Clausen, and Fanger 2004; De Gids et al. 2007; Kretschmer, Griefahn, and Schmidt 2011; Galván, Vessal, and Golley 2013). The study came to not so surprising conclusions, but it's interesting to think about cognitive performance throughout the life and the possible effect on the preferences and needs of seniors towards their homes/living environment. This may be for example the case of light need (when you're 25 years old, you need roughly 5 times less the illumination your 75 year old grandfather does) or thermal conditions in the room. Here are some of the thoughts from the study:

"To increase the wellbeing for vital elderly, the design criteria for the indoor environment should be changed because research shows that older and younger people, even in the same environment, respond differently to the indoor environment. The built environment strongly affects the working, learning, health, care and healing process, the support of older people and the reducing of errors, accidents, inconvenience and the (feeling of) insecurity. older people have a lower tolerance for uncomfortable situations than young people.
To which extent a built environment, according to, for example, the healing environment principle, is of influence on the health and the performance of older people and health care professionals is not yet to answer. For that more research is needed than is considered within the framework of this study. However, build with care for health offers the possibility to:
- reduce the chance of disease and (the feeling of) insecurity,
- stimulate physical and mental activity,
- offer support in the daily work and life operations.

After the above, it is obvious that older people have a lower tolerance for uncomfortable situations than young people. The built environment strongly affects the working, learning, health, care and healing process, the support of older people and the reducing of errors, accidents, inconvenience and the (feeling of) insecurity. The built environment with smart technology, is to arrange things in such a way that people are inspired, become more active, learn better and are less likely to get sick and be uncertain and heal faster, receive faster aid and are less likely to fall victim to accidents and are facilitated in a better manner in their activities. The largest cost for healthcare institutions is salaries and costs for delivering care. Investments in buildings are only a small part of the total cost. Investments in a healthy built environment bring several benefits."


Source:

Roelofsen, P. 2014. Healthy ageing - Design criteria for the indoor environment for vital elderly. Intelligent Buildings International [online]. 2014-01-02, vol. 6, issue 1, s. 11-25 [cit. 2014-06-24]. DOI: 10.1080/17508975.2013.830589. Retrieved from: http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17508975.2013.830589

Turner, P. L., E. J. Van Someren, and M. A. Mainster. 2010. The Role of Environmental Light in Sleep and Health: Effects of Ocular Aging and Cataract Surgery. Sleep Medicine Reviews 14: 269–280.

The University of the Third Age

For all active seniors and people in post-productive life, University of Ostrava gives you the opportunity to learn something new and make new social connections. You can join and study at the University of the Third Age in two programmes - European royal dynasties and Human, culture and arts in transformations of the regions history.The lectures will be once every two weeks from October to May for two years. One year will cost you only 800 CZK. The programmes can be joined by anyone who's in retirement age. So if you're interested, come to the official enrollment 16.6. from 9:30 in room E108, building E of University of Ostrava, Čs. legií 9. For more information, you can look at http://ff.osu.cz/u3v or call 597 091 813, contact person Ing. Petr Brzezny. Sources: Brzezny, P. (2014). Univerzita třetího věku na Filozofické fakultě OU.  http://ff.osu.cz/index.php?id=10393

Active body + Active mind = Healthy Senior meeting in Bratislava

Dear readers,

from 7^th to 10^th April 2014 meeting of Active body + Active mind = Healthy senior project was held in Bratislava. It focused on different topics connected with active ways of spending time for seniors like Yoga or Pilates. Participants from partner countries enjoyed interesting programme consisting of both cultural and active parts.
One of the activities was meeting of partners with mayor of Bratislava. He accepted them at new town hall and talked about how Bratislava tries to involve seniors in active way of living. Bratislava seniors can visit senior centres where they can gather instead of staying alone at home and also approach social workers available to them. In these centres there are also regular seminars and activities focused in different topics. The mayor also presented history of Bratislava and after the end of the meeting with mayor, meeting's participants went to look around Primate's Palace, which is where mayor's office is located.

(Mayor of Bratislava talking to participants of Active body + Active mind = Healthy Senior project's meeting)

Source: 

http://www.bratislava.sk/vismo/galerie3.asp?id_org=700000&id_fotopary=99648&id_obrazky=225008&typ_sady=1&p1=11051232

News: Research from Institute of Exercise and Health Sciences at University of Basel

Dear readers, we would like to inform you about interesting research.

Scientists from Institute of Exercise and Health Sciences at University of Basel in Switzerland conducted a research about effects of stair-climbing on balance, gait, strength, resting heart rate, and submaximal endurance. 39 seniors with average age of 70,5 completed this experiment.

As it is mentioned in the research paper: "Fall-related injuries in seniors seriously contribute to increasing health care utilizations and expenditures (Stevens et al., 2006). Aging-induced declines of strength, endurance, and balance performance have been reported to mainly account for severe fall events (Lord, 2007). Prospective studies revealed that higher levels of general physical activity may reduce overall morbidity and mortality (Bembom et al., 2009) as well as the risk of falling between 30% and 50% in seniors (Gillespie et al., 2012). Seniors should, thus, be encouraged to maintain or increase habitual physical activity levels (Chodzko-Zajko et al., 2009). In this regard, multimodal training regimens including strength, balance, and endurance tasks are considered important to reduce the risk of fatal and nonfatal falls as well as chronic cardiovascular and metabolic disease (Gardner et al., 2000)." (Gardner et al., 2000)." (Donath, L., O. Faude, R. Roth a L. Zahner, 2014)

In this case, even everyday activity like climbing a staircase instead of using an elevator can help. Results of three groups were compared – group of one- (taking every step, INT₁) or twostep strategy (every second step, INT₂) and a control group (CON). Maximal strength and explosive power did not improve significantly (0.10 < P < 0.78). Resting heart rate was significantly reduced in INT₂ (-8/min) compared with INT₁ (0/min, P = 0.02) and CON (0/min, P = 0.03). Compared with CON, perceived exertion for all intensities (0.007 < P < 0.03) and submaximal exercise heart rate during moderate uphill walking significantly decreased (-11/min; P < 0.05) in INT₂. Step counts for forward beam balancing (4.5 cm width) increased in INT₂ (P = 0.007) compared with CON.

With more pronounced effects in INT₂, stair-climbing significantly improved resting and exercise heart rates, perceived exertion, and dynamic balance performance in healthy seniors and may contribute to better overal fitness, reduced fall risk, and less perceived strain during daily life  activities. From this you can see that even a small effort to change your way of living can lead to significant results.

Source:

DONATH, L., O. FAUDE, R. ROTH a L. ZAHNER. Effects of stair-climbing on balance, gait, strength, resting heart rate, and submaximal endurance in healthy seniors. Scandinavian Journal of Medicine [online]. 2014, vol. 24, issue 2, e93-e101 [cit. 2014-03-27]. DOI: 10.1111/sms.12113. Available from: http://doi.wiley.com/10.1111/sms.12113

News: Project Active Senior started at Ostrava Poruba

Today, we would like to inform you about new ACTIVE Project realized in Ostrava Poruba.

Project Active Senior was initiated by city police officers in cooperation with Poruba town hall.

“This is a year-round program of lectures, excursions and trips, designed to promote education of seniors, provide them with guidance on behavior in crisis situations and also involve them in public life.”  says spokesman of Poruba town hall Jana Končítková.

At a joint meeting with officers and representatives of Poruba town hall on Wednesday in Leisure Centre on Vietnamská Ulice came two dozen seniors. Candidates were informed about the concept of the program and could fill in the application.

“Police officers will meet with seniors every three weeks and a part of the program will also include weekend trips and excursions. Seniors will revive legal awareness and obtain information and advices on how to behave in crisis situations and also in situations where they become victims of crime or witnesses of these negative social phenomena, by interesting form.” Said prevention group leader of Ostrava City Police Petra Stoklasová, and added that Active Senior project builds on previous year, which was successfully held in Moravian Ostrava, Ostrava Přívoz and Ostrava – Jih.

Active senior project is one of many activities for people of retirement age, at which the urban district Poruba participate. “In Poruba generations of seniors forms sizable portion of the population, so we pay them increased attention. Our Social Service Centre organizes series of lectures titled Senior Self-Defense in nursing homes each month and last year we started the project Safety for Poruba seniors. All these activities have the same goal – to enhance the safety of seniors and actively involve them in the protection against fraudsters and rapists.” said the mayor of the city district Lumír Palyza.

Source:  http://www.regiony24.cz/11-114171-v-ostrave-porube-odstartoval-projekt-aktivni-senior