How To Refresh Your Relationship Today

Relationships — like everything we do in life — don’t really operate as well as we think they do on auto-pilot. While everything may seem fine on the surface, dig a little deeper and you’ll find two people who are unhappy, but just don’t know how to broach the subject.

Let’s face it, sometimes our romantic relationships can just become stagnant.

It’s time to reignite the flame and restore the passion that you and your partner deserve.

How do you do it? Click through to find out!

1. Be social. Look for healthy couples to hang out with. Summer is almost over, but there’s still time for barbecues, pool parties, camping, picnics in the park, and going to the beach. Socializing with other couples will bring about new adventures to add to your list.
2. Make your partner feel special. Let him or her know that your relationship is at the top of your priority list. Brainstorm different ways that you can show them daily.
3. Learn to be an effective communicator. Being a good communicator means being a good listener. Most couples listen with the intent to reply. Instead, listen with the intent to understand.
4. Play nice. It’s not always going to be fun and games. There will be times that you and your partner don’t get along. Watch your tone. No name-calling, no degrading, and no blaming. Before you speak, ask yourself, “is this helping or hurting the relationship?” If you slip up, don’t forget to apologize.
5. Volunteering at a church, soup kitchen, women’s shelter, animal shelter, Red Cross, or nursing home is a great way to give back to the community and will leave you and your partner with a sense of accomplishment.
6. Break up the routine from time to time to make things more exciting.
7. Learn to accept your partner for the things that you like and don’t like. Respect each other’s differences. Allow your partner to be themselves. If we mold our partner to be what we wish they were, then we only love the reflection of ourselves.
8. Everyone needs alone time. Take a personal day and enjoy being with yourself. Go for a walk, have a spa day, hit some balls on the golf course, or whatever else you find relaxing.
9. Surprise your partner. Try a card to let your partner know how much you appreciate him or her, a smiley face balloon to brighten a tough day at work, a bouquet of seasonal flowers, or a gourmet box of chocolates to share while watching a romantic movie. Surprises can also come in other forms. Straightening up the garage or cleaning up the kitchen can be a great gift.
10. Intimacy not only means physical affection, it also means emotional affection. Take time to talk to your partner about your emotional and physical needs. Discuss how you can improve in these areas and follow through.
11. Equally divide chores. Evenly distributed chores could equal more intimacy.
12. Experience something new. Maybe redo a room together or learn how to make sushi this Friday night. Check out the website Pinterest for ideas that might interest both of you.
13. Schedule some uninterrupted time for the two of you on the family calendar.

http://psychcentral.com/blog/archives/2013/09/05/how-to-refresh-your-relationship-today/

Simple Ways To Prevent Dementia In Old Age

Currently, an estimated 5.3 million elderly Americans live with Alzheimer's dementia and many more live with other forms of dementia, impairing a person's physical and mental abilities, including Huntington's disease and vascular dementia. Cognitive functioning and behavioral development begin to falter as the damage to brain cells disrupts a person's psyche, says the Alzheimer's Association.

(Photo : Ian MacKenzie) Prevent the risk of developing dementia in old age with six easy ways that will improve your brain health.

According to Alzheimer's Society in the U.K., the number of people with dementia is expected to double because people are living longer. As one downside to having longer lifespans, women have a higher lifetime risk than men of developing Alzheimer's, which may be precipitated by a drop in estrogen, the primary female sex hormone, experienced during menopause.

Gains in average life expectancy are not the sole driver behind the increase in Americans with dementia; other illnesses have been shown to increase risk. If a person has diabetes before the age of 65, their risk for dementia doubles. In a study published in the issue of Neurology, researchers examined the relationship between diabetes as a risk factor for dementia in a group of 1,301 community dwellers 75 years and older in Stockholm, Sweden. They found that diabetes is indeed associated with an increased risk for dementia, especially vascular dementia — when the brain's blood supply is interrupted — in very old people.

Furthermore, the risk for dementia significantly increases when diabetes occurs simultaneously with severe systolic hypertension and cardiovascular disease. "People who know they are at risk of vascular dementia can act to help delay or even prevent symptoms if they eat well, take exercise and don't smoke," Dr. Charles Alessi, an adviser for Public Health England, told the BBC. While there is no known cure to dementia or specific treatment sufferers can follow, there are easy ways to prevent and alleviate symptoms of the disease in old age.

Eat A Mediterranean DietConsuming fruits, vegetables, lean protein, and healthy fats, such as omega-3 fatty acids, can help reduce inflammation of the brain. The rich fatty acid is seen as a dietary intervention to reduce the risk of dementia with regular consumption. In a study published in the journal of the American Academy of Neurology, researchers examined the relationship between the Mediterranean diet and the likelihood of incident cognitive impairment to evaluate race and vascular risk factors. A total of 17,478 individuals with an average age of 64 participated in the study. The study showed that higher consumption of the Mediterranean diet was associated with a lower likelihood of cognitive impairment.

Get 8 Hours Of Sleep
Dementia and sleep are closely associated with one another; the lack of sleep can increase your risk of dementia later in life. Sufferers of the disease tend to have a sleep pattern that is irregular, generally feeling sleepy during the day with difficulty falling asleep for long periods at night, reports the Sleep Health Foundation. The organization that raises awareness of sleep health suggests that dementia sufferers get into sleep and wake patterns that reflect sleep habits prior to diagnosis of the disease, with the help of their loved ones. To get people living with dementia to develop a healthy sleeping pattern, 45-minute naps can vastly improve memory, according to an article by Matthew A. Tucker, PhD and William Fishbein, PhD.

Get Out There and Socialize
Socialization has been been shown to help people sharpen their mental acuity. In a study published in the American Journal of Public Health, researchers followed women who were free of dementia symptoms and at least 78 years old. Over the course of five years of follow-up interviews, there were 268 new dementia cases out of the 2,249 women who began the study.

After analyzing the effects of socialization, researchers found that 80 out of 456 women who did not socialize much, or 18 percent, developed dementia. In contrast, 188 out of 1793 women who confided in a number of friends and family members, or 10 percent, developed dementia. Remaining as an active member in society and socializing with those around you can help improve your cognitive functioning and behavioral development to reduce the risk of dementia even at old age.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/articles/17469/20130716/dementia-alzheimers-prevent-old-age-memory.htm