Lifelong Learning

Politicians sometimes talk about lifelong learning. The National Board of Education released a book on the same theme during the 1990s. What do we really mean when we talk about lifelong learning and does that also apply to people who have moved to nursing homes? In order to participate in lifelong learning, access to books, computers, and a variety of educational opportunities is needed. There are older people who continue to learn as long as they live.

In conjunction with a study visit to Denmark prior to the Ädel reform in 1992, when municipalities were to take on increased medical responsibility for the elderly, I met a lady who had moved to a nursing home a few years earlier. She told me that she had started studying English at university level when she moved in. When we got there, she had just received her doctorate.

Today, those who move to nursing homes are in much worse health than before, but it is still interesting to ponder lifelong learning. At the same time, I have recently seen residents building miniature models of their dream nursing home. We humans never get too old to dream and plan.

Adapt to the Resident

Elderly people are very different. Some continue to be curious as long as they live while others become more introspective and ponder the life they have lived. Many read books all their lives and now there is a large selection of audiobooks for those whose eyes can no longer cope with reading. Similarly, picture books and photo albums can be a good basis for conversation.

There are nursing homes that offer reading aloud of both the day's newspaper and books, often combined with reflection and conversation. Some nursing homes have book boxes that are regularly updated from the local library. The conditions of course vary. In some units, only people with dementia live, and in others, there are people where physical illnesses dominate. The offer must be adapted to the residents. Depression in older people can often be caused by understimulation.

There are nursing homes that have volunteers who come and run book clubs or film screenings. Others work with study associations that organize study circles. Some offer communal computers, so they can email, chat and have video meetings with their relatives. More and more elderly people are like Dagny Carlsson and are fully blogging.

Brain Training is Health Promoting

Brain training reduces the feeling of stress in the elderly. Increased knowledge about brain function gives us tools to exercise the brain throughout life. There is mental strength training that helps us better achieve our goals. With different types of mental and physical training we can improve our quality of life.

One would like to believe that life after working life is stress-free and pleasant. It is during retirement that we should relax, without ringing alarm clocks, compulsory tasks and tough time frames. Unfortunately, it's not that simple. On the contrary, the new life situation, without given frames, can be perceived as very stressful according to Carl-Gerhard Gottfries, Professor Emeritus in Clinical Neuroscience.

The burden is added by the brain's ability to handle the stress hormone cortisol deteriorating with age. Older people have a lower stress threshold. This means that a stress reaction that would quickly pass in a younger person is prolonged in an older person. And in turn, the stress strain increases.

Research has also shown that older people often have increased cortisol levels during the night, resulting in disturbed night's sleep. Negative stress can lead to sleep disorders, depressions, memory disorders and in the worst case dementia. Chronic stress accelerates brain aging.

A trained brain handles negative stress better than an untrained brain. It is important to train both mentally and motorically. Memory training, crosswords, sudoku or by learning new things provides memory training.

Both Body and Brain Need Training - Brain Gym for the Elderly

Physical activity trains the motoric. The receptors, which capture and transmit signals become more numerous if you train the brain. The more receptors you have, the better the brain's functions such as memory and speech.

Reflection - Brain Training
Caregiver:
• Do you offer activities that contribute to brain training?
• Do you engage in shared reading or stimulate reading in books or audiobooks for those living with you?
• Are there opportunities to borrow books or to exchange books with each other?
• Do you work to stimulate the memory of those living with you?
• Do you have shared activities like solving melodrama puzzles or solving crosswords together?
• Do you stimulate your residents' curiosity and lifelong learning?

Manager, nurse, occupational therapist and physiotherapist:
• What do you do to stimulate reading?
• Is there access to books, newspapers, computers and other things for the resident who wants to continue to develop and learn after moving in?
• Do reading habits and the like come up in the questions asked when moving in?
• How do you work with memory training?
• Is the learning perspective included when you plan activities?
• To what extent do the residents influence the choice of activities?

Resident and relative:
• Do you feel that the residence stimulates your relatives' curiosity?
• Do you and your relative do activities that stimulate memory when you visit?

Erland Olsson
Specialist nurse
Sofrosyne - Better care every day.