Medicine and Health Sciences Commons^™

Enhancing The Quality Of Life For Senior Citizens: A Facilitator’S Guidebook For Mindful Music And Movement, Shannon Sexton

Mindfulness Studies Theses

Music appreciation and enjoyment enhance well-being throughout the lifespan. The challenges and constraints that people experience as they age can lead to lack of access to music, decreased physical activity, and fewer avenues for creative expression. Group music and movement interventions created for older populations offer opportunities for social connection and improved quality of life. Mindful practices add further benefit when combined with these interventions. Current available programs are scarce and most often do not encompass mixed modalities. In addition, the benefits of these programs do not show long-term sustainability. The purpose of this thesis is to explore the effects …

Sleeping Time Is Associated With Functional Limitations In A National Sample Of Older Americans, Brenda M. Vincent, Nathaniel Johnson, Grant R. Tomkinson, Ryan Mcgrath, Brian C. Clark, Bong-Jin Choi

Education, Health & Behavior Studies Faculty Publications

Background: Engaging in healthy behaviors may help to preserve function during aging; however, it is not well understood how sleeping time is associated with functional capacity in older adults.

Aims: We sought to determine the association of sleeping time on functional limitation in a national sample of older Americans.

Methods: The analytical sample included 6,020 adults aged at least 65 years who participated in the 2007-2016 waves of the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Respondents indicated their hours of sleep/week night and were categorized as <5, 5-6.5, 7-8, 8.5-9, and >9 hours of sleep/week night. Ability to complete 19 functional tasks …

The Benefits And Accessibility Of Integrative Exercise In Geriatric Populations, Elizabeth Nisper

Honors Projects

There are many physical and mental benefits of conventional exercise and they have been well-studied. However, integrative exercise practices aim to encompass more than physical fitness. There is also a spiritual/ethical component when taking into account aspects such as meditation and mindfulness. By examining a number of different health domains, we can study whether the benefits of yoga and tai chi extend beyond the benefits of exercise more broadly. While the short-term physical fitness benefits of other cardio and strength training may exceed those of integrative practices, yoga and tai chi appear to be equally as beneficial in the long …

Elderly Patients And Their Health In Pakistan: Current Status, Issues, Challenges And Opportunities, Waris Qidwai, Tabinda Ashfaq

Department of Family Medicine

No abstract provided.

Smemories: The Relationship Between Smells And Memories For Adults 60+ - Report Series # 19, Alexa Roggeveen, Pat Spadafora, Michael Olson, Amanda Leveque, Linda Keeping

Publications and Scholarship

Older adults are at a significant risk for malnutrition – even when they reside in a setting where their meals are provided for them. Due to a variety of factors, eating and cooking can lose their appeal with increased age. This project is the first stage in developing a creative way to encourage more positive eating habits and better nutrition among older adults. Can a connection between favourite food smells and positive memories improve eating habits among older adults? This pilot project seeks to answer some preliminary questions about preferences for food smells, the memories associated with those aromas, and …

Benefits Of Yoga For Physical Health And Quality Of Life For Older Adults - Report Series # 18, Alexa Roggeveen, Pat Spadafora, Susan Anderson-Wilcox, Ashley Hiscock

Publications and Scholarship

What are the benefits of yoga for community-dwelling older adults? In this pilot study, we included six older women in a once-weekly Iyengar yoga class for 12 weeks. Our findings indicate that yoga has beneficial effects for physical fitness and psychological health. Further, reports from interviews and journals indicate that this type of fitness program changes perceptions of ways to engage in physical exercise, and would be likely to encourage adherence among participants.

Movement Matters: Results Of An Introductory Dance Project At The Village Of Humber Heights - Report Series # 16, Pat Spadafora, Kate Dupuis, Gillian Saunders-Herron, Paula Skimin, Ashley Hiscock

Publications and Scholarship

Recent surveys suggest that, although they seem to understand its value and importance (Ory et al., 2003), less than a quarter of all older adults get the recommended amount of exercise (Statistics Canada, 2005). It is possible that the majority of exercise programs currently available are traditional and gym-based, offering limited ways of encouraging active engagement that may not be appealing to many older adults. In recent years, the benefits of dance programs that incorporate flexibility and balance training have been explored. The current pilot project examined the potential for dance training to be considered an innovative health promotion strategy, …

Lds Life Tables: A Comparison Of Long-Lived Populations, Christopher R. Layton

Theses and Dissertations

This research estimates the life expectancy of members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS) in Utah. We create gender-specific life tables for four groups: total Utah, active LDS, less-active LDS, and non-LDS. Male life tables are based on data from 1991-1995; female life tables are based on data from 1994-1998. Life expectancy at birth is 75 years for all utah males, 79.8 years for active LDS Utah males, 71.6 years for less active LDS Utah males, and 71.5 years for non-LDS Utah males. Female life expectancy at birth is 80.4 years for all Utah females, 83.9 …