Flu Information

What is the Flu? How serious is it?

Influenza, also called the "flu," is a highly contagious respiratory infection.

Symptoms

Flu can cause fever, chills, headache, dry cough, runny or stuffy nose, sore throat, and muscle aches. Unlike other common respiratory infections such as the common cold, influenza can cause extreme fatigue lasting several days to more than a week. Although nausea, vomiting and diarrhea can sometimes accompany influenza infection, especially in children, gastrointestinal symptoms are rarely prominent. The illness that people often call "stomach flu" is not influenza. Spread from person to person Influenza is spread easily from person to person primarily when an infected person coughs or sneezes. After a person has been infected with the virus, symptoms usually appear within 2 to 4 days. The infection is considered often contagious for another 3 to 4 days after symptoms appear. Because of this, people used to think the flu was caused by the "influence of the stars and planets." In the 1500s, the Italians called the disease "influenza," their word for influence. Each year, an estimated 10 to 20 percent of the population contracts influenza.

Flu Shot

How often is it covered?

Once a year in the fall or winter

For whom?

All people with Medicare Part B

Your costs in the Original Medicare Plan?

You pay nothing as long as you have Medicare Part B

Information you need to know about the Flu vaccine:

• What other steps can I take to prevent the Flu?
• What to do if you get the Flu.
• Frequently Asked Questions about the Flu and Flu Vaccine.
• To get additional information about the Flu (Influenza) to Protect Yourself and Your Loved Ones, please visit the www.cdc.gov website.

For more information about the flu, please visit Flu.gov.

Medicare Demonstration Project Pays for Flu Medicines

Seniors who get the flu can get help paying for antiviral medicines under a new demonstration project. The Influenza Treatment Demonstration provides coverage to all Medicare beneficiaries for FDA-approved drugs for the treatment and targeted prevention of influenza. Under this demonstration project, Medicare will cover up to two prescriptions for certain anti-viral drugs for a person with Medicare with symptoms of influenza, or as a prevention measure for a person who has been exposed to a person with influenza, or in an institution where there has been an outbreak.

For more information on the Medicare Influenza Treatment Demonstration please visit the www.cms.hhs.gov website.

Posted on Sep 22, 2010

10 Best Reasons Older Adults Need to Practice Yoga and the Soft Martial Arts

(original article by: Karen B. Cohen can be found here)

Today, millions of older Americans are experiencing a higher quality of life by taking an active and positive approach to their personal wellness. They are enjoying improved health and successful living by becoming self-educated, personally responsible and proactive. The most successful are those who adopt a whole-person wellness model, addressing the needs of the body, mind, and spirit.

Most people know about the research that shows that regular exercise provides a wide range of health benefits and, perhaps most importantly, can preserve function and independence. Fewer realize that their choice of exercise activity can produce another host of unexpected benefits. By choosing mind/body exercises, such as yoga or soft martial arts (like Chi Gung and T’ai Chi), older adults can unleash even greater health and vitality.

Yoga and Chi Gung (as well as all other soft arts) are ideal choices for older adults because they positively affect the whole person: body, intellect, emotions, and spirit. They increase vital energy while strengthening and soothing the body, focusing the mind, and nurturing the spirit.

The ten best reasons older adults need a mind/body practice are:

1. Strengthen Muscles and Bones: Yoga especially builds muscle strength and bone mass. The vital weight-bearing postures of yoga stimulate the bones to retain calcium. In yoga, both the upper and lower body receive the benefits of bearing weight, unlike walking or running.
   
   Body – Caring for the body improves health, preserves your ability to function and preserves independence. Yoga and Chi Gung offer powerful protection from falls – a major threat to older adults!
2. Improved Heart and Respiratory Health: Chi Gung and the soft martial arts have been shown in studies to improve circulation, heart health, and respiratory function. Yoga breathing exercises are very powerful tools to increase respiratory function, breath capacity and physical energy. Both increase vitality and sense of well-being.
3. Increased Flexibility: Yoga and Chi Gung both increase overall flexibility, contributing to improved everyday functioning and mobility, and protection from falls. Despite popular notions, you do not need to be flexible to practice yoga. The idea is to practice at your current level with patience and compassion, gently becoming more pliable.
4. Better Posture: Good posture calls upon our new strength and flexibility to keep our spine healthy and strong. Healthy body posture supports digestive and respiratory functions as well. Poor posture in combination with osteoporosis leads to stress fractures.
5. Improved Balance: Balance gives older adults the confidence to move freely and to engage in physical activities. One of the most important parts of a senior fitness program is balance training. Seniors who exercise and practice balance activities, like those found in yoga and Chi Gung, can avert the devastating effects of a fall – the second leading cause of accidental death for seniors. Balance is an intangible force that many people take for granted.
6. Increased Energy: Yoga and Chi Gung are, in essence, ancient renewal and balancing systems for our vital energy. More than the sum of their parts, these practices gently revitalize the body. The term “Chi” itself means “energy”, and “Chi Gung” literally means “energy work”.
7. Intellectual Stimulation: Learning a mind-body exercise is like learning a new language with its own vocabulary and rules. It takes focused attention. It is a practice…a journey of exploration. Yoga and the soft martial arts also invite us to explore a way of thinking that may be very unfamiliar to us.
   
   Mind - Challenging the mind is crucial to staving off diseases like Alzheimer’s. Be sure to stimulate your intellectual dimension through learning new information and exploring topics that require judgment and decision-making. The physical aspects of a mind-body practice lead directly to a mental sense of rootedness, stability and balance.
8. Emotional Support: The philosophies infusing yoga and Chi Gung encourage us to be mindful of the present moment, to be aware and grateful of all around us, and to let go of our attachments of how we think things should be. This positive outlook leads to a sense of calm and well-being.
9. Connecting with the Big Picture: A mindfulness practice is a direct way to practice connecting with a truth larger than ourselves. Practicing becoming quiet and receptive allows our inner wisdom to be heard. Older adults have indicated a desire to search for “the meaning of life”. Practitioners of yoga and the soft arts create a deep sense of richness and unity in their lives.
   
   Spirit - A new study shows that once people retire, they adopt a new sense of time and their place in the world as their values and beliefs begin to change. Adding a spiritual dimension to your exercise activities offers additional wellness benefits. In addition to yoga and Chi Gung, consider nature walks and ‘mindful’ strength training and meditation in all forms.
10. Inner Exploration: Central to the spiritual dimensions of the older adult is the desire to explore the inner self. Beyond the physical exercises of yoga and Chi Gung, they challenge us to look deeply at ourselves, to “be” with ourselves. We learn to celebrate our strengths and forgive our weaknesses while practicing patience and focused concentration.

Copyright 2005 Karen B.Cohen All Rights Reserved Karen B. Cohen C.L.C. RYT500 is a wellness coach and master yoga instructor, writer and speaker, residing in a college town in rural Virginia. Karen leads people to their own limitless supply of creativity and vitality so that they can express their talent and abilities fully in the world. She incorporates her expertise in mind-body techniques to work with a wide spectrum of clients. Karen provides seminars, workshops as well as individual coaching and training nationally and internationally. For more information go to KarenCohenYoga.blogspot.com and RockbridgeCoaching.blogspot.com.

Posted on Sep 20, 2010