Four Ways You Can Enrich Your Life with Gratitude...

This is such powerful practice to increase your happiness, be healthier, and have peace of mind. As we move into this time of year, it is one that is enriched by a life lived with a sense of gratitude. It can seem so simple, yet it is very powerful in keeping us healthy and happy. It is only been in this century that scientists have started to delve into what impact being thankful has on us. This practice has been a common sense spiritual teaching over the millenniums. Now it has been taken into social science laboratories, and we can see that it works in wondrous ways. Often we are faced with difficult circumstances in the second half of life, such as caregiving of loved ones and declining health. It is especially important to develop a habit of gratitude to help with the stresses and potential discouragement. There are two psychologists, Dr. Robert A. Emmons of University of California, Davis, and Dr. Michael E McCullough of the University of Miami who have done research on gratitude, which was published in 2003. In their research, they assigned people to three groups. The first wrote about five things they were grateful for that happened during the week. The second group wrote about five things that irritated them during the week. The third group wrote about events that happened during the week, with no instructions to write about any specific type of events. They did this for ten weeks, and then the groups were compared. Those who wrote about the things they were grateful for were more optimistic and felt better about their lives. They even exercised more and had fewer visits to the doctor than the group who wrote about things...

Your Doctor Will Skype You Now...

Your employer may soon let you have virtual medical visits, but should you? If you work for a big company, odds are you’ll soon be offered a new health benefit (if you haven’t been already): Telemedicine, sometimes called telehealth. It’s the ability to see a doctor on a video call or confer through text, email or by phone, rather than an in-person visit. The question is: Should you? I was floored to see in the National Business Group on Health’s Large Employers’ 2016 Health Plan Design Survey how much this benefit has grown lately and is expected to balloon. Soaring Growth for Telehealth In last year’s survey, 48 percent of employers made telehealth options available to employees in states where it was legal (more on that last part shortly), up from 28 percent the year before. But a stunning 74 percent of employers will offer telehealth in 2016, according to the new survey of 140 employers — mostly with 10,000 employees or more. Often, the firms contract out with telemedicine firms such as Teladoc, Doctor on Demand, MDLive, NowClinic and American Well. “Small and medium-sized employers are offering telemedicine, too,” said Brian Marcotte, president and CEO of the National Business Group on Health. “What you’re seeing is employers continuing to look for ways to engage employees and move to a consumer-centric model.” If employers expect employees to ask questions as medical consumers, Marcotte added, they need to offer more consumer services. “Telehealth neatly fits into that,” he said. And these days, “consumers are starting to ask for it,” said Jon Linkous, president of the American Telemedicine Association. “Health care is a late adopter of technology, but once it’s proven, it’s a permanent change.” Right now, there’s growing buzz over...

Why I Became a Care Coordinator for My Mom...

This woman’s experience led her to help others in a similar predicament I didn’t have a care coordination provider in 2009 when my daughter and I started caring for my mom, Margaret. It was difficult. I was working; my daughter was in college. There may have been something called “care coordination,” but at that time, many of the care coordination services were in early stages of development or new. I did have lists of caregiving services and phone numbers for my mom, as well as financial statements and housing options. My challenge was taking a fragmented health care system and organizing it into something cohesive to serve her. Known as care coordination, this process is usually tackled by a team of health care professionals working together and sharing information to provide the best care possible at the appropriate time to, in this case, an older adult. The team then monitors and reports to the family on all aspects of the loved one’s care, including medical and physical condition and outside activities. Advantages of Care Coordination Care coordination frequently reduces cost through better, more efficient use of health care services. It also improves quality of life for families and older adults. Care coordination is a good choice for older adults who want to age in place, because services are brought in to the patient. In addition, receiving these services at home is less expensive than living in a nursing home, costing approximately $1,000, compared with more than $5,000 a month at a nursing home. In my mother’s case, I was her care coordinator. I learned as I went. I made mistakes. I got better. I was like most caregivers in the United States: a full 72 percent of us provide...

About DBT

We, the team of creators, researchers, and writers for Designing Brighter Tomorrows, are here for those of you in your second half of life. We aim to bring you ideas on how you can live your life in the fullest, most satisfying ways possible. You have an abundance of life experience, and can step into a life where you are as healthy and able as possible.  Your families and communities need what you have to offer.  In many cultures across the world, those who have lived much of life are vital resources. We focus on seven areas that are each important in every life (see graphic below). Our aim is to have information available in many ways.  Keep coming back to visit us and see the new articles, videos, audio files, and graphic presentations that are available in these seven different areas. We will keep adding new topics.  There will be additional authorities in a number of areas who will be contributing their expertise to this website, so keep an eye out for what is new. Learn more – CLICK...