Prime Times Newsletter
December 2024
Newsletter
Newsletter
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Newsletter for Older Adults Older Adults Older Adults
Active
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Upcoming Events
Senior Lunch Outing: Papa Bear’s Italian Restaurant
Tuesday, December 3rd
@ 11:30 AM
Senior Holiday Trivia
Thursday, December 5th
@ 12:15 PM
Senior Christmas Movie & White Elephant Gift Exchange
Friday, December 6th
@ 1:00 PM - 3:30 PM
Senior Lunch & Learn: The Making of “It’s A Wonderful Life”
Tuesday, December 10th
@ 12:15 PM
Senior Christmas Social
Wednesday, December 11th
@ 11:30 AM - 2 PM
Senior Cookie Decorating Class
Tuesday, December 19th
@ 1 PM - 3 PM
Senior Cocoa, Cookies & Caroling
Thursday, December 18th
@ 1:00 PM - 3:00 PM
Senior Deck the Hollow
Friday, December 20th
@ 5:20 PM
I wish you all a December filled with joy, I wish you all a December filled with joy, wonder, good health and happy wonder, good health and happy memories!!! memories!!!
Coming Soon
January:
1/14
Senior Lunch & Learn: Feet & Ankles w/ Dr Watson
1/21Senior Lunch & Learn: w/ Lori Noebe
Lots more in the works! Stay tuned!!
Adults
We have a wonderful group of active older adults here at the Lake Community YMCA with a wide range of likes and interests. I am always looking looking for new ideas, speakers, crafts, outings, etc. that will fit the needs of our AOA community. If you have an idea or talent that you would like to share with others please email, text, call or find me at the Y. I promise to look into all ideas, I may not be able to make all ideas happen but I will do my best. With all that being said I would love to continue to make our AOA group grow and essentially take the Y to others that make not be able to come to the Y. That is where you come in. I am a one women show at the moment but am looking for volunteers that enjoy helping with events. If this sounds like you or if I have peeked your interest please reach out to me. My hope is to make AOA better and better every year!
Please let me know if you would like to be apart of that in some way.
Thank you for your consideration!
Please contact Jennifer Ripple, Health & Wellness Coordinator at Phone: 330.877.8933, Text: 3309330881, Email: jripple@ymcastark.org Lake Community YMCA | 428 King Church Ave NW, Uniontown, OH 44685
Active Older Adults
Active Older Adults
Senior Sock Pumpkin
Older Adults
for Active Older Adults
Older Adults
for Active Older Adults
6 Simple Ways to Slash Holiday Stress 6 Simple Ways to Slash Holiday Stress
By Liz Wallace | November 21, 2024
Your guide to keeping calm and carrying on when chaos is all around you.
Fact #1: We want the holidays to be perfect—a time filled with friends, family, and festivities.
Fact #2: The holidays rarely turn out exactly the way we want—there are many things out of our control.
“All the obligations, the pressures people put on themselves to get the right food and the house perfect, the shopping—these all contribute to holiday stress,” says Rosalind S. Dorlen, Psy.D., a clinical psychologist in private practice in Summit, New Jersey. The cherry on top: complicated family dynamics. The stress comes “not from the holidays themselves but our expectation of what they should be,” Dorlen says. During the heart of the holiday season, use these tips to cope.
1. Check Your Expectations
“Understand what you can and cannot control,” Dorlen says, “and try not to expect perfection.”
If you ’ re gathering with family members or friends who hold different views, she says, “don’t expect a miracle” to occur over dinner. Instead, shift your attitude toward gratitude. This list of three compelling reasons to embrace family time can help.
2. Make Self-Care Your Priority
Taking care of your body will extend to your mental health and sense of well-being. This doesn’t necessarily mean pampering yourself with massages, Dorlen says, but also getting enough sleep, eating nourishing foods and moving your body.
“Thirty minutes of walking a day changes your mood,” she says. In fact, any type and any amount of exercise can help.
6 Simple Ways to Slash Holiday Stress 6 Simple Ways to Slash Holiday Stress
By Liz Wallace | November 21, 2024
3. Don’t Bottle Up Your Feelings
Choose your medium, from paper journal to smartphone, and jot down your thoughts.
“Holidays are bittersweet for so many, ” Dorlen says. “People have memories of wonderful holidays and not-so-wonderful holidays. Acknowledging those feelings, putting them in writing, and maybe sharing them with a friend or family member can be helpful in understanding their complexity.” If you can, talk to a friend face-to-face. Research from the Journal of the American Geriatrics Society found people who saw friends or loved ones at least once or twice a week were much less likely to be depressed than those who only had those sorts of interactions once or twice a month. Missing a loved one that you ’ ve lost? Try these tips to cope with grief.
4.
Take a Deep Breath
Deep breathing is a surprisingly simple yet powerful stress reliever. Harvard researchers found that practicing controlled breathing can help the body slow down its heartbeat, limit the production of stress hormones and trigger the relaxation response. The best part: You can do it anywhere, anytime—even in the middle of a holiday gathering. If you ’ re feeling overwhelmed, stressed or anxious, take a few minutes to sit quietly and inhale, allowing your belly to rise before your chest. When your lungs feel naturally full, take in even more air. Hold briefly, then exhale. When you feel your lungs are empty, push out even more air to a count of 10 until you have made your lungs as empty as possible. Repeat at least two more times.
5. Know Your Limits
Multiple trips to the eggnog bowl is fun in the moment, but it can lead to saying something you regret or feeling blue the next day. Beyond that, heavy drinking is associated with an increased risk of high blood pressure. When researchers from Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons crunched the numbers from 16 previous studies, they found that men who drank two to three standard drinks per day were 77% more likely to have hypertension than those who abstained. And women who drank the same amount were 19% more likely to have hypertension than those who didn’t drink at all. A 2023 study in the journal Hypertension that looked at the results of seven previous studies of more than 19,000 adults found a link between alcohol consumption and a spike in blood pressure, even in people who don’t have hypertension. The takeaway: For heart health and managing holiday stress, stick to no more than one drink per day for women, and two drinks per day for men.
Active Older Adults
6 Simple Ways to Slash Holiday Stress 6 Simple Ways to Slash Holiday Stress
By Liz Wallace | November 21, 2024
6. Do Something for Someone Else
Being kind rewards the human brain with a release of feel-good hormones like oxytocin. Volunteering, either at a local organization like a holiday soup kitchen or by offering to grocery shop for a neighbor in need, is “not just good for those you ’ re helping—it feels good and can be very transformative,” Dorlen says. Other options: Surprise your spouse with a cup of coffee in the morning, hold the door for the person behind you, or find a book a friend might enjoy. Any small action counts—and comes with big mood-boosting rewards.
for Active Older Adults
for Active Older Adults
for Active Older Adults
