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Celebrating Communications Specialist Cait Kearney

Felicia Greenfield, Cait Kearney, Leah Fein, and Meg Kalafsky at AAIC

Felicia Greenfield, Cait Kearney, Leah Fein, and Meg Kalafsky at AAIC  

By Meghan McCarthy 

When Cait Kearney joined the Penn Memory Center (PMC), she was a recent college graduate without full-time work experience. 

In the three years since, Kearney has had positions at PMC created for her, published hundreds of newsletters, led training programs, represented the center at an international conference, and most recently completed her master’s in professional writing from Northern Arizona University.  

Simply put, our communications team would not be the same without her. As she embarks on her newest chapter, we’re looking back at her journey and incredible contributions.  

This is Kearney’s PMC story.  

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4 ways our sleep changes as we age and tips on how to adjust, according to a Penn sleep expert

Clock on a bed of pillows

By Jake Johnson

Sleep can change in key ways as we age, and while these changes are normal, this transition can be confusing and frustrating for some older adults. 

However, there is good news, said UPenn Associate Professor of Medicine Nalaka Gooneratne, MD, MSc: By making a few adjustments to how you approach sleep, you can reduce these frustrations and continue to get good quality sleep. 

1. Older adults need less sleep, so adjust your sleep schedule accordingly

The biggest change in sleep you may experience as you get older is that you need less of it.  

“Typically, older adults need about half an hour to an hour less sleep than they needed when they were middle-aged adults,” Dr. Gooneratne said. “And many older adults who feel like they’re sleeping worse—sometimes it’s because they’re trying to get as much sleep as they had when they were younger, but their body just doesn’t need it anymore.”  

Seven hours of sleep is typical for older adults. The best way to adjust for a shorter sleep schedule, Dr. Gooneratne said, is to first choose a time you want to wake up and then count backwards by seven. So, if you want to wake up at 7 a.m., you will probably have to go to bed around 12 a.m. or you will run the risk of lying in bed awake for a few hours.  

But if staying up feels too difficult, you can try waking up earlier. For example, a 10 p.m. bedtime would mean waking up around 5 a.m. 

2. Stick to a sleep schedule as much as possible 

Once you’ve chosen when you want to get up, try and stick to that schedule as much as possible, Dr. Gooneratne said. Keeping a regular schedule will let your body know when you want to get up and help you fall asleep at night. 

“If they want to sleep in, it’s okay to sleep in one night a week, but they really shouldn’t sleep in more than that,” he said. “That’s a particular challenge for many older adults because many of them are retired.” 

 

3. You may wake up in the middle of the night more—do something unstimulating to pass the time

Another normal sleep development as we get older is that we tend to wake up in the middle of the night more often. It’s normal to be awake for up to an hour in the middle of the night as an older adult. 

While this can feel frustrating, Dr. Gooneratne said the best thing you can do is try not to fight it and find an activity that is calming and relatively dry.  

Usually, things on your smartphone or TV are too engaging to easily fall back asleep, so try reading or writing instead. If you’re a religious person, this could be a good time to say prayers, he said.

4. Look out for sleep conditions, and talk to your doctor

Older adults are also more at risk for sleep conditions, which can disrupt sleep, he said. The most common of these sleep conditions is sleep apnea, which is characterized by snoring and gasping during sleep.  

He said to look out for any signs of snoring, gasping, or choking in you or your partner and tell your doctor, as sleep apnea can greatly interfere with your sleep quality.  

Talk to you doctor as well about how medications you’re taking interact with sleep, as these could also disrupt your sleep.  

More sleep tips 

Exercise can help 

If you’re struggling with insomnia, exercise is a great way to make sure you feel tired at the end of the day, Dr. Gooneratne said. 

For people over 65, the CDC recommends 150 minutes of exercise a week that is moderate-intensity, like brisk walking, or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity such as hiking or jogging.  

Use technology to manage and track sleep 

Dr. Gooneratne also recommended a few devices to help you keep track of your sleep. 

If you’re going on a trip, Jet Lag Rooster by Sleepopolis can help you come up with a plan to help reduce the effects of jetlag. Type in where you’re flying from and flying to, when you’re departing and arriving, and when you normally go to bed and wake up, and the website calculates a plan to transition you to a new time zone.  

Fitbits are another device that will track your sleep; however, Dr. Gooneratne said to ignore REM sleep tracker and sleep score because they are often inaccurate. Pay attention to the amount of time it says you slept because this is fairly accurate and can give you a sense of how much you’re waking up in the night.  

Overall, while it might be hard, the best thing you can do is not overly fixate on how much sleep you’re getting. If devices bring you more anxiety around sleep, then it’s best to ditch them completely.  

 

The homeless handyman and the wealthy widow: Love or something darker?

A shirtless man wearing sunglasses and a crown has his arm around an older woman.

Originally published on BBC.com.

According to Dr. Mark Lachs, of Weill Cornell Medicine and his colleague, Dr. Jason Karlawish, from the Penn Memory Center, financial capacity can be one of the first things to decline when the brain is damaged through disease or age.

They want this process to be identified as a condition they call Age Associated Financial Vulnerability – a pattern of risky behavior that is inconsistent with choices that would previously have been made.

Dr. Karlawish says: “Financial decision-making is very challenging cognitively. Even with mild cognitive impairment, you can make mistakes with finances, even though you’re otherwise doing generally OK in your daily life.”

Read more on BBC.com

Empowering Caregivers Workshop Recap

The Penn Memory Center’s Empowering Caregivers series focuses on helping caregivers with the emotional, physical, and logistical challenges they face tending to their loved ones. The series gives caregivers access to area experts who present on a variety of intensive topics from symptom management to end-of-life care.

Below are recordings of our last four workshops. If you would like to sign up for future Empowering Caregivers Workshops, please click here.

Supporting Cognition and Daily Functioning with Stimulation and Compensatory Strategies

Dawn Mechanic-Hamilton discusses challenges with thinking that impact daily functioning and how to support areas of cognitive change. Dawn also explains how keeping our minds engaged can help support cognition and combat boredom, apathy, and agitation.

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Experts advise caution over new AD blood test

Scientist holding blood test

By Meghan McCarthy 

In July of 2023, Quest Diagnostics released the Quest AD-Detect, a blood test marketed for individuals who have cognitive and memory problems and/or a family history of dementia. The test is not FDA approved.

Yet, instead of inciting excitement in the field of Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias (ADRDs), the test release left experts across the country concerned over test reliability and practice.

Here’s what you should know.

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Supported decision making: Using trusted networks as capacity changes

Young hand holding older hands

By Meghan McCarthy 

Rose looks down at a stack of bills on her kitchen counter and bottles of prescriptions besides them. The bills need to be paid. The pills, organized.

A month ago, the sight would cause immediate overwhelm for Rose. After her diagnosis of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) earlier in the year, managing such tasks has become increasingly difficult.

Yet Rose doesn’t feel overwhelmed. After her diagnosis, Rose recognized that she needed more familial support. It was then that her clinician first taught her about supported decision making.

Just a month earlier, she and her niece developed a supported decision-making agreement. In it, they specified that Rose’s daughter would spend the first Saturday of the month helping pay bills and organize medications.

Supported decision making is a process by which somebody who has cognitive impairment finds a trusted other or network of others who can help them make their own decisions.

A supported decision-making agreement, like the one between Rose and her niece, is a customizable agreement between a deciding individual and their supporter. The document can specify support in areas ranging from personal care and money to health choices and work arrangements. It can be provided to third parties, such as the patient’s doctors, lawyer, or financial managers.

For individuals like Rose, or those with Alzheimer’s disease or related dementias (ADRDs), there will come a time when an individual’s capacity to make decisions declines or becomes limited.

At the Penn Memory Center (PMC), decision making capacity and the ability to support loved ones as this capacity changes is at the heart of the work done by Emily Largent, PhD, JD, RN, Jason Karlawish, MD, and Andrew Peterson, PhD. Their collaboration is a blend of skills in law, public policy, ethics, dementia care and the philosophy of mind.

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Dr. Jina Ko Awarded Grant for High-Risk, High-Reward Work

Jina Ko

By Jake Johnson

Jina Ko, PhD, one of the UPenn Alzheimer’s Disease Research Center (ADRC) Developmental Project recipients, was recently awarded a grant through the National Institute on Health’s (NIH) High-Risk, High-Reward Research program.  

“I am very excited and highly honored to be chosen for this award, which supports the high-risk, high-reward ideas and projects that I have always been passionate about pursuing,” said Dr. Ko. 

Dr. Ko, an assistant professor of pathology and laboratory medicine at the Perelman School of Medicine, was one of three Penn researchers and among 85 scientists across the country to be selected for the funding. 

The program seeks to support scientists in the field of biomedical and behavioral science with research proposals that are creative, innovative, and have the potential to be widely impactful. The funding provided by this program is integral for these proposals whose inherent risk might cause them to struggle in the typical peer-review process. 

The awarded grant will go directly towards Dr. Ko’s work in developing medical diagnostic tools that can detect diseases early, monitor treatment response, and predict the effectiveness of these therapies. In particular, Dr. Ko’s team hopes to use these tools to detect neurological diseases like Alzheimer’s disease early.  

“This funding will enable us to build a platform that can measure previously undetectable signatures, opening up a new era and a paradigm shift in diagnostics and medicine,” said Dr. Ko. 

Kindred spirits collaborate on stone sculpture 

Kindred Spirits

By Meghan McCarthy 

Some say a single moment can change your life. For Julio Galvez, DMD, this moment was when he met Dave Hoefner.

Years ago, the pair met in an elevator at the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (PAFA). While strangers, both were headed to sculpture class.

Dave, a retired engineer, had taken numerous sculpting classes at PAFA. Julio, on the other hand, was new to the academy. A practicing dentist at the time, Julio was considering a transition to a career in the arts.

“I asked him many questions: ‘What do you think about the school?’ ‘Do you think it’ll be a good fit for me?’” said Julio. “It was a one-time interaction, but it helped me decide to stay at PAFA.”

It was a simple encounter. After a few minutes, the pair went their separate ways.

Yet the moment had an impact.

Julio was a graduate from Penn’s School of Dental Medicine. After twenty-five years of practice, in a radical move to redirect his life and pursue his passions, Julio started art school.

Dave’s advice inspired Julio to dive into coursework and ultimately begin working seven days a week at the academy, leaving dentistry behind.

Sculpture wouldn’t reconnect the kindred spirits until years later.

Three sculptures

[Left] Dave’s first sculpture, which is carved from debris on the street he found when the Civic Center was demolished at 34th & Civic Center Boulevard; [Middle] The Lovers: a sculpture by Dave, who always told people “It’s better than Brancusi’s The Kiss”; [Right] Dave’s sculpture of a rhinoceros, created from African wonderstone.

Dave began sculpture work after his first wife, MaryLou, was diagnosed with frontotemporal dementia (FTD). She was only 52.

After her diagnosis, Dave retired from a career in engineering to care for her over 10 years. Whether it was carrying her through the house or spending quality time together, he was always by her side. But, like many caregivers facing burnout and stress, Dave needed to find respite and identity outside of his newfound caregiver role.

In his free time, Dave pursued stone carving at PAFA.

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Fall Programming at Penn Memory Center

Fall Programming

The Penn Memory Center (PMC) is offering a variety of free programs for people living with dementia, caregivers, and their loved ones. Scroll down to browse our selection of programs and sign up to attend.

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