The Press-Dispatch
Issue link: https://www.ifoldsflip.com/i/324078
The Press-Dispatch Wednesday, June 4, 2014 C-5 Enhancing Lives Through Innovative Healthcare From recovery care and wellness to management of long-term health conditions, Golden LivingCenter - Petersburg offers a full spectrum of innovative programs and services, provided by compassionate, dedicated staff. These include 24-hour skilled nursing care, short-term rehabilitation, private rehab to "Home Suites" and provides both inpatient and outpatient therapy services. For a tour or more information, please contact us. ™ Golden LivingCenter - Petersburg 309 West Pike Avenue Petersburg, IN 47567 (812) 354-8833 www.GoldenLivingCenters.com/Petersburg This facility welcomes all persons in need of its services and does not discriminate on the basis of age, disability, race, color, national origin, ancestry, religion, gender, sexual orientation or source of payment. GLC-09973-12 N293 H How to get a better night's sleep H relaxation techniques for calming your nerves Continued from page C-4 Continued from page C-4 Ask SHIP: Is there additional help for co-pays? Q: I have Medicare, and I have limited income. I'm having trouble paying my co-pays and prescriptions. Is there any help out there for me? A. There are programs available for those who qual- ify that help pay for your Medicare costs. The first thing to consider is your in- come. For some programs, your assets (your other re- sources and savings) may also apply. Extra Help (Low In- come Subsidy) is a pro- gram designed to help pay for your Part D prescription drug plan. You may qualify for Extra Help if your yearly income and resources are below the following limits in 2014: • Medicare Savings Program (MSP) Qualified Medicare Bene- ficiary pays Part B Premium, co-pays and deductibles for Parts A and B: Single Income $1,480 —Assets $7,160 ; Cou- ples Income $1,987—Assets $10,750. Specified Low Income Beneficiary/Qualified In- dividual—Pays the Part B Premium: Single Income $1,820 —Assets $7,160 ; Cou- ples Income $2,445 —Assets $10,750. Medicare Savings Program (MSP) Qualified Medicare Bene- ficiary pays Part B Premium, co-pays and deductibles for Parts A and B: Single Income $1,480 —Assets $7,160 ; Cou- ples Income $1,987—Assets $10,750. Specified Low Income Beneficiary/Qualified In- dividual—Pays the Part B Premium: Single Income $1,820 —Assets $7,160 ; Cou- ples Incomes $2,445 —As- sets $10,750. • Married person living with a spouse and no other dependents—Income less than $1,986 and resources less than $26,860. The Medicare Savings Program (MSP) helps pay for your Medicare Part B premium, co-pays and de- ductibles. Check the chart to see if you meet the income and as- sets eligibility requirements. HoosierRx is Indiana's Prescription Drug Program for low-income seniors. It is designed to help pay for your Medicare Part D prescrip- tion drug plan premium. To qualify, you must be 65 years old or older and must reside in Indiana. You must have applied for Extra Help and received either a 'No- tice of Award' or 'Notice of Denial.' The 'Notice of Award' must state that you are re- ceiving partial extra help from Medicare to pay for your Part D premium. The 'Notice of Denial' must state that you were de- nied extra help due to re- sources being too high. Your income must not exceed the $17,745 a year or less if you are single, or $23,835 a year or less if mar- ried and living together. If you have questions about Extra Help, the Medi- care Savings Program, Hoo- sierR x, or anything else re- lated to Medicare, contact SHIP for help. Call 1-800 - 452-4800, 866 -846 -0139 TDD, or visit www.medicare. in.gov. You can also find us on Facebook and Twitter. how to treat insomnia in or- der to do so. • Insomnia may be a by- product of a physical condi- tion. A person dealing with side effects of certain med- ications, chronic pain, rest- less legs syndrome, sleep apnea, and a bevy of other conditions may find it diffi- cult to sleep at night. Iden- tifying the cause of the in- somnia can make it easier to treat, so those who can't sleep at night may have an undiagnosed condition that is affecting their ability to fall asleep. • Exercise can help pro- mote better sleep habits. A workout will tire you out, in- crease feel-good endorphins throughout the body and raise body temperature. As the body recovers from the workout, it may feel sated and you can drift off to sleep more easily. Just do not work out too late. Aim to complete a workout two to three hours before planning on going to sleep so your body is not still amped up when your head hits the pillow. • Establish a regular sleep schedule. Humans are creatures of routine, and training the body to recog- nize when it is time to wake up and when it's time to go to sleep can make it easi- er to enjoy a good night's rest. Stick to a consistent schedule as much as possi- ble - - even on the weekends. It isn't possible to make up for lost sleep, so pull your- self out of bed at the same time in the morning, even if you didn't get a good night's rest. Over time you will con- dition yourself to accept cer- tain times for sleeping and waking. • The National Sleep Foundation advises avoiding heavy meals, caffeine and nicotine before bed. Each of these things can rev up the body and make it diffi- cult to settle down. • On the surface, a cock- tail may seem like a good way to unwind and relax. Al- though a drink or two may help many people fall asleep, it will not produce the deep sleep necessary to recharge the body. When the effects of the alcohol wear off after a few hours, your sleep is like- ly to be interrupted. In addi- tion, relying on alcohol as a sleep remedy can lead to de- pendence and further health problems. • Get up and accept a poor night's sleep rather than tossing and turning. It can be easy to associate the bed with wakefulness and frustration if you stay in bed and watch the clock. Getting up and reading or listening to relaxing music can help distract the mind and relax the body. Avoid working on the computer or watching television. Bright light can reduce the production of the sleep-inducing hormone me- latonin, resulting in further difficulty settling down. • Thanks to their repro- ductive hormones, women undergo more sleep chang- es and challenges than men. A fterward, being woken by children or worrying about them can lead to sleepless nights. Many women expe- rience trouble sleeping dur- ing menopause. Different therapies may be needed to figure out the solution for a restful night's sleep. • Individuals can try natural remedies to induce sleep or stay asleep. In ad- dition to good sleep hygiene and maintaining a regular sleep schedule, there are a number of herbs that can relax the body. Chamomile tea has soothing proper- ties, and drinking chamo- mile tea before bed can be an effective sleep strategy. Valerian has been used as a medicinal herb since at least the time of Ancient Greece and Rome, and it can reduce anxiety and promote sleep. Melatonin supplements are produced from plant sources and can induce sleep when taken in the right amounts. Speak with a doctor about possible remedies to find a sleep system that works for you. Insomnia is a more com- mon problem than many people may think. Recog- nizing insomnia as a prob- lem and seeking treatment can help many people get on the road to a more rest- ful night's sleep. Workdays have a way of flying by, and many men and women find themselves won- dering where the time went at the end of a typical day. A workday filled with meetings and the obligations of a ca- reer is only half the story for working parents, who upon leaving the office must man- age the obligations of their families. With such hectic sched- ules, it's no wonder so many working parents find them- selves wishing there was more time in the day. While there may be no way to make a day 25 hours long, the fol- lowing time-saving meas- ures can increase the time you have to unwind and re- lax at the end of the night. • Save those leftovers. At the end of a good meal, left- over food will either find its way to the garbage can or be wrapped up and stored in the refrigerator. Men and women looking to save time should embrace the latter approach to leftovers, turning them into an extra meal for later in the week. Saving and re- heating leftovers from just one meal per week saves the time it takes to prepare and cook a fresh meal while pro- viding a welcome weekly res- pite for the family cook from the chore of making dinner. • Make better use of your lunch break. Men and wom- en who aren't accustomed to working lunches can use their daily lunch hour to run errands. While using a lunch hour to pick up some dry cleaning or visit the grocery store to get something for that night's dinner can save time, even those errands that don't require leaving the of- fice can be tended to during your lunch hour. Use your lunch hour to pay some bills and balance your checkbook or email your child's teacher about an upcoming assign- ment. Tackling such errands during the daytime can free up more time to spend with your family at night. • Exercise in the morn- ing. Devotees of the morn- ing workout often note how working out in the morning does wonders for their ener- gy levels throughout the day. But working out in the morn- ing also frees up time to tack- le household chores or work projects in the evening. Of course, that extra time in the evening also can be used to unwind and relax from a long day at the office. Many men and women find themselves pressed for time as the week progresses. But there are several ways to make more efficient use of your time and enjoy more free time as a result. simple ways to find more time attempting to address their stress on their own, the fol- lowing are two popular re- laxation techniques that may help relieve stress in a healthy way. Meditation There are many types of meditation, but in gen- eral people who meditate employ certain techniques when meditating. These techniques may include maintaining a specific pos- ture or finding a quiet, dis- traction-free location to meditate. Many practition- ers of meditation choose to recite a positive mantra that they repeat throughout their session. While many people question the effectiveness of meditation, research has suggested that routine med- itation sessions can alter the brain's neural pathways and make a person more capable of combatting stress. Yoga Yoga has grown increas- ingly popular in recent years, and much of that can be traced to the multi- tude of health benefits that have been linked to this typically low-impact prac- tice of the mind and body. The NCCAM notes that studies have suggested yo- ga is effective at lowering heart rate and blood pres- sure and can even relieve anxiety and depression. Those are beneficial side ef- fects for sufferers of stress, which over time can con- tribute to high blood pres- sure and arrhythmia (ab- normal heartbeat) and even cause people to worry too much about minor things or suspect bad things are about to happen. More information about stress and coping tech- niques is available at www. apa.org.