Changing habits improves Caregivers’ health

Newswise — Based on the belief that a sedentary lifestyle is deadly, Debbie Mandel, M.A. created a stress-management/ strength training program for caregivers who have a 20% higher risk of mortality than the rest of the population. The radical new program, which urges the caregiver to take care of herself, is delineated in her radical new book, Changing Habits: The Caregivers’ Total Workout  

The program originated and was tested in a Dominican convent (a controlled community) and the book makes it possible for the rest of 44 million caregivers to alleviate stress, stimulate the mind and improve the immune system.

Yes, nuns are stressed, overweight and overworked. And so Mandel enters the convent, a spiritual/intellectual community who perceive the body as an anchor to the soul, whose members meditate and pray daily, but don’t smoke. She brought the following into the equation: Her triple A program, Activity Alleviates Anxiety (strength training and cardio) using the body’s own resistance, a rainbow diet of fruits and vegetables along with lean protein and complex carbohydrates and a series of stress-management sessions rooted in personal empowerment and reinterpreting negatives into positives as emphasized by Dr. Herbert Benson.

The results
The nuns ages 55-90 loved the exercise, felt happier and stimulated, ate more consciously and experienced improvements in activities of daily living. An eighty-five year old nun for the first time in years was able to navigate the long convent hallways without her walker. The nuns in the early-middle stages of Alzheimer’s Disease improved in both coordination and speech. Since Mandel was a caregiver to two parents with Alzheimer’s, she was able to incorporate many of her personal observations into the heart of the program.