ADHD Awareness Month is celebrated every October, with events and activities happening all across the country and now, around the world, on the ground and on the Internet, capturing the notice of numerous national, regional and local media outlets resulting in articles, interviews and feature stories.

ADDA is a founding member of the ADHDAwarenessMonth.org coalition, along with ADHD Coaches Organization (ACO) and Children and Adults with Attention Deficit Disorder (CHADD).

This is the same group that brings you the International Conference on ADHD every year in November.

Every October, as we celebrate ADHD Awareness Month, you can count on ADDA to find ways to make it easier than ever for you, an adult with ADHD to help yourself.

That’s why our TADD Talks are a perennial hit! We ask the best of the best experts in adult ADHD to give our ADHD version of a “TED Talk.” Except TED talks are 18 minutes long. Our ADHD audience has a teeny bit of trouble paying attention so we cut that in half! TADD Talks are only 9 minutes long!

Subscribe to the ADDA Insider, and stay tuned all month (and year!) for exciting announcements that will help you help yourself.

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Difficulty with attention, concentration, memory, impulsivity, hyperactivity, and social skills — these are among the signs of attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, which affects millions of Americans. ADHD Awareness Month, sponsored by the Attention Deficit Disorder Association and observed each October, highlights the latest research and clinical studies with the goal of bringing more effective treatments. Its guiding principle is that life can be better for those with ADHD and for those who love or work with someone with ADHD.

HOW TO OBSERVE NATIONAL ADHD AWARENESS MONTH

1. Get tested

   You may have ADHD and not know it. If you’re prone to procrastination, have trouble focusing on a task, or otherwise lack motivation, you may have a form of ADHD. The World Health Organization offers a test with 18 questions that can help make a diagnosis.

2. Share your story

   The American Deficit Disorder Association invites those diagnosed with ADHD to share their stories so the public can see the human face of the disorder. The best way to reduce the stigma is for those challenged by it to share their stories.

3. Provide support

   ADHD associations throughout the country sponsor support groups for kids and adults who suffer from attention deficit disorders. Find out if there’s a local group in your area and learn what you can do to support efforts to bring the latest treatments to those who need them.

   ADHD is can have a huge impact on children and adults alike. Please be aware of the signs and talk to your doctor or a professional if you have ongoing symptoms.

   Stay Healthy,

   Melinda

Grieving a loss is going to be one of the hardest times in most of our lives. It’s at times like these that some of us find it difficult to even think about concepts such as money or possessions. However, if a loved one has left an estate behind, then you need to make sure that it is dealt with appropriately. If you are the next of kin, it may be your responsibility to take care of it, too. So, what do you do about it?

Notify the appropriate parties

First of all, the Social Security Administration has to be notified if someone has passed away. There may be a legal team, such as a probate attorney, that your loved one has named as the executor of their estate. In such cases, you may have to do nothing except for getting in touch with them. If they haven’t named a probate attorney, it might be worth getting in touch with them yourself to help you go through the process legally and safely.

Take an inventory and protect it

When you are deciding how to handle your loved one’s possessions, then you will need to take an inventory of everything that they owned as best as possible. This will include any documents pertaining to assets or accounts that they own. To prevent theft or vandalism, you may want to move some assets to private storage but you should inform a probate lawyer if you plan to do this.

Claim any appropriate benefits

If you are aware of any life insurance policies, retirement accounts, or other benefits that your loved one may have received from employers, then it’s important to get the ball rolling on those claims. They may help to cover the costs of the funeral services and to help those who may be classified as dependents or beneficiaries of those benefits.

Liquidize what is necessary

Whether it’s necessary to take care of any accounts payable or simply to make the transfer of assets easier where no one is specifically named for receiving certain assets, you might want to liquidize some things. The best way to do this might be to work with professionals who set up local estate sales. This way, you can make sure that assets are handled as impartially as possible, paying only a portion of the return in exchange for the services provided and the sale facilitated.

Take care of any debts

There can be a lot of confusion around the debts that are left when someone has departed. However, in many cases, they are likely to still be responsible in so far as their estate can pay it out. This only counts for debts made their name only. Debts made under multiple names may fall in part or entirely to the other signers of the debt. Either way, it’s important to find out what debt a loved one has left, if possible, and to use the estate to pay off what you can. Otherwise, it may create legal problems as far as passing the estate on to others.

If you’re left to take care of a loved one’s estate, it’s important to go by the book as best as possible. 

This is a collaborative post.

Melinda

If you and your parent are facing down the question of what to do, as their ability to live independently diminishes, you may be concerned about how well the options are going to suit your needs and preferences. However, there are various choices you may not have looked into. Here, we will quickly sum up the pros, cons, and purposes of each.

Family as caregiver

In a lot of cases, people will choose to act in the role of caregiver for their own loved one. In fact, more millennials are becoming caregivers for their loved ones for a variety of reasons. For one, it’s more affordable than any of the other options and you may even be able to get some state assistance to help you work as a caregiver without worrying as much about having to keep another job. However, a lot of people also like to be more hands-on to ensure their loved one’s needs are met. It’s a big challenge, but many people do meet it.

A nursing home

Nursing homes, also known as care homes, are often treated as the least preferable answer. However, aside from general old age care, these can be some of the best facilities for dementia care, physical disability care, or care for those with mental health disabilities. You need to make sure that the facility you choose is equipped to suit the individual needs of your parents, but nursing homes can be very effective solutions.

How are independent living communities different?

Not every age care facility is the same. Independent living communities, also known as senior living communities or retirement communities tend to be better suited to those who can live a little more independently but might still need help and assistance again. Teams like Care Patrol can help you find the specific communities suited to the precise needs in question. Many of them also come with luxury amenities and therapies to help your parent continue to age as best as possible.

Professional in-home care

One of the more expensive options, in-home care services like Visiting Angels allows your loved one to still live at home while having someone to come and make sure their needs are taken care of, often for the majority of the day. In some cases, you can even get live-in home care but that can be even more costly.

Temporary or respite care

When it comes to in-home care, there is a hybrid option so that you don’t have to choose between paying large fees for constant professional care but you also don’t have to devote as large a portion to your life to being a caregiver. A lot of in-home care services also offer temporary or respite care, which allows you some personal time while making sure your loved one’s needs are still being met to your standards.

Which option works best is going to depend on the needs and abilities of you and your parent. This choice can’t be made for you but hopefully, the points above have given you some places to start looking.

This is a collaborative post.

Melinda

Our Actions are our Future

The food you choose and the way you consume it affect our health and that of our planet.
It has an impact on the way agri-food systems work.
So you need to be part of the change.Learn more

Take action 

As a global community, we each have a role to play in the transformation of agri-food systems – from governments to private companies, farmers, civil society, academia, and all individuals, including youth! Together we can empower each and every element of our agri-food systems to collaborate more fairly, sustainably and inclusively from farm to table, and beyond.

We can all learn from nature by acting with nature.

Explore

Melinda

Outside of your home, your car might be one of the most expensive things that you own. Because of that, you’ll want to get a decent amount of use out of it. Keeping it well-maintained is the most effective way of doing so, which explains why it’s continually recommended.

You’ll need to focus on a few areas in particular. That’s primarily because they can be the most expensive car parts to replace. Though keeping them maintained will still cost money, it’ll be much less than needing a replacement.

That reason could be more than enough to persuade you to keep certain areas of your car maintained. It’ll also have the benefit of making sure that your vehicle keeps running smoothly.

Areas To Focus On To Keep Your Car Maintained

Alternator

Your alternator is one of the most expensive car parts that you might need to replace. Given the money involved, you’ll want to avoid this. Should this stop working, the electricals in the vehicle will also stop working.

You could easily expect to pay several hundred dollars on a replacement alternator. Add in labor costs, and this could easily get closer to $1,000. Maintaining it, however, should only cost a fraction of that.

Transmission

Your car transmission may be the most expensive car part to replace, outside of a complete engine overhaul. You’ll naturally want to avoid this cost as much as possible. To do so, you’ll need to prevent and be on the lookout for bad transmission symptoms.

There can be multiple ones to look out for, such as a noticeable noise when you’re in neutral. A burning smell is also one of the more common signs that your transmission has problems. If you notice any of these, you should get to the mechanic as soon as possible.

In many cases, some simple repairs will be all that’s needed. It’ll prevent you spending the thousands of dollars that repairs typically cost.

Camshaft

A car’s camshaft typically doesn’t get damaged over time. It could deteriorate because of a lack of maintenance and oil changes. Should you need to replace the camshaft, you could easily expect to pay $2,000.

Naturally, that makes regularly changing your oil and maintaining the camshaft a priority. You should also make sure that the valve spring pressure is in the right range. This should typically range between 85 and 150 pounds.

Should problems start appearing here, it will affect the rest of the vehicle. Getting it repaired early will obviously prevent all of this.

Fuel Pump

Fuel pumps are one of the most expensive car parts to replace and can often cost several hundred dollars on their own. That’s primarily because of the cost of the part itself, although the difficulty of replacing it also plays a role.

These are the parts that supply pressure to the injector to make sure that it runs right. Typically, the fuel pump can become damaged by particles often found in low-quality fuel. Thankfully, that makes it relatively easy to protect your fuel pump against damage.

Though high-quality fuel will be more expensive, it’ll cut down on damage to your car’s mechanics.

Catalytic Converter

The catalytic converter is a relatively easy part to replace, as it’s located between the muffler and engine. That doesn’t mean that it’ll be cheap to do so, however. That’s because it’s the part of the vehicle that turns chemical fumes into less harmful emissions.

That makes them relatively expensive. That can typically cost you over $1,000 to replace. Because of this cost, catalytic converters are quite commonly stolen. You’ll need to spend more time preventing theft than you would protecting against damage.

Being smart about where you park your car and where you travel is the easiest way of doing so.

Wrapping Up

Making sure that your car runs smoothly for as long as you have it is a priority for everyone. With the number of parts involved, trying to maintain everything could be overwhelming. Looking after each of the above will minimize the risk of any car problems.

It’s also worth getting your vehicle inspected regularly. Doing so will identify any problems before they get too large. Being proactive with your repairs and maintenance will often save you much more money than you’d think.

The above areas have long been seen as some of the most expensive car parts to replace. They’re also one of the easiest to protect and take care of. Make sure you do so to prevent the headache and hassle associated with replacing them.

This is a collaborative post.

Melinda

TEDIDEAS.COM

Jan 6, 2021 / Saundra Dalton-Smith MD

Avalon Nuovo

This post is part of TED’s “How to Be a Better Human” series, each of which contains a piece of helpful advice from people in the TED community; browse through all the posts here.

Have you ever tried to fix an ongoing lack of energy by getting more sleep — only to do so and still feel exhausted? 

If that’s you, here’s the secret: Sleep and rest are not the same thing, although many of us incorrectly confuse the two.

We go through life thinking we’ve rested because we have gotten enough sleep — but in reality we are missing out on the other types of rest we desperately need. The result is a culture of high-achieving, high-producing, chronically tired and chronically burned-out individuals. We’re suffering from a rest deficit because we don’t understand the true power of rest.

Rest should equal restoration in seven key areas of your life.

The first type of rest we need is physical rest, which can be passive or active. Passive physical rest includes sleeping and napping, while active physical rest means restorative activities such as yoga, stretching and massage therapy that help improve the body’s circulation and flexibility.

The second type of rest is mental rest. Do you know that coworker who starts work every day with a huge cup of coffee? He’s often irritable and forgetful, and he has a difficult time concentrating on his work. When he lies down at night to sleep, he frequently struggles to turn off his brain as conversations from the day fill his thoughts. And despite sleeping seven to eight hours, he wakes up feeling as if he never went to bed. He has a mental rest deficit.

The good news is you don’t have to quit your job or go on vacation to fix this. Schedule short breaks to occur every two hours throughout your workday; these breaks can remind you to slow down. You might also keep a notepad by the bed to jot down any nagging thoughts that would keep you awake.

The third type of rest we need is sensory rest. Bright lights, computer screens, background noise and multiple conversations — whether they’re in an office or on Zoom calls — can cause our senses to feel overwhelmed. This can be countered by doing something as simple as closing your eyes for a minute in the middle of the day, as well as by  intentionally unplugging from electronics at the end of every day. Intentional moments of sensory deprivation can begin to undo the damage inflicted by the over-stimulating world.

The fourth type of rest is creative rest. This type of rest is especially important for anyone who must solve problems or brainstorm new ideas. Creative rest reawakens the awe and wonder inside each of us. Do you recall the first time you saw the Grand Canyon, the ocean or a waterfall? Allowing yourself to take in the beauty of the outdoors — even if it’s at a local park or in your backyard — provides you with creative rest.

But creative rest isn’t simply about appreciating nature; it also includes enjoying the arts. Turn your workspace into a place of inspiration by displaying images of places you love and works of art that speak to you. You can’t spend 40 hours a week staring at blank or jumbled surroundings and expect to feel passionate about anything, much less come up with innovative ideas.

Now let’s take a look at another individual — the friend whom everyone thinks is the nicest person they’ve ever met. It’s the person everyone depends on, the one you’d call if you needed a favor because even if they don’t want to do it, you know they’ll give you a reluctant “yes” rather than a truthful “no”. But when this person is alone, they feel unappreciated and like others are taking advantage of them.

This person requires emotional rest, which means having the time and space to freely express your feelings and cut back on people pleasing.Emotional rest also requires the courage to be authentic. An emotionally rested person can answer the question “How are you today?” with a truthful “I’m not okay” — and then go on to share some hard things that otherwise go unsaid.

If you’re in need of emotional rest, you probably have a social rest deficit too. This occurs when we fail to differentiate between those relationships that revive us from those relationships that exhaust us. To experience more social rest, surround yourself with positive and supportive people. Even if your interactions have to occur virtually, you can choose to engage more fully in them by turning on your camera and focusing on who you’re speaking to.

The final type of rest is spiritual rest, which is the ability to connect beyond the physical and mental and feel a deep sense of belonging, love, acceptance and purpose. To receive this, engage in something greater than yourself and add prayer, meditation or community involvement to your daily routine.

As you can see, sleep alone can’t restore us to the point we feel rested. So it’s time for us to begin focusing on getting the right type of rest we need.

Editor’s note: Fatigue can also be associated with numerous health problems, so please get checked out by your  physician if it persists. 

To learn more about Dr. Saundra Dalton-Smith and her work, visit her website.This post was adapted from her  TEDxAtlanta Talk. Watch it here: https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZGNN4EPJzGk?version=3&rel=1&showsearch=0&showinfo=1&iv_load_policy=1&fs=1&hl=en-US&autohide=2&wmode=transparent

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Saundra Dalton-Smith MD is a physician, researcher and the author of the book “Sacred Rest: Recover Your Life, Renew Your Energy, Restore Your Sanity.” Her work has been featured by Fast Company, FOX, MSNBC and Psychology Today. Learn more at DrDaltonSmith.com or by following her on Instagram (@DrDaltonSmith) or LinkedIn (Linkedin.com/in/drdaltonsmith).

Hearing loss is one of the most common causes of concern among Americans over age 65 and can affect people at any age. With the right audiologist, you can learn which is the best behind the ear hearing aid for you. You might even discover that you need something inside the ear instead.

No matter what you do, you need to get support with your hearing, support that makes sense for you as an individual. This blog post will examine some of the more common causes of hearing loss and what you should do when you think that something may not be right with your hearing.

Common causes of hearing loss

Loud Noises

Loud noises are one of the most common causes of hearing loss. While you may be able to walk away from a loud concert or fireworks show without experiencing any issues, regular exposure to sounds at this volume over time can lead to tinnitus and even permanent damage in some cases. Tinnitus treatment is available, but of course prevention is always better than cure. 

Infections

Infections like mumps or meningitis can lead to hearing loss. These infections are not as common today thanks to widespread vaccination programs, but you must talk with your doctor if you suspect an infection is the cause of your hearing issues. Treatment will vary depending on what exactly caused the problem and how severe it is, but antibiotics may be needed in some cases.

Diabetes

People who have diabetes are more likely to experience hearing loss than those who do not. This is because of the link between type II diabetes and nerve damage that can lead to tinnitus, dizziness, or even sudden deafness if left untreated for too long.

Suppose you suspect your hearing has been affected by diabetes. In that case, it’s important to consult with a doctor right away so they may examine your ears thoroughly and check for any signs of infection or other issues related to this condition. If possible, try to manage blood sugar levels as best as you can in order to keep potential complications at bay over time. If you have diabetes, you should have hearing tests carried out on a regular basis so that any problems can be picked up.

Injuries

Injuries from accidents like car crashes or sports injuries can lead to hearing loss. In most cases, these injuries are not permanent, but if the damage is severe enough, it could be more difficult for your doctors to treat and may leave you with some degree of long-term hearing problems. 

Treatment will depend on what caused the issues and how bad they actually are, so make sure you speak honestly about any concerns you might have when visiting a doctor after an accident that has left you with a possible hearing impairment.

What to do if you suspect hearing loss

Visit an audiologist

If you have any reason to suspect that your hearing might be at risk, it’s essential to visit an audiologist as soon as possible so they can conduct a thorough test and help determine if there is anything wrong with your ears. This professional specializes in diagnosing issues related to the inner ear, which would include problems associated with tinnitus or even vertigo. If left untreated for too long, these conditions could actually lead to permanent damage over time, but treatment options are much more likely to succeed if caught early enough.

No matter what the issue may be, it’s always best not to ignore symptoms of potential hearing loss, especially when many causes are very easy to treat once detected by expert professionals like audiologists in this area of medicine!

Get a hearing aid

If the issue is something that cannot be treated with medication or surgery, you might consider trying a hearing aid. You can learn more about them, but these devices can be helpful even in cases where your loss was not caused by noise but instead an injury from years ago when it comes to allowing you to maintain some degree of normalcy in everyday life and quality of life.

While there are many treatment options available for those who suffer from hearing issues today, one thing is clear: if you suspect anything out of the ordinary related to your ears, then bring up any concerns as soon as possible so they may be adequately examined!

Benefits of hearing aids

The benefits of using a hearing aid are many, including enhanced socialization that can lead to better mental health and overall quality of life. Additionally, you will have more control over your environment when it comes to reducing loud noises or preventing them entirely if needed in some cases. 

This is especially helpful for those who suffer from tinnitus which causes constant noise even while they sleep! Overall these devices provide an easy way for people with auditory issues related to aging or other medical conditions to gain back some degree of normalcy, so don’t hesitate if you think one might help make things easier on yourself today!

This is a collaborative post.

Melinda