Good Living | Spring 2012

SPRING 2012

Good Living The Retirement Years

Activities Abound for Seniors to Keep Healthy and Vibrant A SUPPLEMENT To

T h e S k a g i t Va l l e y H e r a l d & Anacortes American

www.goskagit.com

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

1

table o f c o ntents Harmonizing the World for 33 Years....................... 3

Scan this QR code with your

Natural Foods: Eating Up The Trends..................... 4

smartphone to connect to the goskagit.com website, where you

Senior Living: Learning Computers........................ 6

will find the most updated news

Tapping Toes, Smiling Faces, Healthy Benefits..... 8

and information about activities

Numerous Activities at Local Senior Center......... 9

and happenings in Skagit County.

Busy Hands Result in Dallman’s Treasures........... 10 Tips to Prevent Memory Loss as You Age............ 11 Senior Nutrition....................................................... 12 Staying Active in Retirement................................ 14

SKAGIT PUBLISHING 1215 Anderson Rd. Mount Vernon, WA 98274 P: 360.424.3251 • F: 360.424.5300 Restocking: 360.416.2171 ©2012 by Skagit Publishing, LLC. All rights reserved.

2

editor Craig Parrish: cparrish@skagitpublishing.com

photographer scott terrell

Advertising director Mark Dobie: mdobie@skagitpublishing.com

design & layout Christina poisal

Display Advertising Manager Deb Bundy: dbundy@skagitpublishing.com | 360.416.2126

Advertising consultants Stephanie Harper : sharper@skagitpublishing.com Michelle O’Donnell: modonnell@skagitpublishing.com Kathy Schultz: kschultz@skagitpublishing.com Katie Sundermeyer: ksundermeyer@skagitpublishing.com Paul Tinnon: ptinnon@skagitpublishing.com John Williams: jwilliams@skagitpublishing.com

advertising operations manager Sarah Hickman advertising operations Katie Erickson, Jody Hendrix, Abby Jackson, Patricia Stowell, Christina Poisal

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

Harmonizing the World for 33 Years

by TAHLIA HONEA Skagit Valley Herald Staff Writer

The Harmony Northwest Chorus, a local chapter of Sweet Adelines International, has been sharing the gift of song throughout the Skagit County area since 1979.

The four-part a cappella group of 22 includes a wide range women, from homemakers to a physics professor and from age 25 to one 84-year-old member.

The members come from Skagit, Whatcom, Island and Snohomish counties.

“We’re (from) all walks of life, I guess,” said Carol Ward of Arlington. Ward is the vice president of the Harmony Northwest Chorus.

“We’re brought together through our love to sing.

Everyone loves to sing.”

The nonprofit group, with the motto “Harmonize the World” performs free concerts for senior centers and other organizations in the area.

Continued on page 15

Life...

Live it well!

Creekside resident Juanda describes herself as a very enthusiastic crafter! She loves spending time using her creative talents. You might find her beading, working with clay, or making one of her signature shirts she sells in the Creekside gift shop. Her goal is to start a craft group at Creekside this Spring!

Localllllly Locally ly Owned Own w ed wn d by Ed Watson Watson Watso

Call today for a tour and complimentary lunch 360-755-5550

400 Gilkey Road, Burlington, WA 98233 • 360-755-5550 • www.creeksideretirement.com

Lic. #BH1496

www.goskagit.com

Skagit Publishing , LLC.

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

3

Foods

Natural

by Shari Roan The Los Angeles Times

Remember chia pets? Rinsing your hair with beer? Food that’s just food — no soy protein isolate, xanthan gum, red dye No. 40 or mystery ingredients from the Amazon rain forest?

Well, chia is back, big time (the seeds, not the chia pets). And so is regular old food. We recently spent hours plodding the floors — along with 60,000 others — at the Natural Products Expo in Anaheim, California, the biggest health food trade show in the world. The overarching theme we saw: What’s old is new again.

Your grandmother would recognize a lot of these hot trends: Foods produced by local farmers. Skin products with ingredients that aren’t nine syllables long or start with prefixes like dimethyl or phenol. Products for sale in packages that can 4

Eating up the Trends be recycled or composted.

(Compostable baby diapers, anyone?)

In years past, the exhibit hall brimmed with bottles of vitamin, mineral and herb supplements.

Now the supplement segment has shrunk.

“There is growing distrust” of all things synthetic, says Carlotta Mast, an editor at New Hope Natural Media, the company based in Boulder, Colorado, that produces the Expo. “That is driving the idea of ‘Just eat real food.’” She says the purification ethos extends to that shrunken supplement sector: The number of multi-nutrient formulas is shrinking, edged out by singleingredient pills of vitamin D or omega-3s made from pond-scum algae.

Here’s what jumped out at us:

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

COMING UP COCONUTS Coconut flavor was popular back when kitchen appliances were harvest gold and avocado green. Now it’s back. Among the many items we spotted: Jamaican musician Ziggy Marley’s Coco’Mon, a coconut cooking oil, one of many coconut-based products in his food line, Ziggy Marley Organics.

Other companies are making coconut palm sugar, coconut water, dehydrated coconut to make your own coconut water at home (no Earth-unfriendly plastic bottles to recycle).

HEALTHIER SNACKING Natural products manufacturers want a piece of the grazing market. In place of the traditional NFL Sunday snacks of soda and cheese nachos, they are proffer-

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

ing more exotic flavored waters and chips. Some of our favorite beverages: mint-flavored water by Metromint and Blackwater — yes, it’s pitch black and tastes, well, like black water — from Vancouverbased Blackwater Innovations Corp. The water’s infused with fulvic acid, a supposed health-enhancer. (So clearly the miracle-supplement market isn’t stone cold dead.)

To go with those non-sodas? Sweet-potato chips, kale chips, bean chips, banana chips — anythingbut-corn chips, in fact, as corn becomes a new devil of the health food world. Consumers want traditional foods like chips and crackers to snack on at home but would like to feel less guilty about eating them, says Heather Smith, a spokeswoman for New Hope Natural Media.

They’re salty. They’re crunchy! And the bean chips have a pleasing (truly) lingering mouth feel.

TIME TO RECYCLE Corporate consciousness is a big selling point in

www.goskagit.com

Skagit Publishing , LLC.

the natural-products biz. Naked Pizza’s new frozen pizza not only has probiotics and agave fiber in its crust and zero sugar in its sauce, the box also comes from a manufacturer that uses only recycled materials.

And here’s an odd one: Recent University of California-Berkeley business grads Alejandro Velez and Nikhil Arora are selling a “Back to the Roots” kit to grow your own mushrooms. They drive around the Bay Area collecting used coffee grounds as the medium for growing the mushrooms in a box. (“We diverted one million pounds of coffee grounds last year,” Arora said, proudly.)

CHIA SEEDS The same seedlings you spread on a clay figurine to make a green Shrek are now being used in food products because of the high levels of omega-3 fats they contain. We saw FruitChia bars, Mamma Chia beverages and Crunchy Flax With Chia cereal. One company is hedging its bets with Coconut Chia - Continued on page 15

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

5

Senior Living

by MARK STAYTON Skagit Valley Herald Staff Writer

Pauline G. Nelson (left) and Adele Soucy take their first steps toward computer literacy in Rob Bird’s (center) Beginning Windows class, held at the Burlington Senior Center, 1011 Greenleaf Ave., Burlington.

Embracing Technology of Today Along with excellent instruction on how to use modern computers, their programs and the Internet, students in Rob Bird’s computer classes will get all they can handle of her opinion of

GUARANTEED QUALITY DENTURES Know your options, ask questions regarding denture materials, warranty, implants, financing & expertise. We have a combined 50 years experience.

Visit our website and then call for a FREE CONSULTATION IMPLANTS • DENTURES • FAMILY DENTISTRY

6

360-757-4909 200 E. Gilkey • Burlington

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

technology.

“I hate modern technology,” she said. “I think it’s taking the place of people speaking to each other, which is kind of important.”

But hate technology or not, Bird, 68, is quite handy with it.

She started using computers 30 years ago, choosing IBM over Macintosh when the rivalry was in its infancy, and repairs computer software in her spare time.

For the last 10 years she has taught beginning computer classes to older people at the Burlington Senior Center, covering topics like Microsoft Windows,

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

Windows Intermediate and Internet.

“If you get faint and weak at the sign of a mouse, then you take my ‘beginning beginning’ computer class,” she said.

The biggest issue for many of her students, Bird said, was developing the muscle memory needed to use the mouse. Others come in wanting to learn one specific skill, such as how to use e-mail or browse the Internet, without a general understanding of how computers work.

“They want to know it all, immediately, and it just doesn’t work that way,” Bird said.

Among the four students starting Bird’s beginning Windows class on March 21 was Pauline G. Nelson.

She said her daughter, a computer engineer teaching at Bellingham Technical College, tried to guide her through how to use her new laptop, but the instruction was too advanced to follow.

John Leighton of Alger said he came to get connected to his clubs.

“I belong to a lot of clubs that have e-mails and newsletters that come out and I didn’t know how to get them, so I never knew what was going on,” Leighton said.

With much protestation, Bird will begin teaching a class on Facebook in June.

The center’s activities coordinator, Jackie Cress, said she persuaded Bird to start www.goskagit.com

teaching the class after receiving

classes held over two weeks. For

many requests from visitors trying

more information, call 360-755-

to view and post photos on the

0102, or have your computer-

social networking site.

savvy friend or relative look it up

Bird’s computer classes are $35, and include two 2.5-hour

at skagitseniors.org/Burlington/ index.htm. ◆

State-of-the-Art Therapy that Gets you Home!

Get Back to Life with Life Care Center of Mount Vernon Therapy Available 7 Days a Week 24 Hours Skilled Nursing Care Medicare Certified and Most Insurances Accepted Restaurant Style Dining Free Wi-Fi Access

360-424-4258

2120 East Division • Mount Vernon

Skagit Publishing , LLC.

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

7

Tapping Toes, Smiling Faces, Healthy Benefits

by ERINN UNGER Skagit Valley Herald Staff Writer

S

kirts swishing and shoes clicking to Beverly Ruuth’s cues, the Skagit Toe Tappers clogging group brought merriment to the residents of Logan Creek Retirement Community during a recent Westernthemed show, and though there were smiles, parasols and cowboy hats, there was not a pair of wooden clogs in sight.

“We do not use wooden shoes,” said clogging teacher Ruuth, who has owned The Cloggin’ Place in Big Rock for 15 years and brought together the Toe Tappers. Cloggers actually use a “jingle tap,” which is a double tap or clicker, glued onto the bottom of regular shoes.

Ruuth said she aims to attract seniors to her classes, because it is so beneficial. Teaching clogging helped her socialize when she could no longer get out of the house like she used to, she said, and it’s helped her physically.

“It’s a total exercise, mental and physical,” she said. When clogging, she gives out directions or queues, to which the dancers have to listen, and the movement has cardiovascular benefits.

If she goes on vacation and doesn’t hold classes, the dancers tell her they missed her when she gets

8

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

back.

“I’m so glad you’re back, I can hardly move,” she said they tell her, adding: “They do notice a difference in their bodies if they don’t clog.”

The beginner class is “geared toward the seniors who need a little exercise and friendship,” she said.

She holds four classes a week and the first class is free for people to try it and see if they enjoy it. Those who have clogged before can call her as well, she said.

“I really encourage the retired person to try it,” she said. “I really do.”

After years of raising money with their shows for various causes, like Meals on Wheels, next year will be the last for shows from the Skagit Toe Tappers.

Ruuth choreographs all the dances and everyone has to drag the stages into place for each show, so it’s simply getting to be too much, she said.

“I’m 74 and so I’m kinda tired,” she said.

The troupe will do a best-of-the-Toe-Tappers rendition and then they’ll just dance for fun.

“So far nobody’s quitting,” she said. “They’re just saying ‘That’s good — we can just dance.’” ◆ The Cloggin’ Place 14641 Hwy 9, Mount Vernon (360) 424-9675

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

by LYNSI BURTON Skagit Valley Herald Staff Writer

Fitness

Senior

Numerous Activities at Local Senior Center

Senior centers throughout the county offer a variety of different low-impact exercise classes for seniors to promote well-being and an active lifestyle.

Here are the classes Skagit senior centers currently offer:

www.goskagit.com

Mount Vernon Senior Center 1401 Cleveland St. • Low-impact guided exercise class, 10 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday Burlington Senior Center 1011 Greenleaf Ave. • Tai Chi, 9 a.m. Wednesday • Zumba, 10 a.m. Thursday

Skagit Publishing , LLC.

Sedro-Woolley Senior Center 715 Pacific St. • YMCA’s Silver Sneakers lowimpact exercise group, 9 a.m.

Tuesday and Friday Anacortes Senior Center 1701 22nd St. • Indoor walking, 8 a.m.

Monday through Friday • Silver Foxes exercise group, 9:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday and Friday • Line dancing, 10:30 a.m.

Monday • Gentle yoga, 1 p.m. Thursday • Tai Chi, offered for a limited time every Thursday from April 5 to May 24. Level 1 class at 9:30 a.m., level 2 class at 11 a.m.

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

9

Kay Dallman works quickly on her current knitting project.

Busy Hands Result in Dallman’s Treasures

by KATE MARTIN

practiced, it looked as if a machine

can modify a pattern on the fly,

Skagit Valley Herald Staff Writer

had done the work.

subtracting or adding stitches as

Dallman, 91, said she can craft

Kay Dallman was just six years old

an intricate baby’s jacket in about

when she took up a hobby at a

three nights.

She said she loved it immediately.

hobby. “I like creating things.”

Her daughter, Jan Roxstrom, said

Her passion for her hobby has not abated over the years. If anything,

knitting also keeps her mother’s

it’s grown stronger.

mind sharp because of the math involved in making her creations.

“I just cannot sit idle,” she said in her Mount Vernon home. “My hands have to be busy.”

One recent cloudy day, Dallman knitted a yellow baby blanket.

Her stitches were so precise and

to create.

Dallman and her daughter

“It’s peaceful,” she said of her

school in Aldershot, England.

needed to match what she wants

“I try to memorize the pattern so I don’t have to look at every row for the pattern,” Dallman said.

estimated that she goes through more than 100 skeins of yarn a year.

“They are each individual works of art,” Roxstrom said. “It’s not only something to wear, but to treasure.”

Dallman admits that she’s a perfectionist, and her husband, Al, said he’s seen her rip out yards and yards of perfectly good stitches to repair a mistake that he can’t even

That’s become harder now that she’s older, she said, but she also

see.

For those new to the hobby, Dallman said people can go to any

Home for life...

No NursiNg Home! modify your home for life

local crafts store to ask for help in getting started.

Roxstrom often sells her mother’s www.best-bath.com

Kitchens, Walk-in Tubs, Barrier-free showers, ramps

99, Littl’ Bits. So far, the pieces are seeing few sales, but Dallman said

One Slip…and You’re Out!

she creates most of her works for

of your home, your money and good health!

other people as presents.

samuel’s repair & remodel Contr. Lic. #SAMUER*052JA

10

creations at her store on Highway

360.421.8333

sfbrode@yahoo.com

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

“I do it for love, I don’t do it for money,” Dallman said.’ ◆

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

Tips To Prevent Memory Loss As You Age

StatePoint Media

Y

ou may not realize it, but you can take steps to keep your brain fit and flexible as you age.

In fact, some experts now say that through proper diet and routine mental health exercises, you even can delay the onset of Alzheimer’s disease long enough to avoid experiencing the symptoms.

The sooner you start to protect your brain against Alzheimer’s, the sooner you will notice improvement -- not only in recall and mental focus, but also in energy level, mood, general health, and sense of wellbeing, says Dr. Gary Small, M.D., Professor at UCLA, and author of the new book “The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program” (Workman Publishers).

Small offers these stay-sharp tips to help you get started: • Eat brain food : Stock up on food filled with antioxidants like berries, avocados, and raw

www.goskagit.com

vegetables; omega-3 rich, antiinflammatory food choices, like fish, whole grains, and legumes;

and memory-boosting spices like turmeric and cumin. Alcohol in moderation can be beneficial too, so don’t shy away from a glass of wine or beer at dinner.

• Train your brain: You can cross-train your brain, by jumping from right-brain to leftbrain workouts. “The Alzheimer’s Prevention Program” offers great daily mental workouts that combine wordplay, letter scrambles, 3-D drawings, tricky equations, logic challenges, and number sequences. For more information, visit www. drgarysmall.com.

• Be flexible: Try simple tasks like writing and eating with

Continued on pg 15

Try Us! You’ll Like us!

Make more time for fun things like hobbies and recreation. r Hire us fo s out, u tr y 2 hours tol throw in ’l e and w urs 2 extra ho . for free We’ll lighten your load by helping with things like laundry, bill paying, errands, meal preparation – just about anything you might need. We can also help with caregiving from 1 to 24 hours a day so you can stay safe and healthy in your own home.

Our highly qualified personal assistants and caregivers can make life easier – and more fun – for you!

Call us today. (360) 293-5151.

Or visit us on the web at companionsandcare.org.

Skagit Publishing , LLC.

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

11

Nutrition

Senior

by TREVOR PYLE Skagit Valley Herald Staff Writer

Nutrition is an important part of any diet — but it’s especially important for senior citizens, who can ward off health problems by paying attention to what they eat.

“A nutritional meal plan can reduce your chances of heart disease stroke, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes,” said Barbara Sutton, the chief clinical dietitian at United General Hospital. “If you don’t eat healthy food, you’re at risk for decreased mental sharpness. You need to put good fuel into your body.”

Sutton said good eating for seniors doesn’t have to be a chore, as long as they follow a few general rules.

• Concentrate on good food: “The most important thing is to eat quality foods,” Sutton said, adding that seniors’ meals should be filled with nutrient-dense, healthy options such as protein, whole grains, fruits and vegetables.

The National Institutes of Health’s website offered 12

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

similar advice, urging seniors to avoid nutritionally poor foods such as chips, soda and cookies.

• Plan out your meals: Eating well can seem daunting, but Sutton said it’s made easier by planning meals out in advance.

She recommends making a grocery list, then cooking enough at home to create leftovers.

Many seniors, she said, are tempted to go for easier options such as frozen dinners. She encourages them to discover how tasty and fast home-cooked meals can be. “It doesn’t take a lot of work to cook some chicken, bake a potato and cook a vegetable,” she said.

• Make eating a chance to socialize: As often as possible, Sutton said, seniors should try to prepare and eat their meals with family or friends.

“Cooking for one isn’t a lot of fun … but eating can be a social occasion.”

Finally, Sutton said, seniors should make an effort to eat healthy, but shouldn’t deny themselves too much, either — as long as they don’t go overboard.

“Everything is good in moderation,” she said. ◆ Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

S taying A ctive I n R etirement • Volunteer: If unstructured time makes the hours of the day feel endless, look for volunteer work that will keep you as actively engaged as when you worked.

StatePoint Media

Despite the promise of ample free time, retirement is not something everyone looks forward to with happy anticipation.

Many approaching this life stage worry that the unstructured time will be tedious and unfulfilling.

But there’s no need to fear a life of greater leisure.

There are many ways to make the most of one’s years after leaving the workforce, points out Sidney Silverman, a retired trial lawyer of 43 years and author of a new book of memoirs, “A Happy Life: From Courtroom to Classroom,” which he wrote when he was 76.

“I wanted to write only about my retirement but how could I do that without telling what I did before retiring?” says Silverman, whose book details his career and active retirement, during which he enrolled in graduate school, tried his hand at tournament chess and wrote two books.

With this in mind, he is offering several tips to help make retirement the highlight of your life: • Stay Active: Don’t let health problems become an excuse to sit around and stare into space. Take stock of how you feel, and seek activities consistent with your physical and mental strength.

• Take on New Hobbies: It’s never too late to discover new passions you didn’t have time to pursue when you were working. Test your fondness.

Whether it‘s woodworking, music, photography or fishing, now that free time is plentiful, jump in headfirst and pursue what you love.

14

• Keep Learning: You’re never too old to stop learning. There are many colleges eager to admit seniors. All you need is the will to learn, advises Silverman.

• Stay Upbeat: Don’t be gloomy. Avoid making what ails you the focal point of every conversation. Books, politics, sports, investments, real estate, and your family are all healthy stand-in topics.

• Try a Second Career: Become a published author or launch your own part-time consulting business, tutoring or catering company. For example, Silverman tackled the challenge of writing his memoirs as well as a novel entitled “What Money Can Buy” that satirizes the practices of financial firms which tossed our country and the world into economic chaos. It explains the causes of the Great Recession and satirizes the political scene that followed.

• Find Your Peace: Your career was the time to stress out about deadlines and workflow. Retirement is the time to put that aside and think about that book you’re reading, your golf swing or the next meal you want to cook.

As Plato once said, “There are different stages in a man’s life.” By staying active, you can make retirement your best life stage yet. ◆

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

Skagit Publishing, LLC.

www.goskagit.com

Continued from page 5 Natural Foods granola — that’s two trends rolled into one.

NATURAL BABY FOODS Today’s parents are passionate about their offspring learning to like fruits and vegetables.

Businesses are responding. Plum Organics has grab-and-go fruit and vegetable squeeze packs of pureed food (such as a blend of blueberry, pear and purple carrot) that babies can drink or be spoon-fed from.

“It’s about introducing babies to flavors so they become foodies,” insists Katie Sobel, director of marketing and communication for Plum Organics. Not to say plug into the hottest health trends: Plum is infusing some of its products with Greek yogurt (more protein than regular yogurt) and ancient grains like quinoa (fewer food allergy issues and easier to digest).

DRINK UP What a smorgasbord. Just as well: A late afternoon energy shot gave us the strength to make another pass across the 24,300-square-foot exhibit floor.

The yoga drink Bikram Balance, a blend of fruits and vegetables, aims to restore electrolytes after you bow and murmur “namaste.”

Fruitasia, a new fruit-and-veggie energy shot, is touted as having three servings of vegetables and two servings of fruit in three fluid ounces.

STILL HOT Some of the big fads are

www.goskagit.com

continuing strong. Probiotics are booming; gluten-free is growing; the Greek economy may be tanking, but Greek yogurt is making plenty of money for some businesses over here. ◆

Continued from page 3 Sweet Adelines “Sweet Adelines International (is an) organization dedicated to giving women education, training, and the opportunity to further their musical skills,” the Harmony Northwest website says. “There are currently more than 600 Sweet Adelines International chapters and 27,000 women around the world all making beautiful music together.”

The local chorus practices every Monday at the Mount Vernon Senior Center at 7 p.m.

The rehearsals are open to the public. The group’s songs include everything from “It’s Raining Men” from the musical “Mamma Mia” to older hits like “Sentimental Journey” and “Blue Skies.”

The group is also hosting a public concert April 9 at the Mount Vernon Senior Center in preparation for an annual competition coming up at the end of April.

The women don’t get paid for their performances, but simply do it for the love of music and the camaraderie that comes with being in a barbershop-style chorus.

“We have a fun time getting to know the other singers in our region and make long-lasting friendships with women all over the world through singing,” Ward said. ◆

Skagit Publishing , LLC.

Continued from page 11 Memory Loss your non-dominant hand. By engaging neural circuits in ways that are different from their usual patterns, you will provide your brain a good mental stretch.

• Make discoveries: Like any muscle you’d work out at the gym, your brain needs variety and stimulation to stay in shape. Find new challenging mental activities that you also enjoy, so that engaging your brain is never a chore.

For example, explore a genre of music you haven’t before, or take up a new thoughtprovoking hobby.

• Get Moving: Hopefully you are already exercising for optimum physical health. If you aren’t, consider this: Physical activity increases blood flow, oxygenating the brain. So turn off that mindless television program and take a brisk walk!

• Reduce your stress: Practice yoga, meditate; take a vacation or even just a bubble bath.

“Stress can temporarily impair one’s learning and recall,” says Small. “By taking away sources of stress, or reacting to stress differently, you can improve your memory.”

Alzheimer’s is already affecting five million people in the U.S. alone. But a memory lapse today doesn’t need to become a bigger problem tomorrow. Take charge and help sharpen your memory now. ◆

April 2012 | Spring GOOD LIVING: The Retirement Years

15

More Winners!

Rewards Club Members

50 & Over!

More

reWArds!

All The TiMe! On I-5 at Exit 236 theskagit.com 877-275-2448

W O W! Whirl-WIN Bon us P For Sen

rizes *

Mondays, 9 amiors – 6:30 pm

Hot Seat D rawin Noon – 3 pm

gs!

For All Rewar Members Playin ds Club g with Card Sen

Get

ards When You Buy-In with your Rewe* Cag r hie Cas er Club Card at eith

Seniors Show Your Rewards Club Card at the Market Buffet for:

iors’ Prizes Doub le!

Owned by Upper Skagit Indian Tribe

Casino opens at 9 am daily. Must be 21 or older with valid ID to enter casino, buffet or attend shows.

Must be a Rewards Club Member – Membership is FREE! Must be present to win. *Must play Full Redeemed Value of Buy-In offer. Limit one per customer per day.

Visit Rewards Club Center for details.

Management reserves all rights.

SGL-1155

For

Lunch

Dinner

$7 off Regular Price $2 off Regular Price