Health and Wellbeing   

For anyone interested in “Birding” or “Bird Watching” to enjoy being outdoors, walking 1-2 miles, and interacting with each other while watching birds. The classroom sessions will consist of birding etiquette and appearance of birds: size, shape, color and identifying field marks. They will highlight bird behaviors and habitats and other interesting aspects of these living dinosaurs and how they reflect the health of our planet.

In the 4 classroom sessions, George will share his photos of birds on PowerPoint, knowledge and experience in birding, and being a citizen scientist. The other 4 sessions will be field trips. Locations include Bluff Lake Nature Center, Rocky Mountain Arsenal National Wildlife Refuge, and other locations. These field trip sessions may be longer than 2 hours and scheduled depending on the weather.

The Pilates approach to exercise focuses on balanced body development by strengthening the core, stabilizing the pelvic girdle, and improving spinal alignment. It promotes efficient movement with improved coordination and balance. In this class we will learn and practice fundamental Pilates exercises. Wear comfortable clothes that will allow you to move easily, and plan to work barefoot. We will work standing, sitting, lying down, and sometimes on hands and knees. Please bring an exercise mat and a hand towel to class. This class is not intended for anyone who has had an osteoporotic spine fracture.

Rumor has it that health after 60 is a series of patch, patch, patch! This speaker series is designed to look for ways to stay healthy and avoid as much patching as possible! Join Anne and Janet in a series of presentations designed to address common medical issues that seniors face. This eight-week course, in-person class series, will involve lecture, PowerPoint, videos and hands-on experiences. Come with your questions and plan on lively discussions! Be a part of learning new and practical health information.

Experts will present the following topics:

• Hearing (hearing loss, hearing aids, hearing systems for classes and others);
• Pharmacy (common medications and interactions, timing and effectiveness);
• Diabetes/Weight Loss and GLP1 inhibitors for both conditions (Wegovy/Ozempic and others);
• Physical Therapy (safety in the home, balance, falls and recovery and the use of assistive equipment);
• Allergies (common allergies, causes and treatment);
• Care giving, Hospice, Medical Aid in Dying;
• Dental (keeping your teeth into old age, cleaning and preventive measures); and
• Medical Myths (what to believe and how to tell truth from fiction in medical care).

Too many Americans are suffering from debilitating but preventable chronic health conditions. We will review current scientific research and connect that with day-to-day ways to implement lifestyle changes that will reduce our likelihood for chronic pain and chronic illness in later life. These conditions can be improved with lifestyle changes that make it possible to reduce the possibility of suffering from age-related diseases such as dementia, diabetes, chronic heart conditions, etc. In this class we will look at how aging impacts each of the 10 systems of the body and the conditions that lead to chronic illness and the self-care needed to avoid illness. It is important to work on our health to avoid chronic illness resulting in increased use of medications, surgeries and injections. Small decisions today can have large impacts tomorrow. It’s never too late to make improvements in your health. Even if you are currently being challenged with a chronic illness, lifestyle improvements can reverse or at least help to maintain current conditions. This class is for anyone who desires to take charge of their own wellness and would like motivation and inspiration to make wise choices. Imagine a world where you can age with vitality, purpose and self-acceptance!

“Dying is more than a set of medical problems to be solved. The fundamental nature of dying is not medical, but it is personal and experiential.”

We will all die and we need to be prepared for this exit. We need to develop our own understandings, attitudes and wishes of what our end-of-life should look like. This course explores: why is death frightening and has become more fearsome with scientific advancements? Nature of death and the trajectories of how life will end. Why is our healthcare system broken? Bad vs Good death? How can Hospice and Palliative Care help?

In order to be prepared as the end-of-life approaches, we need to do our homework to make our end-of-life choices and share them with our surrogate decision maker, family members and health care providers. Through reading stories, discussions and self-examination, these choices will become clearer by the end of the course.

As we get older, the risk of falling tends to increase significantly due to a gradual decline in balance abilities. This decline may begin in middle age and progress slowly, making it easy to ignore - until a fall happens. To address this, incorporating balance training into our personal health management strategy is essential, allowing us to take proactive steps toward maintaining stability and preventing falls.

Minding Your Balance™ training addresses this need, drawing on lessons from the martial art Ki-Aikido to take a groundbreaking look at balance and its fundamental relationship to mind and emotion. Easy to learn mind body exercises, scientific insights, and stories of applications in everyday life provide participants with tools to immediately improve balance control. Participants work individually and with partners. Activities can be done seated and standing; all activities are adaptable to different needs and abilities.

What happens to human “consciousness” when we die? In 1978 Dr. Raymond Moody's landmark book “Life After Life” reported on Moody’s investigation of 150 people who died “clinically,” were subsequently revived, and reported similar extraordinary experiences. His book started a revolution in popular attitudes regarding an “afterlife” and forever changed how we understand both death and life.

Since then, with vastly improved resuscitation techniques, five decades of scientific research on thousands of NDEs has brought us powerful evidence that yes, Virginia, there is “life" after physical death and, as frosting on the cake, what awaits us is both heart-warming and extremely comforting. Physicians and professors at prominent universities, medical schools and hospitals world-wide continue to study this phenomenon with seriously "mind-blowing" results. This course brings you up to speed on these findings as well as what we now know about other exceptional “paranormal” phenomena.

This lively, interactive course will examine what sexuality means to us, and how this changes as we mature. Topics include physical changes with aging, the nature of intimacy, and relationships both longstanding and new. We’ll cover online dating, consent and safety, sex toys and more! There will be ample opportunity for questions and discussion, and resources will be offered to meet current and future needs.

This course will cover the two most common mental health conditions in the senior population – depression and anxiety. We will discuss the signs, symptoms and how to differentiate one from the other. Information will be provided on how we can help ourselves and how to find competent professional assistance when it is needed. The final session will cover the science of happiness and how we can maximize it in our lives.

How great to go for a walk with your OLLI buddies on a Colorado Fall morning! We are often stepping over roots and rocks with minor elevation change, but all trails are rated “Easy” to “Moderate”. NOTE: for each walk we arrange meetup locations for those who want to carpool or caravan to the walk site, or you may drive directly to the walk site. Join Jan and the fun OLLI members who love walking together, learning about birds, animals, climate, history, geology and more from knowledgeable, volunteer guides from local non-profit, nature-related organizations. And don’t forget after the walk, those who can go to lunch, where we extend the camaraderie!

If you have concerns or questions about whether this class is a fit for you, contact JAN FRIEDLANDER, 303.885.9200 or janfriedlander@comcast.net

Class Fee: Each class member, including Jan, pays a $50 class fee in addition to the OLLI course fee of $70. 100% of the class fees are donated to the non-profit organizations who lead our walks.