Getting older takes courage

Getting older takes courage. Maybe you Heard about the couple from Georgia the wife Maria Riffle, age 74 was in a walker trying to help her husband Roy who was in a wheelchair at age 86. The husband had taken his power wheelchair to a trip to a local shop and the chair went off the walk way to uneven ground where he got stuck. Maria seeing this came outside with her walker to help her husband. Roy was dressed for the cold, But Maria only wore her dress. And she made an effort to help her husband she fell and was unable to get up. 

The couple unable to help each other we're helpless and were there for 17 hours. They were discovered the next morning by the police where they found Roy alive but Maria had died of exposure to the weather. In just a moment of time they found themselves in great danger.

When I was first told this I had the impression that both people died. It made me think when do we rethink our living conditions of independence or a safer environment of assisted living? But as I got the more complete story the question was still valid, but I can see that the couple had made adjustments to keep their independence with assisted technology. We live our lives with no guarantee that we may face dangers that we didn't foresee. As an armchair quarterback we've we see maybe they had options to deal better with the situation. There is always uncertainty and the possibility of dangers that we are unaware of. But Maria's actions showed courage and despite her limitations she tried to help her husband. 

Their story gives us three possible interventions that might help them avoid the tragic death. 

In a day of having a cell phone this could've saved their lives. If we have parents who are aging it is a good idea to pick up their calls no matter how unconvient. You know telephones were first invented for people to talk with, today many people do not pick up their phones and they may not listen to her messages for a day. Us seniors have to be able have the ability to enter the world of texting.

When I took life guarding I learned to let a strong non swimmer wear out before I intervened. If you try to help too soon both you and the non swimmer can drowned. Is there any thing you can use to not get in trouble like a a pole or lounge chair to bring the non swimmer to safety. Maria had possible options that would work. 

Listen to your mother, she was right when she said put on your coat new go outside. Dress for the weather. In Maria's haste to help her husband she made a fatal mistake she was not prepared for the weather. We also have that ability of can-doism where we attempt to do something that we really can't do. Her better move would have been to call for help. Roy was not in immediate danger. Of course I'm not taking in where were these people are in their mental health. But all of us from we get older we'll have more limitations on what we can do and we have to get used to the idea that we need help. Often we act before we think. Maria actually was showing great courage, tragically it would not be enough.

What if Roy or Maria has an alert service that you see advertised on TV all the time? Like a phone this could've been lifesaving.

As a couple both of these people had severe disabilities. I am sure they're drive to be independent played a big factor but when we make that decision to relocate to living with assistance? I think that's a tough question that families have to work out. 

Getting older isn't for the faint of heart. Maria acted with great courage and paid the ultimate price, but their story may help us be better prepared for this type of dangerous situation. We are all going to get there as we age maybe we can learn from those you are there now good examples and bad.

By the way it's always a good idea to keep walking.

Home improvement's impact on health

We are having a winter that started late this year in one weather expert shared in an El Nino season winters come late but stay cold a little longer in the spring. I really have been enjoying my new windows and the energy savings they have given me this winter. Over the years we have insulated and remodeled the house. I am thankful for the many ways to make come home better. The quality of life experienced in an improved shelter fits into a healthy lifestyle. 

Therapist studies related to light and the ability to avoid seasonal mood changes. Using my bay window for green plants also plays into the health of the house. People have shared dealing with chemicals in the house and its effect upon health. Making a home livable it is well worth the investment. Our health has to improve with a better shelter. 

For those of you who have concern about a green planet my furnace is running less often. 

Consider instead of keeping up with the Jones's, Home improvement can be about improving the quality of your life. There is no guarantee on how long that life might last, but the days and years that we have can be a little better. 

When you have an old house there's always something to work on. There is also only so much you can do at a time. In this regard is much like our health, you can't do everything once but have to taking the day of a time. Recovering our health has its own timetable. If we ignored our problems they can lead to ruin. 

I think this is similar to an old house. If you ignore the repairs a house can go downhill very quickly. A house where you live you are personally interested in making in home. I think that's one of the problem is with rental property is in the responsibility of making it home. Often in those houses going to disrepair within a generation.

The impact of an insulated home on health has to improve the immune system to fight off diseases and sicknesses. If you lived in the tropics like my friend Moses having a home that has good screens on the windows what have to improve their fight against malaria. When I was in Africa I got malaria. My fever was higher then any fever I got from the flu here. If you battled malaria all your life it would have to break down your health against other things. 

Respiratory influenza actually survives very well in the cold Barb told me the other day. Other bugs the cold kills off. 

I've been good with my exercise bike lately. And if I didn't exercise that day I've been listening to audiobooks and cycling 20 to 30 minutes, what I call walking the dog. Dr. Cooper years ago recommended taking the dog out for a walk at night if you had no exercising in the day for a 20 minute walk. He was well aware exercise should be two hours before we go to bed, but doing a walk before we go to sleep is good for the heart and better than not doing nothing.

Doing nothing to improve the quality of our life in our home, like doing nothing to improve the quality of our life and our lifestyle maybe something that we have to work on. Keep walking

fascinated with toddler's lies

Enter the world of Calvin and Hobbes. The following was a comment I wrote in the WSJ

Fascinating how children think and grow. How blessed is the parent who has a child they fully engage in. For sure we want maturity and good character, but a child who has a engaging brain how exiting. I discovered growing up the old man was up to the task. 

I believe in my children, but at the same time did I believe everything they said? No way, I was a kid once too. 

The ability to separate their thoughts from their parents and to begin to think in terms of protecting their interests, will they get it wrong, of course, but engaging a smart kid is what we all want. 

Give me Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer any day as what will be an honest adult.

Children's transgressions are teachable moments. Understanding how they think is interesting. 

You can read the above article from the Wall Street Journal, Children's Lies are a Sign of Cognitive Progress

What do you think?

   

http://calvinhobbesdaily.tumblr.com

http://www.wsj.com/articles/childrens-lies-are-a-sign-of-cognitive-progress-1452704960?tesla=y

Outdoors vs. indoors making exercise work

Outdoor workouts versus indoor workouts

If you can do these activities nothing beats running, walking, biking outdoors. It seems a lot easier to do these activities for longer periods of time outside. If you are doing them with a friend or mate it hands a social element to it. If these activities are vigorous you can get a runners high with them. Everyday there is something new about it. Outdoor programs help us to get our daily vitamin D from the sun that help our bones. There is support that we get a lot more out of outdoor exercising.

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Strength training outside I find workout bands and TRX exercises really adaptable. I haven't found too many exercise stations for the outdoors, I believe that they would be great. Using a bench is great for push-ups, and squats. Nice area of grass works well as a mat for various body resistance training.

After a walk working on flexibility is easy to do.

Having cerebral palsy I haven't gotten much out of a treadmill. But with the very programs and virtual trips that you can do with it treadmills work for a lot of people. I have had a lot of experience indoor walking with trainers like Leslie Sansone. I've had better success with the walk programs then the running programs. There are couple of advantages to this. First of all I've never fallen with indoor walking. As my knees have continued to heal this is a big plus. In-home walking has the same ability to make adjustments as you do with your outdoor programs. You can slow the pace or ease the movement to fit where you are at. When I am getting back at it I don't do as large of the movements and even go a little slower when I need to. There are different programs for older walkers as well. 

I have also found success with my incumbent bike. I have done spin classes with it as well as virtual biking on trails where are they change the resista

nce throughout the bike ride. Sometimes listening to an audio book I close my eyes and pretend I am jogging. With the incumbent bike it is easy to do 30 minutes to an hour of biking.

I have different programs downstairs and equipment that I could use. But for strength training I use the stairs, my countertop, my bed, different pieces of furniture for adaptive body resistance. I use different resistance bands and my TRX exercises. Besides strength I have also helped with my arthritis and I've been able to rehabilitate from different injuries. 

Indoor workouts have help me not to fall. They are also very good for safety and bad weather. 

So what's right for you? Probably both. One thing that we need to do in retirement is find ways to increase our strength and flexibility as well as keep our heart healthy with aerobic exercise. Probably nobody is telling you is how often you have to rehab your body after health issues. We all have different health problems that set us back. As we age there will be times when we have to start over. The overall goal's to improve our health so that daily we live a little better and we keep our independence. 

Exercises one of those things that we do and is part of our new job. For many we can actually improve our strength, flexibility, and aerobic ability. People talk about in decline as we age but there is also a sense making things better.

I think everything I mentioned in this article is inexpensive. I have not bought a treadmill. But my incumbent bike was under $200. 

I haven't talked about swimming, In my experience swimming indoors seems to have an advantage. Whatever you do, do it as you get older, keep walking.

Top 5 posts in 2015 you selected

My Top 5 posts of the year choose by you the readers.

Paul Smith, a well lived life
Growing older together
Take the kids in your life star gazing, memories from Pine Ridge
What does “text neck” looks like?
I had difficulty praying...

I wrote less often this year and I have developed a new interest in Liberia. To build up a lot of readers it is suggested to write at least three times a week. But I have cut back because my mental health has improved and I wanted to not write repetitively. Right now I want to write more creatively and I hope my writing is improving.
I have also been writing my books this year and I will pick up my pace this next year.
Thank you for visiting my blog and I hope I've been a blessing to. Keep walking.

resolutions, diets and stupid

New year resolutions

Since most new year resolutions are abandoned after about a week; I feel hesitant whether to make one or not. Resolutions give us a moment of hope as the new year begins, so that may have some value. 

It seems the number one resolution for most people is to lose weight. By now losing weight we may not feel very confident. As the years move along our weight tends to increase. The fitness industry and health industry both booming don't seem able to help. So what do we do? We turn to the craziness ideas where we might lose a few pounds but in time we only put the weight back on again. bugger!

If you don't mind here are a few suggestions or guidelines:

1. if it seems to be to good to be true, it probably isn’t true.
2. If a celebrity endorses it, avoid it like you would've avoided Ebola. If a celebrity endorses it, look for the snake oil. It may help you lose weight but you can guarantee it won't help your health.
3. If it cost you money to find out the secrets, a red flag should go up that this is a scam.

I hope to encourage you with the little bit of skepticism when it comes to diet and claims. My personal physician tells me that losing weight is going to take about 80% of work in diet. Whatever it takes we have to work at it and it will become part of our lifestyle.

Let's take a look at the crazy world of diets.

The McDonald's diet. No matter the clever ads, jingles, beautiful people eating a burger, like cigarettes we know this is a bad road. Here I refer to fast food in general.

Listen to the doctors. Many doctors come up with plans about diets. If their plans come up with a price tag, think twice. Hippocrates, us the father of medicine gave this advice to lose weight. Eight once a day, take no baths, sleep on a hard surface, eat more meat and protein; and my favorite, walk around naked as much as possible especially in winter. Now I think you would lose weight but then you might get pneumonia.

HCG diet & celebs. Recently I came across a brief reference to Kim Cardassian planning to eat the placenta when her baby was born. I readily admit to you I really don't know where these crazy ideas come from but in researching crazy diets I came across the HCG diet. People who practices this diet eat 500 cal a day and inject themselves with a hormone produced by the placenta of a pregnant woman. Nothing sounds right about this. 

Loopy idealists diets, The Freegan Diet. They combine a vegan diet of discarded food and food they can find for free. Basically eat what people throw away and forage in nature. So head to the dumpster and hope the food is fresh.

The models and writers diet. Lord Byron and Heidi Klum have a diet with a different twist. Drink vinegar or soak your food with it so that you lose your appetite. Lord Byron went from 194 lbs to 126 lbs. He got the look that he wanted in being pale and thin, he also died at 36 with many health problems. Heidi’s diet may not be as extreme could erode her stomach and esophagus.

Enlist help of a tapeworm. Tapeworms can grow 30 feet and they are capable of reproducing inside our bodies. People tried to this in the early 1900s and In 1950s. So we are about ready for another round of somebody trying this. When you lose the weight you want you can go through the treatment of destroying the tapeworms in your body. Just be aware of they do come out of your body one way or another. There is a long list I'm dangerous side effects including meningitis, epilepsy, and dementia. Plus a 30 foot pet.

Yes cigarettes can help you lose weight. That was the plan back in 1925 with Lucky Strikes. The ads included a beautiful thin girl smoking a cigarette and a fat girl eating. Cigarettes in the movies were a powerful advertisement. I believe people can still be duped with this stupidity.

Let's go to a Fletcher's party. In 1903 Horace Fletcher introduced a diet which help him lose 40 pounds. You chew your food hundred times a minute and what is left you spit out. Wouldn't that make a great dinner party. Writers Henry James, in Franz Kafka, and millionaire John D Rockefeller followed this diet. Besides gross it leads to constipation.

I think you get the idea, weird ideas may work; but they often cause us serious health problems. Just because a doctor, a celebrity, or new product comes along think about my guidelines and can I had another one:

(4) if it's stupid, it is

Keep walking