Do the elderly or police need to trained about their encounters?

Today I think we have a heck of a topic to think about. I think we should think about it and read good interventions before they happen in our lives. They will happen if we live old enough.
Do the elderly need to be trained in their encounters with the police?
Looking for picture of older people attacking others only revealed the younger abusing the elder. But older people do strike out. Police are summoned and encounter older people being harmed or harming others. Maybe they are doing something that breaks the law. Abuse of the elderly is a problem, but it is not at all one sided.
With my cerebral palsy I find it more challenging to put on shoes and joint mobility. To get on the ground is a major effort. If I was arrested having my hands tied behind the back getting in and out of a car would be difficult. What I am describing will be a challenge to those you live into their 70’s to 90’s and beyond. When we are older we may get to frail to be handled like we could when we are younger.
A few years back I had a discussion with teens on how they should respond to police. Most teens never really are given information about this. A teen, cop encounter can quickly progress to an ugly, dangerous situation.
Paula Span writes an article, Another Possible Indignity of Age: Arrest for the New York Times where she shares several encounters the elderly have had with police. The link for the article is below.
Older people can be very difficult to deal with. They can be easily injured, frail, fall and be combative as well. These issues are not just for police but family and care takers as well. Old people can strike out and hurt others.

This is not going to end well, but what can we learn?

Fourteen years ago in the baseball playoffs a classic baseball fight occurs. Pictures tell us the problem of engaging the elderly the wrong way. Don Zimmer coach for the Yankees charges out like he always would of done. He is angry at Pedro Martinez. The difference now is he is 72 years old in far less shape to boot. Pedro throws him down and Zimmer is cut and pulled a groin muscle and is taken to the hospital after the game. Nothing can be undone. There is not a redo. But we can learn from the incident. Nobody is ejected in the fight, but everybody knew you don't win throwing down an old man. But what would you do if Zimmer came after you? At my age and condition I am in Zimmer's situation. Tables do turn.
It is fair to let you know what I did. Right or wrong I learned from it. When I was in my early 20’s I

There are consequences if we choose to fight when we are
older.  Sometimes we have no choice. I still have the fire
to do silly things like Zimmer did here. What can I learn? 

was caring for a farmer who was 85. The man was suffering from depression. I knelt down to communicate with him in a gentle way. I was asking what I could do for the old gent when out of the blue with the speed of Ali facing Patterson, the old farmer hits me with a straight right jab sitting in a wheel chair. He hit me square on the nose and soon my nose is gushing with blood everywhere.  I told my mates to continue the intervention and I walked way stunned and unsure if I could continue without blowing my stack.
The farmer was unharmed which I was glad for. His depression was deep and later it was decided he would have to undergo electro shock treatments. For many of them I was assigned to assist in them and help him through it. He took a series of treatments over the next few weeks. His resolve about suicide was broken and mood improved. Shock treatments are not used as often today, but they are still an option when other treatments have failed.
I was determined to work with him because of the hitting incident and He was a nice enough guy. I never approached him from the side again. In talking to him he gave me a line I have used for years. I have asked him, “How you doing Mike?” and he would answer right on cue, “Fair to midland”.

Even though she is smaller and maybe weaker she wins with
a gentle affirmative response.

The old farmer assaulted me, he was frustrated and angry for being in the hospital against his wishes. He just wanted to commit suicide. I was part of a team of medical people who were trying to stop him. I had to step away for practical and emotional issues. We were all laughing about it later. If I hauled off and hit him that would have indicated the worse on my part. No, I learned from the incident and became more aware. I learned to help people on their worse days and had the confidence that we will get through this and we will be all right.
Generally speaking, people with dementia will pick up on anger around them, a lauder voice of care giver that is frustrated and the sufferer of dementia will strike out in anger. Never more truer a line of Scripture, “A gentle answer turns away anger, but a harsh word stirs up wrath.” Prov. 15:1
With dementia and mental illness it is probable the police are the ones who will need to be trained with older people. They have parents, grandparents, they would want care for them. I believe the people in blue want to feel better about how they intervene with older people. Police often meet people on their worse day.
Still many older people still have awareness. Following police instructions and not escalating the situation is good. Communication of current disabilities and problems may also help police handle with care. But if the elderly are a danger to themselves or others, than police need tactics that would be more helpful and safer for the elderly and themselves. Training, reviewing past incidents would probably yield much helpful information.
It is just another factor that aging isn’t easy. Keep walking
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/21/health/older-americans-arrests.html?_r=0

Linking an health article with the study on Moderate drinking

I have previously reported on the possible benefits of moderate drinking alcohol for longevity and cardiovascular health. Drinking alcohol beyond moderate drinking only proves detrimental to health. 

Why moderate drinkers (one or two drinks) live longer than nondrinkers is still a puzzle to me. I understand the benefits of red wine on the cardio vascular health and beer on bone health, it is pretty consistent that more than two drinks takes away any of the benefits and proves only detrimental to your health.

Alcohol related to cancer I have not heard of any benefits. How drink he relates to cancer is worth checking out.

In Men's Journal this month, Melaina Juntti reports four beers, or five glasses of wine a week can be linked to a risk of mental decline. Melaina had previously reported the link between cancer and alcohol. I followed up with her articles with the studies she referred to. Men's Journal has had many articles favoring moderate drinking for their audience. 

The UK study about moderate drinking leading to a possible risk a mental decline is a fairly large study over a period of 30 years. As with any study about drinking alcohol there's always a problem with drinkers understating their actual use. The participants of the study since 1985 showed moderate drinkers had a mental decline in function and viewable loss in parts of the brain. These losses have been associated with various types of dementia. 

With the cancer studies and alcohol there seems to be a strong correlation in seven types of cancer that cause 5.8% of all deaths. “There is strong evidence that alcohol causes cancer at seven sites in the body and probably others. Current estimates suggest that alcohol-attributable cancers at these sites make up 5.8% of all cancer deaths world-wide.” 

Liberty trike - Easy to assemble, biking with electric
assistance. 5 speeds up to 11 or 12 miles an hour. 

You can look at the links below yourself and decide for yourself. With heavier drinking there are different mental impairments that we should all be concerned about. If you are a moderate drinker make sure you back that up with just a drink a day and once and while two. If you don’t drink don’t start recommended by lifestyle doctors like Dr, Cooper. 

Will studies like this cause public policy to change? For example in Chicago they are trying to tax sugary drinks to reduce soda pop consumption. Alcohol and tobacco are both heavily taxed. Will alcohol be penalized like the tobacco industry bring back some sort of political prohibition? 

Health changes should be for personal and knowledgable reasons. Life as brief as it is should be enjoyed. Health enthusiasts can be overzealous and legalistic. Our tendency to do these things maybe why I kicked back against political correctness. 

What is healthy? What is beneficial? You are in control of your health. You live your life, your medical team can help you. Your careful reading may give you insights that can guide you. Choice is exactly that. Keep walking  

http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/articles/just-5-drinks-a-week-can-damage-your-brain-w493425?utm_source=mjnewsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_content=daily&utm_campaign=072117_11

http://www.bmj.com/content/bmj/357/bmj.j2353.full.pdf

http://www.mensjournal.com/health-fitness/articles/drinking-can-cause-cancer-what-you-need-to-know-w430950

http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/add.13477/full

Trying new things

In walking with the fat man my physical fitness faces at least three different battles. Along with the diet and weight loss I face what is common to all of us who are getting older a physical fitness for seniors. As we get older we need to build muscle that is harder to do. We have to pay attention to our heart and cardio most days of the week. Maybe for the first time you find movement is harder and increase pain. We have to become more flexible.   

In general we benefit from exercise, (strength training, aerobic exercise, and flexibility). I think it's very important to see our need to do resistance training, and find away to move our bodies 20 to 30 minutes to improve our heart, mind, and body. Many more people have to deal with the inclination to become more sedimentary. Flexibility may be a new issue for a lot of people. But as we age we have problems with our joints, and muscles that will only improve through movement and stretching of some kind. The one signal that we may be getting is pain. There is pain relief through moving and stretching. We may find limitations with pain medication.

We are all at different places so I am showing what I do, but you may have different interests and ways to get moving. I hope to challenge to find real ways that work for you. You are probably doing some pretty cool stuff. Just don't give up and join me in pushing back against aging. Barb is back to In Home Walking in the morning. She does 2 mile walks. She is active all day, but she finds she needs that walk.

Yesterday my theme of movement was resistant training. Using two levels of resistant bands I work for a number of exercises that worked my whole body and a full range of motion. Every 15 minutes or half hour I took a small walking break and a related group of exercise, upper body, lower body in different stations around the house. Later in evening I biked for 20 minutes.

I have look at tai chi as a way of improving my mobility, balance and flexibility. Yesterday I look closely at a routine that I think might be good for me. I will also look at some routines done by senior citizens. In tai chi there is breathing similar to what I learned to relieve anxiety. The motions in tai chi are mostly circular. The routine that I will do more count as 360 steps and over 65 cal for a 9 minutes routine. 

Today I did my first workout and was able to do seven movements before I needed to take a break from my back. Then I finish to routine. As a practice the routine the movements will become more memorized where I can focus on the breathing and balance. My balance will never compete with your balance, but it is good for me to try. Movement side to side and backwards are really good for me.

The theme of my exercise today was walking up steps. My goal is hundred steps. I have already taken 40 steps and after I finish this blog I will take another 40. And then after another break I will take another 20. Later tonight I will bike for 30 minutes.

Tomorrow my theme will be boxing, I plan to do routines there will amount to three rounds of boxing. My break between rounds definitely be a little longer then a minute. In boxing I work at my footwork and balance and in shadowboxing there is no impact to my skeleton. The benefits in these routines help with all three areas I need to work strength training, short exertions of intensity, and flexibility. I also am planning to do two cycles with my TRX program that uses my bodyweight for a full range of motion and strength. Tomorrow I will bike probably 20 minutes.

Walking today in Israel (virtual)

9 flights of stairs would be
good excersize today. 

Today I traveled with Wayne Styles to the site of Tel Megiddo, Israel. 

The virtual Tour went into the historical background of the location. 

And as we walked around he shared many of the things we were looking at. Megiddo was a Canaanite city from the time of Abraham through the time of King Josiah nearing the Babylonian captivity. Each time the city was destroyed it was built-up. You can see the Canaanite gates and the gates that Solomon built. There is a grain silo from the time of Jeroboam. 

From the time of Ahab, who you may of heard of his evil wife Jezebel, or read of the obsessive captain Ahab from the novel Moby Dick. In Megiddo he builds stables or storehouses and an underground tunnel to get to the water source in time of siege. If you went down to the tunnel and back out you would have to travel 183 steps up and down. Dividing up and down by two you have to walk 9 stories up. Of course walking 9 stories down would be easier.

From Megiddo you would have a good view of the Jezreel Valley. Here is location of the

Wayne walking up from the tunnel to water

final battle between good and evil before Jesus returns, Armageddon “the hill of Megiddo” from the book of Revelation. 

It has been over 40 years since I was there. The archaeologist shovel has unearth much more of the site. In modern times, the British defeated the Turks in 1918 at Megiddo. In 1799 Napoleon use the branch of the international highway between Egypt and Iraq much the same way as the ancient pharaohs move their armies. Our own times are you affected buy these ancient sites. 

Can we really believe Biblical prophecy of the end times? Most historical documentaries lean on skepticism. And yet the cycle of war seems to travel back to these locations. The crazy unrest in our world would seem to indicate Wars and rumors of wars will continue. The tour of Megiddo was 13 minutes of interest for me.  Wayne shares how the world influences you or you the world. Intellectual or moral compromise always confronts the believer. Seeing how God influences our lives is most challenging in the time of unbelief. Amidst the ruins gives us pause to this struggle. Keep walking.