Improve Your Balance

Good balance is important for everyone, but especially for people over age 65. Falls are the leading cause of serious injury, hospital stays, and loss of independence among the elderly. Age tends to bring about loss of coordination, joint flexibility, and muscle strength, making movement more difficult and less safe.

In addition to the changes due to aging, medical conditions such as arthritis or inner ear problems can increase the risk of falling. Some medications have dizziness as a side effect. Age-related cognitive decline may also contribute to increased falling risk. Fall injuries, including hip fractures and head trauma, will further impact mobility or may result in fear that limits activity.

Daily walking is a natural method to improve balance. Gentle movements such as tai chi or yoga, which can be performed either standing or seated, can also be helpful. Strength training and resistance exercises targeting the core muscles, legs and lower back are also beneficial. Physical therapy can also prove effective in solving balance issues.

Specific exercises can improve coordination, proprioception, and strength. Here are some places to find suggestions for specific balance exercises:

• https://www.silversneakers.com/blog/qa-improve-your-balance/
• https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/balance-exercises/
• https://www.ncoa.org/article/what-exercises-can-help-you-prevent-a-fall/
• https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/fitness/in-depth/balance-exercises/art-20546836

Videos:

• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PopG90qze2g
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q3faZkO4gbc

An often overlooked way to improve balance and prevent falls is to make your home safe from tripping hazards. Remove clutter and loose rugs from walkways. Ensure that lighting is adequate, including overnight. Install bathroom and stairway handrails. Reduce the risk of environmental fall hazards.

Stay active and reduce your risk of life-changing falls.

Typing on a Smartphone?

Lots of folks typing on smartphones make typos. Lots of typos! Is there a better way?

A research study found differences among smartphone users’ typing strategies that can make smartphone messages both faster to type and more accurate. Why not give these techniques a try?

Two-thumb typing is typically faster than single-finger or one-thumb typing. And people are getting better at typing on smartphones. Using a full keyboard to type is still the fastest input method, but most of us now spend more time with the smaller phone keypads.

The fastest typists were those using autocorrect. Autocorrect fixes obvious spelling errors and typos. Be aware that some research shows that autocorrect can be frustrating when having to change erroneous corrections. This is especially true if you are typing lots of technical terms or proper names, for which typos are more difficult for autocorrect to fix accurately.

Maybe generative AI can relieve some of this frustration by offering word prediction, grammar checks, or even suggested rephrasing to make your message more casual or more professional. However, research has shown that reliance on word prediction can reduce overall typing speed and increase cognitive load, at least for blind users.

Speech recognition (voice-to-text) technology can also be used to create text messages in smartphones. This technology allows an inputrate almost three times faster than typing! 

Proofreading before hitting “Send” is still very important. These helpful tools can increase speed and catch basic typos and errors, but they lack the human judgment and contextual understanding to prevent communication misinterpretations. Autocorrect replacements can be embarrassinglyincorrect. Speech recognition inserts homophones (words that sound alike but are spelled differently and have different meanings) and can misunderstand certain pronunciations.

Proofreading a text is especially important in professional conversations or when your message is emotionally delicate or sensitive. You won’t want to trust any confidential information to AI, which may store it or use it for data training.

Tools that make text input on a smartphone easier can be useful but be aware of potential issues. Always verify your message for accuracy. 

Are You Taking a PDI Medication?

What is a PDI medication? PDI stands for Potentially Driver Impairing. Some medications can cause attention problems, blurred vision, nausea, sleepiness, or slowed reaction time as side effects. Those difficulties can cause problems if they occur while you are driving.

Many common medications, both prescription and over-the-counter, have PDI side effects. These include amphetamines, antidepressants, antihistamines, muscle relaxants, prescription pain medications, and sleep aids.

A US nationalsurvey by AAA found that in a single 30-eay period:

•  Almost half of all those surveyed had taken one or more types of PDI medications within 2 hours of driving.
• Almost two-thirds of those taking two PDI meds drove within 2 hours of the dose.
• Almost three-quarters of those taking three PDI meds drove within 2 hours of taking them.

 The survey also found that:

• Over a third of those taking antihistamines or cough medicines were driving within 2 hours.
• Almost two-thirds of those taking antidepressants were driving within 2 hours. 
• Nearly three-quarters of persons taking amphetamines drove within 2 hours.

You may not be aware of the danger of driving when these medications are prescribed. These types of side effects are listed on the packaging and the enclosed data sheet for pills. But how many people bother to read all that? Your doctor should also warn you when giving the prescription, yet up to half of drivers said their doctor had not mentioned anything about side effects.

Consider your meds list before you pick up the car keys the next time. You may need to have a designated driver when taking certain medications. Other options include asking your doctor for an alternative prescription, or if you can take a lower dose or change the schedule for when you are taking the meds during the day.

Don’t put other drivers and yourself at risk. Check whether it is safe to drive when you are taking each of your medications. 

April 10 is National Donate Life Blue & Green Day

There are many reasons why someone might need a transplanted organ, eye, or tissue. It might be because of an accident, a disease, or a congenital condition.The need for donated organs is great. There are over 100,000 people on the US organ transplant waiting list.

Everyone is a potential donor. Your race, gender, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic status don’t matter. Your blood type and body size will be matched with the person needing a transplant. All major religions support organ donation as a charitable act. There is no cost to the donor’s family, and they can receive emotional support.

The colors of the Donate Life awareness ribbon are blue and green. Consider signing up to be a donor on Friday, April 10.

To register in the US:

•  Select “yes” to organ donation on your driver license
•  Sign up at https://RegisterMe.org
•  Find your state registry at https://www.organdonor.gov/sign-up

To register in some other countries: 

• In the UK, sign up at https://www.organdonation.nhs.uk/register-your-decision/donate/
•  In Canada, sign up at https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/healthy-living/blood-organ-tissue-donation.html
•  In Australia: https://www.donatelife.gov.au/register-donor-today
•  In Germany: https://organspende-register.de/erklaerendenportal/
•  In France, Portugal and Spain, you are automatically considered a donor, unless you opt out.

Each donor can help many people. An organ donor can save 8 lives by donating their heart, lungs, liver, pancreas, kidneys, and intestines. A tissue donor can help 75 people by donating bone, tendon, veins, arteries, heart valves, nerves, skin, and corneas.

It is especially important to understand that although organs are not matched between the race of the donor and recipient, compatible blood types and tissue markers are more likely found among persons of similar ethnicity. Donor diversity is necessary because persons of minority ethnicity make up a larger proportion of the donation waiting list then their proportion in the general population.

Click here for information, free downloadable resources, and social media covers on National Donate Life Blue & Green Day:

https://donatelife.net/how-you-can-help/national-observances-celebrations/blue-green-day/

Click here for information on National Donate Life Month:

https://donatelife.net/how-you-can-help/national-observances-celebrations/ndlm/

You can also visit the April is National Donate Life Month poster set on Healthinfo Island. Here is the SLURL:

http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Healthinfo%20Island/50/28/28

Be a hero. Register as a donor today.