Falling

Tai Chi

Help me, I think I'm falling
- Joni Mitchell, lyrics from "Help Me"

Ask an average person, "What is the most likely dangerous thing that may happen to you?" You may get answers like hit by lightning, hit by a car, shot by a gun, etc. What you are not likely to hear is "falling."

The Dept. of Health for New York State writes,

In NYS fall-related injuries are the leading cause of injury hospitalizations among children ages 0-14 and adults 25 years and older. Falls are the leading cause of unintentional injury deaths for those 45 years and older. Falls can result in serious injuries such as traumatic brain injuries (TBI) or fractures. There is also a heavy financial burden to fall-related injuries with a yearly cost of $1.3 billion in New York State for hospitalizations alone.

My father's aunt had an amazing memory and was a great story teller well into her 90's. But one night she fell in her assisted living apartment and was never the same again mentally. The Dept of Health is spot on with, "Fall-related injuries in older adults often lead to hospitalizations beginning the downward spiral that can result in long-term disability or death." In a fall the brain can be bruised and damaged when it hits the skull with a smack. Nearly twenty years ago my brother-in-law's job was to hit lab rats on the head and then measure the resulting brain damage using a MRI. The goal was to discover how well brain damage could be seen in an MRI because you really don't want to open up the skull to find out the status of the brain after an injury.

Fortunately there are measures you can take to make falls less likely.

For Children:

• Use child safety gates at the top and bottom of stairs
• Never leave an infant unattended on a table, bed or other elevated surface
• Use safety straps to secure your child in strollers, shopping carts and infant carriers
• Place your child in a stationary play-station rather than a mobile walker
• Playground surfaces should consist of shredded rubber, fiber mulch, or fine sand and extend 12 inches deep and 6 feet around equipment to reduce the severity of falls.

For Adults:

• Install handrails on stairways and remove loose rugs or other clutter
• Use ample lighting throughout the home. Install illuminated light switches at the top and bottom of stairs, and night lights in the bathrooms.
• Use a step-stool and grab bar to reach objects on high shelves. Don't stand on stairs, buckets, or other objects to reach something!
• Use non-slip bath mats in the shower and tub
• Wear shoes with non-slip soles
• Talk to your health care provider about gait, balance, and strength training.

Bottom Line

The last item in the list is interesting. I found that Tai Chi greatly improved my sense of balance and has saved me from some slip and falls. Perhaps Yoga can do the same to make you more in tune with your body and strengthen it for balance. Try standing on one foot for 30 seconds. (But be careful how and where you do this - you will fall eventually.) Learn how to fall safely. Do squats to strengthen the legs and improve balance as your body changes position.

The Bane of Efficiency

"With twelve kids, one would think that there was always chaos, but Dad was an efficiency expert and used all of his methods from work at home during family life. One of the things he did was call family assemblies by blowing a whistle, everyone had to stop what they were doing and come immediately.  "
- Cheaper by the Dozen

A very common New Year's resolution is better fitness and health with more exercise. I was reminded today that an enemy to exercise is efficiency. In olden days most people had physically demanding jobs but today technology makes everything "Less Labor Intensive". Why beat a rug when a Roombot can vacuum for you? Or lead a mule on a plow when you can sit in an air conditioned tractor?

The need for speed and efficiency affects all aspects of our daily life. An old friend from college was amazed to watch drivers searching for the closest spot to park next to the fitness club. Are they afraid of working up a sweat before exercising? My wife had a similar complaint when she used a fitness club for physical therapy, all the therapy spots near the door were filled by healthy fitness patrons who did not want to walk.

I find that instead of making two trips to the basement or kitchen, I'll load up way too much to carry for a single trip. Ditto for carrying groceries from the car to the house. Or at work juggling food and drink back to my cube from the office kitchen instead of walking twice. There are co-workers with giant water bottles so they don't have to revisit the kitchen to refill during the day. Or a giant, all-day, mug of coffee from Duncan Donuts.

Bottom Line

As Michael Jackson says in Billie Jean, "(Do think twice) Do think twice".  Make that second trip. Walk more. Dare to park far away.

And in addition to doing things twice, consider also doing things in halves. That is, eating half-sized portions. I read of a very simple diet where you eat half of your "normal" sized serving and save the 2nd half for another meal. Definitely a good idea at restaurants; they serve way too much food. If you drink a huge soft drink and eat a giant hamburger with an extra large fries, it may contain as many as 2,000 calories in one sitting - more calories them most people need to eat in a single day. Those little hamburgers that now sell for $1 - $1.25 were the original size when "fast food" service began in the 40's. But then came the double burger, the triple, the quarter-pounder, the third of a pounder, etc, along with ever growing sizes of fries and drinks.

And eating half-sizes is not a bad idea at home since our idea of portion size has grown to match the restaurants. A co-worker of mine doesn't just eat the HungryMan, extra-large sized microwave meal, he eats two of them every day for lunch. For more on portion sizes, see my post at http://perpetualpreparedness.blogspot.com/2010/03/too-much-food.html

Bad Habits

I don't believe one grows older. I think that what happens early on in life is that at a certain age one stands still and stagnates.- T.S. Eliot

Prevention magazine has published 9 "Harmless" Habits That Age You. These are:

1. Lack of Sleep
2. Too much sugar in the diet
3. Too much stress
4. Lack of regular exercise
5. Playing iPod too loud
6. Not socializing with friends
7. Not eating vegetables daily
8. Eating too little fat
9. Not enough sex

Bottom Line

As we age we need sleep and a good diet. The body is just not as tolerant of abuse as when we were young. We also need to stay active both physically and socially. In fact a recent study claims too much sitting can be deadly.

Carpal Tunnel

He's coming right onto the boat! Mr. Jaws [the shark], why are you grabbing my hand?
"Wouldn't you give your hand to a friend?"
– lyrics to “Mr Jaws” by Dickie Goodman

As a computer programmer, blogger, and computer game player I spend a lot of time at a keyboard. I have only once, knock on wood, experienced the pains of carpal tunnel syndrome. The carpal tunnel is a passage where the median nerve and flexor tendons pass through the wrist bones. If the tendons swell from overuse or the nerve becomes inflamed, the nerve is pinched inside the tunnel causing pain.

There are many recommended exercises to help prevent hand pain from repetitive typing or writing.

About.com recommends:
1) Extend both arms straight out in front of you
2) Extend your wrists and fingers back (as if directing traffic to stop)
3) Hold this position for 5 seconds
4) Now straighten your wrists and relax your fingers
5) With your arms still straight out in front of you keep your wrists straight, make a fist, and squeeze it tightly
6) Hold this position for 5 seconds
7) Keep your fists clenched and bend your wrists down
8) Hold this position for 5 seconds
9) Straighten both wrists and relax your fingers again
10) Repeat above ten more times

At eHow.com, physical therapist, Monica Paradise, demonstrates exercises and stretching in several online video clips.

Another eHow site describes stretching ideas for wrists and fingers. It also claims that your forearm muscles determine your wrist strength. Build up the forearms by squeezing a rubber ball and doing wrist curls with a light weight. Don’t over do the exercises!

A percussionist instructor demonstrates three clever wrist stretches.

eFuse.com has recommendations for Desktop Yoga, with many exercises for bad computer posture and repetitive stress.

Bottom Line

Don’t take your hands for granted. Work some type of wrist stretching into your daily routine.

If you experience pain, see a doctor. I can not vouch for the effectiveness of the exercises listed above.

Stretching

"I don't excercise. If God had wanted me to bend over, he would have put diamonds on the floor." - Joan Rivers

For Cub Scouts tonight I'll need to discuss stretching exercises. It's been ages since I've done any stretching (to my body's dismay) so I did some research. Here's what I found.

Year's ago my wife & I attended a fun class called the Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman. He recommends A Complete Four-Minute Fitness Routine every morning to get one revved up for the day. One part I remember fondly is a full body shakedown with random wiggling to loosen joints and muscles.

The site Corporate Yoga has pictures of stretches you can do in your cubicle and at your computer.

Fairview Health has pictures of classic stretches for the major muscles. I have unusually tight calf muscles and should be doing the hamstring and calf stretch more often. Standing on my toes is no problem but pulling my toes up, or leg lifts, not so easy.

Bottom Line

When should you stretch? As a child I was taught to stretch or pull the muscles (like Fairview above) before exercising. Modern medicine says this can tear "cold" muscle and cause injury and worsen athletic performance. Instead perform dynamic warmup like Arm circles and Trunk rotations to "warm" up muscles and increase the blood flow and oxygenation. Exercise. Then do "static" pulling stretches afterwards to prevent cramping.

A SportsInjury site allows for cold stretching but start slow, NO BOUNCING, 30 seconds max per stretch, and build up gently to harder muscle pulls.

Resources

http://www.myfit.ca/exercisedatabase/stretches.asp?exercises=flexibility

http://www.sportsinjuryclinic.net/cybertherapist/stretching/allstretches.php

http://physicaltherapy.about.com/od/flexibilityexercises/Stretching_Exercises.htm

http://www.thestretchinghandbook.com/

Sports Drinks

“Sports do not build character. They reveal it.”
-John Wooden

Are Sports Drinks helpful for children? Perhaps.

According to a story in the New York Times, the University of Connecticut’s Department of Kinesiology examined youth at summer soccer and football camps. They found that the young athletes, aged 9-16, didn’t drink enough water. While the campers thought they were drinking enough, by the end of the camp between 50 and 75 percent of the 128 kids studied were at least “significantly” dehydrated.

In a Canadian laboratory cycling study, kids voluntarily drank 45% more when offered grape-flavored water instead of plain water. When offered a sports drink (6 percent carbohydrates and electrolytes) they downed 91% more than water alone.

Since sports drinks are not cheap, the Times provides this recipe:

Sports drink recipe from “Nancy Clark’s Sports Nutrition Guidebook”

1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup orange juice
1/4 cup hot water
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 1/2 cups cold water

In a quart pitcher, dissolve the sugar and salt in the hot water. Add the remaining ingredients and the cold water. The drink contains about 50 calories and 110 mg of sodium per 8 ounces, approximately the same as for most sports drinks.

Bottom Line

Sugary water, juice, and sports drinks may encourage more drinking and prevent dehydration but they also pack on calories. Sports drinks are intended only for active individuals who are sweating from sports or exercise. If you’re a couch potato or glued to a computer screen, these drinks will only make you fat.

Exercising on Hot Days

“Laughter is as good as jogging for our heart, lungs, and brain” - unknown

Exercising in hot weather can be dangerous for your and your dog.

Pets need exercise, but on very hot days it is best to limit walks or exercise to early morning or evening hours when it’s cooler. Hot asphalt and beach sand can burn pet paws. Pets can get sunburned too, and may require sunscreen on their nose and ear tips.

With people, heat exhaustion, heat stroke, and dehydration are real possibilities when the temperature is greater than 70 degrees with humidity of 70% and above. High humidity means sweat doesn't evaporate very well because the air is already saturated with moisture. So you're losing fluids but not cooling down.

1. Stay hydrated. Take a drink every 15 minutes when exercising and consider a sports drink like Gatorade to replace lost salts and electrolytes.

2. Avoid the peak heat between 10am and 3pm.

3. Dress in light, comfortable clothes in light colors

4. Know the symptoms of heat illness: headache, nausea, dizziness, and light-headedness. Stop your fitness workout routine immediately, start replacing fluid, and find shade or spray your body with cool water.
Signs of heat stroke include confusion, rapid pulse, difficultly breathing, and dry skin with no sweat. If you suspect heat stroke, it's important to seek medical attention immediately as this can be a life threatening.

5. Wear sunscreen.

6. Cut yourself a little slack on extra hot days. This is NOT the time to maximize your workout. The good news is that you’ll be burning extra calories just coping with the heat.

7. When the temperature hits 80 with humidity consider moving your workout to an air-conditioned mall or gym. An increase in your body’s core temperature reduces the endurance capacity of your muscles.

8. If you insist on working out outdoors, build up to it slowly with short workouts in the heat for two weeks before your body is ready for the full routine.

9. Train with other people when it’s extra hot. Remember confusion is a symptom of heat stroke so a friend may notice if you’re in trouble, even if you don’t.

Bottom Line

If you live in a city, high heat can also mean poor air quality with ozone or smog. Long term exposure to smog can reduce the immune system's ability to fight off respiratory infections and can damage lung cells.

See Also
http://www.hss.edu/conditions_14593.asp/
www.50plus.com/Health/Fitness/index.cfm?documentID=21577
www.bukisa.com/articles/84831_how-to-exercise-in-hot-weather

Push Ups for Abs!

“Exercise is done against one's wishes and maintained only because the alternative is worse” - George Sheehan, American physician

As someone with back trouble and an aversion to exercise, I read with interest a study that the traditional curl-ups or sit-ups are bad for the back: Stop Doing Sit-Ups: Why Crunches Don't Work. According to the Texas Back Institute the “full flex” movement, the “crunch” part of crunches, puts an unhealthy strain on your back when it’s at its weakest point. Professor Stuart M. McGill, of the University of Waterloo, says “There are only so many bends or a ‘fatigue life’,” in your spinal disks … if you keep flexing your spine and bending the disk over and over again, that nucleus slowly breaches the layers and causes a disk bulge, or a disk herniation.”

That is what happened to me – a disk herniation, twice! Though not from sit-ups; more likely from bad posture sitting before a computer for long hours. It started as lower back pain and I was very happy when one day it stopped. Then soon after I started feeling shooting pain down my left leg (Sciatica). It turns out the back pain stopped when the cushioning disk between two vertebrae popped (relieving the pressure). As the disk oozed out from the spine it started pressing on the spinal column, in particular pressing on nerves that led to the legs. Given time the pressure could have led to permanent nerve damage and paralysis of the body below that herniation point.

When I finally visited a doctor I was in such pain that it was easier for me to lie on the office floor than to sit in a chair. He took an x-ray, recommended aspirin and rest, and sent me home. Two days later I get an urgent call, please come to the office for a diagnosis. The doctor sure looked pale and worried (malpractice fears?) when he told me I had a major disk hernia. I was sent to a neurologist for examination and scheduled for surgery a few days later. The micro-discectomy cut away the protruding disk with just a small incision through the back muscles. The recovery was six weeks and during the duration we joked that my spouse was “pack-wife”. She carried anything heavy.

Bottom Line

So does this new studies say I can abandon any thoughts of washboard abs? No. Professor McGill in the article recommends push ups. This is a full body exercise that will not stress the spine if done properly (i.e. don’t stick your butt high the air when pushing up).

Exercise is important to preparedness. I read one amusing site that noted fitness was more than lifting weights. Consider the following: Two men stop you. One pulls a knife and asks for your wallet.

Scenario 1. You swing a punch that has little effect and run for your life. After one block you’re winded and they catch you.

Scenario 2.You swing a punch properly with your whole body and knock one guy flat. The other chases you but after a few blocks you’re still going strong and the bad guy is out of breath and gives up.

Which Scenario is more likely for you?

Excerise your Brain

“I not only use all the brains that I have, but all that I can borrow.”
- Woodrow Wilson, US president

From Scientific American, Six Ways to Boost Brainpower,

1. Physical exercise boosts blood flow and brain growth. Exercise also improves sleep that is essential to the brain.
2. Diet: Although the brain is mostly made of fat, eating the wrong kind of fat will slow you down. Saturated fats = bad, Omega-3 fats (nuts, fish) = good. Too many calories may also make the brain sluggish. Suggested brain foods include walnuts, blueberries and spinach.
3. Stimulants: substances that boost the body will also give move energy to the brain. Caffeine is the drug of choice by millions to wake up the brain. Use in moderation please; too much caffeine will cause jitters, anxiety and insomnia. 100 cups of coffee in one day can be fatal.
4. Video games: improve mental dexterity, while boosting hand-eye coordination, depth perception and pattern recognition.
5. Music: It can treat anxiety and insomnia, lower blood pressure, soothe patients with dementia, and help premature babies to gain weight and leave the hospital sooner. The motor cortex, cerebellum and corpus callosum (which connects the brain’s two sides) are all bigger in musicians than in non-musicians.
6. Meditation: Although the brain’s cells typically fire at all different times, during meditation they fire in synchrony. Expert meditators also show spikes of brain activity in the left prefrontal cortex, an area of the brain that has generally been associated with positive emotions and big boosts in immune system functioning.

Bottom Line
Despite what you learned in school during the Stone Age, adult brains can grow new neurons. Not as fast of course as during youth but an old dog can learn new tricks.