Safety For Seniors

Admit it, you are no longer a teenager. Your body knows. Not that you buy a cane and a rocking chair, and prepare for death,  just implement a few common sense actions which make your life easier and safer.

The first is:

1.  Be conscious

That is, don’t get up thinking about the girl who sat next to you in 5th grade, get up thinking about where you are going, what the terrain is like.

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2. Get life tools

These are various implements you can buy which are necessary.

3. Deal with your changing body

Pay attention to changing bowel habits, feelings of hunger, the changing of muscle texture.

These tips may save your life.

Let me put it like this.

When you are 14 you have now thoughts. The farthest ‘then’ is what Marcy said to you at lunch. When you are 24 your ‘then’ might be the last time you ate at this restaurant.

When you are 64 your past is so chockful, of ‘then’ you have so many memories, so many people, so much Past you have to fight to stay in the present.

Many Seniors get hurt because although their body is here, their mind is not.

Focus on NOW.

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Recognise that much of your thoughts are ‘then’. Force yourself to concentrate on “Now’.  As soon as your mind strays, unless you are lying in bed, or sitting on a sofa, stop and get to NOW.

By living in the Now you will not miss what is happening around you. You won’t make those silly mistakes because you aren’t concentrating. It is not senility, exactly.

For example, the girl outside my door is singing a Bob Marley tune. I remember Bob. I met him…

Now I am sitting at the computer, so I can stop, and reflect.  If I was cutting up vegetables, well… blood does not go with vegetables. Be conscious of where you are in space, where you are going, what is in front of you.

The second tip; sit down.

When you dress, sit down. When you are massaging lotion into your skin, sit down. Never stand when you can sit down.

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Be conscious of this. Most injuries are loss of balance. They can be prevented merely by sitting down.

This is so important I should type it in All Caps.

Start now. Get on your bed and lie down, now rise, and pull on your pants. When you get to the zipper stage, swing your legs to the floor and stand.

Creaming your skin, why bend over to do your legs when you can sit, put your legs up and get every inch?

Be conscious of your position in the universe and sit.

When you go to open a tight cap, sit. Everything you have to do, sit.

Get The Tools

Buy a small thin sharp knife, a good pair of scissors, and a magnifying glass. This is all you need.

When you can’t get that cap off the juice bottle….sit down. Take a cloth, hold it on the cap and try to twist. If it doesn’t come off, move to your Tool.

Sit or stand at the sink. Slam the knife through the cap, wiggle it around to widen the hole. Pour the juice into another container.  Always keep a few spare containers.

Anything that says; “Tear here” interpret as ‘cut here’. Use your scissors to cut all those packages.

Carry your magnifying glass to the supermarket.  Read the labels.  What is in this?   You need to know. You need to know the expiry date. You need to know where it came from.

Look carefully at your fruit and vegetables.  Don’t assume they aren’t bruised or rotten. Check.

Any time you are doing anything, focus on it. Cutting vegetables, nothing else in your world.  If you begin to think of anything, drop the knife. Teach yourself this.

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Your Body

When was the last time you went to the bathroom and it was easy?  When was your last bowel movement?

If you have problems you take a laxative. You go to a doctor. You have to go out on a regular basis.

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When did you last eat?

Many times you aren’t hungry and there you are, in the middle of something at 11 am and realise the last time you ate was 4 pm yesterday.

Eat small meals at set times. Eat breakfast, always. Eat Lunch and Dinner. Even if they are small meals, eat something.

Most of all; Focus.

When you are over sixty you have so many thoughts and memories, that song isn’t just a song. That song is a door way into a world that you once inhabited.  A world that is no longer here. What is here is what you are doing now.

And always be Here Now.