Monthly Archives: March 2018

What did he say?

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Hearing and Aging

The scene: Susan and I are sitting in front of our “older” TV watching a documentary or such, and one of us turns to the other and says “What did she say?”

“I didn’t catch it either,” is the common answer. Yes, hearing and aging issues are catching up with us.

What to do?

First, we have to realize that the grand-kids don’t have the problem. We do. Our ears really aren’t hearing as well as they used to. Especially they are not distinguishing voice frequencies from background sounds.  Our current solution is we turn on the captions. That works, but seriously detracts from the images.

 

But according to this “Consumer Reports” article there are a number of other approaches, like these:

  • If your TV supports it, adjust the mid range tones of your audio so they are louder. It takes some chasing through menus to find the adjustment – if it is there.
  • Get a speaker bar ($150-$1000). Some have settings to help with dialogue. All are likely better than the built in speakers of the common TV.
  • Purchase wireless headphones.

Click here to read the much more detailed report from “Consumer Reports.”

Loving and Dying

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“Nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes” – Benjamin Franklin

Dying is a controversial topic. Which, from some sort of logical standpoint, seems strange as it’s the one thing that we all have in common with each other. Sometime, some place, we will all die.

And should it not be part of our humanity to make decisions about dying ourselves – not the government and not the church.

Dying with Dignity

In Oregon we have the “Death with Dignity act. With personal awareness, and two doctor certified evaluations that end of life, because of disease, is within 6 months, a person may elect to receive drugs that they alone can drink, no help from anyone, and then when the pain is too great, take the drugs – or not.

Many suffer through pain knowing they have alleviation at hand. Others use the drug to eliminate physical pains, already understanding that suffering through pain may give them only a few extra- not precious, but painful – weeks.

A documentary

Here is a video documentary of one family, and one couple who decided to use the death with dignity approach.

Loving and dying

There are certainly those who have a belief system that says you may not hasten your own demise. But, when it is technology that is providing a unhealthy additional week or two I would certainly not be the one to condemn.

The Best Exercise for Aging Muscles

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Aging Muscles and Exercise Intensity

We all know that exercise is good for us. But, just what is best for us folks with aging mitochondria? This study compares weight lifting, interval training(high paced stationary bike riding for short periods of time), moderate exertion stationary bike riding, and a non exercise group. The interval training exercisers game out significantly ahead . “It seems as if the decline in cellular health of muscles associated with aging was “corrected”with exercise, especially if it was intense, says the studies senior author, Dr. Streekumaran Nair, at the Mayo Clinic.

Does Swimming count?

“How does that relate to me and my almost 80 year old body,” I wondered. My exercise of choice is swimming and dancing. I have been doing 30 laps or so three times a week, all at a moderate pace. Based on my interpretation of the study, I am now sprinting  4 of those laps. In dancing, where appropriate, I am adding short times of fairly energetic movement. Will it do me any good? I don’t know, but it at least feels good, and what counts more than that!

My source: A New York Times Article

The New  York Times article where I learned of the study was in the March 23, 2017article and is available here.

Help your back!

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Keeping your back happy!

Aha, I thought while listening to the NPR report on “The Lost Art of Bending Over: How Other Cultures Spare Their Spines,” that’s what my talented instructor in my NIA dance/exercise class is trying to get us to do.

After listening to the report, and then reading it, I started trying to use the approach in the hedge trimming project I was working on. In my very non-scientific, sample of one trial, I think I had much less back ache after cutting and picking up some 15 garden  cart loads of branches.

My interpretation

The method, as I interpret it is when you need to pick up something  in front of you:

  1. Consciously think of your hips as a hinge, and your back as a plank.
  2. Bend at the hip hinge.
  3. If that isn’t low enough, bend your my knees, keeping your knees over your ankles.
  4.  That sticks your bottom out, and there you are lifting with a flat back!

Probably, if others are like me with a lifelong history of bending with a curved back and my knees out in front of my feet, it’ll take some practice to make the approach second nature. I’m working on it.