Sunglasses
I wear glasses. I also have prescription sunglasses. Eye protection is important and the Cancer Council has eye protection advice.
One problem with prescription sunglasses is situations where the ambient light changes instantly. Such as driving into an undercover car-park (work, supermarket). I go from protecting my eyes from the sun to not being able to see and risking poor Benji’s front guard.
I have found transitions lens are not ideal as they don’t actually go dark enough while driving, due to the windscreen reducing activation.
Very annoying. I found a solution. Sunglasses that go over one’s vision glasses.
Just like this.
No, not as much of a fashion statement as my prescription sunnies, but I can whip them off as the car-park boom gate opens. No fumbling around badly/madly to actually change glasses while also trying to change gears.
Opening Jars
Many people with chronic conditions find they lose grip strength. Grip strength is actually an interesting health metric.
Grip strength is related to and predictive of other health conditions, although the relationship is not stated to be causative [4,8]. Normal hand grip strength is positively related to normal bone mineral density in postmenopausal women, [9] with some researchers suggesting that grip strength be a screening tool for women at risk of osteoporosis [10]. Longitudinal studies suggest that poor grip strength is predictive of increased mortality from cardiovascular disease and from cancer in men, even when factors of muscle mass and body mass index are adjusted for [11,12]. Hand grip strength is negatively associated with physical frailty even when the effects of body mass index (BMI) and arm muscle circumference are removed [13]. Researchers have suggested that the factor related to frailty and disability in later life is the manner in which muscles are used, and this can be measured by hand dynamometry [13].
Source: NCBI
The scientific community, while clearly finding grip strength interesting to investigate, are not around when I need to open a new jar of marmalade. This wonderful little gadget is a life saver.
As much as I resisted buying it because doing so made me feel old and decrepit, it is a marvelous little aid in the kitchen. I got it from one of those kitchen shops, I don’t remember which one. I can confirm these work brilliantly and I have yet to find a top that didn’t fit.
Vacuuming
Bending, technically flexion of my lower spine, is not something my back likes. My back reminds me of this in no uncertain terms every time I change the linen on the bed. Vacuuming is something that can result in us looking more like a cashew than correctly hinging at the hip.
I got myself an upright vacuum cleaner.
Upright the top of the handle almost reaches my armpit, maybe 5 cm short of my armpit. I’d measure it, if I had a measuring tape! Suffice to say it is much easier to stay upright when using this style of vacuum cleaner. Mine is a Shark, but I am sure there are other brands around. It also has fantastic suction, good for all the cat hair I invariably have to vacuum up every two days. Best of all, it wasn’t prohibitively expensive.
It has just occurred to me how to solve my linen changing problem – get a bed I can raise up to a height that allows me to stand upright! Not a lot of those around that don’t look like hospital beds though. But it is a thought! Seriously, I am going to focus on hip hinging when I do the bed.
Scalp Health
As I described in EXTRA Slip, Slop, Slap Needed, medications have resulted in skin issues for me. I know others suffer similarly. My situation does not exclude my scalp and I have a prescription lotion to apply. Entirely unrelated, my hairdresser sold me some leave-in spray to provide protection to my hair from the heat of hot rollers and hairdryers. It was suggested I could just use this as conditioner.
Interestingly, now that I no longer use conditioner in the shower, which of course actually gets on the scalp, I am using the prescription lotion far less frequently. Maybe once a month. It seems that in my case, even though I rinsed to the nth degree, conditioner may have been an irritant. Now using a product that only goes on the actual hair, I have seen a marked improvement. This may not be a solution for anyone other than me, but I thought it worth mentioning.
Yes, I know – my reflection is in picture of the bottle. I’m a personal trainer, not a photographer!
What simple tips can you share from your experiences?
Limberation 