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RECOMMENDED READING: "THE BRAIN THAT CHANGES ITSELF" by Norman Doidge MD ---- Thoughts can change the structure and function of our brain-even into old age.--- (available in paper back)----- 09/07/08
"OUR THOUGHTS CAN CHANGE THE STRUCTURE AND FUNCTION OF OUR BRAIN -EVEN IN OLD AGE,"
THE CONCEPT THAT THE WORLD-WIDE INTERNET IS AN EXTENSION OF THE HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEM IS INTERESTING.
---------------CHECK THE LINK BELOW.------------------
BRAIN CHANGES CALLED NEUROPLASTICITY ------------------------------------------------------
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06/27/06 - HOW TO SURVIVE A HEART ATTACK WHEN ALONE.
When your heart starts to beat improperly, and you begin to feel faint, you may have only ten seconds before losing consciousness. However, you can help yourself by coughing repeatedly and very vigorously. Take a deep
breath before before each cough, and the cough must be deep and prolonged. Check this suggestion with your doctor before you need it.
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03/06/08
EMOTIONAL RESPONSE OF THE ELDERLY TO FALLS
Most older people recognize the change in their short term memory, (STM).. .To compensate, we develop routines for living, including washing, getting dressed, and eating. Anything that disturbs these routines are annoying or "upsetting". Even falls without injury are mentally disturbing and can lead to depression and life threatening illness.
There are innumerable scenarios for falls, so falls seldom repeat themselves, even if a person can recall them. Usually a fall occurs so rapidly that the person cannot reconstruct the event in detail. This is mentally disturbing, too. After an injury fall occurs the normal living routine may be disturbed for weeks or longer. Few older persons can completely recover from long term disruption of their routines.
Throughout life we make and change routines. When our memory is good we can alter and remember new routines. People who have not begun to loose short term memory seldom recognize the mental effect of a fall on the elderly. Each person's response to a fall is unique and treatment should be based on the individual case.
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PERIPHERAL VISION HELPS BALANCE AND REDUCES FALLS
Falls by older persons are often caused by a loss of stability. This may result from looking at the floor rather than towards an object at eye-level.
A waiter looks ahead while carrying a tray of dishes. A steel worker focuses on a beam ahead. A tight-rope walker keeps his eyes on the platform, not on his feet. Drivers use peripheral vision subconsciously to judge speed. When I drop something on the floor, I use peripheral vision to find it and focal vision when I pick it up.
Balance is maintained by using peripheral vision to check your path under foot and focal vision on the path ahead. To test this principle, stand up straight without support and look down at your feet for a few seconds. Then slowly look up and focus on a vertical or horizontal target at eye level. You will feel your balance improve. Balance may also be affected by the strength of the legs, ankles and feet. Older persons must accommodate for these disabilities in order to walk unattended.
As you start to walk, watch your first steps peripherally, and then focus on a target ahead.
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05/01/06 --- Some VEHICLE ACCIDENTS may be due to NEUROPATHY,a nerve disease.
Leg and foot neuropathies are common in older people. Loss of feeling in the feet may be one cause of traffic accidents when the driver said "My foot hit the accelerator instead of the brake pedal." A friend of mine decided to stop driving because of foot neuropathy,before an accident occurred.
Drivers, doctors and caretakers should be alert to the danger of this condition. Medical records of drivers who have inadvertently applied the accelerator instead of the brake may support this theory.
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