Island Senior: Keep On Truckin’

Island Senior is a reg­u­lar col­umn on the San Juan Update, writ­ten by Peg­gy Sue McRae…

Walking with Trekking Poles - Peggy Sue McRae photo

One of the most crit­i­cal com­po­nents of main­tain­ing hap­pi­ness and health as we get old­er is stay­ing mobile and not falling down. Regard­ing that, I have some good news and I have some some bad news. The good news is that most healthy Amer­i­cans can expect to live well into their 80s and beyond. The bad news is, we may wear out a few parts and meet some obsta­cles along the way. Keep­ing active is the best way to retain mobil­i­ty and sus­tain the qual­i­ty of life mobil­i­ty pro­vides. The next chal­lenge is not to fall down, a risk that will increase, as we get older.

Lots of things that affect seniors con­tribute to falling haz­ards. Loss of eye­sight and hear­ing or a gen­er­al slow­ing of reflex­es can con­tribute to a loss of bal­ance. Dia­betes, heart dis­ease, blood pres­sure, and many com­mon med­ica­tions can also affect your bal­ance. All of the things we know we are sup­pose to do, eat right, sleep well, and exer­cise become all the more crit­i­cal to main­tain­ing active lives and do I even need to say it? Get your­self some sen­si­ble shoes.  Those plat­form san­dals looked so cool… in the 70s. But now, Ser­e­na looks pret­ty cool in her Nikes and you can too.

Handy Handrail - Peggy Sue McRae photo

What is becom­ing fair­ly com­mon these days, a knee replace­ment, tem­porar­i­ly slowed down my friend Mar­garet, an avid hik­er and loy­al dog walk­er. The oper­a­tion was so suc­cess­ful she plans to get her oth­er knee replaced too. To get back up to speed around the house she and hus­band Con­rad have installed strate­gi­cal­ly placed handrails. They have also made use of trekking poles. Trekking poles pro­vide bal­ance and sta­bil­i­ty while walk­ing and reduc­ing impact on knees, oth­er joints, and strain on muscles.

If keep­ing good bal­ance is an issue for you please con­sid­er tak­ing Stephanie Pri­ma’s class, Tai Ji Quan: Mov­ing for Bet­ter Bal­ance start­ing Octo­ber 4 at the Mullis Cen­ter. If you have already lost some mobil­i­ty con­sid­er tak­ing Kat­ri­na Wen’s Chair Yoga class also at the Mullis Cen­ter start­ing Octo­ber 2.

To learn more about these class­es link to: Island Senior: New Class­es Start­ing This Fall at the Mullis Cen­ter.

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