Do you have a crystal ball to tell you about your future? Will you meet your new best friend next Tuesday? Trip over the kerb on the way back from a walk around your neighborhood? Fall on your way to a late-night bathroom break?
Of course you don’t. No-one does. But there are ways of assessing your risk of certain things happening.
- Engage with people you don’t know often = certain risk of making new friends
- Take part in regular exercise that challenges you to the right extent = risk of getting fitter & stronger
- Eat less than your body needs = feel hungry / lose weight
Sometimes statistics make for sad or annoying reading, but they still tell a truth we need to hear. 1 in 4 people over 65 fall every year. Not every fall is dramatic, but for many, it can lead to a dramatic, permanent loss of independence.
So how can you get a realistic view of your risk of falling today?
- Use the National Council on Aging’s Falls Free Checkup to assess some of the risk factors that can be self-reported
- Ask your doctor or physical therapist to evaluate your physical ability related to fall risk
- Pre-order a ZIBRIO SmartScale and get the peace of mind that comes with assessing your fall risk from day to day, week to week, at your own convenience. You’ll get it in time for the holidays, and start 2021 with self-knowledge your friends will envy
The majority of falls actually occur around the home, which is why a lot of fall prevention advice is about the typical things that affect everyone:
- Remove or reroute trailing cables
- Check area rugs so they don’t become trip hazards
- Remove other objects from the floor that might trip you up
- install proper lighting, including night lights. Consider tap-on lights or voice-activated lights
- Change habits – don’t run for the phone, allow people to leave a voicemail if you can’t get there in time.
These are important pieces of advice if you’re new to the subject. But what about your personal, intrinsic risk factors? The things that are going on inside your body? The outside risks are only part of the story. You need to keep you strong to meet it.
Don’t buy into the myth that you ‘naturally’ get weaker and more prone to falling. You do if you sit back and take it. But it doesn’t involve crazy effort to stop the slide. And balance is your friend. It isn’t hard to maintain, it just needs frequent care. Think orchid rather than cactus.
- Doing a short balance exercise session every day is way better than once a week
- It doesn’t have to involve weights or spandex (unless you like it)
- If you’re not sure what to do, ZIBRIO has trained Balance Specialists available to help you – in person, or virtually. Find them here.
And once you start working on your balance, wouldn’t it be great to see how fast you’re progressing? Get your own ZIBRIO SmartScale here.
