Nutritional needs change as you age; aging well means eating well, an important key to staying healthy. Eating right helps your body stay strong and keeps your mind sharp. A nutritious, balanced diet can also reduce your risk for health problems like high blood pressure and diabetes. Food intake should be balanced with physical activity. If you are less active, choose smaller serving sizes and add plenty of vegetables, salad and fruit. Eating healthy, combined with regular physical activity, can help you live a full, active life, and preserve independence, which happens in independent living, well into your golden years.
Community News
Do you Need Orthotics?
If you are experiencing persistent foot pain, you may need orthotics. Orthotics can help with structural problems caused by excessive pronation. Plantar fascitis (heel pain), metatarsalgia, neuromas, and dorsal arch pain can all be helped with a properly prescribed and constructed custom foot orthotics. Some knee, hip and lower back may also be relieved by orthotics. Your podiatrist will perform a gait analysis to study the function of your foot to determine if correction is required. If required, a 3D image or cast of each foot is taken and sent to a specialized laboratory for fabrication. A podiatrist is a regulated practitioner in BC who prescribes medical grade custom orthotics.
Learn the Facts about Blue Light
Blue light is artificially generated by energy efficient lighting, computers, tablets, and smartphones. Blue light exposure reaches the back of the eye and can lead to long term damage. Blue light also scatters more than regular light so focussing on digital devices can result in “Digital Eye Strain” with symptoms including blurred vision, dry eyes and headaches. It can also disrupt our sleep cycle when these devices are used less than two hours before bedtime. TrueBlue ® lenses contain pigments that filter blue light and protect eye tissues from damage as well as increase eye comfort and regulate sleep cycles.
Finding the Right Health Product
Nutritional supplements play a big role in maintaining our health. But how do you navigate the maze of the hundreds of brands of health and nutrition products available in the marketplace? There are so many different sources offering products that it is difficult to figure out where and what to buy. Your local health food store is a good place to start. It is staffed by experts who keep up with what is new in the industry. They will take the time to find out your needs. Once this discussion has taken place, they will be able to recommend the best products for you.
Benefits of Gratitude
Gratitude can help you feel better in so many ways. Science shows that gratitude helps you to feel happier, more peaceful and more serene. An ancient Jewish practice is to thank their God one hundred times a day. Try it and see how it changes the way you feel about yourself and your life. Make sure you feel the feeling of gratitude; psychiatrist David Hawkins understood the frequency of emotions; gratitude will help raise your emotional frequency. The higher frequency emotions include gratitude, love, peace and joy. Like playing an instrument, progress is made with dedicated, consistent practice.
Maintaining Balance
How does maintaining a balanced life work in today’s fast-paced and increasingly stress-riddled world? From a gambling literacy perspective, it starts by being aware of risk factors and knowing when we are vulnerable. This includes when we are suffering from emotional and/or financial stress, having suffered the loss of a loved one, the end of a job or relationship, or even experiencing a big win at a younger age. Living a balanced life has its challenges with or without gambling, but is not impossible. Reach out to friends, family, our helpline and counselling team! That’s what we’re here for!
Chinese Medicine & Acupuncture
Chinese Medicine is one of the oldest recorded medical systems. Diagnosis comes through detailed questioning of an individual’s history and symptoms, feeling their pulses, observing their tongue and complexion, and palpating their abdomen. Treatment is based on this individualized diagnosis. Acupuncture treatment regulates and balances the flow of Qi, blood and fluids within the network of energetic pathways, called meridians, that connect the surface of the body to the organs and circulatory systems. In health, this flow is abundant and smooth, and we experience wellbeing and health in our body, mind, emotions and spirit.
Add Exercise to Your Lifestyle
Physical activity plays an important role in your health and quality of life by making you feel healthier and stronger. Being active helps to improve your balance, reduce your risk of falls and injuries, and can help you stay independent longer. So take the initiative! It’s never too late to start and you don’t need to go to a gym to add a little exercise to your routine; consult your doctor and ask to learn more about exercises that can be done while sitting in your chair!
Children and Anxiety
Everyone experiences anxiety from time to time. Small doses of anxiety in certain situations are useful. The sensation we experience in an anxious situation feels uncomfortable, but it is temporary and will eventually decrease. It is designed to alert and activate us. Anxiety is part of life so help your anxious child or teen develop the confidence and skill to tolerate anxiety whenever it occurs. However, when your child is worrying much of the time, avoiding fun activities, or refusing to go to school because they are scared or worried, anxiety has become a problem. Help is available.
Choose Organic Sunscreen
Do we need sunscreen when it is cloudy? When it is sunny outside, we tend to be good at slathering on the sunscreen, but did you know that up to 40 percent of the sun’s ultraviolet radiation reaches the earth on a completely cloudy day? Using sunscreen everyday protects us from harmful radiation from the sun and reduces our risk for skin cancer, premature aging and sunburns. Today, there are many organic sunscreen options available. Your local health store can help you find one with organic ingredients, that is well-rated by the Environmental Working Group and that provides broad spectrum protection.
Eyestrain and Electronic Devices
Digital eyestrain includes headaches, blurred vision, irritation, excessive tearing or dry eyes. As we spend more time using computers and hand-held devices, many of us find that our eyes are suffering. Having even small, uncorrected nearsightedness, farsightedness, astigmatism, presbyopia or eye-muscle alignments can affect how comfortably you can work on a computer screen or device. Certain anti-glare coatings help with discomfort by reducing transmission of harmful artificial blue light that is emitted by newer computer screens, devices, tablets and lighting. Use the 20-20-20 rule; every 20 minutes, take a break for 20 seconds and look at something at least 20 feet away.
