Zorba Paster: With just a few precautions you can avoid serious falls.

If you're of a certain age, like me, you remember standing on a chair to change a light bulb or grab something from the top shelf in the kitchen. Oh, oh!

Maybe you're still doing it even after you're 65. Hmm, that's right. You've always done it, so why don't you continue to do it now? Like cleaning gutters on a tall ladder. What's the big deal?

A few years ago, I had a patient who was on a ladder cutting off branches, something he had been doing for years. A branch broke and he fell off the ladder, sending him to the hospital for several weeks. He was never the same.

This is a shocking statistic. In 2022, 46,653 people died in falls, more than double the number killed, and 21,156 people died in homicides. Now here we are and so many people are worried about violence and murder, even though the actual death toll is from falls around the house.

the study A paper in the British Medical Journal looked at falls in the United States compared to deaths from firearms. One in five hospitalizations due to injury is due to falls, making it the second leading cause of injury-related death in people aged 65 and over worldwide. Young people are more likely to die from firearms, and older people are more likely to die from falls.

So what can you do to prevent falls? I have some advice for my senior friends.

Laying the rug: If you have rugs in your home, remove them or secure them. You may not have as much energy as you used to, and you may not be able to lift your legs like you used to. Rugs can be dangerous.

Lit: Install night lights throughout your home, especially from your bed to the bathroom. You never know how many people will fall when nature calls in the middle of the night. Even if you don't fall, you may hit your toe on something, which can be very painful.

Grab bar: While we're talking about bathroom breaks, install grab bars in the bathroom area, in the shower and by the toilet bowl. Too many people fall while in that sacred space.

When you sit on the toilet to defecate (yes, I'm talking about poop, sorry, mom), you do something like this: Valsalva (This procedure is named after the Italian doctor who first discovered it in the 1700s). This will help push everything out of your rectum.

It also relaxes the sphincter muscles. (By the way, that anal muscle is underappreciated. Unless it's sick, that little bug can tell solids, liquids, and gases apart for up to 100 years. Long live the anus.)

In any case, when your body pays attention to these functions, your blood pressure may drop. When it's over, when you stand up, you may fall too. Installing a bar around your bathroom might just ensure you have those golden years to look forward to.

medicine: Next, let's talk about drugs. Ask your pharmacist if the medicine you are taking can cause dizziness.

There is something called. beer standards (named after Dr. Mark Beals) lists drugs that may be dangerous for people over 65. This includes things like over-the-counter sleeping pills that can make people groggy.

Check your beer standards to see if you may be taking any of these drugs. A pharmacist can help you with that.

Winter safety: When you go out this winter, walk with an ice-effective cane and wear ice crampons on your shoes or boots. Or use a Velcro bottom. This is the kind of thing you use when ice fishing is a crazy winter sport in Wisconsin (at least, my California cousins ​​say it's crazy, even though ice fishing is crazy on a sunny day in January) (Although it is quite comfortable).

Vision and hearing: Make sure your glasses are up to date. If you have difficulty seeing, you may fall. If you need hearing aids, get them. Hearing is part of how we move through the world. Believe it or not, you can walk better if you can hear your feet.

vitamin: And last, but not least, consider taking 2,000 IU of vitamin D daily. In the great upper Midwest, we don't get enough sunlight in the winter.

To get the sunlight you need to produce enough vitamin D in January, you have to go outside around noon every day, take off your shirt, and sit in the sun for 30 minutes. Try it out on January 15th and let me know how it goes.

My take: A little thought can save your life when it comes to avoiding falls. Please stay well.