One Critical Mistake That Costs Seniors Their Mobility

10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

Will Harlow, the over-50s specialist physio, advises what to do instead:

Nose over toes

Often considered the most important test of mobility in later life (or in general, but later life is when it tends to decline) is the ability to get up off the floor without using your arms.

Many seniors, meanwhile, struggle to get out of a chair without using their arms.

Now, sitting in chairs in the first place is not good for the health, but that’s another matter and beyond the scope of today’s article.

If, perchance, you struggle to get up from a chair (especially if it’s low/deep, like many armchairs are) without using your hands, then here’s the way to do it:

  1. While practicing, cross your arms in front of you, so that you cannot use them.
  2. Shuffle yourself towards the front of the chair. No, don’t use your arms for this either, do a little butt-walk instead, to get you to the front edge of the chair.
  3. Lean forwards to position your nose over your toes (hence the mnemonic: “nose over toes”; memorize that!), as this will put your center of gravity where it needs to be.
  4. Now, push with your feet to rise up and forwards; slowly is better than quickly (quickly may be easier, but slowly will improve your strength and balance).

For more on all of this plus a visual demonstration, enjoy:

Click Here If The Embedded Video Doesn’t Load Automatically!

Want to learn more?

You might also like to read:

The Most Anti Aging Exercise

Take care!

Don’t Forget…

Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

Recommended

  • TED-x | Sugar Is Not A Treat
  • Intermittent Fasting for Women Over 50 – by Emma Sanchez
    Intermittent fasting isn’t just for men! Emma Sanchez explores how it affects female physiology, including mood swings, eating disorders, and cognitive thinking. A must-read for women over 50.

Learn to Age Gracefully

Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Pumpkin Seeds vs Watermelon Seeds – Which is Healthier?

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Our Verdict

    When comparing pumpkin seeds to watermelon seeds, we picked the watermelon.

    Why?

    Starting with the macros: pumpkin seeds have a lot more carbs, while watermelon seeds have a lot more protein, despite pumpkin seeds being famous for such. They’re about equal on fiber. In terms of fats, watermelon seeds are higher in fats, and yes, these are healthy fats, mostly polyunsaturated.

    When it comes to vitamins, pumpkin seeds are marginally higher in vitamins A and C, while watermelon seeds are a lot higher in vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6, and B9. An easy win for watermelon seeds here.

    In the category of minerals, despite being famous for zinc, pumpkin seeds are higher only in potassium, while watermelon seeds are higher in iron, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus; the two seeds are equal on calcium, copper, and zinc. Another win for watermelon seeds.

    In short, enjoy both, but watermelon has more to offer. Of course, if buying just the seeds and not the whole fruit, it’s generally easier to find pumpkin seeds than watermelon seeds, so do bear in mind that pumpkin seeds’ second place isn’t that bad here—it’s just a case of a very nutritious food looking bad by standing next to an even better one.

    Want to learn more?

    You might like to read:

    Seed Saving Secrets – by Alice Mirren

    Take care!

    Share This Post

  • Hold Me Tight – by Dr. Sue Johnson

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    A lot of relationship books are quite wishy-washy. This one isn’t.

    This one is evidenced-based (and heavily referenced!), and yet at the same time as being deeply rooted in science, it doesn’t lose the human touch.

    Dr. Johnson has spent her career as a clinical psychologist and researcher; she’s the primary developer of Emotionally Focused Therapy (EFT), which has demonstrated its effectiveness in over 35 years of peer-reviewed clinical research. In other words, it works.

    EFT—and thus also this book—finds roots in Attachment Theory. As such, topics this book covers include:

    • Recognizing and recovering from attachment injury
    • How fights in a relationship come up, and how they can be avoided
    • How lot of times relationships end, it’s not because of fights, but a loss of emotional connection
    • Building a lifetime of love instead, falling in love again each day

    This book lays the groundwork for ensuring a strong, secure, ongoing emotional bond, of the kind that makes/keeps a relationship joyful and fulfilling.

    Dr. Johnson has been recognized in her field with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Order of Canada.

    Get your copy of Hold Me Tight from Amazon today!

    Share This Post

  • Protein-Stuffed Bell Peppers

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Hot, tasty, meaty, and vegan! You can have it all. And with this recipe, you’ll want to err on the side of overcatering, because everyone will want some. As for healthiness, we’ve got lycopene, lutein and a stack of other carotenoids, a plethora of other polyphenols, and a veritable garden party of miscellaneous phytochemicals otherwise categorized. It’s full of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals, relatively low-fat but the fats present are healthy. It’s antidiabetic, anti-CVD, anticancer, antineurodegeneration, and basically does everything short of making you sing well too.

    You will need

    • 4 large bell peppers, tops sliced open and innards removed (keep the tops; we will put them back on later)
    • 1 cup quinoa, rinsed
    • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 small zucchini (diced)
    • 1 small eggplant (diced)
    • 1 small red onion (finely chopped)
    • ½ bulb garlic, minced*
    • 1 tbsp tomato paste
    • 1 tbsp chia seeds
    • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
    • 2 tsp dried basil
    • 2 tsp dried thyme
    • 2 tsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 2 tsp ground cumin
    • 1 tsp smoked paprika
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt

    *we always try to give general guidelines with regard to garlic, but the reality is it depends on the size and strength of your local garlic, which we cannot account for, as well as your personal taste. Same situation with hot peppers of various kinds. This writer (it’s me, hi) would generally use about 2x the garlic and pepper advised in our recipes. All we can say is: follow your heart!

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Combine the quinoa with the chia seeds, and cook as per normal cooking of quinoa (i.e. bring to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes until cooked and fluffy). Drain and rinse (carefully, without losing the chia seeds; use a sieve).

    2) Heat your grill to a high heat. Combine the zucchini, eggplant, onion, garlic, and olive oil in a big bowl and mix well, ensuring an even distribution of the oil. Now also add the herbs and spices (including the MSG or salt) and mix well again. Put them all to grill for about 5 minutes, turning as necessary.

    3) Heat your oven to a high heat. Take the grilled vegetables and combine them in a bowl with the quinoa-and-chia, and the black beans, as well as the tomato paste. Mix everything well. Spoon the mixture generously into the bell peppers, replacing the tops (it can be loosely), and bake for about 5–10 minutes, keeping an eye on them; you want them to be lightly charred, but not a burnt offering.

    4) Serve! This dish works well as a light lunch or as part of a larger spread.

    (before going in the oven with lids replaced to keep moisture in)

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

    Share This Post

Related Posts

  • TED-x | Sugar Is Not A Treat
  • The Many Health Benefits Of Garlic

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    The Many Health Benefits of Garlic

    We’re quite confident you already know what garlic is, so we’re going to leap straight in there with some science today:

    First, let’s talk about allicin

    Allicin is a compound in garlic that gives most of its health benefits. A downside of allicin is that it’s not very stable, so what this means is:

    • Garlic is best fresh—allicin breaks down soon after garlic is cut/crushed
      • So while doing the paperwork isn’t fun, buying it as bulbs is better than buying it as granules or similar
    • Allicin also breaks down somewhat in cooking, so raw garlic is best
      • Our philosophy is: still use it in cooking as well; just use more!
    • Supplements (capsule form etc) use typically use extracts and potency varies (from not great to actually very good)

    Read more about that:

    Now, let’s talk benefits…

    Benefits to heart health

    Garlic has been found to be as effective as the drug Atenolol at reducing blood pressure:

    Effects of Allium sativum (garlic) on systolic and diastolic blood pressure in patients with essential hypertension

    It also lowers LDL (bad cholesterol):

    Lipid-lowering effects of time-released garlic powder tablets in double-blinded placebo-controlled randomized study

    Benefits to the gut

    We weren’t even looking for this, but as it turns out, as an add-on to the heart benefits…

    Garlic lowers blood pressure in hypertensive subjects, improves arterial stiffness and gut microbiota: A review and meta-analysis

    Benefits to the immune system

    Whether against the common cold or bringing out the heavy guns, garlic is a booster:

    Benefits to the youthfulness of body and brain

    Garlic is high in antioxidants that, by virtue of reducing oxidative stress, help slow aging. This effect, combined with the cholesterol and blood pressure benefits, means it may also reduce the risk of Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia:

    There are more benefits too…

    That’s all we have time to dive into study-wise today, but for the visually-inclined, here are yet more benefits to garlic (at a rate of 3–4 cloves per day):

    An incredible awesome recipe using lots of garlic:

    • Take small potatoes (still in their skins), cut in half
    • Add enough peeled cloves of garlic so that you have perhaps a 1:10 ratio of garlic to potato by mass
    • Boil (pressure-cooking is ideal) until soft, and drain
    • Keeping them in the pan, add a lashing of olive oil, and any additional seasonings per your preference (consider black pepper, rosemary, thyme, parsley)
    • Put a lid on the pan, and holding it closed, shake the pan vigorously
      • Note: if you didn’t leave the skins on, or you chopped much larger potatoes smaller instead of cutting in half, the potatoes will break up into a rough mash now. This is actually also fine and still tastes (and honestly, looks) great, but it is different, so just be aware, so that you get the outcome you want.
    • The garlic, which—unlike the potatoes—didn’t have a skin to hold it together, will now have melted over the potatoes like butter

    You can serve like this (it’s delicious already) or finish up in the oven or air-fryer or under the grill, if you prefer a roasted style dish (an amazing option too).

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Three-Bean Chili & Cashew Cream

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    A hearty classic with a twist! Delicious and filling and full of protein, fiber, and powerful phytonutrients (including heavy-hitters ergothioneine and lycopene), this recipe is also quite flexible, so you can always add in extra seasonal vegetables if you like (to get you started: cherry tomatoes in summer and sweet potato in fall are fine options)!

    You will need

    • 1 cup low-sodium vegetable stock (ideally you made it yourself from vegetable offcuts you kept in the freezer for this purpose, but if not, you should be able to find low-sodium stock cubes)
    • 1 can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
    • 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
    • 2 cans chopped tomatoes
    • 1 onion, finely chopped
    • 1 carrot, diced
    • 2 celery sticks, chopped
    • 4 oz mushrooms, chopped
    • ½ bulb garlic, crushed
    • 2 tbsp tomato purée
    • 1 red chili pepper, finely chopped (multiply per your heat preferences)
    • 1 tbsp ground paprika
    • 1 tbsp black pepper, coarse ground
    • 2 tsp fresh rosemary (or 1 tbsp dried)
    • 2 tsp fresh thyme (or 1 tbsp dried)
    • 1 tsp ground cumin
    • ½ tsp MSG or 1 tsp low-sodium salt
    • Extra virgin olive oil

    For the cashew cream:

    • 6 oz cashews, soaked in kettle-hot water for at least 15 minutes
    • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast
    • 1 tsp lemon juice

    To serve:

    Method

    (we suggest you read everything at least once before doing anything)

    1) Heat some olive oil in a skillet and fry the onion for about 5 minutes, stirring as necessary.

    2) Add the garlic and chili and cook for a further 1 minute.

    3) Add the celery, carrot, and mushrooms and continue cooking for 1–2 minutes.

    4) Add everything else from the main section, taking care to stir well to distribute the seasonings evenly. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.

    5) While you are waiting, drain the cashews, and add them to a high-speed blender with ½ cup (fresh) cold water, as well as the nutritional yeast and lemon juice. Blend on full power until smooth; this may take about 3 minutes, so we recommend doing it in 30-second bursts to avoid overheating the motor. You’ll also probably need to scrape it down the sides at least once. You can add a little more water if you want the cream to be thinner than it is appearing, but go slowly if you do.

    6) Serve with rice, adding a dollop of the cream and garnishing with parsley, with bread on the side if you like.

    Enjoy!

    Want to learn more?

    For those interested in some of the science of what we have going on today:

    Take care!

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails:

  • Study links microplastics with human health problems – but there’s still a lot we don’t know

    10almonds is reader-supported. We may, at no cost to you, receive a portion of sales if you purchase a product through a link in this article.

    Mark Patrick Taylor, Macquarie University and Scott P. Wilson, Macquarie University

    A recent study published in the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine has linked microplastics with risk to human health.

    The study involved patients in Italy who had a condition called carotid artery plaque, where plaque builds up in arteries, potentially blocking blood flow. The researchers analysed plaque specimens from these patients.

    They found those with carotid artery plaque who had microplastics and nanoplastics in their plaque had a higher risk of heart attack, stroke, or death (compared with carotid artery plaque patients who didn’t have any micro- or nanoplastics detected in their plaque specimens).

    Importantly, the researchers didn’t find the micro- and nanoplastics caused the higher risk, only that it was correlated with it.

    So, what are we to make of the new findings? And how does it fit with the broader evidence about microplastics in our environment and our bodies?

    What are microplastics?

    Microplastics are plastic particles less than five millimetres across. Nanoplastics are less than one micron in size (1,000 microns is equal to one millimetre). The precise size classifications are still a matter of debate.

    Microplastics and nanoplastics are created when everyday products – including clothes, food and beverage packaging, home furnishings, plastic bags, toys and toiletries – degrade. Many personal care products contain microsplastics in the form of microbeads.

    Plastic is also used widely in agriculture, and can degrade over time into microplastics and nanoplastics.

    These particles are made up of common polymers such as polyethylene, polypropylene, polystyrene and polyvinyl chloride. The constituent chemical of polyvinyl chloride, vinyl chloride, is considered carcinogenic by the US Environmental Protection Agency.

    Of course, the actual risk of harm depends on your level of exposure. As toxicologists are fond of saying, it’s the dose that makes the poison, so we need to be careful to not over-interpret emerging research.

    A closer look at the study

    This new study in the New England Journal of Medicine was a small cohort, initially comprising 304 patients. But only 257 completed the follow-up part of the study 34 months later.

    The study had a number of limitations. The first is the findings related only to asymptomatic patients undergoing carotid endarterectomy (a procedure to remove carotid artery plaque). This means the findings might not be applicable to the wider population.

    The authors also point out that while exposure to microplastics and nanoplastics has been likely increasing in recent decades, heart disease rates have been falling.

    That said, the fact so many people in the study had detectable levels of microplastics in their body is notable. The researchers found detectable levels of polyethylene and polyvinyl chloride (two types of plastic) in excised carotid plaque from 58% and 12% of patients, respectively.

    These patients were more likely to be younger men with diabetes or heart disease and a history of smoking. There was no substantive difference in where the patients lived.

    Inflammation markers in plaque samples were more elevated in patients with detectable levels of microplastics and nanoplastics versus those without.

    Plastic bottles washed up on a beach.
    Microplastics are created when everyday products degrade. JS14/Shutterstock

    And, then there’s the headline finding: patients with microplastics and nanoplastics in their plaque had a higher risk of having what doctors call “a primary end point event” (non-fatal heart attack, non-fatal stroke, or death from any cause) than those who did not present with microplastics and nanoplastics in their plaque.

    The authors of the study note their results “do not prove causality”.

    However, it would be remiss not to be cautious. The history of environmental health is replete with examples of what were initially considered suspect chemicals that avoided proper regulation because of what the US National Research Council refers to as the “untested-chemical assumption”. This assumption arises where there is an absence of research demonstrating adverse effects, which obviates the requirement for regulatory action.

    In general, more research is required to find out whether or not microplastics cause harm to human health. Until this evidence exists, we should adopt the precautionary principle; absence of evidence should not be taken as evidence of absence.

    Global and local action

    Exposure to microplastics in our home, work and outdoor environments is inevitable. Governments across the globe have started to acknowledge we must intervene.

    The Global Plastics Treaty will be enacted by 175 nations from 2025. The treaty is designed, among other things, to limit microplastic exposure globally. Burdens are greatest especially in children and especially those in low-middle income nations.

    In Australia, legislation ending single use plastics will help. So too will the increased rollout of container deposit schemes that include plastic bottles.

    Microplastics pollution is an area that requires a collaborative approach between researchers, civil societies, industry and government. We believe the formation of a “microplastics national council” would help formulate and co-ordinate strategies to tackle this issue.

    Little things matter. Small actions by individuals can also translate to significant overall environmental and human health benefits.

    Choosing natural materials, fabrics, and utensils not made of plastic and disposing of waste thoughtfully and appropriately – including recycling wherever possible – is helpful.

    Mark Patrick Taylor, Chief Environmental Scientist, EPA Victoria; Honorary Professor, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University and Scott P. Wilson, Research Director, Australian Microplastic Assessment Project (AUSMAP); Honorary Senior Research Fellow, School of Natural Sciences, Macquarie University

    This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

    The Conversation

    Don’t Forget…

    Did you arrive here from our newsletter? Don’t forget to return to the email to continue learning!

    Learn to Age Gracefully

    Join the 98k+ American women taking control of their health & aging with our 100% free (and fun!) daily emails: