Health Care

by Yap Tat Mneg

You have seen old folks clutching their walking stick and prodding their way up staircases. You also heard them complaining that their bones were creaking loudly. Well, there is no way that we can't get old, but there is a way that we can better prepare ourselves to face the onset of old ages. One of the consequences of longer live span is that we have a population that is getting older. It is a serious situation, particularly in advance countries where the natural birth rates are declining. With it, a whole slew of problem arises one of them being the limited number of people to take care of the elderly. In the US, the life expectancy rate has risen to 78 from 72 previously and in Japan, from 77 to 82 in 2006. We all know that the elderly requires more medical attention as compared to the younger set, but there has been no corresponding increase in the number of medical wards specializing in the taking care of the older patients. To compound the problem, the number of geriatricians specializing in treating older folks has actually declined considerably in the US, partly due to declining interest and partly to comparatively poor salaries. It has also been noted that because the elderly are being saddled with a lot more health problems as compared to the younger sets like heart, high blood, lung, diabetic and bone joint diseases, doctors are finding it extremely challenging to administer the right dose of medication. Further aggravating the situation is the more grumpy nature of the older folks. And another pertinent problem is that a high percentage of elderly patients have broken bone injuries sustained either from falling down or tripping while walking. When you can't move around, you will need another person to help out, further exerting pressure on scarce human resources. The big question then is when we are 68, who can we turn to for help? Most of us will not be able to turn to our children for help either, for they also have their own lives and family to take care of. Governments don't seem to be eager to help either!

Before these problems become acute and unmanageable, we should seek solutions that can help rectify the situation. Can we do anything on our part? Yes, I can and you can. I would like to focus on the issue of those elderly that due to some misfortune had landed themselves with broken bones (the elderly has brittle bones that can break easily) from a fall. Can you imagine how inconvenient it could be if you can't walk? The solution is very simple. Whilst you can, take up exercises like roller skating, inline skating or better still, ice skating in your younger ages. The main reason is that our medical doctors highly recommend it. And here are the other reasons.

* It effectively burn up calories.
* It is good for the heart.
* It moves every part of the body.
* It pounds the bone joints less.
* It helps build up leg and calf muscles.
* It is a cool family get together plan.
* It builds up body balancing prowess.

Here I would like to enlighten everyone that about the least mentioned benefits of roller skates and that is the acquiring of body balancing skills. You see, when you begin to walk, you put one foot forward at a time. Now, suppose you trip on that foot, or some thing block that foot of yours, you can't find a landing with that foot. Unfortunately, the other foot of yours will begin to move forward autonomously and the next thing you know, you will fall because your first foot has not got a proper and stable landing. Contrastingly, take a look at a guy doing roller skating and other skating exercises. Unlike the normal stance, a roller skater has to widen the angle between his two legs and also having his legs slightly bent to stabilize himself on the rollers. Constant practices with such a leg stance will greatly improve his balancing skills, such that if he were to experience a fall, he will automatically move his legs to stabilize himself in a split second. Balancing skills then become a natural reaction. A skater will have experienced tripping himself on objects and holes and will learn how to overcome such situations. He will then have added skills in body balancing, which will be an advantage in his silver years. So you see, a person putting in a little bit of exercise during his younger days will give him an added insurance of not easily falling and breaking his bones when he becomes older. If every one of us have such balancing skills when we reached our silver years, the pressure on the younger generation to help take care of us will not be that great! Roller skating has been a forgotten activity, but it should be highly encourage because of its wholesome goodness. One more reason to go out and buy that pair of roller or inline skate, or ice skate as it will help us all to cope with an aging society.

About the Author

Inventor, author and marketer. You can read more futuristic ideas from the author's roller skates website