What did you say??? Excuse me??? Pardon me????? Sorry???? Come again?????

I am sure we have all heard these words before. Think about when you have heard these words. Probably when someone was out of earshot to you and was just out of audible reach yelling something to you. You, in turn, found yourself using one of these slogans in return. However, if you noticed that they were in the same room, or sitting next to you, one of two things has happened. You weren’t paying attention, for whatever reason, or you weren’t listening…or maybe, you just couldn’t hear what the other person was saying to you. That’s it, isn’t it??? You are losing some of your hearing capacity and are too proud to tell anyone or do anything about it. Who wants to wear a BULKY hearing aid anyway???!

Well, here’s the skinny on hearing. There is so much noise pollution today that most of us have a hearing deficit. Using cell phones in one particular ear, wearing earphones for an iPod or other music device or phone device will definitively diminish hearing over time.

Hearing aids too have changed. They are miniscule and almost invisible to the naked eye. I will even go so far as to say that in some circumstances, hearing aids are down to just a small hair-like antennae sticking out of one’s ear…so there should be no excuse, other than not having enough money, to get one. The ability to hear again with a hearing aide will increase your self-esteem and make you feel better all around. Once you realize how much you have been missing, it won’t be difficult to assuage or lessen any of the resistance one might have had in the past to own an assisted hearing device and use it.

Hearing loss affects most people after the age of 20. Age-related hearing loss, called presbycusis, is the slow loss of hearing that occurs as people get older. The following factors contribute to age-related hearing loss:

• Family history
• Repeated exposure to loud noises
• Smoking (smokers are more likely to have such hearing loss than nonsmokers)
• Certain medications and medical conditions also contribute to hearing loss.

About half of all people over 75 years of age have some amount of age-related hearing loss. Hearing loss can result in both physical (not hearing a fire alarm) and psychological (social isolation) problems. The hearing loss may lead to deafness, so as soon as one notices this problem occurring, one should see their doctor immediately for care; especially if the hearing loss is coupled with headaches, vision changes, or dizziness.

Hear more…enjoy more life!! It is also a gift you give to other people.

We turn on the spigot and there it is, but is it? What is good to drink..tap water , bottled water, filtered water, deionized water, fluoridated water, or not at all? Bottled water contains chemicals that can cause cancer, especially if the plastic bottles sit in the sun for a while. Tap water and even spring water can have impurities and bacteria in it. Even bottled waters of all kinds have traces of bacteria in them. Bottled water in glass is much more pure but needs to be ionized to take out the heavy metals. Totally pure distilled water is alright to drink but one may not get the minerals and electrolytes that are important for our cells to innervate themselves.

Water is an enigma as a commodity. Water that is pure is rare and it is costly to buy. We have a a reverse osmosis system in our home because our tap water comes from a well in our community and may have an inordinate amount of both chemiclas that are added by the community water district and other impurities inherent in the water itself. The reverse osmosis system takes out the heavy metals that have been proven to damage brain cells over time as well as affecting our internal organs.

You may want to do your own investigating as to what kind of water you want to drink. Other factors are the economic ramifications of water, and that means investigating how the water is produced or mined and who is being exploited in the process. Some companies are known to exploit the native people whose land the water is taken from by big business not giving back to the local economy. Other companies may claim to use spring water, when it is only local tap water. So it is a good idea to know before you go. Think before you drink…..

We all need water to survive. Find out what is good for you both physically and mentally and drink until your urine is clear. Then you have had enough to drink for the moment.

I feel like an Alaskan Inuit native with my long underwear, my street clothes on, my sweats on over that and a small blanket that I wrap around my shoulders. When I get warm enough, then I start unwrapping myself; somewhat like a turban being removed from around one’s head. Well, we are trying to save money by keeping the heat off and the energy bills down. So far, it has not worked too well because we find ourselves cranking up the heat to warm up the house due to the cold, wet weather we are having, but then we turn it off after the chill is gone…only to find that it is probably too late and the bill goes up anyway.

Older people have an interesting phenomenon going on and that is their pituitary glands tend to diminish in function and their inner temperature control mechanisms tend to misfire in the medulla part of the brain subsequently. We lose our ability to feel thirsty causing dehydration. We may feel cold when it is hot and not only wear lots of clothes, but turn up the heat. If we over dress, we run the risk of elevating our body temperature and then going outside into the cold, we run the risk of getting chilled when it is cold outside. Getting chilled can cause our resistance to go down leaving us vulnerable to getting sick. So we need to undress from our layering, let our bodies get used to room temperature or cool down slightly, put a jacket on to insure that we don’t get chilled when we go outside and we will be fine. If you ever watch elephant seals or any kind of seal as a matter of fact, they tend to thermoregulate. That is, they throw up a flipper or two while laying in the sun to either cool down their bodies or if it is cold, to warm up from the sun. So learn to thermoregulate yourself and you will be OK in the long-run.