Tag Archives: health

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Book Review · Breakthrough

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Reading another excellent book.

Recommend.  The author shares an almost miraculous story of helping his wife recover from an end-stage diagnosis of Alzheimer’s.  Peter shares his frustration with those tasked to help, and the heartbreaking struggle of watching his wife suffer.  At least three themes that he experienced (and continues to experience) compelled me to keep flipping the pages.

MAINSTREAM (OR CONVENTION) VS. THE SPECIFICITY OF THE CASE

I didn’t know anything about Alzheimer’s until reading this book.  Rather than thinking of it as a disease, Peter points out that it more fittingly qualifies as a set of conditions.  Different persons with Alzheimer’s possess varying amounts within that set, and therefore treatment would mean something different for each patient.  He argues that this leads caregivers to conclude that Alzheimer’s remains incurable. He further argues that such thinking translates into untreatable as if there existed a single magic bullet.

AUTHORITY VS. REASON

In dealing with the many doctors with whom he found it challenging to work, he asserts that reason should outweigh credentials.  As he says, BS is BS regardless of one’s degrees. Third, the incentives of caregivers (such as that of a rest home) vs. care receivers.  One of the sad observations that Peter makes in the book consists of the poor conditions he encountered in rest homes, both to do with the facilities and the staff.  Given the nature of Alzheimer’s, it proves difficult to understand a patient.  He found that too many times, caregivers would choose to drug his wife into silence rather than try to understand her.

INCENTIVES OF CAREGIVERS VS. CARE RECEIVERS

One of the sad observations that Peter makes in the book consists of the poor conditions he encountered in rest homes, both to do with the facilities and the staff.  Given the nature of Alzheimer’s, it proves difficult to understand a patient.  He found that too many times, caregivers would choose to drug his wife into silence rather than try to understand her.

RESOURCES

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Sonicare toothbrush hacks

Hey, team!

I know I haven’t written in a while. I’m in the middle of writing a book, Side Hustling for Working Adults. It’s got a catchy subtitle, 11 chapters, and three appendices. As of today, I’m on chapter 5 and have total of 108 pages. Expect me to launch by 18 Oct. 2019.

WHY WRITE NOW, AND ABOUT MY TOOTHBRUSH?

Because this needs to get shared, especially if you care about your teeth. Also, the brush heads are expensive, and if you don’t change them every few months, they get gross.

I brush twice daily and in the picture above, I haven’t changed the brush head since this January. That’s about nine months and it still looks pretty good! So here are three hacks…

DON’T USE THE COVER

It comes with a hard plastic cover. The cover traps moisture and encourages yuck. Sure, it protects the brush head, but from what? If you leave the brush at home and your cats don’t jump on the counter to play with it, you can do without.

THE MAGIC → REST THE BRUSH HEAD ON IT, SIDEWAYS

And, rest the brush with the bristles facing downward. Why? Gravity. It lets the moisture fall away from the brush entirely.

You’re thinking, “Well, so does standing it up.” Yes that does, but notice how the moisture flows down the brush head, and into the magnets where it connects with the Sonicare.

Try it for a few months. You’ll notice how much cleaner it stays.

PRESS AGAINST THE BACK OF THE STEM WHILE TURNED ON

If you do this, the brushing motion becomes 2x more violent. Or more efficient, seemingly.

If you do this while brushing, it seems to clean more powerfully. I don’t know whether it really does clean more powerfully or whether it simply makes twice the noise, but hey, it feels cleaner.

If you do this immediately after brushing, you’ll notice that it shakes out the trapped moisture. More so than if you simply left on without pressing your finger against the back of the stem.

Hope you found that useful. Your teeth will thank you.

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I'm going to exercise my neck and back pain away

Can’t believe I didn’t think of this before. For years, over a decade at least, I’ve had this discomfort in my neck and back; likely from poor posture and countless hours sitting. It hit a threshold last night while watching TV with my wife.

So this morning I searched Google for “back and neck exercises for pain.” I found a few that I could do in my cubicle at work. I found one called a back bridge that I started today with my morning exercise. I have a yoga mat, a pillow, and a timer on my phone. I started with 2 min for today.

The pose looks like that gymnastics move called a back handspring, what most people might also call a backflip. Facing toward the sky, feet touching the ground, mid-torso in the air, and then the head touching the ground as the other point of contact – some variations have it as the hands or the shoulders. I like the one with my head rested on the pillow, eyes looking at the wall behind me. It’s the medium difficulty one.

I’ll try this for 2 min/day for the next 30 days. I’ll let you know how I feel by the end.