Published on: 26 January 2018
Last Updated on: 19 August 2019
Working in a physically demanding job can come with its own unique advantages and disadvantages. If you care for your body properly and look after yourself throughout your working years, your physical job could leave you with a fitter, healthier body in old age. For others, manual labor can lead to injury and weakness over time. If you want to work hard without sacrificing your health, follow these crucial self-care tips.
1. Choose your uniform wisely:
Depending on the type of job you do, you may find that the clothes and shoes you wear to work have a major impact on the way your body feels after a hard day on the job. If you’re on your feet all day, it’s absolutely essential to invest in good quality, safe footwear that will support your back and prevent fatigue and pain. Get yourself a pair of rm Williams boot shoes so you can move freely throughout the day without suffering from the many ailments that ill-fitting, poor quality boots can cause.
2. Don’t neglect protection gear:
Many manual labor jobs come with a range of protective safety equipment designed to prevent accidents and injuries from occurring in the workplace. If your job requires you to wear safety goggles, hard hats, hearing protectors, or respirators, make sure you always keep these on at all times regardless of what’s going on around you. These safety measures could be the difference between a life-long disability and a healthy lifestyle.
3. Fuel up:
While sitting in an office chair all day can easily lead to poor cardiovascular health and speedy weight gain, manual labor often has the opposite effect. When you’re working on your feet all day and lifting heavy objects around, your body needs adequate fuel. Make time to eat a nourishing breakfast before you head to work each day, pack a healthy, nutrient-dense lunch for your break time, and bring plenty of high protein snacks to keep you going.
4. Lift properly:
Improper lifting can easily cause serious back injuries and chronic pain, so it’s essential that you learn and practice proper heavy lifting techniques before you begin a serious manual labor job. One poor lift could leave you with real long-term difficulties, so this step is extremely important.
5. Take care of your skin:
Working around plenty of pollutants and spending your days out in the sun can do some serious damage to your skin. Pre-empt that problem by wearing a high SPF sunscreen every day and moisturising your skin every time you bathe or head to bed. This should help ward off premature aging and rough, dry skin that looks unpleasant and feels uncomfortable.
6. Get into a stretching routine:
Stretching is great for your muscles, joints, and ligaments. It will improve your overall flexibility and make it easier for your body to deal with the hard work you put it through every day. This could help you avoid injuries, work more efficiently, and end the day feeling less worn out.
7. Get plenty of sleep:
A hard day at work will be far more difficult if you’re not properly rested. Head to bed at a reasonable hour and aim to get at least 8 hours of sleep every night. Your body and mind will thank you when morning arrives.
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The COVID-19 pandemic has made us more cognizant of our mortality. Many people are starting to become more aware of the importance of healthy living. Smoking are responsible for up to 90% of all lung cancer diagnoses, as well as many other types of cancer.
One of the most important steps towards a healthier lifestyle is identifying and breaking self-destructive habits. You almost certainly have at least one bad habit that is threatening your health and well-being. Your quality of life and life expectancy will drastically improve if you take the correct action.
Here are some highly unhealthy habits that you should avoid at all costs.
Smoking Tobacco
Cigarettes are probably the least healthy mainstream habit in the United States. They are responsible for more preventable deaths than anything else. Although the prevalence of smoking has dropped drastically since the 1970s, 480,000 people still die of cigarette use every year. Cigarettes are responsible for up to 90% of all lung cancer diagnoses, as well as many other types of cancer.
In addition to causing premature deaths, cigarettes also hurt your quality of life in numerous ways. They cause vision problems, depression, anxiety, impaired lung function, and many other serious issues.
If you are a regular smoker, your number one priority should be to quit. This is the single biggest change in your life that will benefit your health. You can try using tobacco free dip to move away from cigarettes.
Consuming Food Late In The Evening
You might be tempted to have late-night snacks. There might be a number of reasons for this. Perhaps you didn’t get enough protein with your dinner. You might have eaten dinner too early in the evening, which leaves you feeling hungry an hour or two before bedtime. You might simply feel like snacking to alleviate anxiety.
Regardless of the reason, eating snacks late at night creates multiple health risks. It is a precursor to weight gain because your body can’t process the food as efficiently as late at night. Late-night snacks also tend to disrupt your sleep patterns. You might have trouble falling asleep at all and struggle to reach deep REM sleep when you finally doze off.
Eating Too Much Meat
Hot dogs, hamburgers, and ham sandwiches are major staples in the western diet. Meat isn’t just tasty. It also is a rich source of protein.
Unfortunately, many people consume meat excessively. You may develop a number of health problems if you eat too much of it, especially red meat.
What health risks can it create? Regular consumption of processed and red meat increases the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and multiple types of cancer. A research team from the Harvard School of Public Health found that eating one serving of processed red meat every day increased the risk of death from cardiovascular disease or cancer by 20%.
You don’t need to become a vegan. However, you should minimize your consumption of meat and reserve red meat for special occasions.
Using Your Smartphone Too Often (Especially In The Evening)
Smartphones are the newest addition that is taking over our lives. Unfortunately, they are so widely accepted that most people refuse to acknowledge the toll that they are taking on our health.
Excessive smartphone use can be debilitating in a number of ways, such as:
People that use smartphones regularly are more likely to suffer from back and neck problems. Every time that you look down to use your mobile device, you are putting around 60 pounds of pressure on your spine.
You have a higher risk of developing vision problems. The light from your smartphone screen can cause long-term damage to your retina. Your eyes might also start to suffer from nearsightedness since you aren’t spending enough time looking out long distances.
Your mobile devices might also disrupt your sleep patterns. If you are using them late at night, then you might be throwing off your circadian rhythms. You will have a harder time falling asleep and get less restorative REM sleep as well.
You can’t be in denial about the problems that your smartphone is causing. You need to use it in moderation to prevent back, neck, and sleep problems.
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Any Adult Gerontology Nurse Practitioner (AGNP), or individual considering moving into this booming area, will probably be aware that it involves more than supporting patients through short term illnesses or meeting their needs in a hospital or nursing home.
As a rule, the older a patient gets, the more likely they are to experience chronic health complications which interfere with their day-to-day tasks. For much of history, such patients were written off, encouraged to take to their beds and be supported entirely by others, doing very little. They often didn’t live very long. But all that changed on account of one remarkable nurse, Dorothea Orem, whose legacy continues to shape the nursing profession today. This article examines her groundbreaking self-care deficit theory and looks at how AGNPs might use it for their nursing career.
Dorothea Orem
Dorothea Orem was born in Baltimore in 1914 and studied nursing in the late 1930s. This was a time when nursing schools were still a new phenomenon and there was a lot of experimental thinking in the nascent profession. Though she spent time on the wards as a staff nurse, she also worked as an administrator and consultant over the course of her career, spending her later years focusing on theory.
A naturally focused and attentive person, she soon began recording observations about the patients she worked with, leading to her self-care deficit theory of nursing, for which she strongly advocated for her entire life. It was theory which, in its early years, transformed the way nurses thought about patients and their duties. It laid the foundations for nursing today.
Universal Self-Care Requisites
Orem’s theory recognizes eight universal self-care requisites, or SCRs. Here, universal refers to things every human needs, regardless of circumstance. Air is needed for respiration. Water is needed to maintain a healthy level of hydration. Food is needed to maintain healthy energy levels and prevent starvation. Elimination or toileting, a polite way of referring to the expulsion of urine and feces from the body, is required too.
In addition to these four things, Orem posits that every patient needs a balance of physical activity and rest. Everyone needs social interaction, but also some alone time. People need to manage their lives to avoid or remove hazards, and, finally, they need to promote normality. This means that they need to achieve and maintain a way of living and relating to the world which is normal for them as individuals and does not involve psychosis.
Health Deviation Self-Care Requisites
When patients are recovering from injury or illness, or living with a chronic illness or disability, they can be described as experiencing a health deviation. This is not pejorative – it simply establishes that they differ from the norm. Health deviations are more common in older demographics, as they have additional self-care requisites.
These requisites include following doctors’ instructions (taking medicine on time), identifying problems caused by their conditions and attending to them effectively (sitting down until a dizzy spell passes), and knowing when and how to seek help from a caregiver or healthcare professional.
It is also important that these patients can understand and accept that their bodies have changed and can adjust psychologically to cope with it.
What Is A Self-Care Deficit?
A self-care deficit occurs when people are no longer able to carry out basic tasks. This can be because a disability makes them physically impossible to perform, or a number of other reasons. For example, some people get so overwhelmed by the way their bodies have changed that they stop trying to live. This doesn’t mean that they don’t deserve sympathy – it is an understandable response to an extreme situation – but it might mean that there is potential for improvement.
For some people, self-care deficits are permanent or are likely to worsen due to progressive illnesses. For others, however, they can be temporary, even in extreme old age. Self-care deficits stemming from a broken arm, for example, will normally dissipate after the arm heals, but this is less likely if the patient has learned to feel helpless in the meantime.
Assessment, Diagnosis, And Implementation
When using Orem’s theory, nurses have three steps to work through. The first is undertaken during the initial assessment of a new patient and involves identifying any self-care deficits. These are not always obvious from looking at a patient and the process may require gentle but persistent questioning. Some people may be embarrassed and hesitant to talk if they are unable to care for themselves.
The second involves full diagnosis of the deficits, including establishing causes. The third step is to draw up a treatment plan based on these diagnoses. In her work, Orem stressed the importance of recognizing that every patient is a unique individual, so there is no one-size-fits-all approach to this type of planning. In each case, AGNPs will need to work with the patient to establish the most effective way forward.
Five Ways Nurses Can Help
There are five strategies nurses can use to address self-care deficits when establishing patient care plans:
For the most severely incapacitated patients, it may be necessary to perform actions on their behalf, such as washing or dressing them.
Patients struggling mentally or who lack confidence can be guided through actions, ideally to the point of independence.
Patients can be taught new ways of approaching day to day tasks which make them easier to accomplish, such as taking a break to have a shower in the afternoon if it is too hard to find the energy at other times.
AGNPs can focus on the patient’s environment, making it easier for them to carry out self-care activities, such as suggesting kitchen gadgets to reduce the physical effort involved in preparing meals.
Finally, AGNPs can train a family caregiver to provide appropriate support.
These five strategies involve numerous actions, skills, and tools that nurses can use. Patients may need particular assistance with the following tasks.
Helping With Eating
Patients should always be encouraged to do as much for themselves as is reasonably possible. When it comes to eating, nurses should start with encouragement. Many older people lose their appetite and don’t feel motivated to eat, especially when it requires effort. So, an AGNP can point out that they have more energy when they manage to eat regular meals.
If the patient can get food to their mouth by themselves, nurses should resist the temptation to assist, even if they sometimes drop the food. Instead, nurses can reassure them that this is not uncommon and all they need to do is take a little more time. Nurses should also be alert to the possibility of choking issues and arrange X-rays if concerned. If some food proves difficult to eat, they can discuss the possibility of dietary adjustments.
Helping With Toileting
Nurses should reassure patients that, awkward as they may feel, there is nothing to be embarrassed about. The nurse must ensure they can transfer on and off the toilet safely and consider options like raising the height of the seat or installing grab. If there is a risk of falling, AGNPs may suggest bedpans for use when no caregiver is present. If adult diapers are needed, nurses should ensure that patients know how and when to change them (even if they are not soiled) and how to protect their skin against rashes or bruises caused by wearing them. Finally, nurses can also discuss medical options for softening stools or speeding up or slowing down digestive transit.
Helping With Dressing And Grooming
A balance must be struck between helping patients be more independent in dressing and grooming themselves and enabling them to maintain a style or standard of appearance that is natural for them. Some older men prefer to be clean shaven but end up growing beards because it is easier to trim a beard than it is to shave safely and neatly, for example. Some clothing options can be easier to get into than others, depending on a patient’s particular mobility difficulties. Simple devices such as a stick with a hook on the end can make adjusting the back of a garment or doing up a zip much easier. Nurses should pay particular attention to footwear to make sure patients can stand or walk safely.
Reducing Hazards
Whether a nurse is helping a patient to move around and complete self-care tasks in a hospital ward, a care home, or their own home, they must always pay attention to hazard prevention. Hazards can include mess, a layout created without regard for disability, or other people or pets moving around. Nurses can start by ensuring that the patient is aware of the risks and can recognize dangerous situations.
They should discuss simple measures like installing handrails or changing routines to make it easier to keep the area tidy. Nurses can also ensure that the patient can summon help if something goes wrong, by persuading them to install an alarm system or carry a charged mobile phone at all times, for example.
Care With Communication
Often, older patients who have self-care deficits also have difficulty with communication, whether due to physical or cognitive disability. Depending on their lifestyle in recent years, they may also be unfamiliar with modern technologies, but shy about admitting this. It is important for nurses to make sure that when they are addressing issues around essential needs, the patient understand them properly and vice versa.
It can be helpful to use pictures in communication, which are often available in support materials. When meeting a patient in the place they are going to be living, the nurse and patient can explore it together (in stages, if necessary) so both parties can directly identify issues.
Seeing Each Patient As An Individual
An essential tenet of Orem’s theory is that patients must be treated as individuals. This increases the chance that they will stick to treatment plans, as well as directly improving their psychological wellbeing.
Any nurse that’s interested in Orem’s theory and is considering joining this field will be looking into gerontology nurse practitioner programs online. The best courses place a lot of emphasis on adaptability and on learning how to manage different types of patients in different environments. The program at the University of Indianapolis, for example, encourages students to develop the patience and listening skills essential to getting to know patients and making them a part of the process. This communication and relationship building is essential to developing plans which will really benefit patients over the long term. The course at the University of Indianapolis is an eight-semester program designed for working nurses, involving part-time study and an intensive clinical placement.
The Nursing Profession Continues To Benefit
Thanks to Orem and her self-care deficit theory, patients are no longer left to waste away as they begin to struggle with old age. Generations of nurses who have practiced this theory have observed that, even in later life, patients can often improve and regain their self- care abilities with the right support. Advances in assistive technologies continue to make this even easier.
The right support, focused on facilitating and encouraging independence, enables seniors to go on living satisfying lives on their own terms for much longer. Even when they need extensive practical support, giving them more control helps to maintain their morale and ability to navigate the final chapter of their lives. In the process of providing this support, AGNPs also get what they really want; to see their patients thrive, no matter what they must overcome to achieve it.
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The two most common non-addictive and non-invasive therapies are heat and ice. The two therapies can be used alternatively and are often employed as a preface to exercise. Also, these two agents must be used with caution and care. So it is always recommended to seek the advice of a healthcare professional before applying it.
Heat therapies help in vasodilation that means drawing blood into the targeted tissues. The increased flow of the blood delivers the required oxygen and nutrients. It eliminates the unnecessary cell wastes too. The warmness relaxes the muscles, relieves the muscle pain and increase the motion.
The cold ice pack for pain relief produces vasoconstriction. It means the slowing of the circulation that helps in reducing inflammation, pain and muscle spasm. The superficial cold packs are available in many forms, including a range of commercial packs, ice cubes, iced towels, cold compresses and various forms of hydrotherapy.
The duration of cold therapy is always less than heat therapy, generally less than 15 minutes. The best cold pack for pain relief is regarded as the cold compresses. The effect of cold packs is known to last longer than heat packs.
The cold or ice should not be applied directly over the skin. Always put a block such as a towel, between the cold agent and the skin surface to prevent any sort of damage. The damaged commercial cold packs must be discarded or thrown off immediately as the chemical or gel can burn the skin.
The ice packs can be applied for multiple times a day (e.g. up to seven to eight times in a span of twenty-four hours). There are different types of ice packs which can be used for relief of pain. Every option brings effective results and patients can select the best for them based on the preference and budget.
The common types of cold packs available on the commercial platforms include reusable cold packs which are generally filled with gels. Disposable ice packs which can be used for single use. These are known as instant cold packs as well a chemical reaction takes place as soon as the pack is opened. Here you don’t need to put the ice pack in the freezer prior to use.
To evade any kind of ice pack burn, you must be aware to limit the application of ice to not more than 15-20 minutes. Plus, don’t dare to fall asleep putting on an ice pack. It could result in hazardous damage. With every kind of pain relief treatments, there comes a list of cautions.
The ice application should be dodged by the patients with some specific medical ailments such as for the patient suffering from rheumatoid arthritis, cold allergic conditions, Raynaud’s syndrome, paralysis, and impaired sensation syndrome.
In other words, the ice application and ice massage are highly helpful during the first 48 hours following pain in the muscles. Icing is a mild, drug-free method of dampening the pain of inflammation.
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