Category: Independent living
-
Behind the wheel with 100 year old driving school
The 100 year old driving school ITV program has highlighted the issues of driving later in life and at the same time a new guide, Behind the Wheel, has been published to help older people stay safe on the roads. The guide (available in large-print and audio as well as online) contains advice on how…
-
Active 10 minutes to get healthy
Over the summer there were a slew of announcements about the need to get fit in middle age to ward off major illness when older – aimed at those in their 40s, 50s and 60s. A key part of the recommendation is to get a bit more exercise into daily life. But how do you…
-
Fall prevention excercises & technology for motivation
Two older women from my community have had falls in the last month – one resulting in a broken arm, the second no lasting injury this time, but previously she has broken both hips due to falls. I enquired about how she had found fall prevention classes and was amazed that she’d never heard of…
-
Preserving Purpose key to positive ageing
Maintaining mental activity and social contact are life savers according to Public Health England, as social isolation is a killer condition linked to 30% increase in death. It is not just mental health that is affected but physical health too. This was one of the key messages from a recent conference of health and social…
-
Musical Memories with Amazon Echo and Spotify
Earlier today I caught a piece of music I hadn’t heard for 30 or more years. Suddenly I could smell the polish from school days, and memories & emotions came flooding back. It reminded me that although my Dad lost the ability to express himself with words in later years he was still able to…
-
Data safety first
A recent Which? investigation revealed that our personal contact details are freely collected and sold and can be use to defraud people . Smart meters, phones and social media give deep insight into our lives but it is not clear who owns the data or if it is being sold or shared. As we…
-
What can I do to prevent Alzheimer’s or mental decline?
According to latest figures covering 2015, dementia is now the leading cause of death in England and Wales. In this article we look at the lifestyle choices that can reduce the risk of developing dementia and which technologies can help with those lifestyle changes.
-
How do I create a unique and memorable password for each site?
Every day in the connected world we have to login to numerous different sites for banking or shopping, let alone email and social media – and we are told not to use the same password for each one. In this article we will look why so many passwords are needed and how to create passwords…
-
Having a RIOT – the future of SmartAgeing
RIOT is not a word often associated with care, but it is one of the exciting finalists in a recent competition to find the best internet-connected products for SmartAgeing. In this article we take a peek at the cutting edge of SmartAgeing products that are in development and how they could help us in the…
-
Simple Remote Controls for TV Viewing
All-in-one remote controls promise to make TV watching simpler by reducing the number of gadgets to juggle when watching TV whether it is live, recorded at home, a catch-up service like iPlayer or film from a disc. In this article we get hands-on with a budget model and consider if it succeeds in simplification and…