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Archive for category: Original Posts

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Weighted Blankets and Sleep: The Experts Weigh In

Weighted blankets have been used for many purposes, including a source of sensory input for those with Autism Spectrum Disorders and to reduce symptoms of anxiety.  Recently, there has been an increasing trend toward using weighted blankets as a solution for those who struggle with insomnia.  But, do the blankets hold up to the hype when it comes to getting a good night’s sleep?  Take a look at the following from Psychology Today which delves deeper into the use and effectiveness of weighted blankets for sleep.

Psychology Today:  Do Weighted Blankets Really Ease Sleeplessness?

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O-Tip of the Week: Stay Hydrated with These Helpful Hacks

Our O-Tip of the week series delivers valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of January, our O-Tip series will provide you with ways to kick bad habits and establish good ones.  This week we talk about hydration and how to get your 8 glasses (or more) each day!

We all have heard of the “eight glasses a day” rule, but is this the right amount for everyone?  The answer is not as simple as you think.  Depending on your age, overall health, and activity level you may actually require more.  At the least, this year, create the habit of ensuring you consume at least 8 glasses of water each day.  Try one or more of the following strategies to see what works for you:

  • Track the habit!  Use our habit tracker to stay accountable to your goal of drinking 8 glasses per day.
  • Set alerts on your phone, fitness tracker, and/or smart home device to remind you to have a glass every 2-3 hours.
  • Always have a glass of water before you eat something.  Thirst can disguise itself as hunger, so try water first!
  • We love the simple hack of using a permanent marker to indicate times of day on your water bottle to remind you how much how much to have and when.  Like the one pictured here care of musthavemom.com.

If you would like to learn more about the importance of hydration and your unique requirements check out our previous post, Help with Hydration – How Many Glasses Do You Really Need?

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Confidentiality in a Coffee Shop? Conducting Business in Non-Private Places

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

In many ways, the local coffee shop has become the new “mobile office”.  Grab a beverage and maybe food, the WiFi is free and available, and no one needs to pay rent or worry about booking a reservation.

I was grabbing a tea the other day and while in line there were two women at a table beside me having a meeting.  I got the sense that the one woman was providing a service to help the other woman find her birth parents.  Within minutes I knew where the one woman was born, her date of birth, birth name, the people that adopted her, date of her adoption, where she grew up, current address…probably enough information for identity theft (if I was into that), but definitely more than I needed or cared to know, and probably more than what this woman would want strangers to overhear.

I have a client that likes to meet in a coffee shop.  He prefers that to his house where he has family that can overhear our delicate conversations.  Before agreeing to meet him there I reminded him that confidentiality is difficult in a public place, and there is no guarantee that people won’t overhear or listen to our conversation.  We discussed alternatives, but in the end, he accepted the privacy risks and continues to request a public place as our meeting spot.

As health professionals we are, or should be, always cognizant of personal privacy and information protection.  We need to safeguard our clients from potential information breaches by keeping our paper and electronic records safe and secure, but by also being very aware of our surroundings and the likelihood of our services and conversations becoming public.  Even in hospitals where there are ward rooms and open treatment areas, busy hallways and nurses’ stations: privacy and confidentiality, while difficult to maintain at times in these public forums, must be maintained.

I recently had a medical appointment at a hospital.  I had forms that I needed to bring.  When I arrived, a volunteer took my forms and in the open waiting area began summarizing these with me.  I was quiet and asked her if our conversation needed to be public.  She was an older woman and seemed startled by my question.  But honestly, not only was I uncomfortable talking to a volunteer (who is not bound by the same privacy and confidentiality rules as health professionals) about my appointment, but my discomfort was heightened when she was reviewing my personal papers openly.

The risk of personal information and privacy breaches are significant.  The media is constantly sharing stories of our information being sold, hacked or otherwise being “gathered” for purposes we don’t often consent to.  I guess the most important thing to consider is that we are mindful and aware of the information we provide about ourselves, to whom we provide it, and the presence of others in these discussions.  A coffee shop might be a suitable place to conduct some business, but I would argue not all, and that anyone engaging in conversations in public places, health professionals or not, need to be mindful and aware of their surroundings.  Consent is key, and it is important to draw people’s awareness to the location and to ask them for their permission to have sensitive or otherwise private conversations in non-private locales.

 

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Social Outings Rx

We’ve said this before and we will say it again… being social is good for your health.  Occupational Therapists recognize the importance of social interaction within leisure activities for persons with and without disabilities. We work with clients to explore their interests to help find activities that offer opportunities for social interaction and, if needed, find ways to address the different barriers to engaging in these meaningful past times.

Great news!  Your family doctor can help with this too. There is now a pilot program in Ontario that allows physicians to write prescriptions for social activities and the ROM is assisting with this initiative.  Learn more in the following care of CBC News.

CBC News:  Doctor’s orders: ‘Social prescriptions’ have been shown to improve health

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O-Tip of the Week: Butt Out and Never Look Back

Our O-Tip of the week series delivers valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of January, our O-Tip series will provide you with ways to kick bad habits and establish good ones.  This week we tackle one of the hardest habits to kick – smoking!

According to Smoke Free Ontario, smoking kills approximately 13000 people in Ontario each year.  However, the good news is that the number of smokers continues to decrease yearly.  How can you become one of the quitters? 

A good friend of mine just celebrated her one-year anniversary of being smoke-free after 20+ years as a smoker.  For years she discussed wanting to quit but admits she couldn’t bring herself to do it because of FOMO (fear of missing out).  It wasn’t until she realized that there was nothing to give up and everything to gain that she was able to finally kick the habit. 

Smoking is an addiction and quitting is extremely difficult.  Many need to try different approaches before finally kicking the habit – for my friend, it was the book the “Easy Way to Stop Smoking” by Alan Carr that led to success.  Some other proven ways to butt out are discussed in our post, National Non-Smoking Week– Be a Quitter!

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Are You a Slave to Technology?

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

I don’t think I am alone when I say that I am becoming completely overwhelmed by technology.  Not being a techy person, it took me a while to warm up to email, then to the internet, cell phone use, texting and lastly social media.  Now I have two email accounts, three phone numbers, three websites, a cell, blog, and business and personal Twitter, Linked In, Google+, Facebook, Youtube, Instagram, and Pinterest accounts.  I bank online, shop online, do most of my communication by email, manage my business with my phone and computer, and even use an app to meditate.  My life is organized into files and folders that are populated with faxed, emailed or scanned documents that are backed-up, saved to disc, or exported to secure places.  My car can answer my calls, direct me to new places and even tell me when my favorite songs are playing.  My cat has an automatic feeder and my phone is accessed with my fingerprint or voice.  Sometimes people send me an email then text me to tell me they emailed me.  Or, they leave a voicemail then repeat the contents in an email or fax.  Or call me at home, then work, then on my cell. Craziness!

So how many people are ready to tech-out?  I know some days I dream of a home in the wilderness with no Wi-Fi, TV, computer, or cell service.

My love-hate relationship with technology has been an ongoing emotional versus productive battle inside my head for some time.  While I am trying to model appropriate technology behavior for my children, the pace at which the world seems to be operating, and the time-sensitive nature of my clinical work, requires me to work-from-home some nights, visit the office on a weekend, and respond to texts after hours.  I am not proud of this and feel that I failed miserably in the past to keep an appropriate balance.  So, I have decided to make some changes.  While I cannot change the pace at which people try to reach me, I can change the pace of my response and can learn to reduce the guilt I often feel when my response is delayed, or when a nice evening at home took priority over my inbox.

A recent survey conducted by the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has identified that 19% of adults in Ontario suffer from moderate to severe problematic use of electronic devices.  Something must be done to combat this problem.  In France, it is illegal for employers to email their employees after hours.  I am not sure such behavior needs to be “illegal” beyond ensuring that the employee cannot be fired or demoted if they don’t respond after-hours, but this law shows the extent to which people feel pressured to communicate at all times – whether it is the right time or not.

I had a comical interaction with a friend one night that highlights this.  Working late, I had sent him an email asking a question about a service they provided.  He responded quickly with a “yes,” while failing to answer my other questions.  I humorously responded with a “thanks for your wordy response” to which he added “considering that I am out with my wife for our anniversary I think I said too much”.  Agreed.

So in an effort to not repeat my mistakes of the past, I have set some firm tech boundaries for the year ahead.  Some of my strategies include:

  1.  Work at Work. I have an office at which I am extremely productive.  Lugging my computer back and forth from work to home is not good for it, my back, and tends to anchor my evenings to work when I have a list of other things I would like to be doing.   So, I plan to leave my computer at the office.  While I may become slightly behind on my emails and may not tackle as many things on my “to do list” my family will enjoy my presence and my evenings will be much less stressful.
  2.  Phone Off. In speaking with my techy husband, I asked about ways I could set some firm boundaries with my phone.  I wanted to limit texts from work contacts and stop my business email from surfacing on my phone after 5 pm and on weekends.  Low and behold with an iPhone you can’t do that. Sure I can use airplane mode or do not disturb, but this limits contacts from all people, and there are some people (my friends and family included) that I would like to be able to communicate with at any time.  So, I visited Roger’s and they too confirmed that I can’t be selective about who, how and when people can reach me.  My options then were just to behave differently (don’t check email or texts from work contacts), or to get an entirely different phone with a new number and “personal email only” set-up for after-hours.  While I still believe that one email or text can completely derail an evening or weekend, for now, I have decided that when home my phone will be anchored to a spot in the kitchen on airplane mode.  When out, I will do my best to not read or respond to work messages until the following business day.
  3.  Go Public. To get the support of my team, I told them my plans.  This included my work hours and desire to set firm boundaries around my technology time.  We realigned our operations to divide roles and duties to reduce the triplication of emails to multiple people, and to ensure that people had clear lines of accountability – instead of their habit of going to the person they thought would respond first (typically me).  My team was very supportive!  I also involved my family in my decision to leave my computer at the office and to limit after-hours phone time so that they too can encourage me along the way.

No, I am not perfect and will slide at times with the boundaries I am trying to set.  But even if I can accomplish half of my intention, I am 50% better than my experience of last year.  In the end, I guess I just want my enjoyable life to include a reasonable amount of technology, and not for technology to result in an unenjoyable life.

 

If you are having trouble getting your children to power down try our free printable Technology Pass (below)– it’s a game changer!

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Youth Anxiety and Depression on the Rise

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) has released the results of the latest Ontario Student Drug Use and Health Survey and the results are showing rising instances of anxiety and depression in grades 7-12 students.  Learn more about the results and how gender may play a role in the following care of CAMH.

The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health:  Half of female students in Ontario experience psychological distress, CAMH study shows

 

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O-Tip of the Week: Get in the Habit

Our O-Tip of the week series delivers valuable “OT-Approved Life Hacks” to provide you with simple and helpful solutions for living. 

For the month of January, our O-Tip series will provide you with ways to kick bad habits and establish good ones.  This week we discuss how to create lasting lifestyle changes by forming healthy habits. 

Did you know it can take three weeks or more to develop a new routine or habit?  And following the formation of habits, it can take up to four months to fully change your lifestyle.  Making positive change is a commitment, and with commitment comes accountability.  We recommend using a daily habit tracker, like our free printable below, to help you stay accountable to yourself and your goals.  Ensure you tick the box each and every day and you will be well on your way to creating lasting change!

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Eyes Up! Ontario’s New Distracted Driving Laws

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

Welcome to 2019!  While the New Year is a wonderful time to reflect, organize, plan, appreciate and look forward with enthusiasm and gratuity, this year in Ontario it is also an important time to familiarize ourselves with the new laws for Distracted Driving.

Working in Ontario’s insurance industry, our role as Occupational Therapists is to help people recover from car accidents.  While this work is both rewarding and fulfilling, it is also fraught with heartache and loss as we meet and work with people who have endured so much, and sometimes “lost everything” with their accident.  We see loss of income, function, or hope.  Sometimes there is the corresponding death of a child, spouse, friend or family member. There is a loss of roles, purpose, and meaning.  Occasionally an accident causes poverty and loss of shelter, independence and a means of transportation.  Recovery is not easy, it always takes longer than people expect or want, and the insurance system is designed to challenge the client (oddly their “customer”) for what they want and need to get better.  Talk to anyone in the system and most (all?) say they just “want their old life back”.  It is important that we listen to them and their stories and do all we can to prevent ourselves from causing someone else’s loss, or from becoming a “client” ourselves.

Yet, despite all the ongoing education and media about how unsafe distracted driving is, I still see it daily.  I can typically count 3-5 people per day that I see driving and texting or texting at a stop light.  The easiest ones to spot are on the highways as you see them drifting lanes and quickly over-correcting.  I suppose all of these offenders believe “it won’t happen to me”…until it does.  Hopefully, these new laws will scare them straight, or they will be ticketed and stop this unsafe behavior before they hurt themselves or others.

So, what are the new distracted driving laws in Ontario (https://www.ontario.ca/page/distracted-driving):

Distracted driving is no longer limited to just texting and making phone calls. It also now includes anything from simply holding an electronic device in one’s hand to eating while behind the wheel.

  • Simply holding an electronic device in your hands (hand-held communication during driving is against the law)
  • Using a cellular phone to talk, text, check maps or switch playlists
  • Eating (there may not be a license suspension, but the RCMP warn you could be fined or given six demerits depending on the food)
  • Reading books or documents
  • Typing a destination into the GPS

What are the consequences:

  • First offence: 3 days suspension and $1,000 fine
  • Second offence: 7 days suspension and $2,000 fine
  • Three or more offences: 30 days suspension, $3,000 fine and six demerit points

For Novice Drivers (G1, G2, M1 or M2 license) the rules are different and include:

  • First offence: 30 days suspension and $615-$1000 fine
  • Second offence: 90 days suspension and $615-$2000 fine
  • Three or more offences: Cancellation of your license, $615-$3,000 fine

So, what is allowed:

  • a hands-free device (e.g. Bluetooth) but only to turn it on and off
  • a mounted device (e.g. phone, GPS) as long as it is secure – not moving around while driving

What do you have to lose by being a Distracted Driver?  Maybe nothing, or maybe everything: your physical, mental or emotional function, your job, spouse, house, car, your independence and freedom, your pain-free “do what I want when I want” physical and mental abilities…or maybe you don’t lose those, you just cause the loss of those for others which might launch you into a lawsuit that takes years to resolve and threatens every asset you have and the livelihood of you or your family.  Or, maybe it just riddles you with guilt as you live every day with the knowledge that you killed or hurt someone.  And all for a text or a call?  Or to multi-purpose driving and eating a hamburger?  Sorry, but nothing is more important than the protection of the health and wellbeing of ourselves, our family, and others.

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How to Achieve Your Goals — The Secret Sauce

Julie Entwistle, MBA, BHSc (OT), BSc (Health / Gerontology)

What if I told you that there was one easy way to achieve the goals you have set for yourself?  Could it be that simple?  People are complicated creatures, true.  But if you have taken the time to set goals, are you measuring these and achieving them?  Are you working on your goals every day?

Here is the secret sauce…with every fork in the road, and there are tons of them, ask yourself: which decision aligns with my goals?

Let’s take health as an example.  Your goal is to lose weight, be more active, or be less breathless at the top of the stairs.  So you get to work and the first decision is: should I take the elevator or the stairs?  Then it is lunch and you have the option to work at your desk or go out for a short walk.  Or you don’t bring a lunch and need to decide if you should buy pop or water.  The salad or burger.  With each of these examples, one decision aligns with your goals and one does not. Yet if you continuously choose the option that aligns with your goals, results will follow.  This is true even if you make a small decision in the right direction – like taking the stairs for one flight then catching the elevator for the rest of the ride.  Or instead of ordering the salad, you just choose to not order the fries.

Using my life as an example, I have five key goal areas:  health, family, career, finances and personal growth.  Every evening I have the option of bringing my computer home to continue working into the night.  To do so may align with a financial goal of earning a suitable income, and a career goal to run a successful business, but it negates two other important goals of health (working means I will not exercise), and family (working means I won’t be spending time with my children).  So, I have a conundrum.  But in these cases, the reality is that my day at work has already been spent on my career and financial goals, while my other goals have taken a backburner to work time.  So, considering this, aligning my evening time with two different goals helps me to make the important decision to leave the computer at the office, minus the guilt that comes from leaving some work unfinished.

Yes, achieving goals takes discipline, but it is far easier to make small consistent choices, then to make a drastic change that might not be sustainable.  So, on the path to awesomeness that involves you setting goals and blowing these out of the water, just ask yourself daily, as you need to make decisions around your behavior and time, “which option here will help me to achieve my goal(s)?” Then, as you align your decisions with your top priorities, results will follow.

 

It is the New Year — a great time to set goals for the year ahead.  Take a look at our Goal Planning Guide to help you set and achieve your goals in 2019!