Protect yourself in your home as you age

I am approaching my 64th birthday as I write this. The mirror tells me that this is true, although it's easy enough to still see the nineteen year old that I remain inside my head if I don't lean in too closely to that mirror.

Sixty four does has a special resonance, though. That is probably because of the Beatles song written, coincidentally enough, when I actually was nineteen. That "When I'm sixty four" refrain nags at me, reminding me that I really am getting older and that being a "senior" is not something that will happen later, it is something that is already true.

Even though I am far from physical decline, sixty four might be an excellent time to start planning for some of the home safety issues that will arise as I age. Actually, any age is a good time to start thinking about these things; sixty four might even be past time to start taking them seriously.

If you have aging parents, you might want to take it upon yourself to notice things they may not think of themselves.

Falls

Falls can happen at any age. They don't hurt so much when you are two; at sixty-something and up, a fall can be very serious.

My wife fell recently while trying to get dressed in our bedroom. We have slippery wood floors; she lost her balance and fell, hurting herself enough to draw blood from a cut on her head.

We should have area rugs over those floors and of course those rugs should be taped down firmly so that they can't slip. That's on our short list of things to do this year.

More troublesome is what to do about sharp objects we might hit on our way to the floor. There is padding and cushions designed to protect toddlers, but we are resistant to festooning our furniture with those. Our esthetic sensibilities could cost us a nasty cut someday.

We are also reluctant to replace our dining room chairs. Their sharp edges really could be very dangerous, but we've had them for almost forty years - they have a lot of memories attached. Sentiment vs. safety..

Avoiding falls would be better. Balancing exercises can help with that. Those can be as simple as standing on alternate legs with your eyes closed (be careful when first trying this - it's harder than you may think). When watching TV, I stand up frequently to do leg lifts and other balancing exercises. Getting up off your butt is a good idea anyway; adding a little exercise and balance practice just makes it better.

A "balance ball" is also good.

It's also best to not have any conditions that put you off balance, especially when near sharp objects. For example, do you have anything that you have to bend or twist to reach regularly? We have at least three electrical items that are uncomfortable to access. We'd be much smarter to buy inexpensive wireless electrical switch sockets to avoid the clumsiness.

Stairs

One of the reasons we moved to a retirement community early was to eliminate stairs. We were not concerned then, and still aren't very worried about that, but we know the day will come when we should be, so we moved before we had to.

If eliminating stairs entirely isn't possible, sturdy handrails and extra lighting add safety. Many of the lighting products available use sensors to turn on automatically and LED current usage is low enough that battery power is also possible, making installation easier and less expensive.

Speaking of lights: all of our wall light switches have LED's built in, making them easy to find in the dark. We have LED night lights plugged in all over the house; these draw almost nothing and are for orientation rather than illumination.

Shower and bath

Although I actually fell OFF a high rise toilet, these are generally safer for seniors and we have already fitted both bathrooms with these. We've used anti-skid treads in the bath and shower for years; those make sense at any age.

We also bought a removable safety bar for the bath. These are available in multiple sizes and configurations for permanent or temporary installation.

There are plenty of sharp things to bump into in the bathroom and water adds an extra danger of slipping. Extra safety bars and hand grips on the walls could help break a fall, too.

This "Bathroom Safety for Older People" from the University of Missouri points out other bathroom concerns and safety options.

Kitchen

I think our stove worries me the most. You don't have to be aged to forget that you've left a burner running. We've done that when we were in our forties and we did it again just recently.

I found an expensive Stove Fire Prevention System with a little Googling. I really don't want to spend four to five hundred dollars on something like this, but it might be something we should do even if I don't want to.

Higher end stoves now have at least some safety features built in. Look for autoignition, control lockout, flame failure cutoff, hot surface warning lights and timing controls. I think this is an area where manufacturers could do much more than they presently do.

Other products and resources

It's not hard to find specialized websites devoted to senior safety products. They may not have the best prices, however.

I also had good luck searching Amazon for "Senior Safety". The results are of course disorganized, but still might give you ideas of where safety improvements might be appropriate.

This extensive senior home safety checklist from the North Carolina University Extension could also be very helpful. I spotted several minor items I might never have thought of myself.

Postscript

After publishing this, I went to our bedroom to make up our bed. While hurrying from one side to the other, I bumped into the wooden frame and hurt my ribs - not seriously, but enough to annoy me. A few minutes later, while vacuuming under the bed, I scraped my knuckles on the frame.

So, one last piece of advice for home safety: slow down. Injuries heal less quickly as we age and I have no reason to be rushing anyway. I have plenty of free time; I can afford a slightly slower pace. Most of us can, even if we have convinced ourselves otherwise.