Ba-dum-ching! (You see what we did there?)
Okay, okay, all punning – or would that be punting?! – aside, it’s fall and that means one thing: football season! And that in turn means we’re looking forward to a season’s worth of Sunday and Monday evenings, rooting for our two home teams, the Philadelphia Eagles and the Seattle Seahawks. Who’s with us?
So here’s the thing: We can’t all play pro football, but we can emulate our favorite players. And since we’re all about safeties – okay, no more punning, we promise! – we want to highlight a few ways we can take our cues from the pros about personal health and safety at home.
Stretch Like a Pro
We bet you’ve never stretched before raking leaves, but you should! Scientists are still undecided on whether stretching prevents injury, but stretching definitely helps warm up your muscles and has been shown to reduce soreness after unfamiliar exercise. And as we get older and creakier, new activity – like a-few-times-a-year intense raking – is guaranteed to hurt the next day. And the next and the next, if we’re unlucky.
Do yourself a favor and copy the pros: stretch your arms, legs, hips and especially your back before you bend, squat, and scoop up leaves. Or prep the garden for winter, or do a massive fall cleaning, or start any other major physical activity that will challenge your muscles.
Get Active
Fall is such a great time to get active: temperatures are cooling but there’s still plenty of sunlight; kids are back in school so you can create solid routines; and the air has that delicious crispness that makes you want to spend all your time outside, inhaling the sweet, sweet scent.
It’s a great time to get physical (just ask the pros) – to improve your health through safe, fun outdoor activity. So toss a ball around the backyard, or go big and organize a neighborhood pickup game. (There’s no shame in flag football.) Celebrate the season with a barbecue and old-fashioned backyard games, like horseshoes, bean toss, and croquet. Whatever gets you moving, and keeps you from needing a medical alert device or medical alert system, is good in our book.
Teamwork is Where it’s At
Fall isn’t all fun and games: like spring, there’s something about the transition of season that urges organization and deep-cleaning. So whether you’re planning to overhaul the garage, tackle the attic, or weatherproof the basement, you probably have some Major Task on your fall to-do list.
Here’s the football advice: do as the pros do, and don’t go it alone. The best efforts are coordinated, so enlist the help of your family or friends. At the very least, laborious tasks aren’t quite as boring with company; at the most, you’ll have an extra hand to help reach high, lift heavy, or steady a ladder – all things that will keep you safe and make your tasks immeasurably easier.