Cold Weather and Arthritis | 5 Tips for Preventing Pain
Are painful arthritis flare-ups keeping you from doing the things you enjoy during the winter? Unfortunately, cold, damp weather and inactivity can both contribute to joint stiffness and discomfort. If this sounds all too familiar to you, don’t miss these quick tips for preventing arthritis pain in cold weather:
Keep Moving
While it might seem more pertinent to hunker down under a warm blanket at home during cold days, it is widely known that physical activity plays a key role in keeping joints loose and mobilized. Find a way to exercise each day, even if it’s just for 15 minutes at a time. Try going for a walk, practicing yoga, swimming, biking, or even simply exercising at home with a stability ball and resistance bands.
Wear Layers
Heavy winter clothes may feel great at first, but they can quickly increase your body temperature and actually leave you sweating underneath them. When that moisture on your body mixes with cool air, you have a recipe for freezing and making your joint pain worse. Opt instead to wear multiple light, breathable layers of clothing when heading out on cold days and always cover vulnerable joints with gloves and other accessories to keep them warm.
Update Your Arthritis Toolbox
Invest in basic tools that simplify daily tasks that can become more difficult during arthritis flare-ups. For example, a soft, wide handle grip that you slide over utensils like a fork or toothbrush can make it easier to eat and brush your teeth when your hands are sore and stiff. Tools like jar openers, reacher grabbers, button hooks, and dressing sticks can help too.
Get a Massage
Massage therapy has long been touted as an effective method for managing arthritis symptoms and for good reason. Massage can loosen tight muscles that are constricting joint motion and it can boost blood circulation and trigger the brain to release feel-good hormones. You can turn the heat up on a professional massage too with warm oils, hot towels, and even hot stones.
Eat Warm Foods
Oftentimes the foods that are promoted to help relieve inflammation are also those that generate thermogenic (temperature increasing) properties in the body. Ginger, cayenne, and turmeric, for example, have been shown to help relax and expand blood vessels for improved blood flow that benefits arthritic joints. Try them in a warming winter tea or soup.
Guest Blog: How to Move Forward After Losing Your Job to COVID-19
You can find this article and many other useful resources on the Senior Care Central website.
While the country has recovered just over half of all the 22 million jobs lost during the initial coronavirus outbreak, millions of people are still struggling to find work in the wake of permanent business closures. If this scenario hits home and you continue searching for your next full-time position, you must find ways to make ends meet.
Advance Your Education
If you’re feeling limited by your job options, expand your skill set by going back to school. Earning a degree will open the door to more career opportunities and higher pay, and can be a great investment in your future. For example, if you want to pursue a career in the tech industry, give yourself a head start with a degree in IT management. A couple of other possibilities include nursing or business. Earning your degree from an online school like WGU is ideal if you’re also working a part-time job!
Protect Your Financial Health
When money is tight, it’s important to reevaluate your spending. Ensure you have what you need to pay the bills and keep a roof overhead, even if it means cutting out nonessential luxuries like cable and takeout. If debt is a problem, stop using credit cards and go cash-only for now. You could also consolidate your debt onto a low-interest line of credit or a new credit card with a promotional rate.
Get a Part-Time Job
Need money right now? Get a part-time job! A temporary job may not be able to match the income of your previous position, but it will help you make ends meet while you continue your search. According to Fast Company, there are plenty of industries that require part-time workers right now, including grocery stores and delivery services.
Try Freelancing
Another way to earn money during the pandemic is to look for remote opportunities online. Selling your skills through freelance work is an excellent way to do this! You can freelance in nearly any industry, including accounting, writing, marketing, project management, and data entry.
The pandemic is tough for everyone, but for those who are still out of work, things may be looking especially bleak. Keep moving forward, whether it means going back to school, landing a part-time job, or starting a freelance career.
My not-bucket List
Some people, when they get to be my age, make a bucket list – that is, those activities they would like to do before they die. Well, I decided to make a list of the things I don’t ever care to do and am happy that I haven’t done…so here is my short not-bucket list:
Go sky diving. While this might be one many people’s bucket list, I have no desire to go skydiving. I just can’t imagine that the euphoria at having survived jumping out of plane and relying on a parachute for my life would ever override the sheer terror of the falling feeling. In fact, I would probably have a heart attack and die of fright on the way down.
Own a snake. I hate snakes and would never call one a pet. I would always be worried that it would escape and I would find it in my shoes one day all dried up, or worse yet, that it would curl up in the shower or hide in my closet. A big snake might eat my little dog or cat. Snakes seem like tricky creatures that would give me nightmares. Nope, no snakes for me.
Smoke a cigarette. No, I have never smoked a cigarette. In fact, when I was about 8 years old and my Dad was once smoking a cigar, which he did only occasionally (being more of a pipe man himself), I wanted to be like him and try a smoke. Dad said okay, and told me to take a big deep breath to inhale that delicious cigar smoke. As you might imagine, the fitful coughing after that one drag, combined with his laughter, cured me of ever wanting to smoke anything – thus Dad’s lesson. He did, however, teach me great technique in stuffing his pipe, though not smoking one!
Go bungee jumping. Even if we set aside all the health hazards of having your hips and knees nearly yanked out of their sockets, your pelvis twisted and jolted, or the risks of having a stroke from all the blood rushing to your brain as you hang upside down, this is not appealing at all to me. Those with hiatal hernias or GERD should not put this on their bucket list. Similar to my feelings about sky diving, I just would not trust that the bungee cord would be strong enough or short enough to make it worth the thrill. Even with a go-pro camera to record the event, I’m sure that my screaming would overshadow any future comedic home movies that would come from it.
Get drunk. I can’t see the attraction of getting drunk and not remembering what you did the night before. I guess that it makes for funny big screen movies, but vomiting all over the carpet and having to clean it up the next day when sober just doesn’t make it onto my list of anything remotely resembling fun. Besides, if I ever got inebriated, I would probably be found dancing on a table in a nightclub, make the evening news, and embarrass my kids to death.
Get a kidney stone. I have already had one kidney stone and they are definitely not fun. I don’t care to have another, so I drink plenty of water throughout the day. It is true what they say, that the pain can be excruciating and intractable. Kidneys stones should be on the “avoid at all costs” list of everyone.
So, what’s on your not bucket list?