A recent study by a group of researchers from the National Institutes of Health found that progressive loss of hearing showed a clear correlation with increased risk of depression. The study also found that the risk of depression in those suffering from hearing loss was greater for those less than 70 years old and that women were at greater risk than men.

Although many hearing experts, psychiatrists, and caregivers have long believed that a diminished sense of hearing leads to depression, support of this concept has largely been anecdotal. This study adds scientifically sound data to the argument.  "It is not surprising to me that they would be more likely to be depressed," said James Firman, president and CEO of the National Council on Aging. "People with hearing loss, especially those who don't use hearing aids, find it more difficult to communicate with other people, whether in family situations, social gatherings or at work." 

The study supports the idea that the ability to hear well is not simply an end in and of itself. It is also an important means of improving your communication skills, boosting your social and professional confidence, and promoting overall mental and physical well-being. Of course readers of The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES know that I believe this to be case with all of the senses. Taking care of your senses of smell, taste, touch, and sight (covered in VISION) is a vital part of managing your overall health. A few minutes a day exercising your senses, along with a few common sense lifestyle adjustments (turn down the volume, etc.), will go a long way toward keeping your mind, body, and soul healthy for the long run.

Age well my friends,

If you are looking to lose weight, gain weight, or adjust the amount of sugar, salt, or processed foods in your diet, you should make sure that your sense of taste (and sense of smell) are functioning well. According to the American Academy of Family Physicians, if you can't smell or taste well, you might eat too much or too little. You might overuse sugar, salt, and artificial flavorings. This can lead to a diet that is not aligned with your fuel consumption needs and may lead to diabetes or high blood pressure.

The relationship between weight gain and sense of taste has also been explored by University at Buffalo biologists, who found that obesity may be linked to an impaired sense of taste. The connection makes sense: most people crave sweet or savory tastes and if it is hard to sense these tastes, it is likely that one would overeat in an effort to satisfy that craving. People with an acute sense of taste are far more likely to have their craving satisfied with less food.

Ensuring that your senses of taste and smell are functioning well is vital to your overall health. 
The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES will give you the tools you need to help you better perceive tastes and smells.

Age well my friends!

The Nine Tire Drill is a real world approach to improving sensory perception to help save lives. I'm not suggesting that if you improve your senses that you will have a new ability to save lives (other than perhaps your own), but I thought it was incredibly cool how this drill, which has been incorporated into the curriculum at the South Carolina Firefighter Survival School, can train the brain to better utilize touch, hearing, and smell. 

Basically, the drill requires the participant to crawl in a particular pattern around a grid made of nine tires without benefit of sight. The sensory benefits of this exercise include:

• Mental mapping: This process starts by seeing the layout of the tires along with any physical characteristics of the ground before restricting vision. Once the drill begins, the participant is forced to link what is being felt by their hands to the image of the space and its characteristics. Senses of hearing and smell can be linked to this mental image as well if there are noises or odors present.

• Linking senses to memory: One variation of the exercise puts a different object in many of the tires. Participants must figure out what the objects are, remember what they are when asked, and even return to the tire containing a specific object if asked. This a fantastic tool for strengthening the link between touch sensors (your hands) and the brain. 
• Triangulating: Depending on the specific noises present, participants are encouraged to use two or three different sounds around them to keep their sense of direction. 
• Sensory integration: Participants are also encouraged to integrate all of this information together to fill out the mental map they made before they started. Doing this successfully creates a single mental "image" that includes information from all of the senses (except taste - I would discourage that).
  

Of course the drill teaches many other things that are much more specific to firefighting than most of us need, but the relative simplicity of the drill means that many of us could adapt this drill into a useful exercise. It is still more complex and will take a bit longer than any of the exercises in The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES, but if you have a safe backyard and your knees are good enough to crawl around it (or you have some good knee pads), you could adapt this drill into an effective multi-sense exercise. 

Here is how I might go about it:

• First, get a partner. This will keep you safe and improve the effectiveness of the exercise. Kids six or older can be great partners for this exercise - it makes a great game.
• Since you probably don't have nine tires, grab nine grocery bags (paper or plastic - doesn't matter, as long as you can't see though them and they're all the same). Have your partner find nine different objects and put them in the bags. 
• Your partner should place the bags in a nine-point grid in your yard. Ideally, your grid is 30'x30' although if your space is limited it can be slightly smaller.

• Decide on a route you will follow, perhaps an "S" or a "G" shape (doing it differently each time you do the exercise). Study your route looking for physical clues in the ground (dirt patch, depression, patch of dandelions, etc.) and listening for auditory clues.
• Go to your starting point, blindfold yourself (sleep masks are an easy way to do this), and try to crawl the route you have decided on, stopping to reach in each bag along the way to identify the object inside. 
• Use your senses to keep on track. Try to determine your location by feeling for the physical clues you saw before you started. Try to maintain your sense of direction by listening to where the sounds around you are coming from. 
• If you get lost, start over. Safety tip: make sure your partner stops you if you are getting too far away or too near danger (e.g. the street, rose bushes, cliffs, etc.)
• Bonus: Once you have completed your route, keep your blindfold on and have your partner list three of the objects. Return to each of them in order.
• Bonus: Incorporate your sense of smell by placing paper towels doused in various odors in each bag instead of different objects. Identify the smells as you go along your route.

If you like this drill, think it sounds good but can't do it for space or other reasons, or simply want to learn more about being able to feel, hear, smell and taste better, then give The 15 Minute Fix: SENSES a try. Although the Nine Tire Drill is somewhat more complex, takes longer to do, and is best done with a partner, it is similar in approach and nature to the exercises in SENSES.

I learned about this drill through Les Baker's excellent article, "The Nine Tire Drill," that appeared in the August 2014 issue of Fire Engineering magazine. Fire Engineering doesn't rank high on most of our reading lists, but the article is an interesting read.

Thanks also to firefighters everywhere. I have nothing but awe and admiration for the work they do.

Age well my friends!

Launch date is just around the corner, and I couldn't be more excited! The first 4 books will focus on eye, facial, sensory, and hair & scalp exercises.

While it is easy to figure out the point of the individual books in The 15 Minute Fix series, it may not be as clear what the point of the series is. 

The 15 Minute Fix is about helping you age well. 

What do I mean by aging well? 

Whether you are moving from your 20's into your 30's or from your 60's into your 70's, your body and your mind are constantly changing. We call this aging. You don't want to stop this process (the side effects are pretty bad...), but you can take steps to adapt to these changes and mitigate the environmental factors that are constantly working against us. I want you to be comfortable with the fact that you are getting older and to take steps to keep your body and brain healthy and vibrant. I want to help you stay youthful! 

Because we are all busy, I have designed the various 15 Minute Fix programs to be short and easily integrated into your daily schedule (hence the 15 minutes...). Use the books in The 15 Minute Fix series to transform your daily routine into a lifelong program of keeping your mind and body functioning at their highest possible levels. If you do this, you will find that you look and act more youthful and that you have improved your overall health.

In addition to the main focus area of each book, the exercises in each book in The 15 Minute Fix series are designed to help you age well by:

• Lowering your stress levels, 
  
• Elevating your cognitive function, 
  
• Increasing your energy levels, 
  
• Raising your social confidence, 
  
• Improving your performance at work, and
  
• Maintaining an active, healthy lifestyle much longer than you otherwise would have.
  

As you dig into each of The 15 Minute Fix books, you will see that they consist of more than just a group of exercises. Each book will contribute toward a comprehensive lifelong plan to age well.


So, join me as we embark on a lifelong journey of aging well!