Letter from the Editor #15
Preventing senior falls; The ever-more-necessary end-of-day "comfort watch"...
Readers,
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Preventing senior falls...
Last week, on the same day, on opposite sides of the country, both my parents fell and hurt themselves. I won’t go into details, but naturally this made me anxious and upset.
Geographically speaking, it made sense to run to the aid of my 85-year-old mom, the parent I share a coast with, who is widowed and lives alone, a 2.5-hour drive south of me. (My 90-year-old dad and stepmother live in California, near one of her daughters, who helps them tremendously.)
Fortunately my parents are both okay now—a little banged up, but knock wood, no concussions, nothing broken. My mom felt well enough a couple of days later to go to the nail salon with me, looking beautiful as always, even with the row of Frankenstein stitches across her forehead. (She gets them removed today.)
It’s hardly the first time either of them has fallen, and it’s a common danger for seniors. My mother-in-law declined rapidly after a fall at 92 that resulted in a broken hip and femur, and died two years later. And many of my friends report that their parents have succumbed to gravity, often multiple times, leading to all manor of injury. So I thought I’d do a little research into why this happens, and how to prevent it.
First, here are some “Facts on Falls According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other falls research” (source: The 2025 National Falls Prevention Action Plan from the National Council on Aging):
Fourteen million, or 1 in 4 adults age 65 and over, fall each year.
Falls are the leading cause of fatal and non-fatal injuries among older adults. Falls are the leading cause of hip fractures and traumatic brain injuries.
In 2021, falls caused 38,000 deaths among those age 65+, and emergency departments reported 3 million visits due to older adult falls.
Scary stuff. The kind of thing you obviously want to avoid, if possible. Which is why I was glad to come across an article on the Johns Hopkins Medical website called “Fall Prevention: Balance and Strength Exercises for Older Adults,” by Lora Stutzman, PT.
Stutzman lays out common causes of senior falls:
Balance and/or walking problems. Balance can be affected by vision changes, vestibular problems and altered sensation in the feet.
The use of multiple medications. Studies indicate that when individuals take five or more medicines, the risk of falls increases.
Home hazards (including dim lighting and trip hazards)
Positional low blood pressure (such as orthostatic hypotension, when blood pressure drops upon standing.
Feet and footwear issues.
She goes on to offer a number of exercises aimed at improving strength and balance, making falls less likely. Here’s a video in which she demonstrates some of them:
And here’s another helpful video, from a guy I like on Instagram, who goes by “Forever Fit with Mitch”:
As we get older, it naturally becomes more difficult to balance ourselves as we stand and walk. But there are measures we can take to steady ourselves, at least some. If you sense that you, or someone close to you, is at great risk of falling, seek help from an orthopedist, physical therapist, geriatrician, or other medical professional.
Have you, or someone close to you, fallen later in life? What were the consequences? Have you worked to improve your strength and balance so that falling is less of a risk for you? Any tips? I invite you to share your thoughts in the comments…
The ever more necessary end-of-day “comfort watch”…
For the past ten years (you do the math), at the end of each day I’ve needed to disassociate from harsh reality by losing myself in soothing television shows, usually with a feel-good and/or comedic bent. As a rule, I don’t watch anything scary—an adjective for which I have a broad definition, as in, I’m still afraid of the Wicked Witch of the West. (My husband Brian tells people “Sari avoids any programming with minor chords in the accompanying music.”)
I’m hardly alone in doing this—it’s so culturally prevalent that there’s now a term for this kind of entertainment: the “comfort watch.” My need for it has lately grown more urgent. As I’ve been touching on in this series the past few weeks—and as you already know if you live in the world—shit is crazy right now. There’s never been a greater need for end-of-the-day comforting.
I mentioned our latest comfort watch, A Place to Call Home, in a recent Link Roundup. It’s a fairly soapy but absorbing Australian family saga that aired from 2013 through 2018, and takes place in the 1950s. You can stream it on Amazon Prime/Acorn.
We didn’t expect to like this show—honestly, we thought we were humoring my dad by giving it a chance, because he kept recommending it. Then once we started watching it, we couldn’t stop. It became for us what Battlestar Galactica is for Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein’s characters in this hilarious Portlandia sketch:
If a show gives me a particularly good feeling, I’ll rewatch it from start to finish. In the fall we turned to Better Things, Pamela Adlon’s poignant comedy about a single mom raising three daughters in Los Angeles. Next, we’ll revisit This is Us, another family saga that ran from 2016 to 2022—trading the Bligh family of Inverness, Australia for the Pearson family of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Some other potential rewatches we’re considering: Parenthood, Catastrophe, A Gentleman in Moscow—even though it’s dark. I described that one as “dystopian Wes Anderson” when we first saw it because of its stunning vintage setting, the ornately appointed Hotel Metropol Moscow. Oh, and Heated Rivalry, aka “the gay hockey show,” which I’d mistakenly assumed I was too old to enjoy, and absolutely loved.
When we’re between shows, or just need to end the night on an up note, we’ll take in a few episodes of 30 Rock, which reliably makes us laugh and lightens our mood.
We’re going to need some new comfort watches, so I thought I’d ask you all about yours.
Got any shows to recommend? Preferably non-violent, at least a little funny, ideally with multiple seasons. Tell me in the comments:
Introducing myself to newcomers…
I realize newcomers might not know who is behind this magazine. Who am I? For the uninitiated: I’m the author of the memoir-in-essays, And You May Find Yourself...Confessions of a Late-Blooming Gen-X Weirdo, which was chosen by Poets & Writers magazine for the 2022 edition of its annual “5 Over 50” feature. For five years, I was the Essays Editor at Longreads. I edited the bestselling anthologies Goodbye to All That: Writers on Loving and Leaving NewYork and Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York. I also publish Memoir Land.
No paywall this week…
This week I’m not putting the bottom part of my Letter from the Editor behind a paywall, as I had in prior installments. If you enjoy all that I publish here, I’d love your support. Publishing Oldster takes a lot of work. 🙏
Check out the rest of this series here. P.S. Typos happen. Please forgive me if you find any!
That’s all for today. I hope I’ve given you a modicum of…hope…in this dark time.
Thanks for reading, and subscribing. I appreciate it. 🙏💝
Oops—I meant to say I assumed I was to OLD for Heated Rivalry, not too YOUNG. I've fixed it.
Just realized I need to rewatch Fleabag!!!