This month we have two for one in Lauretta’s book reviews –
Walking for health and Improving sleep
Authors: Harvard medical school special health reports
Walking for health
One of the best activities we can establish in a facility is a good walking program. The older a person gets the more important it is to retain the ability to walk or walk with an aid. This booklet covers many of the issues including exercises for warming up and cooling down. It is important to build up a level of fitness over a period of time. This book will provide the factual information that would be invaluable to the therapist, student or educator.
Sleep
Understanding the importance of quality sleep and the role of sleep in our lives is essential to good working lives and also helping our clients. One of the aspects of working with older people is noticing how they often fall asleep in the daytime when we are doing activities or if they are bored. Too much daytime sleep means that often clients do not get a good night’s sleep. This booklet is a good guide on all aspects of sleep including drugs for sleeping, methods of dealing with sleep disorders and behavioural therapies available.
The books are available for loan from the AANSW library but accessing the website allows you to purchase booklets from http://www.health.harvard.edu/