The Three Legged Stool

This unique and innovative blog provides three points of a given subject and three levels of explanation. The first level: simply a word. The second level: a twitter based 160 character limited description. The third level: a longer, paragraph based explanation. This allows you to only scratch the surface on delve more deeply into each piece of information. The posts center around occupational therapy, health, wellness, and random insights into every day life.

[mpfaff1-blog]

Occupation is to holisticism as a melody is to a song: notable, evident, and essential.

Experience.

[mpfaff1-blog]

The human spirit for activity is actualized, in a healthy way, through engagement in occupation: self-initiated, self-directed activity that is productive for the person (even if the product is fun) and contributes to others.

Yerxa, 1998

[mpfaff1-blog]

Habits: Tricks, Tips, and Ideas

1. Habit Stacking

2. Reenforcing New Habits

3. Healthy Habits

Creating a string of habits allows one to basically run on autopilot rather than devoting cognitive power to remembering a daily routine. (adding in new ones like water)

When trying to change a habit, make an old habit harder to follow and a new habit more accessible.

Try always drinking a full glass of water before eating (for more water and less hunger) or doing five squats during a commercial or before showering (they add up fast!).

Habit stacking allows you to complete a string of tasks without having to think about them. This is especially helpful to prevent memory lapses or if memory just isn't what it used to be. Also this can be used to add in new habits that you want to remember to do (for example during your morning routine, incorporate a habit of drinking a full glass of water before coffee, shower, etc).

For example, when trying to eat healthier, make junk food harder to access by putting it in 3 shopping bags in the back of the cupboard or keeping pop out of the fridge (who wants warm pop?) and putting healthier snacks in more plain sight and easy to get to.

Carry around a cool waterbottle, buy a $10 pedometer and challenge friends to step competitions, premake breakfast for the week, make exercise a part of your schedule like work, celebrate the little things, take at least twenty minutes a day to do something you love or relax with, never assume, always ask, laugh.

[mpfaff1-blog]

Excellent video describing the purpose of occupational therapy!

[mpfaff1-blog]

Easy Fixes to Eating Healthier (Food Cues)

Advice pertaining to:

1. Fridge

2. Shelves

3. Mind

1. Don’t put your veggies and healthier items in those crisper drawers- I mean you’ll naturally forget about them there when rummaging for a snack right?

2. Place healthier items near the front and the sugary snacks towards the back so the first thing you see (and the easier to reach) are the healthier options.

3. Always ask yourself when choosing snacks, “what would batman eat?”- it doesn't matter who you compare yourself too, you’ll be naturally predisposed to make the healthier choice.

1. When organizing your refrigerator, always put the healthier fruits and veggies at eye sight. This helps when making those hourly trips to find a snack. This is all about visual cues. Yes the crisper drawer was made for fruits and veggies, but there you forget about them and theoretically they shouldn't last that long anyway! Also place less healthy items on lower shelves. Prepare fruits and veggies right away and place in bowls for easy access and quick snacks. A whole head of broccoli is simply not conducive when you're hungry and want something on the spot. A bowl of cut up broccoli, fruit, or other health options is perfect though.

2. When organizing your cupboards, again place healthier items within natural eyesight and less healthy options further back or higher up. A simple way to stamp out a habit is to make it difficult to complete- in this case that means places chips and cookies on the top most shelf that requires a lot of work (and a stool) to get to. This will naturally push you towards those easy to reach healthier snacks. Also- pre-portion out items. Put serving sizes of items in separate bags so you only grab one serving rather than plowing through the whole box!

3. Again ask yourself the question, “which would batman/(your favorite quarterback)/mom/(your best friend) choose?”when deciding between a health and unhealthy snack. It doesn't matter who you choose or even what the person in question would choose- your brain naturally wants to be the best and subconsciously you’re most likely to go with the healthier option.

[mpfaff1-blog]

Occupational therapy is about “giving opportunities rather than prescriptions” —-Meyer (1922/1977, p. 639)

Meyer, A. (1977). The philosophy of occupational therapy. American Journal of Occupational Therapy, 31, 639-642. (Original work published 1922).

[mpfaff1-blog]

Managing Stress

Analyze

Change

Evaluate

Understand what is causing your flight or fight mechanism to go haywire and what is causing a perceived sense of loss of control.

Change what is causing the stressor to alleviate it- either escape the stressor (physically or mentally) or regain a perceived sense of control.

Did it work? Or was any progress made? If not, choose a different strategy such as introducing physical activity into your daily routine or mediation.

Stress isn’t necessarily a bad thing, its all about how you react to it. If the stressor is beyond your natural threshold an overwhelming feeling and a perceived loss of control occurs. This prolonged anxiety due to a loss of control is what leads to chronic stress, aches and pains, loss of sleep, and possibly learned helplessness or depression. To cure the distress, one must either regain a sense of control (fight) or escape the stressor (flight).

To change and be rid of the feeling of distress, multiple approaches can be utilized. The first is to mentally regain the sense of control. It may help to reconfigure your thought process to see things as a challenge rather than a threat. A challenge is generally more often associated with excitement where a threat is more often associated with anxiety. Also don’t look at what you can’t change, focus only on what you can. Escaping the stressor (whether physically or mentally) is another way to handle or alleviate stress. Evidence has shown that positive psychological effects are associated with physical activity. One can mentally escape from stress through prayer, mediation, or yoga or through distraction such as with art, reading, or movies. Using a worry outcome diary can also help through the positive extinction effect.

Ask yourself: did it work? Its also critically important to ask yourself if this fixed the problem or was it simply a temporary patch for a bigger problem. Addressing the distress head on should always be your first avenue and if this isn’t plausible then turn towards escape. Pharmacology, cognitive behavioral therapy, and EDMR can also be used if nothing else, but these should be only tapped into once all other methods are exhausted. 

Egger, G., Binns, A., & Rossner, S. (2011). Depression. In Lifestyle medicine: Managing diseases of lifestyle in the 21st century (2nd ed.). Sydney: McGraw-Hill Australia Pty.

[mpfaff1-blog]

"Survival is insufficient."

Occupational Therapy, Star Trek, Station 11

[mpfaff1-blog]

Relating Occupational Therapy to Christmas: A Very Merry Analogy!

Santa

Gifts

Christmas Tree

The giver, the individual who checked his list (of clients) twice to ensure every one who needs it is provided with care.

The unique, individualized, and personalized gifts is the ultimate show of client-centeredness is it not?

The tree, the structure under which the “client centered approaches" are inserted, the structure representing the theories, models, and evidence which (just as presents beneath a tree) everything is placed under.

In our little analogy, Santa is the OT. The person who delivers the gifts (aka assistance, care, interventions) to people all over the world. Belief can be central to this process and who better than the OT his/herself to inspire such motivation and hope!? Santa brings the gifts which are personalized to each individual and checks his list twice to ensure no one is left out. Sounds a lot like an OT if you ask me.

Gifts. Presents. All wrapped unique for each different person. All personalized with the individual’s wants and desires in mind. All with purposefullness and meaningfulness. Just as Santa delivers these to each individual with thought and care, an OT delivers interventions with the exact same concepts. One could really learn from the other and vise versa.

Similar to how a gift is placed under a tree, an intervention is found under the framework that it is derived from. The branches of a tree and the models/theories that define OT go hand in hand. The depth of the tree and the evidence based nature of OT follow the same pattern. Most importantly the tree is decorated with an occupational therapist’s personal creativity to fit the clients wants and desires. So ultimately, when Santa delivers the gifts under the tree, the whole process brings hope and happiness…again, sounds a lot like OT doesn't it?

Merry Christmas!

[mpfaff1-blog]

OT and the Pediatric Oncology Therapeutic Arts

Choice/Control

Escape

Goal-Oriented

Children didn’t choose to get cancer and they don’t choose to get poked by needles, but the therapeutic arts gives them the chance to choose things like colors.

When engaging in the T.A. naturally the children forget about everything going on in their lives and only care about their creation.

Sitting around in a hospital all day, with a lack of occupational balance and purposeness, children are more prone to depression.

One of the most powerful concepts involved in the T.A. is allowing the child to regain control in at least some elements of their life. They don’t have much choice or control in the sterile confines of a hospital, but through art they can choose again. Even if their is something as simple as the color of their drawings.

The power of escape or the power to forget as I like to call it is the single most powerful concept of the T.A. When you can make a kid forget that they’re in a hospital, make them forget that they’re away from their family and their friends, that they have something the doctors are calling “cancer”…when you can make a little girl forget that her hair is falling out, ladies and gentlemen that is a special thing.

The power of occupation and having a goal can make a huge difference in the course of a child’s day. As Trombly pointed out, activities with purposefullness and meaningfullness are proven to be the most effectiveness. Giving a child the chance to fill their time with activities that have purpose and meaning and that gives them a goal and something to work towards can make all the difference in the world.

Trombly, C. A. (1995). Occupation: Purposefulness and meaningfulness as therapeutic mechanisms. American Journal of Occupational Therapy 49(10), 960-972.

[mpfaff1-blog]

Occupation has previously been positively linked to well-being because it fulfills a basic human need to do, provides a sense of purpose, provides a means to organize time and space, and is a medium for the development and expression of identity.

(Christiansen, 1999; Yerxa, 1994)

[mpfaff1-blog]

Sleep Hygiene

To fall alseep more easily and readily.

Stimulation

Routine

Bedroom

At least an hour before bed: lower lights, reduce noise, avoid electronics, and engage in a relaxing activity.

Have a set time for getting in bed and sleeping and a set time for waking.

Only use the bedroom for sleep and sex.

By lowering/dimming lights and noise (especially fast paced, loud noise, slow and quieter is okay) your brain naturally lowers arousal levels and you ease into a relaxed state. Blue light producing devices (phones, iPads, laptops) are stimulating to the brain so these should be avoided. Occupy your time with a relaxing activities such as crosswords, reading, or mediation.

By having a routine, your body naturally adjusts to these time frames and prepares itself. Plan these times into your schedule as to avoid deviations and maintain on weekends. This also provides a form of constancy in a busy life and helps to reduce stress by giving individuals a sense of control.

Keep the bedroom for what it is meant for. Don’t watch TV there, don’t work on work stuff there, and don’t have a computer in the room. Keep the colors subtle and relaxing (blues and darker colors- no red or yellows) and the temperature cool (think 65 degrees).