Tim Lim

Archive for April, 2009

If there is one constant thing in life, it is the fact that we grow old. No one is exempted from this, unfortunately. In fact, you just might have an elderly family member living in your very own household right now. It is then very important to consider installing stairlifts in the household. This is especially true if your house has two or more floors. But what exactly is a stair lift?

In its most basic form, a stair lift is a device that has been designed for the purpose of assisting elderly or disabled people to reach higher floors of a household. This is also known as a chair lift, simply because the device makes use of a motorized chair that lifts people up and down the stairs of a household. With the installation of stairlifts, people can safely move up and down the stairs, significantly reducing the risks of untoward accidents occurring.

Most of these lifts, including AC stairlifts and DC stairlifts, come with armrests and footrests. These armrests and footrests are strategically positioned on tracks. Because of these safety features, stairlifts are really ideal to have for people whose abilities to move have become limited because of old age, accidents, and diseases such as arthritis, Parkinson’s, and Lou Gehrig’s disease. Most companies producing and constructing these stairlifts also make sure to include protective covers for the lifts themselves. This way, the lifts would be well-protected from potential damage.

In general, you actually have two choices when it comes to stairlifts. You can go with the AC stair lift, or the DC stair lift. What constitutes a better choice? There are actually several factors to consider here. But it would be better to determine the differences between both types first. The AC powered unit has been strongly criticized because of its stop and start motions that can be quite erratic. However, the modern AC stairlifts have been redesigned to get rid of these erratic movements.

The DC stair lift, on the other hand, has been praised because of its smoother and refined movements. In fact, more users actually prefer the DC stair lift to the AC powered unit. But then, you cannot discount the fact that DC lifts are merely powered by rechargeable batteries. And there will come a time when you will have to recharge your unit. During this time, you cannot use your stairlift. With AC stairlifts, you do not have to worry about this because they are constantly connected to your power supply. In the end, you will have to go with the stair lift that suits your needs the most. This is just about the most effective way to go about the selection process.

All of us lose hair everyday, whether male or female, young or old. This is pretty obvious from the hair that is left in our brush or comb. Also, you can easily find fallen hair that collects near the drain pipe in your shower room.

Most of us lose hair every day; you only have to look at your hair brush or comb to see this is true. In fact, this may surprise you but every two to three months we may find we lose up to 10 percent of our hair. It is a natural growth cycle that hair undergoes. New hair grows, and old hair falls out because they have reached the end of their life cycle which varies from between two and six years. What alerts someone to his hair loss is when he begins to suspect that more hair is lost than “normal” and that a balding scalp is beginning to form.

There are varying reasons as to why someone may lose more than the normal amounts of hair. It could be hormonal ? relating to the thyroid or the male or female hormones may be out of balance. Sometimes people may lose hair some months after they have experienced an illness or major surgery. Sometimes after giving birth some women may experience more hair loss than normal ? this is due to the hormones returning back to their normal levels.

Certain medications may also cause hair loss. These medicines include blood thinners (anticoagulants), those used to treat gout, chemotherapy, contraceptive pills and some antidepressants. Too much vitamin A can also lead to a loss of hair. Hair loss may also occur due to an underlying disease that may not have been diagnosed, such as Lupus or diabetes, so any unusual hair loss is always best to get checked out by your physician.

How a person takes care of his or her hair has an impact on hair loss. Hair loss can be more severe if hair is often tied up (pig tails or cornrows), or in tight hair rollers on a regular basis. The constant pulling on the hair can cause a type of scarring and in the long term could lead to permanent hair loss. Also, prolonged use of hot oil hair treatments or chemicals used in perms may cause swelling of the hair follicle, which can result in scarring and lead to hair loss.

Then of course, there are the more common or well known types of hair loss ? male pattern baldness ? brought about be genetic factors. This usually starts off with a receding hair line and baldness eventually appearing on top of the head.

While hair loss is more common in men, women are not spared totally either. Women may also suffer from the female version of this type of Alopecia whereby the hair becomes thin over their entire scalp.

In some of the forms of hair loss mentioned above, hair loss can be treated, either by changing medication, balancing hormones, and if temporary, letting nature take its course. Others though, such as male or female pattern baldness can be trickier to deal with. If you intend to sign up for a particular hair loss treatment course, be sure to do some research first before paying huge sums of money for it.