Dehydrated in Winter?

As a MELT instructor, I talk about hydration a lot. Water is what keeps the connective tissue happy and in good shape. I suggest to everybody to drink a glass of water after a class, and, from all I can see, everybody trots dutifully to the water fountain to get their fill.

With the latest cold spell, I noticed a change. Water bottles are not as common. To be honest, after a long walk with my dog, I feel more like a hot cup of tea than a glass of water.

But that’s the problem: warmer temperatures make us so much more likely to drink water. So we have to be a little more mindful that hydration is just as, if not more important in the colder days.

And it has an added benefit: everybody complains about the effects of heating on mucus membranes and the skin. So let’s get hydrated and improve all of the above.

Prost! To your health!

Being a Precinct Worker – Survival of the Fittest

Last Tuesday, I spent almost 16 hours at a precinct to help my follow citizens exercise their right to vote. I had done this in the past and have always looked at it as fun, though in a rather twisted kind of way.

The last Election Day was almost too much fun.

I was assigned to the help table and in a very busy precinct. As I was assisting voter after voter with little break, it struck me to which degree physical fitness can help to survive such a day.

We were a team of 10, all women. All of us had been to the mandatory training prior to the election and had been at the polling location the evening before to set up the polling place with the voting booths and all the tables and folding chairs. The morning of the election, we were all there before 6 AM to put the finishing touches on the location before the polls opened at 6:30 AM.

A line had already formed outside the precinct, and at the stroke of 6:30 AM the voters streamed into the polling place.

Being sent to the help table means that something is not as it should be, and people are usually not happy about it.  At best, it means a delay of a few minutes. There can be a line, and it may take a little while to figure out where the hang-up is in the process. The goal of a precinct worker is to help as accurately as possible, and checklists aplenty are provided to ensure that the processes are fully adhered to. There are so many fields to check and to initial! While each process seems straightforward and easy, the unrelenting stream of voters can cause an oversight. As the day progresses and fatigue sets in, one has to call on all reserves to get through it.

Most voters were very appreciative and gracious, some were impatient, some were suspicious, and some did not have a good understanding of the voting process. Well, and then there were a select few who …… well, how to put this politely, were …… not so very nice ………

When the day was over and I was at home, I took a physical inventory. Quite an interesting picture, and not one that I liked a lot. I got my roller and MELTed and also swung my rapid release device into action. Soon, all was well again.