SANITY SAVERS: Tips for Women to Live A Balanced Life is out in bookstores and is filled with suggestions to save your sanity every day of the week.

A must for any woman seeking to find her balance!

Do you have difficulty hearing? Do you find yourself turning the volume up on the TV or radio, have trouble hearing from another room, miss some words in normal conversations, ask people to speak louder, pay very close attention to someone’s lips and facial clues or avoid conversation or social situations?

Believe it or not, about one out of 10 people have a hearing loss. As people age, often due to chronic exposure to loud noises such as occupational noise or loud music (and also heredity or some illnesses or medications), they often experience a gradual loss of hearing. What you are used to hearing sounds different; misunderstanding occurs frequently. How many times can you say, “Would you mind repeating that? I am not sure I got it.”

Whether you are a person with a hearing loss or know friends or family with one, have patience and listen up to these Sanity Savers.

1. Listen with Your Eyes - In addition to getting used to wearing a hearing aid (it takes some time), you can look at the person who is speaking and pay attention to their facial and body language for content cues. If you see how sounds are formed on the lips, you can get the meaning (“cap” and “tap” may sound the same but look different on the lips).
2. Focus and Listen - Try to sit within 2 to 3 feet of the person who is speaking. Reduce the background noise (radio, TV) and when in a restaurant, try to sit against a wall and out of the center of things. When you have a choice, select a quiet setting, away from music, the kitchen, or anyplace that may be noisy. Request that other people speak clearly and slowly.
3. Hearing Impairment Is Not an Intellectual Impairment Talk in a normal voice unless you know that the person needs you to speak loudly. Try to slow down a bit; not so much that the person feels you are "talking down" to them but enough so they can follow you. Get their attention by saying their name (NOT by tapping their shoulder) before you begin talking. Be conscious that you need to be closeby -- try to have them see your face. Whenever you are about to leave a room (or are in a different room), do not continue to talk. It is frustrating for both the speaker and the listener to follow the conversation.
4. Understand and Be Understood - Often speaking in shorter sentences helps you to be understood. If you are misunderstood, say what you want to say in a different way. When you are changing subjects, give the person the heads up so they can follow the shift.
5. Help Out in Social Settings - In the “what it is worth” category, dinner parties and restaurants are often very difficult for people who have hearing losses because of the dim lighting and background noise. When you are with other people, let the person know that John is talking or Sue is speaking so they can follow their conversation too.

About 1/3 of Americans who are over 60 years old and ½ of people who are older than 85 have some hearing loss.

TODAY Show (NBC)
Watch for listing in March when the Today Show revisits Sanity Savers.
Dates and times of upcoming segments will be posted on Dr. Dale's website.

Naomi’s New Morning (Naomi Judd)
Upcoming segments will be posted on Dr. Dale's website.
Hallmark Channel, 11:00am (10:00am CT)

The Morning Show with Mike and Juliet
March 1st: Sanity Savers
Fox Network, 9:00 to 10am

The Lisa Birnbach Radio Show
Every other Wed., 9:20-10:00am
March 7th & 21st: To be announced
March 8th: Dr. Dale hosts the LISA BIRNBACH show 9-12
The Lisa Birnbach Show airs LIVE Mon-Fri 9am- Noon EST

Sanity Savers on the Air
Dan Gresham KFDM-TV KOLE News Radio
March 1st at 4:15pm EST
Bonnie Graham WGBB
March 16th 6:00-7:00pm

Sanity Savers Featured Author Talks
March 1: Borders*, Fairfield, CT 7:00pm
*Benefit Day for CancerCare (10% discount donated to charity)
March 6: Barnes & Noble, Westport, CT 7:00pm

Do one thing to save your sanity every day.

Take a few minutes out of your schedule to de-stress, relax, unwind.

Meditate, journal, take a walk outside, or grab a cup of tea. There are all sorts of ways to savor a few moments for yourself and get back to being balanced.

When you have a really busy week with lots of things planned, even if they are fun things, you may get stressed just because there is a lot going on. Even though you are aware of your stress you cannot sit still and relax. Basically you are always doing something because if you aren’t doing something, you feel as if you are wasting time. It is kind of a “Catch 22”.

Keeping your sanity while keeping yourself in check takes practice and a change of attitude about what “busy” means.

• Revisit and Rethink What Busy Means - Does busy mean worthwhile? If you are not busy does it mean you are lazy, not contributing, not making a difference? Only you can change your perception of what busy means. Everyone, even the busiest of people, needs to kick back, relax, and renew in order to restore their life’s balance.
• Plan Fewer Things- Just do things as you feel like doing them or don’t do anything at all.
• If the Spirit Moves You- Participate in activities because you want to and not because you have a list of things to do in your calendar.
• Allow “Holes” in Your Calendar – Deal with any anxious feeling from empty time in your schedule by breathing deeply. Tell yourself those are your health pockets of time to restore. You feel stressed when your calendar is full. Try to de-stress as you attempt to empty it a bit.

Busy does not equal worthwhile.

If you ask what is the single most important key to longevity, I would have to say it is avoiding worry, stress and tension. And if you didn't ask me, I'd still have to say it.

George Burns (1896 - 1996)