Prevention of brain injury

How can we prevent a brain injury? Some accidents can't be prevented, they just happen. It seems sensible though to take reasonable precaution. We know that our brain is just a bowl of porridge or cold custard. We want to protect that. We know the skulls aren't the best thing. We know that by wearing a cycle helmet if we do get into an accident, it's gonna reduce the chances of brain injury by 80%. If you took your laptop out for the day, you'd put it in its case, because you wouldn't want it to get broken. Surely, someone's brain is more important than a laptop. 'cause we can go to a shop and buy another laptop, we can't go and buy another brain. Therefore, let's put that brain in its case and put the helmet on.

One of the causes of brain injury is people falling down the stairs. A lot of people get in the habit of putting things on the stairs so the next person who's going upstairs can take it up, that's a real trip hazard. Keep stairwells clear. Make sure that youngsters aren't pushing and shoving on the stairs, especially in schools. A lot of schools have concrete stairs still. The real problem is someone's going to fall down and bang their head on concrete. You think about the number of times we walk stairs in a day, and if we live in a bungalow, that's gonna be multiple times. Each time we walk up the stairs, we are at risk of falling and having a brain injury which could be fatal. So make sure slippers are fitting. Make sure there are no loose carpets on the stairs. Just look at our environment and making sure it's safe.

In the home, looking at other trip hazards, rugs and mats. Do they fit flushly or are we likely to trip over them? Are there things in the way? It's important that we spill something on the kitchen floor, we mop it up immediately, there are no slip hazards around. So if we're going to turn down that pan of rice, we don't slip and bang our head on the floor. We are more likely to have a brain injury if we've had an alcoholic drink. Too much alcohol weakens the brain anyway, and you likely to a brain haemorrhage for no reason, even if you haven't banged it. You just weakened all the vessels. But if we are drunk, we are likely to do more silly things and therefore more likely to have an accident. It also makes recovery very difficult if someone is an alcoholic. The brain doesn't like alcohol and it makes that recovery and that repair so much more difficult.

Drinking moderation is okay but after brain injury, we tell people not to drink at all. Because if you had got drunk on one pint of beer, before you had an injury after injury half a pint would mean that you'd get drunk. So it's best to have no alcohol at all. And if we're talking about prevention, then make sure you're not over drinking, that you're not drunk, you're more likely to slip and fall, especially when using stairs.