Health notes: I've lately become more focused on maintaining good health. My elevated interests in personal fitness were magnified by my reading of Michael Johnston's medical scare over at "TheOnlinePhotographer.com"...
I've never been a fan of pharmaceutical cures or crutches but I've been forced to pay attention when a routine calcium CT scan returned some less than perfect numbers. That was behind my recent interest in Vitamin K2, M7 (not all K2 is the same. do the research!). Under the supervision of both my primary doctor and my cardiologist (everyone should have a great cardiologist who returns email and stays current) I've started to take 150 mcg of K2, M7 along with 5,000 mcg of vitamin D3. I also added 100 mg of Niacin along with my usual 150 mg of CoEnzyme Q10, too. I feel like I've opened a pharmacy now.
Scans done a decade or so ago showed that swimming and running have succeeded in adding much brachiation of capillaries around my heart and lungs. Essentially I've developed lots of pathways for good circulation and am not depending on "one road in and one road out" for blood flow. According to my medical team that's a really good thing. (An older Texan probably would be wise to have the following: cardiologist, general practitioner, dermatologist, and dentist and to see them once a year).
Diet crazies would suggest that I need to radically increase all the dosages of the above supplements if I'm to see any real changes in function, flow and arterial calcification, and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn cautioned me in a phone conversation a year ago that reversing any arterial build up is tough to nearly impossible without the world's strictest diet. I'm conservative enough to want to go slow with new stuff.
But all three of the people I trust with my cardio health are adamant about the same message: Exercise is the magic bullet. Exercise is the fountain of youth (not immortality).
I've never smoked. I've never had more than a few glasses of wine during a week. I don't eat much sugar. I love peanut butter (which I predict will be the next insanely popular new "cure" for everything, and trendy health food). I eat a lot of fresh caught King Salmon. I eat fresh berries and apples pretty much daily. I've held my weight to a max of 158 pounds for the last 20 years. I sleep seven to eight hours a night. I don't snore. I'm happily, happily married to the same person for nearly 4 decades. I have reduced stress to such small levels that my main worries revolve around whether the pipes at the house will freeze if we have a prolonged cold snap....
I swim, hard, five days a week. I walk at least three miles, seven days a week.
To be clear, I'm not trying to live forever but I want to live well, pain free and with abundant energy while I'm here. So many people my age (67) seem to have an acceptance of the narrative that ALL of us will have horrible symptoms of decline by the time we hit our sixth decade. I believe that can be true but I think it applies only to those who are constantly willing to cut corners with their health when they know better. The people who give up. Who resign themselves. Who think staying in shape is too hard. But...
We weren't constructed to live with constant pain. We weren't destined to fall apart once we've retired from work and child rearing. Just as giving up smoking prolongs life so do all the things I mention just above. And just like giving up smoking they all revolve around personal choice.
Life's a gamble. There are some of us who, at no fault of their own, will contract some sort of disease or malady that truly is beyond their control. But that in no way constitutes the overwhelming majority of people over 60. Most of the decline the majority experiences is in one way or another self-inflicted. And a large part of the decline caused by casual disregard for good choices can, to an extent, be stopped and even reversed. Mostly by eating a much better diet and getting good, daily exercise.
But a person has to WANT to do it. Yes, getting back in shape is much harder than staying in shape but the benefits are obvious and the costs of not staying in shape become more and more apparent as the years go by. We all get to choose.
The biggest impediment to staying in shape is being surrounded by a negative community of family and friends, co-workers and neighbors. If no one around you exercises that factor alone pounds a message into your brain that says, "Don't bother." Many studies have shown that people with overweight friends quickly become overweight themselves when they become part of that group. Drinkers whose friends regularly drink alcohol drink more alcohol. BUT...
People who exercise with a group tend to stick to the program with much more tenacity. A spouse on a healthy diet helps to bring along everyone in the house on the adventure of improving their eating habits.
An unsettling thought: Since it takes less energy to carry around smaller and smaller, lighter and lighter cameras are the ever shrinking burdens of carrying around ever smaller, lighter cameras actually reducing the exercise we get from good, long photo walks? Should I find a battery grip for my SL2 to add some weight? (somewhat kidding here...).
Most of us get wake up calls from our bodies warning us that we've made some bad choices. The few who don't get the wake up calls are the ones who sometimes suffer cardiac arrest and go out in a flash. Maybe we should work on being supporters of each other's healthy habits. I'll stop thinking of donuts now.....
I feel sympathy for folks in rural communities. They often lack the easy availability of resources some need to stay in good physical shape. Weather, lack of access to facilities, lack of easy access to friends and exercise partners, all play a huge part in reducing compliance to good health habits. It either takes more discipline to stay fit and healthy or requires a re-location to someplace more conducive to living a healthy existence.
All the cameras in the world won't help. So much off topic stuff for a Wednesday. I'm done. I'm going to grab a heavy camera and go for a loooonnng walk.
9 comments:
A few thoughts from a guy looking (next month) at 79.
As you age, you need to look at both diet and exercise. There are several good books about this and basically they all come to the same conclusion -- you need to stay away from "dangerous" foods like red meat, sugar, etc., and you need some level of daily exercise. The exercise should include weight bearing stuff as well as cardio. One place I do disagree with what you've said involves rural people -- there's nothing keeping rural people off an exercise bike or from using a few dumbbells to do weight work. If your budget it tight, you can get good cheap versions of all that stuff at those second-hand sports stores.
But, that said, you decline. One very good book I read about this says that you can maintain a high level of fitness until about age 86, at which point the decline becomes pretty much irreversible. You can try to keep trucking, but you're really living on your genetic inheritance at that point. Along the way, as you will find out, there are some step-downs. I have a whole cohort of friends about my age, and I've seen this in them and in myself. Between about the ages of 68-71 there's a step-down. There's another one between 78-81. And then there's the one documented in the book I mentioned, in the mid to late 80s. They seem to be unavoidable.
I personally dislike formal exercise but I do it anyway. After a lot of research, I've whittled down what I need to do to a half-dozen weight exercises with dumbbells -- takes less than a half-hour every other day -- and a half-hour every other day on an exercise bike. Doesn't take a lot of will power, because a half-hour a day is nothing. According to the best authorities, that should do me.
I'm a near vegetarian (I eat chicken or turkey sandwiches from time to time) so I also take a protein supplement. Most Americans get enough protein in their diets, but vegetarians and vegans often don't, as they age, and protein uptake declines. Other than that, vitamins of your choice probably don't hurt, but I'm a little skeptical that they will help much.
I can't remember if it's oats or porridge specifically that's supposed to be good for clearing crud out of your veins...
As a society we are prone to indulging in poor health behavior and using pills and medical procedures to fix the problems. Perhaps this is a moral failing. But these behaviors (of which I am guilty) are pushed by advertising produced by some of the finest minds in the country, employed by companies that make money selling products that are bad for us, and then medications, supplements and medical procedures to fix the problems. Selling a healthy life style is not nearly as profitable as selling cheese burgers.
It should be noted that high dose supplements are not without their risks, so a doctor should be consulted. BTW, my cardiologist suggested CoEnzyme Q10, which I tried without much benefit. I recently switched to the high availability type (Ubiquinol from TJ's) and it helps greatly with the assorted muscle aches that come with aging.
All good advice. No secrets or magic wands here, just a lot of common sense. I would avoid eating a lot of fish very regularly. It all contains mercury regardless of where it was caught, wild or farmed. Once a week should be plenty.
I am 78 and although I don't do it 7 days a week, I do walk or hike (in the woods, up and down hills with a backpack) several days a week. The pack has camera gear and a water bottle and weighs around 15-20 pounds. You might consider a weighted pack for your long walks. I have free access to a local college fitness center which I haven't been using due to the pandemic but I have a mag bike and treadmill at home.
In my earlier years, I hiked a lot in the Adirondack Mountains which are just south of where I live. I got into peak-bagging, climbed the 46 high peaks and in more recent years I have undertaken several other hiking challenges. I haven't done the fire tower challenge yet. This July 17th will be the 30th anniversary of my completing the 46 and I plan to reclimb Whiteface Mountain in celebration. That is my motivation to keep walking/hiking as much as I can. I'll be 83 on the 35th anniversary and I am not ruling out another climb of Whiteface then.
Our bodies were not meant to sit as much as we do. They are designed to move. Use it or lose it as the saying goes. Maybe if I get down your way again (my son lives in Roundrock) we can take long walk together.
I try and walk between 6 and 10km a day in hilly country. Gets the heart rate up for sure! Weight has always been a challenge for me. Once I got my DNA analyzed I can see why. The cards are stacked against me. I figure ya just gotta keep going, stay away from processed foods, take your vitamins and what will be will be. At least you have done everything in your power to stay on the sunny side of the grass. The fast food industry should be prosecuted in the same way as the tobacco industry. Greasy burgers, fried and sugared/salted fries imho opinion have contributed to the burgeoning obesity problem in North America.
Just recently I have started back to the gym after a three year hiatus due to C19. Let the pain begin lol.
https://www.ctvnews.ca/health/stanford-study-identifies-what-influences-weight-loss-the-most-1.6236274
Here is a study done by Stanford you might be interested in.
Eric
Kirk, I'll just comment on the photography part of your post. Do what you want, explore new types of photography, but in my opinion your great strength lies in portraits.
I must admit that I’m envious of the ease with which Americans can see medical professionals like cardiologists. I realise that it’s based on a fee paying insurance system but here in UK, under the NHS, most people wouldn’t get to see a cardiologist until they were in hospital after having suffered an “event”.
In the UK, if you have private healthcare you’re one of the lucky minority who can afford it or it’s part of a corporate remuneration package. I retire next month so will have to give up my private healthcare, just when I’m getting to the age where I might need it!
I can see a pair of dumbells and some long walks in my future.
Hi Rich, I'm paying for the cardiologist with the same basic Medicare Insurance that all of us get when we turn 65. There is a co-pay but it's nothing outrageous. I can call up, make an appointment and discuss my care directly with a cardiologist that I (with the help of my G.P.) choose. It's up to me which test I want to undergo. I'm thinking of doing a nuclear stress test to identify any vascular constrictions, etc. but I'll confer with the cardiologist at length.
As to access....just before the Christmas break, on Thursday, I had a spot on my skin that I didn't like the look of. I called the dermatology practice I use, told them my concern and asked for an appointment. I was seen the next morning at 11 am. The issue was resolved on the spot with the deft use of a scalpel and a bandaid. That Friday was the day before Christmas Eve.
I am fortunate to be able to afford to have a concierge physician as well. I pay a yearly fee for, essentially, all-you-can-eat, normal health care. Ear infections from swimming in questionable lakes, aches and pains, non-life threatening illnesses, and good, general advice. I've never had to wait more than a day for an appointment. There is NO 15 minute limit to my visit. Most of the time I'm seen the same day. I've never waited more than five minutes from an appointment time to be seen.
American healthcare is expensive. Until you hit Medicare. And then the tables turn.
The sad thing for me (joking) is that I'm currently so healthy that I feel like I'm wasting the potential of the system and overpaying for the privilege; at least where my private physician is concerned. But man! He's a great source for referrals.
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