If you are reading this blog, it means you are interested in your own personal Health, Fitness and Personal Energy. It means that you understand that your personal health and fitness are your own responsibility and that it is the choices you make that will keep you healthy as you get older.
Most likely you’re already doing many of the things you need to do, or know what you need to do and just need the motivation to keep doing it. Over the years, I have written a lot about Movement, Food, Breathing, Mindset, Motivation, the power of Visualization and other aspects of discovering your Fountain of Youth and turning on the Flow of Life that comes from it.
This article will simply reinforce what you already know about your own health and fitness and the things you need to keep doing to build and maintain your Personal Energy and Vitality. Here are the aspects of your own Health, Fitness and Personal Energy that you have complete control over.
What and How you think.
“It all starts with the way you’re thinking!”
The way you see and think about yourself, the way you look, and the way you feel, will determine what you do for your health and fitness. A positive attitude toward, and about, yourself and your life will go a long way in determining how well and how long you live a happy life. A negative attitude will do almost as much for damaging your health as lack of exercise and eating poorly.
This is not a new concept. Greek and Roman philosophers wrote about it, it recurred during the Renaissance. It became popular again as the New Thought wave expanded during the mid to late 1800s as authors like Dr. Samuel Smiles, Orison Swett Marden, Bernarr MacFadden and others wrote about both the physical and mental aspects of personal energy, overall health, and fitness. Paul Bragg, Jack LaLanne, and yes, even Charles Atlas all emphasized the mind-body connection in health and fitness. All emphasized Visualization as well as some form of Meditation as tools for physical and mental self-improvement. There has been a renewed emphasis on Health, Fitness and the Mind-Body Connection in recent years.
How You Move
If you move your body the way nature intended, you will be active, your muscles will be strong and supple, your hinges will work smoothly, and your body will stay flexible. Your blood will circulate freely, and your posture should remain tall and upright. Your internal organs will work and your body will purge itself of toxins.
What should Seniors be able to do with their bodies? Simply put, they should be able to push things, pull things, lift things and carry things, twist and bend, stand up straight, get up and down from the floor with relative ease, walk, crawl, swim, and in some cases run. Whew!
All of the above requires strength, flexibility, joint mobility and guess what — Self Discipline to actually do the exercise required to stay in good physical condition.
How and What You Eat and Drink
It’s simple. Don’t eat junk. Stay away from processed foods, refined sugars and white flour. Drink plenty of water. There are many different viewpoints as to what constitutes healthful eating. All seem to be backed up by studies and some even by real science. What’s the right choice? Who knows! There are more theories about food choices than there are fish in the sea.
Personally, I cut back on meat and upped the fruit and veggies and lost 30 pounds over about a ten month period several years ago. Do what works for you.
How You Breathe
Breathing deeply will improve your life dramatically. You will increase your endurance, power your muscles, improve your circulation and increase your energy. Your respiratory system includes a lot of filters so for the most part, deep breathing is beneficial no matter where you are. Please don’t do your deep breathing in the middle of an Interstate Highway with lots of truck traffic and pollution.
There are some who encourage a form of hyper-ventilation. If you’re a Senior, you should probably get a doctor’s opinion before doing this. It’s one of the recent “trends”, but it’s been around for a long time.
How Well You Rest, Sleep and Recover
There has been a lot of recent research into the value of sleep, rest and recovery. It seems to show that a good night’s sleep is much more important than originally thought. Recent studies reinforce the value of true darkness in getting the most benefits from sleep. Artificial light from bedside clocks and even the blue light from “devices” seem to be a no-no for restful sleep.
Recovery from exercise and the stresses of daily life seem to be getting far more attention than in the past, and studies show that meditation and mindfulness can go a long way in that recovery process.
No Lecture Intended
If you’ve been reading this blog for a long time, you may recall a similar summary a couple of years ago. Not much has changed since then. In fact, not much has changed for thousands of years. Move, eat right, breathe deeply, rest well, use mental imagery and reflect deeply (meditate). These tools for longevity and feeling alive have been around forever. Use them correctly and they may keep you around “forever”, too.
Thank you for reading.