Our parents always told us to stand up straight. Don’t slouch. They were right. But as you age, you start to stoop over. You look old and you start to walk with a shuffling gait. This can be prevented. Our posture is one of the first things that suffers as you age. It happens gradually and in most cases, you don’t notice it happening. It’s progressive and it reflects a deteriorating body and a depressed attitude. Your posture is the one major place where the mental and the physical overlap on a major scale: Your attitude affects your body and your body affects your attitude. Posture and bearing are an outward reflection of your internal health.

What does bad posture look like? Here are some of the symptoms:

• Rounded shoulders, sometimes developing into a “hump”.
• Potbelly
• Bent knees when standing or walking. Shuffling gait.
• Head that leans forward.
• Back pain
• Body aches and pains
• Muscle fatigue
• Headache.

What are the main causes of bad posture? Think about it, you slump when you drive and when you work at a desk or computer. You slouch when we watch TV. You sit more than you stand. Your core muscles have weakened from lack of use and your muscular and skeletal systems are generally out of balance from lack of proper use. Your spine gets out of balance and muscle atrophy and bone degeneration set in over time.

Posture can affect, or be affected by your mental state. Charles Schultz drew a well known Charlie Brown cartoon showing Charlie slumped over with his head down saying: “This is my depressed state”. The next panel showed Charlie standing tall, head up, saying something like, “this is my feel good state”. The final panel shows poor Charlie going back to his slumped over posture saying something like how it’s “easier this way.” All too often, that’s how seniors come across. Yes, your posture has a powerful effect on your mental state and attitude.

Your posture is one of the first things people notice about you when they meet you. Your posture makes a statement about you.

Bearing is a term that goes a little beyond posture. Bearing is the way you carry yourself. Bearing is the way you come across to other people. Your bearing includes your posture, but also includes the way you move, your attitude toward life, your energy level, your level of intensity and enthusiasm. Some call this “charisma”. Other people’s impression of your bearing and charisma is often reflected in their language. Someone who comes across as weak is called “spineless”, and someone who comes across as proud and strong has “backbone.”

Posture can be corrected and will make a huge change in your attitude toward life. How? Here are some suggestions:

• Perform stretching exercises two or three times a week to boost muscle flexibility.
• Exercise regularly to improve muscle strength and tone. Do exercises for your core strength and stability. Yes that includes crunches. But make sure you stretch you stomach muscles by lying on you back with your arms over your head and stretching. If you’ve done your crunches and other stomach exercises right, you’ll feel the stretch.
• Stretch your neck muscles regularly by stretching you head and neck forward and back, and turning your head from one side to another. Lift your head and pull your chin in slightly.
• Make a concerted effort to stand taller and upright. It will take effort and time.

That’s basic stuff. I’ll be writing more about exercises for posture and bearing later, but if you start now, you’ll start improving right away.

Don’t expect results all at once. It took time for your muscles to atrophy and your bones to weaken. It will take time to strengthen your muscles, bones, and underlying infrastructure of joints, tendons and ligaments. You can see a chiropractor or an “Alexander Method” teacher. And, of course, you can do it on your own.

Your posture is critical for your physical health and your attitude toward life. That physical health and attitude come across to others and affect their impression of who you are. Your posture is not all of who you are, but it certainly is included in the overall “you”. You can improve your posture, start doing it now. Do what your mother told you: “Stand up straight. Don’t slouch!”

Thanks for reading.

 

Edgar Cayce was once asked by a TV interviewer in the early days of TV, “What are the best exercises?”  His reply? “The ones you do.” A person would have to have had their head buried in the sand for the last thirty years to not know and fully understand the benefits of exercise.  This article is about the motivation to exercise and move your body.  It’s not about “how to”.  The “how to” will come later.  With exercise, you’ll benefit from:

• All around better health and energy including better glandular function and a stronger immune system
• Improved cardiovascular circulation and respiratory function.
• Movement prevents deterioration and decay
• Reduced chances of incurring long term chronic illness
• Improved ability to fight stress
• Enjoy life more. Be willing and able to engage.
• Move better. Be able to get up and down from the floor with ease.
• Improved strength, flexibility, balance, endurance and the general ability to move your body.
• Possible increased longevity. Turn back the clock. Live longer and enjoy it more.

The real “so what” to all the above is that with exercise you will look better, feel better, and be physically able to do, and enjoy doing, the things you really want to do in life with energy and vitality, and be able to do it longer.

 “No citizen has a right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training…what a disgrace it is for a man [or woman] to grow old without ever seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.” Socrates (469 – 399 BC)

Here are a few things to consider when thinking about starting an exercise program: You already can do more than you think you can, but most people are content to stay in the perceived safety of their own comfort zone. With exercise, you’ll most likely discover that you’ll actually want to move beyond your comfort zone, extend yourself, and try new things. Are you planning to be a peak performance athlete at age sixty-five or so? If not, you can probably do with a modest amount of hard exercise. Yes, some of your exercise routine should be difficult, but it should not make you ultra-sore and it should not wear you out. You should feel comfortably tired, not worn out. Planning to engage in master’s level sports? Then you need specialized training for your particular sport. Most of you will simply want to be able to function normally, or a little bit better than normal,  as you age. What is function? It’s the ability to push, pull, lift, carry, bend and twist, balance, and “ambulate” from point A to point B. You’ll want to be able to get in and out of cars, walk for pleasure, carry groceries and put them away and get up and down from the floor and play with your grandkids. As you get older, you lose the functionality of your bodily systems – unless – you do something about it. Your exercise goals should be strength, flexibility, range of motion, and the ability to move comfortably and easily.

 “Physical fitness is not only one of the most important keys to a healthy body, it is the basis of dynamic and creative intellectual activity.”  John F. Kennedy 

There have been many institutional efforts to get people to exercise and move. Presidents have promoted the concept, from Jimmy Carter running (and being attacked by the Rabbit), Ronald Reagan was an avid exerciser, as were both of the Bush’s. Even Bill Clinton tried to jog, and Barak and Michelle Obama have tried to suggest exercise and nutrition, all to show the importance of health and fitness and to show the world that even they do it. The most notable institutional success story that I am aware was chronicled in Dr. John Ratey’s excellent book, Spark where a morning exercise program was instituted for elementary school students in a suburban Chicago school, and student academic performance was significantly improved. While institutional promotion of health and fitness is admirable, and I hope it continues to be emphasized, it is still at the individual level where results occur. You, as an individual, Must take responsibility for your own health and level of fitness. No one, not even the Government, can do it for you, even though many in Government, at all levels, think they can. If you decide to start an exercise program, and haven’t exercised for a long time . . . Be bold, but be careful. Your infrastructure may not be ready for heavy duty exercise and need to be conditioned. Bones weaken. Joints get rusty. Ligaments get weak. Muscles atrophy. You won’t want to put a lot of excess strain on them at first. So listen to your own body and get comfortable with your progress. Take your time and you’ll see progress, as well as enjoy the exercise more. If you don’t move your body the way nature intended for your body to move, your joints will get rusty, your blood will get stagnate, your bones will get brittle and your muscles will atrophy. If you do move and exercise your body, you will look better, feel better, and enjoy a longer and more fruitful life. I’ll take the latter anytime.

Thank you for reading.

 

This will be a controversial post. I am not a nutritionist, dermatologist, nor any kind of medical expert. I talk to a lot of people, ask a lot of questions, and I have read and listened a lot. I have read  studies, books, and reports and I know anecdotally what has worked for others and what has worked for me.  Most everything I read and hear is opinion. The real science isn’t ready to report facts yet, only opinion. That’s why there are so many opinions on all the subjects below. That’s why I use the phrase “the experts suggest that. . . “ often in this article.

These subjects are so vast that it would be nearly impossible to condense them down to one coherent article. So in the post, you’ll get an overview of the four major fuels you use to energize and power up your body and mind. They are all important and the quality and quantity of these fuels are major factors in determining your health, fitness and personal energy.

AIR and BREATHING

Try going without oxygen for more than a couple of minutes. You die. To stay alive, you need to breathe. You use the respiratory system to get oxygen into and throughout your body. When you inhale (through your nose), the air is filtered and directed into your lungs. The lungs in turn put air into your cardiovascular system sending oxygen throughout your body. The deoxygenated blood returns to the heart to be sent to the lungs to be released as carbon dioxide.

The quality of the air you breathe is not nearly as important as the quantity of air you take in. Our internal ductwork has some pretty good filters built into it. Coal miners have problems because the outside air is too polluted for the filters to handle it, and taking raw smoke directly into your lungs can be deadly.  But our bodies are designed to filter out most of the pollutants before they cause a lot of damage.

Most of us breathe barely enough to keep our body functioning. We need more. Our mothers, fathers and gym teachers in elementary school used to tell us to breathe deeply to be healthy. It was true then, and it’s true now.. They were right, so take deeper breaths when you think about it.

SUNSHINE

But Bob, my dermatologist told me that if I get out in the sun, I’ll get skin cancer and die. Yep. That can happen. But here’s the thing: Yes you can spend time in the sun uncovered by suntan lotion. Experts now suggest that you cover up with lotion or clothing after about a half hour of direct exposure, and to stay out of the midday sun.

The sun is good for you. You need the Vitamin D. The sun can help reduce depression, both clinical and seasonal. The percentage of people who die from skin cancer, particularly melanoma is small. I’ve had two occurrences of Melanoma and one Carcinoma, all removed successfully. I have very light skin and I used to have reddish brown hair, and I abused the sun as a teenager. Yet I drive a convertible and keep the top down as much as possible. I don’t have a death wish, I just understand the problem and can deal with it. I know I’m going to get battered over this, but I believe that if you treat the sunshine with care, you’ll benefit and the beaches will stay in business.

WATER

Your body is composed mostly of water. Different components of your body are composed of different percentages of water, but water forms a major part of our body’s structure. You can’t live for a long time without fluid intake. Most of us don’t drink enough. We know we should drink more water to stay hydrated but most of us don’t. How much? Experts suggest eight to ten 8 oz. glasses of water per twenty four hours, more if you do a lot of exercise. That makes sense. Experts disagree as to whether sodas and coffee are included in that amount. If your pee is dark, you probably need more water, if it is light colored or clear, you’re probably OK.

What kind of water is best? Water bottlers say theirs is best. Alkalized water sellers say theirs is best. In the United States, most tap water is OK. We use a standard Brita Filter at home and we’re still alive and kicking.

FOOD AND NUTRITION

We love to eat. We need to eat to stay alive. What should we be eating? That’s the question of the millennium. Go to the bookstore or the library and there are shelves loaded with books on advice about what you should be eating. How much is true and how much is opinion? I would suggest that 100% is opinion and none is fact. No one knows. There is probably no best diet. Nutritional science is still young. Actually the best diet for most people is probably a little less red meat and a few more vegetables. How about fruit? Experts argue about the quantity and the quality of sugars in fruit and which fruits we should eat and what fruits to stay away from.

I’ll bet most of you grew up on white bread and Pepsi. I age a lot of sugar and butter. I don’t do that now, but I grew up with it. There are huge arguments about merits of eating all organic. There was a major article in our local newsrag, The Washington Post, on April 8 of this year entitled “Is Organic Really Healthier?” The conclusion was that the jury is still out.

SUMMARY

Here are a few bullet points that we should consider as you think about energizing with high octane fuel:

• Fuel is more than just food.
• What is the best diet? Nobody really knows. More veggies and less meat seems to be a good way to go.
• Yes, you need sunshine for health. Just be sensible and take it in moderate amounts.
• Breathe deeply.
• Tap water in the United States is usually OK to drink. Eight to ten 8 oz. glasses is will probably do the job.

Whoa! This post reached a thousand words, too many for a blog post. Like I said above, most of what I wrote is based on experts’ opinions and on anecdotal evidence. Make your own judgments. Just drink plenty of fluids, get some sun, breathe deeply, and don’t eat junk. You’ll probably be fine.

Thanks for reading.