The Come Alive Project

Category: Senior Fitness

  • Energy Bite 394 – Laugh for Physical Stimulation and Mental Healing

    I have been going back through older blog articles, starting from the beginning, nearly a decade ago, to pick to choose articles that would fit into a “collection” of the best ones. These would then be edited and compiled into the form of a book. Yes, a book. It wasn’t even my idea. A number of readers suggested that I do it. So, I am.

    I came across this article/essay from September of 2016 and thought it would be a good fit for right now. So with a little rewriting, and a bit of editing, I repeat this old essay. I may even include it in the book.

    Laugh for Physical Stimulus and Mental Healing

    “Laugh and the world laughs with you, cry and you cry alone.” There’s a lot to that statement.

    Laughter releases chemicals into your body . . . feel good chemicals.

    Laughter exercises your abdominal muscles, your diaphragm, your solar plexus, and that point just below your navel where all movement begins. It strengthens and stimulates that entire area of your body. It can make your voice more powerful and will lift your energy level upward. It feels good to laugh.

    And that’s just the physical aspect. How about the mental side?

    Laughter changes your mental state and your overall attitude. How can you feel bad when you are laughing? How can you be depressed when you are laughing? And just think, comedians are paid a lot of money to make you laugh.

    When you laugh, you are nice to be around. When you cry or complain about life, people want to leave you alone. Laughter brings happiness and joy, albeit temporary, to yourself and to those around you.

    Who or what do we laugh at? We laugh at things we find amusing or funny. We find irony in life’s complexities, and we laugh at them. Best of all, we laugh at ourselves, and often that’s the best laughter of all.

    THE REALITY IS . . . Laughter is “feel good medicine”. The more you do it, the better you feel. It is physically stimulating and mentally healing.

    Laugh a lot!

    Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this article, please forward it to a friend and tell them they can get my weekly articles and essays at www.thecomealiveproject.com  

  • Energy Bite 393 – Too Much Exercise?

    Do you get too much exercise? Did you know there was such a thing as “overtraining syndrome”. Of course it’s a “syndrome”, isn’t everything? If my ear itches twice in one day, I have “itchy ear syndrome”. I wrote the words “overtraining syndrome” in my original notes for this article thinking naively that I was going to coin a new term. Alas, when I was researching the topic of over-exercising, there it was in black and white already called “Overtraining Syndrome.” How disappointing.

    Seriously, over-exercise can be a problem, particularly for Seniors, beginners and otherwise out of shape people. It’s not limited to new exercisers; it can hit anybody.  It happens when you exercise too much, too hard, too often, too fast, and/or too intensely. It happens when you are 65 years old and you try and show off for the youngsters at the gym. It happens when you are by yourself and try to run five miles the first time you have run in years. It happens when you try to lift weights that are far too heavy. It happens when you binge on exercise thinking you are going to lose 30 pounds in two weeks or end up looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger as “The Terminator.

    Sometimes people exercise when they are already physically fatigued. Not good.

    The results of overexercise can be pain, strain, stress fractures, muscle tears, simple soreness, fatigue, and other unpleasant results. It can cause “exercise burnout” (I didn’t coin that term either) — you just feel like exercise isn’t worth it anymore.

    It’s preventable. Don’t exercise so hard, so fast, so often, so much, or so intensely. Don’t lift more than you are capable of. Don’t show off. Don’t make sudden unusual movements.

    OK, so you didn’t pay attention and now you have “overtraining syndrome”. You ache, have a pain, or some other injury. If it is a real strain, hernia, stress fracture, tear, or other real injury, you should probably see a doctor. If it’s a simple ache or pain, it will probably go away with a few days of rest. A caveat here: If you are experiencing a sharp pain, you probably should at least check with your doctor. It could be more serious. The truth is that in most cases, your body will tell you what you should or shouldn’t do. Please don’t ignore what it tells you.

    Remember this, the more fit you are, there is less of a chance of injury. The more fit you are, normally the faster the recovery. So, get fit, but don’t overdo it the means of getting there.

    The cause, results and recovery techniques for over-exercising are pretty basic in most cases — but not in all. In most cases, your body will tell you how serious a problem it is. Use your judgment whether to see a medical professional. But for the simple cases, a bit of rest will alleviate most of the problems.

    Thank you for reading.

  • Energy Bite 392 – Aches, Pains, & Injuries

    My wife, Edie, was at her gym class this morning and told me that after class, a few of the “ladies” got together to chat. Their topic was injuries, aches and pains. My wife said that one of the women was rubbing her hip to help with an ache, another was complaining about her knees, and my wife mentioned that she was headed to an appointment with a Physical Therapist to work on her injured shoulder.

    All of the women are in their seventies and had just finished a fairly intense twice a week, one hour class. All these women are generally healthy and fit.

    I have breakfast once a month with an old High School friend. We both exercise regularly, me at a local Health Club and he at the “Y” where he is a board member.

    Our breakfast conversations often begin with a recitation of our respective aches and pains and our most recent adventures with our doctors. We are both in our eighties and are generally healthy and fit.

    The point is that exercise will not relieve you of all the aches and pains that come with getting older. No matter how healthy and fit you are, aging will still take it’s toll in aches and pains.

    Injuries too, are easier to come by as one gets older. Have you ever reached for something on a high shelf and felt a sharp twinge in your back or shoulder? Maybe it stayed with you for a while?

    Or have you ever been walking and suddenly twisted your ankle on an unseen rock or tree root that shouldn’t have been there? It takes a while for the pain and discomfort to go away, doesn’t it?

    Even a very fit, strong, flexible and mobile person is more susceptible to injury as they get older. Our bodies are built that way. All Seniors, no matter how fit, are highly susceptible to falling, with a broken bone or other serious strain or sprain as a result. Injuries from falling are the most frequent reasons for Seniors to visit Hospital Emergency Rooms.

    But here’s the good part. Fit people recover faster. Fit people heal faster. And fit people don’t get injured quite as often or as seriously from the same incident that might be disastrous to an unfit or sedentary person.

    Our exercise patterns will change as we age, but the overall benefits of exercise are still there. We have more energy and enthusiasm and tend to enjoy life more vibrantly than the unfit. We tend to live a little longer and a lot better. While the cigar smoking, bourbon drinking, passive centenarian will always be around, the old expression “the survival of the fittest” still rules.

    So, to stay fit, to recover from injury faster, and to tolerate your aches and pains more easily — KEEP YOUR BODY MOVING! It will continue to pay off for as long as you live and you will most likely enjoy your life a little better.

    Thank you for reading.