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My Current Health Quest
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I have been silent (again!) for a couple of months. It has nothing to do with me being lax in my regular exercises, it has more to do with me getting lazy in sharing my experiences and thoughts about health. I have a lot of thoughts to share:
I remain involved with running albeit a little slower in speed and shorter with distances. Whereas before I could run 10 miles before going to work, I am currently contented with 3 or 4 miles. Whereas before I’d get obsessed with my personal record, now I just stare ahead with utter disregard to time, I let everyone pass me by. I walk if I feel like doing it or sit down when feeling introspective and meditative. There is more to running than speed or distance. There is a beautiful world out there that is unfair to ignore. In slowing down, I stop and pause to enjoy different sights: the beaches, forests, trees, gardens, lakes, native animals. These are better enjoyed by taking slow steps. I am at an age when remembering is more exciting than dreaming and my dreams are much simpler, more anchored to reality, acceptable if unfulfilled; I would like to think I am sort of wiser. Another thing I enjoy more nowadays is reading biographies… not sure why but my theory for this is my need to live as many lives as I could given the less remaining years I have.
And then, I have to adhere to my professional’s rule on exercise - combine cardio vascular with strength training. You can’t survive focusing only on a singular type of exercise.
Many decades ago, when I was highly spirited and limber and bursting with energy, all I could think of was running faster and longer in races while staying in the middle of the pack if not ahead of everyone in my age group. I felt good with myself, confident that I could out-do majority of them.
Sadly, running did not protect me from my family history of diabetes. I soon was taking meds that required me to reconfigure my runs. Also, work became intense as I added schooling to my already hectic life. I suffered from sleepless nights while working on school assignments, projects, exams. My eating habits deteriorated( you see, there is a psychological complacency resulting from thinking that medication can correct whatever bad habits you commit). I gained weight. Running, though I indulged in it sporadically, was pushed to the wayside.
Then, there appeared endless articles on the internet offering studies upon studies on running that contradict one another. One study would say it is alright to keep on speeding for eternity while another says that is a sure invitation to a heart failure. One would say it increases heart strength another says it weakens it. I was soon persuaded by a line of thought that goes this way: Running, if done in extreme, is more dangerous than living a sedentary life. Running should therefore be done in moderation.
One day I decided to kayak as an additional form of cardio exercise. I say if running is for my legs, then what is for my arms? First I tested myself with rental kayaks in regular parks, the ones that provide special launching pads to ease the getting in and out of the kayak. Lo and behold I could hardly get up from the kayak after 45 minutes. It suddenly dawned on me, (although not surprised by it) that I suffer from severe weakness in my legs despite my regular runs. By just looking at them, I thought I have the most muscularly defined legs. Yet I know I am avoiding a truth about my exclusive running. In my profession I always instruct my patients to make sure their cardio workouts are balanced by strengthening through weights. A fact that even a highschool kid knows. I immediately retreated back to the drawing board, to alter my exercise routine to achieve the most perfect balance by doing running and weight lifting on alternate days.
I am also getting more contemplative with a propensity to shun the noise and extreme entertainment and rambunctious crowds. They do nothing but molest my senses. Instead, nowadays, I walk, run, kayak, hike, garden. And I started on weights.
I walk away from the things that will not benefit me : unnecessary arguments, excitable people, casual sex, too much internet, too much facebook, too much TV, too much of anything.
Instead I retreat to my house after work and if I get too immersed on TV or food, I leave the house and drive to the library or bookstore and together with other serious readers and students, I grab any reading material I could get and type pieces like this blog to make sure I express myself and in so doing improve my command of writing. Writing is not developed by learning how to write. Writing improves by writing.
So now I read anything from tech to workouts to running to backpacking, picking biographies here and there, and fiction. I stay in my corner which is now becoming my sanctuary.
Self Health Checklist
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As I approach my 57th year, there are a few things I want to check as far as my health is concerned because I am constantly reminded of it everyday. First, I witness how the body deteriorates as it ages and illnesses and diseases do not discriminate. Broken bones, Stroke, heart failures, infections, cancers, hernias, back pains, leg numbness, circulation problems are but a few of the conditions that debilitate a person. It just so happens these start appearing at my age or close to my age.
Second, I do feel the impact of my diabetes type 2. Depending on what I eat or do, I see its effect on my daily lifestyle. If I eat lots of carbs I get sleepy and lazy. If I don’t move or exercise, I feel sluggish. It is like a devilish cycle which I need to break each day. This can affect my mood, my productivity, my joy in life, my outdoorsy lifestyle.
Third, maintaining ideal body weight can become a struggle as I age perhaps due to a slower metabolism. Some textbooks blame the depletion of testosterone. My labile weight shows me how easy it is for one to gain and how hard to lose what has been gained. Weight, especially over a certain threshold, can damage one’s performance in daily routines. This is just one effect among many others.
Fourth, I am glad I have managed to push off alcohol, cigarettes, drugs through all these years because I am a witness to their devastating effects. I’ve treated victims of alcohol and cigarette withdrawals, people who overdosed. I treated a person who got so drunk and stayed in one position for days without stirring leading to rhabdo. Or a fellow who got so inebriated he fell asleep on railroad tracks awakened by spontaneous limb amputation. None of these are a joke my friends.
Fifth, it doesn’t mean that because I have avoided high risk behaviors and kept my weight under control and remained active I become totally protected from illnesses and diseases. There are situations beyond one’s control. One is accident. Another is a fall. Worst is stupidity of carelessness.
I’ve witnessed all of them.
I have my own stupidity - I have done running too long too fast too soon which was a sure ticket to injury.
And the others’ mistakes: I have treated people who dehydrated under the sun and fainted. Followed by UTI.
People who vacationed from the cold north to hot south and played golf the whole day and BAM! Stroke.
People who stood up on a step to change bulbs, on ladders to put shutters or Christmas deco or take something off the cupboard and then slipping and falling and sustaining a broken bone. Or brain hemorrhage. Or spinal injuries.
Slip and fall in the bathroom and kitchen due to water on the floor, slip and fall in the living room and bedroom due to rugs, slip and fall in shopping malls and parking lots, slip and falls everywhere because of medical conditions like abnormal heart beats, low sugar, anemia, etcetera, and very very very poor balance. And judgement.
How about this? A lady tried to avoid parading ducks in a park by walking backwards and fell back right on the spot breaking a hip.
Fall from a bike or a machine or a boat or anything moving while exercising. And to think exercise is a healthy activity. Right? Not really. It can be fatal if overdone, or performed with poor warm ups, poor techniques, ignoring warning signs such as dizziness or chest pains or sudden shortness of breath while trying to keep up with Mr Olympics in the gym. Or pretending to be Mr Bolt in sprinting. Yup - we all had been there.
Of course there is self-neglect: failing to medicate to control hypertension, afib, sugar, thyroid, anything that requires self management.
And not the least - stress. I cannot emphasize this enough. Stress is as bad as other medical conditions. Stress can increase heart rate, blood pressure, blood sugar due to adrenaline release.
At my age, I always remind myself that good health is a lifetime enjoyment but it requires work. You can’t be careless in life, live sedentary , be stressed constantly and expect a good life. Earlier in my career, I have chosen to cut down work so I can focus on active lifestyle, pursue things that give me fulfillment and happiness and limiting situations and people that give me undue stress. I may be poor but contented. And that is what matters the most.
That is my annual self checklist.
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