Move it, Move it

What is all the fuss about staying active? 

If you search Physical Health on the internet, you get about 868,000,000 results in .26 seconds. It seems that everyone has something to say about it. Being active can help prevent or lessen chronic health problems such as heart disease, diabetes or arthritis. There is also evidence that exercise improves brain function as we age. There are four exercise categories that work together to improve overall quality of life: endurance, strength, balance and flexibility. (NIH) This gives a whole new meaning to 'use it, or lose it!'

It is amazing how fast we can lose it if we don't use it. After five weeks in the hospital, my mother was moved to a skilled nursing center for wound care and physical and occupational therapy. Physical therapy focuses on the four categories of endurance, strength, balance and flexibility, where occupational therapy focuses on mental and mechanical coordination like sitting up, dressing in the proper order, combing your hair, eating etc.  Before her illness, she could do moderate to high physically demanding work; yard work, house work, moving furniture, washing windows, climbing ladders, trimming, painting, hanging wallpaper. There wasn't much she asked for help with. Not bad for a 78 year old. When she arrived at the skilled nursing center she could not walk, go to the bathroom, or sit up in bed on her own. The physical therapy sessions were emotionally draining. The first time she put full weight on her legs she cried. I had never seen my mother so weak, and paralyzed with fear and anxiety. She was so willing to give up, but the physical therapists coached, pushed and encouraged her every step of the way. There wasn't a physical reason why she couldn't gain her mobility back.   

Mom on her daily walk

The physical therapists explained that for every day we are in bed (with a cold or whatever), it takes 2.5 days to physically regain our strength. Muscle atrophy starts to set in that fast. Muscle recovery takes even longer for someone over 65. So if you do the math under the best of circumstances...she was hospitalized for 87.5 days. That requires about 219 days to recover... that is without any other complication like a massive incision or battles with infection! The therapists gave her a goal in order to go home. She had to walk 100 feet with a walker. Goals can be a powerful motivator. She came home after three and a half months. She still wasn't able to lift her legs into bed, needed a wheelchair/walker to get around and needed assistance with showering and dressing. Regaining her strength accelerated when she was able to sleep uninterrupted, had a better diet (high protein) and continued her exercise routine. Her will had returned and a little over a month later, she climbed the stairs on Christmas day. 

Notice we are talking about physical activity not necessarily getting 'fit.' Muscle loss in the elderly is called sarcopenia. It starts in our 40's and 50's and progresses at .6%  each year. Adults in the US over the age of 50, participating in resistance exercise is very low (NCBI). According to the US Center for Disease Control and Prevention,  adults 65 years and older require a minimum of two and half hours of moderate aerobic exercise and muscle strengthening exercises each week. Preferably, broken down into 30 minute increments each day. If you think you can't afford that commitment, you can still benefit in three 10 minute intervals. Increasing that to five hours each week will increase the benefits even more. How many of us spend more time than this on the phone, watching television or just sitting quietly?

I had three different conversations with people this week that went something like this: 

"if he/she was living such a healthy lifestyle and still got sick, what is the incentive to work so hard at it if you are still going to get disease?" 

Some of it is genetics, but I'm going to steal the explanation from one of my mothers doctors. "If you didn't take such good care of yourself, you wouldn't be here at all." Bad stuff is going to happen. If you can prevent or lessen the impact of chronic disease, why wouldn't you?  

History is making a case that extreme lifestyles are not good for us. Our great-grandparents were pre-industrial age and wore themselves out in their 40's. Life-expectancy wasn't so good. Fast forward to the technology age and this is the first time medical experts are predicting that children will not live as long as their parents because of sedentary lifestyles. Genetics will only get us so far. We need the pendulum to swing back to center to a work-life balance. I know that term is way over-used, but firmly believe there is truth in this. I was working 16-18 hour days sitting at a desk in a high stress position. Some days I would only walk about 1400 steps (10,000 is the recommended minimum) and that was mostly due to the fact that I had to walk to and from the parking lot. I had trouble standing, sleeping, my balance was off and had become an unhealthy weight. I was going down a path of self destruction and needed to set some boundaries around personal time and dedicate a commitment to my own health. While others around you can help, you have to do the work.

Physical activity is the basis of physical and mental well-being, especially as we age. It has to become part of our life-style. Check out some of the reference site links in this discussion. You don't have to hire a personal trainer. You don't have to dedicate large chunks of time. Just find something you enjoy that gets you and your family off the couch, or out from in front of the computer.  

Here is a motivating song to put a pep in your step. I love the Madagascar series and made this my theme song the first time I heard it...love the dancing granny. ;-)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z0qkUIFEtXM