don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

I once saw a cartoon of The Cat In The Hat that described "the Golden Years." It went something like this: "I cannot see, I cannot pee, I cannot chew, I cannot screw, Oh, my God, what can I do?" It continued: "My memory shrinks, my hearing stinks. No sense of smell, I look like hell, my mood is bad - can't you tell?"

Does this in any way capture your experience of aging? If so, consider exercise and fitness as the surest way to see, pee, chew and all the rest, including remaining sexy -- or become sexy if you are not so already.

A lot of people simply obsess about aging. They color their hair, wear a rug or plug their scalps, spend money on anti-aging pills/potions/and prescriptions and sometimes take even more drastic action, such as plastic surgery. Some, like myself, go to truly extreme lengths -- they exercise vigorously every day.

It would be difficult to age well without significant attention to fitness. Regular exercise is associated with less dysfunctions of all kinds and more psychological well-being. Fit lifestyles lessen the chances of being a burden to others. Devotion to exercise basics is scientifically associated with life satisfaction. We all have a tendency to lose muscle and gain fat as time passes, other things (such as energy expenditures) staying the same.

There are surely better reasons for staying fit (the joy of being able to live life fully, to travel with ease, to remain competitive), but some may find appealing the fact that a fit senior is more likely to remain sexually active far longer than his sedentary counterpart, even without Viagra. All seniors should be aware of the fundamentals of fitness and how exercise affects the human body. Realize, for example, that a worthy fitness routine includes aerobics and strength training. The loss of muscle strength over time is a controllable factor that otherwise will interfere with an independent lifestyle. Strength training has been shown to reduce the health risks that often accompany aging, such as osteoarthritis, obesity and all the rest too vexing to enumerate.

Is your exercise sufficient? Does it meet the lifestyle standard of responsible, proactive and ambitious? I was surprised to learn a while back that astronauts assigned to the new space station are required to exercise for two hours daily!

What does NASA know that the Surgeon General has not mentioned to the rest of us?Maybe it is time for all of us, here on Earth as well as in space, to make time for extraordinary fitness, especially seniors!

Garrison Keillor brought up aging recently during a monologue about Lake Woebegon on his popular show, A Prairie Home Companion. Keillor said, "Time is like money. It doesn't matter what you have spent; what matters is how much you've got left. Think of it this way. A man of 40 destined to live to 60 is actually older than a man of 50 who will live to 90. The 40 year-old thinks he's 10 years younger but actually he's 20 years older." In a way, then, you are only as young as you feel because the way you feel is an indication of how long you have left.

Keillor concluded by reflecting that getting older is a great adventure. "In a way, we're moving into a New Frontier, those of us growing older. We're all together in this wagon train. Some of us are farther ahead in the column than others."

Wherever you find yourself on the wagon train of life or, if you will, "the golden years," consider that it's always a good idea to try to look on the bright side of life.

Note: An earlier version of this essay appeared here on January 28, 2003. 

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of exercise and fitness. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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