I
recently devoured a book called Younger Next Year - For Women, by Chris Crowley &
Henry S. Lodge, M.D., and it provides another take on life expectancy and
quality. (Their original book was
directed at men; I chose to read the subsequent female-oriented edition, and it
is smart and insightful despite being written by two guys!) Have you ever taken a quiz to predict your
life expectancy based on your current age, gender, weight, and basic diet &
health behaviors? There’s a thorough one
in the Younger Next Year books and a variety of other quizzes online,
and I invite you to complete one of them.
You will (hopefully) find that you are likely to live to be 90+ years
old. Mr. Crowley and Dr. Lodge’s book is
all about how to make that outcome more likely, and more importantly, to have a
healthy and active life for as long as possible.
Imagine
a curve with time on the x-axis and health level on the y-axis. Some of us are resigned to the idea that once
we hit “middle age” (whatever that means these days… isn’t 60 the new 40?) we
start to gradually decline – a downward curve until we die. The authors of Younger Next Year argue
that this does NOT have to be the case.
Our actions (and I do mean actions) influence the quality of our lives
more than we realize, and we have the power to maintain our health and vibrancy well into
our later years, so that our personal age X health chart can register health at
a steady high level until we are well advanced in age, with a quick decline at
the very end. Isn’t that better for us
and our loved ones, not to mention the healthcare system?
The key
to healthy aging is to promote growth in the body & mind, not decay. The authors argue that
there really is no middle ground. This
is programmed into our genes from prehistoric times and is based on the earth’s
seasonal cycles – we are either in spring/summer “growth” mode when we are
energetic and active and our body is building muscle, or we are in fall/winter
“decay” mode when we slow down and store fat preparing for food scarcity and a
hard winter. I’m sure you know where
this is headed… today we have no food scarcity and we spend most of our time
being sedentary, so our bodies move into constant storage/hibernation mode – in
a word, decay.
What to
do? The authors advocate EXERCISE,
virtually every day, and including both moderate and high intensity workouts
each week. Exercise boosts your metabolism, it reduces stress, it improves
your mood, and it is believed to offer protection against development of
Alzheimer’s disease. As you know, we
recently got a puppy whose pictures are regularly featured in my newsletter and
on Facebook. My husband, Randy, spends
hours each day training and briskly walking Foxy either on the beach in Hilton
Head or here in Cincinnati. He enjoys
every outing with his dog – rain or shine, hot or cold – and he has lost weight
and feels fit and energized. And, as a
bonus, we have a very well-trained dog!
It is
critical to your health and well-being that you establish some
sort of fitness routine, whether it involves a dog, a running or workout buddy,
a spinning class schedule, a favorite yoga instructor or DVD, or any other vigorous
activity. The important thing is to
do something physically intense nearly every day, for the rest of your life. Your body, mind, and loved ones will thank
you.
http://www.youngernextyear.com/
