Age Well
Movement Is Life.
Motion Is Lotion.
I was never one for New Years resolutions. When I was younger, life was about finding my cruising pace, going with the flow through the years with a sense of balance that I could more or less stick to. I felt like resolutions were mostly a response to accumulated guilt and wouldn’t be needed for people with sufficient self-discipline. How judgemental of me. Fast forward several years, two children later, and all of a sudden the notion of time management had shifted. I needed to fine tune my organisational skills, sharpen my focus and start looking after myself in a way that is all specific to young parents. All of a sudden resolutions became a solid option to practically regain some sense of direction, reconnect with my own needs and find purpose in a challenging situation.
Being the responsible guy that I am, I actually managed to stick to (almost) all of my old resolutions: use less plastic, return to martial arts, adhere to intermittent fasting,… And I feel all the better for it.
I have spent 15 years of my career in the fitness and medical exercise industry combined. I’ve been a clinician for over 20 years so my job has been about understanding my clients and patients needs, working at delivering solutions and hopefully bringing people to reach their goals. I feel very fortunate to have been quite often a long term partner-in-health in people's lives. And in that time, I’ve realised that the goal post very much moves slowly but surely towards something that can be called “ageing well”.
This reality can be integrated into a lifestyle but it can also become a sudden necessity following an injury, an illness or an accident but either way, we can all take decisive actions towards a happier healthier life at any stage and in any situation. I do believe however, a bit like a New Year's resolution that sticks, that the actions required feel way less like a chore if assimilated earlier on, slowly but surely, proactively, with fun and joy and done the right way and with the right attitude. All I am saying is that it doesn’t have to be hard.
Asking oneself what rocks one’s boat also means asking how can one’s boat be kept afloat. Connecting with what makes us vibrate is not always easy and keeping that connection alive is not easy either. But without sounding cliche here “our health is our wealth”. Without it, nothing else sticks.
So let’s take a look at some statistics in Ireland for a minute:
Only 12% of teenagers meet the recommended levels of physical activity
Only 45% of adults partake with physical activities
Only 35% of active adults meet the required intensity criteria to obtain health benefits
A very important study by Stephen Blair et al showed that the biggest way to make a significant impact on your overall health (so think of joint health, blood pressure, cardiovascular diseases, metabolic syndromes, mental health…) is … EXERCISE. If you haven’t seen this hugely popular video by Dr Mike Evans called “23 and ½ hours”, go watch it here.
Movement is Life.
Motion is Lotion.
As a conclusion to this blog, I’ll invite you to think about this fun little game which consists in swapping the word “time” in any sentence in any circumstance with the word “life”. And see what happens. Things like “I have no time” or “I’ll do it next time” or “time is slipping away” or “I’m having a great time” or “Just in time” can be seen and experienced in a whole new light.
Age well… Live well… Same thing isn’t it really?
By the way, Renu has launched a Move Well class. If you don’t know where to start or if you want a reboot of movement skills, look no further! Please email info@renu.physio
Happy New Year to you all.