EXERCISE RESISTANCE
My husband and I were visiting some friends recently. Our friends are actually younger but seem much older. The gentleman has heart problems and his balance has deteriorated. The lady is obese, has great difficulty with her knees and can hardly walk. Both people can help themselves immensely if they would follow some simple advice. The gentleman's loss of balance can be regained with easy exercise. The lady can help her feet and knees by taking better care of both. But that help seems to instead be inaccessible to them. They have accepted their fate. They won't do anything. They used to have great control over their lives, making money, bringing up a wonderful family, having a happy marriage but at this point in their life when they need help more than any other time they cannot accept it.
Unfortunately this is not an unusual story. Often I recommend to friends and family simple things that can make their lives so much easier. Simple things like warming your knees up before you stand. (I meet a lot of people who have trouble with their knees.) The response I get from others is almost always one of resistance and stubbornness or forgetfulness. Too often people just won't help themselves. They will go to their doctor and beg for another cortisone shot but they don't seem to be able to do knee exercises to reduce their symptoms.
I've run into this attitude for many, many years and it is both sad and frustrating. There is so much help available. Most symptoms of aging can be reduced through exercise. But regrettably many of us are caught up in a bubble of our own myths, myths like thinking getting old is inevitably going downhill. It is very difficult as a teacher to break through that kind of barrier. The thing is that the barrier itself (the belief about age) actually makes you old. It is a self fulfilling prophecy.
I've run into this attitude for many, many years and it is both sad and frustrating. There is so much help available. Most symptoms of aging can be reduced through exercise. But regrettably many of us are caught up in a bubble of our own myths, myths like thinking getting old is inevitably going downhill. It is very difficult as a teacher to break through that kind of barrier. The thing is that the barrier itself (the belief about age) actually makes you old. It is a self fulfilling prophecy.
We believe the myths about aging.
We get it all wrong.
Inactivity is the bad thing. Not aging.
Our response to slow down causes our misery.
Our reaction to do less makes us age faster.
Our faulty logic:
- There is nothing we can do about it: This is by far the most vivid and commonly held myth about aging. We reach an age when things start happening. Our balance gives us problems. It starts being difficult to walk. We convince ourselves that it is because we are getting old and that we just have to live with it. In reality, you can do something about almost every aspect about aging. But it takes effort and persistence.
- Effort: One reason for believing that myth is that if it is true then we don't have to do anything. Many are adverse to effort in regard to exercising. We believe on some level that at our age we shouldn't have to. The reverse is the case. At our age we need to do more, not less.
- Many don't feel results: The benefits of exercise are often delayed. Unless you establish a regular routine it is difficult to connect feeling good to the sweat that got you there. And even then it takes a while for the consistency to take hold. The best way by far to exercise is to establish a regular schedule, one that fits into your life without difficulty, one that you stick to no matter what. Then the benefits roll in.
Age is not the Enemy:
Original analysis of the effects of inactivity in how we age.
Most of the aspects of aging that we all complain about have far more to do with being inactive than the aging process itself. We misinterpret the signs our body gives us and we swallow hook, line and sinker society's attitudes about those considered "old". It becomes easier to just accept that we are getting old. The consequences of this self defeating message are not inevitable. Here are five articles that can help us understand and benefit from this essential and paradoxical aspect of good health (click on the green links to read each):
Age is not the enemy. Inactivity is: Summary.
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The effects of extended sitting. The benefits of consistent exercise.
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Our brain generates misleading messages about exercise. Treat your body as well as you treat your car.
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There is a delayed reaction in the consequences of sitting too long. There is also a delayed reaction to receiving benefit from exercise. Misinterpretations result with too few taking advantage of the benefits.
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The disappointing results of the STRIDE fall prevention study. Why people are so resistant. Recommendations for how changes in culture can help to change elder health.
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As I get older I find myself no longer mincing my words. I am no longer subtle in my recommendations. The solution is clear. Exercise on a regular basis and significantly improve your physical and mental health as well as the quality of your life for the rest of your life.
The more inactive we are the less we want to do.
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If you are stiff getting up off the sofa it's not because you
are getting old. It's because you sat too long.
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Ignore the reasons not to exercise and do it anyway.
Published October 13, 2020.