The dark days of winter are behind us here in the northern hemisphere. The days are getting longer, the birds are staking out territories and singing their heads off, things are starting to green up. So, how have you made it through the winter?
Put on a few pounds? Stayed in the house rather than deal with the weather? Been to a few too many holiday parties? Didn't get to the gym as often as you should? Dreading the approach of swimsuit season? Gotten another year older, and that much harder to get moving?
Like it or not, believe in Darwin or not, our bodies evolved to need a certain level of physical activity just to function well. A lifestyle of abundant food combined with the need for less and less physical effort to obtain it is a recipe for obesity, and a whole range of other health issues. If you follow me past the Orange Omnilepticon, I have a rambling discourse on assorted facts, speculations, and strategies to share on this whole fitness thing.
Where I'm coming from
I will confess to the same sins that afflict many of us; a tendency to eat more than I need, not always finding the time to do something to get my heart rate up or make my body bend and stretch. I live in the middle of nowhere; I have to drive to almost everything. (Just walking to walk around here is going to be a problem - the warm winter in the Northeast means this is going to be a really, really bad year for deer ticks and Lyme disease.) My job involves a great deal of sitting, staring at computer screens or waiting for processes to finish.
Against this I do have some assets in my favor. As a child I got sent to summer camp and did a lot of things like swimming, hiking, canoeing, camping.... Ditto for years in Scouting. I've been to Philmont twice (granted, it was 30 years between trips) and did an expedition to Ely, MN and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. If I had to leave for such a trip tomorrow, my survival would be in doubt - but at least I know what I'd have to do to be prepared.
I never did much with sports in high school, but in college I did go out for a team on what is called a minor sport, and managed to get in really good shape. I even kept it up for a few years afterwards. I still play trombone (wind instrument players tend to do better on lung function tests, etc over time if they keep it up.) Parade season is starting soon; you don't know what aerobics are really like till you have to pump out Sousa while marching uphill. All of this means I know what being in shape should feel like - and I am aware of indications when I fall short.
Where America is coming from
Modern life in America has become hazardous to our health in ways we don't realize because it has happened over time. Take work: jobs that call for a lot of demanding physical labor have decreased greatly. Part of it is the export of manufacturing; part of it is technology. In the days of steam, railroads used to be the biggest employers in America - and that was hard work. Farming used to employ many, many more people than it does today, especially before so much of it got mechanized.
The end of the draft is a factor as well. Now that military service has been voluntary for so long, there are a lot of men who have never been subjected to the intense physical fitness ordeal of basic training. While they may have hated it at the time, I imagine a lot of veterans today would tell you they wish they could be in that shape again.
The transformation of a walking society into a driving society is huge factor; drivers think in terms of "Where can I park." City dwellers think "How far do I have to walk to/from the nearest bus stop/subway?" (Cyclists think "Where can I ride without getting run over by all those drivers? And can I shower/change afterwards?")
Electronic diversions like cable/satellite tv, and the Internet have people spending more of their spare time passively sitting and staring. An agricultural policy favoring giant agri-businesses and lots of cheap food (Thanks, Nixon!) has worked all too well.
It's become a partisan issue; the right wing has turned efforts by the government to promote health into a conspiracy by elites to dictate our personal lives. A four year old apparently confused about lunch options has been turned by the right wing media into a case of Michelle Obama's Food Nazis throwing out home made lunches to force kids to eat processed junk food. The real story has gotten buried in the firestorm of wing nuts over-reacting to an imagined food holocaust. If it's got .gov anywhere, it must be evil. This is apparently what conservatives take for a role model when it comes to exercise. I don't think any of them - outside the survivalists - really have any idea of how much work it would be to "go Galt".
Some interesting recent info about exercise
Can exercise help compensate for being overweight? A recent NY Times article looked at research investigating that question. Reducing weight is important - but maintaining a certain level of fitness is too.
“The message is simple,” Dr. Lee concludes. “So much attention gets focused on weight reduction, but reducing body fat is very difficult for most people. Our study suggests that,” in terms of heart health, “maintaining your fitness over your lifetime is just as important, and for most people is probably more achievable.”
emphasis added
And, of course, bringing weight down while also getting into shape works even better.
A couple of recent articles in New Scientist throw some interesting light on effects of exercise, including some extreme exercise. It turns out for one thing, that the body responds to exercise very quickly, making changes at the molecular level. The article is a bit 'tabloid' - but the important take-away is that your body is primed to respond to the effects of exercise.
It's no secret that exercise is one way to bring weight down. (You can do it by eating less of course - but that alone won't make you more fit.) Exercise at extreme levels can have some pretty dramatic effects, of the too much of a good thing kind.
Frequently, such studies throw up findings that simultaneously re-write both the record books and the medical textbooks. Take the experiments carried out by Dr Mike Stroud, a nutritionist and colleague at CASE, who in 1992-3 made the first unsupported crossing of the Antarctic with Ranulph Fiennes, hauling their provisions and possessions on weighty sledges across the continent in the same manner as Captain Scott and his men 80 years previously. By using isotope-labelled water and collecting urine, Stroud calculated that his daily energy expenditure was the highest ever recorded exceeding 10,000 kcal per day - greater than 4 times the recommended daily calorie intake and requiring more food than they could physically eat or carry. When the two men were picked up by helicopter, their bodies had wasted away to the extent that they were on the brink of death from starvation, the fate of Scott’s party.
emphasis added
You Know The Drill
There's just one rule for a successful program to get in shape and/or lose weight: You must do it.
That means coming up with some activity that will bring your heart rate up above resting levels, take some physical effort, and is something you do consistently, day after day. It's hard because it's so simple.
Of course, it has to be something you and your doctor agree you are capable of doing without putting yourself at risk, it has to be something you CAN do on a regular basis, and it helps if you can vary it enough to keep from getting bored or in a rut. It's not magic; it takes discipline and deliberately making it a priority in your life.
So, what am I doing at present? I picked up a used unpowered tread mill a while back. I have an early model Total Gym 1500 which has been kicking around for years. Some months back I set up an area of the basement where I could leave them ready to go all the time. Then I did the critical thing: I started using them.
The treadmill takes some effort to use - keeping up a good level of activity would be boring all by itself; setting a timer would have me watching the clock. What I do is put on a DVD to watch while I'm on the treadmill. I have several collections of half-hour tv shows which is about the time I want to put in. So far I've worked through the first two seasons of Futurama, and I'm now working my way through The Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers. (No guts, no glory!) By the time I get to the end of an episode, my pulse is nicely elevated, so is my breathing, and I'm starting to break a sweat.
The Total Gym is a bit more complicated. There are a lot of home fitness machines out there. I'd settled on it because it didn't involve heavy weights, could be configured for a variety of exercises, and could be folded up relatively compact for storage. (Always a danger - because then you have to make the effort to get it out again.)
I got mine pre-Chuck Norris. They have several models now and some optional attachments, but the basic system is still pretty functional. They're not cheap - but finding used ones for sale at a good price isn't hard. The idea is, an adjustable tilt board on rollers and several pulley mechanisms let you use the weight of your own body to build strength while also stretching your body in systematic ways. Is it the ideal system? No - but it's good enough if you use it intelligently and consistently.
I got several different video programs of exercises with it, and more are available. I've settled on a 6 day rotation of different exercises which (is claimed) can be done in just 6-8 minutes per day. As your fitness improves, you can add more repetitions and raise the tilt board for more effort - at least that's the idea. I do seem to feel like I've gotten something done after each day's session.
Is it working? Too soon to say. Getting fit and staying there doesn't happen overnight. Odds are, whatever your current physical condition is, you've spent years getting there. Changing it deliberately should go faster though. What I'm doing seems to be working for me so far. I can use the treadmill and the gym at my own pace on my own time. I'd originally tried doing them both right after coming home from work, but lately I've been using them just before going to bed. I end up relaxed and think I may be sleeping better. It's certainly more relaxing than reading about the latest outrages here before going to bed. ;-)
This takes time, money and space of course. There's always those trade offs. Where I work, there are several women who take time every day to walk around the building, floor by floor. In good weather there's an old sports track not far away where a lot of people walk laps. (I've done that in the past, even in the dead of winter.) Several family members have gym memberships - they try to make the effort to stop there on a regular basis. The advantage is the variety of machines and assistance; the problem of course is getting there on a regular basis.
Age is a factor. My joints don't take the pounding they used to tolerate. I have access to a pool (in warm weather), which is one alternative for low-impact exercise. I happen to live on a road which is a favorite route for local cyclists. Every so often I find myself having to carefully drive around packs of a dozen or more riders out for group solidarity. (And safety.) Not currently having children living at home (economy willing), I have more time, but less potential support.
Bottom Line
One of the most effective ways to reduce medical bills is to work at being healthy. It's not rocket science. Our distant ancestors lived short, intense lives where every day could be feast or famine and the effort needed to survive was no cakewalk. That's left us not terribly well adapted for modern sedentary existence, where food is abundant and physical effort is minimized. There is research that seems to indicate the body's response to exercise is akin to that of injury; it can trigger healing mechanisms that end up improving overall health.
Exercise and fitness are a big factor in quality of life issues. People who can stay in shape are better prepared to cope with stress, injury, and the effects of aging. Mental health ties in with it too. Exercising the mind as well as the body contributes to overall health. Wrestling with new ideas, taking up new hobbies, keeping the mind active is not to be neglected.
The key is to be doing something, and be doing it consistently. So, what's your strategy? Tips, complaints, good stories, bad, aspirations - feel free to share them in comments.
11:22 AM PT: Nice one from JDWolverton: "My best exercise routine is the one I actually do."