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The drawbacks of exercise
Not all forms of exercise are necessarily
good for you. For example, running may improve cardiovascular health but is also
very hard on the joints.
Lifting heavy weights can cause significant tension to accumulate and - if
the muscles are large enough - adversely affect the skeleton. Most forms of
exercise have pros and cons; especially sport.
Not forcing an outcome
People often try to offset aging by hammering their bodies at the gym or
jarring their knees running on tarmac. This may work for some people.
Other simply suffer new injuries and their fitness deteriorates further.
Sustainability
How many people do body building when they are young only to find that those
big muscles turn to flab when they are older? The problem is not with body
building per se.
It is with sustainability. Some forms of exercise are difficult to maintain
throughout the span of your life.
Ideal form of exercise
According to the book The Blue Zones it is important to think
of exercise in terms of what you can reasonably do long-term.
The ideal form of exercise is moderate enough that you can do it for the
rest of your life. It needs to be joint-friendly, provide a gentle workout
and be sustainable.
This sounds rather like tai chi, doesn't it?
Mind, body & spirit
The Asian way to live longer is holistic. It involves all parts of your
life. The mind must be challenged with new insights, skills and adversity.
Your body needs to be properly fed and exercised (with your current age and
fitness level in mind). 'Spirit' refers to thinking a little deeper about
life.
Instead of blundering through life, why not sit and meditate, contemplate,
take stock of your life? Find harmony.
Most studies agree that there
are a number of key personality characteristics that are important for
healthy aging: easygoing, cheerful, self-confident, adaptable, active,
independent, creative, happy, relaxed, satisfied, calm, open, agreeable,
conscientious, sociable and having a high tolerance for frustration being
mentioned most often.
The traits that lead to an unhealthy, shorter life? Being repressed,
dogmatic, stubborn, hostile, neurotic, angry, guilty, sad, fearful, anxious,
depressed and aggressive.
(Dr Bradley Wilcox, Dr Craig Wilcox and Dr Makoto Suzuki)
Challenge your mind
Set aside your fiction books, crossword puzzles, sudoku, video games and
take mental health more seriously. This will mean switching off the
computer, the TV and your mobile phone too.
Working your brain is a major endeavour. Your brain is the source of all
motivation, strength and drive. Exercise it thoroughly.
Read constructive books, learn a new language, undertake a demanding new
physical skill (tai chi?). These activities will be far harder on your brain
than you expect.
Nutrition
You are what you eat. No matter what you do with your body or your mind,
nutrition remains paramount. Take the time to find out what qualifies as
high quality nutrition and eat to stay alive.
Hobbies
The unfamiliar may cause apprehension and uncertainty but that is the entire
point. Undertaking new pursuits and interests breaks you from lifelong bad
habits and the risk of indolence.
You will also meet new and unexpected people.
Do not retire
Often people retire from work only to become incredibly lazy or obsessively
active.
Lazy individuals refuse to do anything.
Manic characters go crazy in their attempt to stave off deterioration; often
speeding up the process rather than retarding it.
In Asia, the preference is to remain gently active, to not actually retire
as such.
Instead of going crazy or slobbing out, keep occupied and continue to
develop your body, mind and interests.
Tai chi is the one exercise
that can universally help solve our growing health crisis. It has stood the
test of thousands of years. We have a generation of baby boomers with
increasing health problems; old people who are sick, in pain, fearful, and
cranky; a middle class that is increasingly incapable of affording most of
the drugs that are prescribed for their ailments; children that are flaccid,
diabetic and asthmatic. People of all ages are addicted to drugs, alcohol,
sugar, cigarettes, and caffeine. Stress follows almost everyone like a
shadow.
(Bruce Frantzis)
Low stress
Avoiding stress is crucial.
Stressful situations and stressful people are downright toxic for your
health.
Stay away from them whenever you can.
Organise your life to reduce and (ideally) avoid
stress.
Quality of life
There is a danger in seeking to be gratified or entertained.
Comfort is a sword that cuts both ways.
A modicum of hardship keeps us alive and alert.
Rather than indulge in that trip to Cambodia, go and work at the soup
kitchen.
Instead of gorging at the trendy new restaurant, grow your own fresh
vegetables and make the meal from scratch.
Wash your own dishes. Iron your own clothes. Clean your own house. Make
things from scratch.
Become self-sufficient and resilient...
Tai chi for sustainable living
Long held to be an excellent
anti-aging regime,
tai chi may indeed be the
perfect
exercise (Harvard Medical School).
The art is not as easy to learn as people seem to think.
It takes dedication, time, patience and the application of your
mind as well as your body.
The training is concerned with
re-energising the body.
Wear & tear
Suppose you buy a car in 2010 and use it very rarely. In 2016 you decide to
sell the car and take it to a dealership.
The mileage is unusually low for a car of its age. Yet the car is still 6
years old chronologically.
In terms of wear and tear the car is 6 months old.
Tai chi is about spending your energy frugally.
That way, as you get older, your wear and tear is unusually low for a person
of your age.
Reason to live
Beyond the physical tai chi training there is a complex
theoretical,
philosophical,
spiritual side to
the art.
People have spent centuries engrossed in its
mysteries.
Being engaged in the unravelling of ancient secrets is a great reason
to stay alive.
You will need those 120 years.
When luxury and excess begin
in high places,
the effects spread everywhere.
When leaders have more wealth than wisdom,
they prefer fancy clothes and exotic foods,
foolish amusements and self-indulgence.
When they place their own wellbeing
above the care of others,
They are worse than common thieves.
(Lao Tzu)
Page created 5 November 1996
Last updated
16 June 2023