Published: April 09, 2008 09:00 am            

Column: Seven ways to live a rewarding life

LEBANON, Ind. — If I live to be a happy, satisfied, healthy 90-year-old, Mike Kincaid, Lebanon City Councilman and über-fitness advocate, will deserve much of the credit.

Before I left on vacation recently, Kincaid stopped by my home to loan me his well-marked copy of “Younger Next Year: A Guide to Living Like 50 Until You’re 80 and Beyond.”

Just beyond halfway through the book, I’ve made some lifestyle changes, intend others, and am convinced authors Chris Crowley and Henry S. Lodge, M.D., are geniuses.

Aging can’t be stopped, Crowley and Lodge said, but it can be distracted with seven deceptively simple rules.

Age, of course, is relative. A person is as old as he or she believes. While there are physical reasons to “act your age,” that does not mean listlessly accepted a slide into sloth. The ligaments and tendons of a 59-year-old are not as flexible as those of a teenager. Taking sensible precautions to avoid injury is a mark of maturity. Or age.

But I digress.

Lodge and his patient, Crowley, alternate chapters in the book, which is summarized by “Harry’s Rules”:

1— Exercise six days a week for the rest of your life.

2 — Do serious aerobic exercise four days a week for the rest of your life.

3 — Do serious strength training, with weights, two days a week for the rest of your life.

4 — Spend less than you make.

5 — Quit eating crap.

6 — Care.

7 — Connect and commit.

Warning to the sedentary: Exercise is not “serious” unless it involves sweat. You were expecting easy? Nothing worth achieving is easy.

For most persons strength training, less accurately viewed as weight lifting, is boring beyond belief, the authors agree. But there is no question making your body stronger will make every-day living more enjoyable.

After about age 50, the human body experiences an irreversible decline in muscle mass. But that decline can be mitigated by strengthening the remaining muscle cells. Lodge and Crowley cite world bench press records as an example. The single-lift record is 715 pounds. The record for 65-year-olds is 440 pounds, and for 85-year-olds 175 pounds. Very few persons of any age can bench press 175 pounds.

Increased strength also leads to fewer falls and ensuing injuries. Everyone trips, Lodge and Crowley say. But older persons more frequently fall because they aren’t strong enough to stop the plummet.

One would think living within one’s means would be an obvious strategy to avoid stress and ensure satisfaction. But that which is obvious to some is opaque to others.

“Crap” includes virtually all fast food and the “white food group” — pasta, potatoes, processed bread.

Life beginning a slow descent into the grave, there are no guarantees that following Harry’s Rules will protect you from sudden death. They can slow the descent, and make the inevitable journey more enjoyable.

In a November 2006 blog, Lodge remarked, “there is a basic amount of strength and physical mobility that you need to keep in reserve for the years beyond 80. If you do, the physical limitations of true old age will be inconvenient, but will not fundamentally change your life.”

Following Harry’s Rules, however, just might.



— Rod Rose writes for The Lebanon (Ind.) Reporter. He may be reached at rod.rose@reporter.net

        

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