How to Slow Down, Part 2
Filed under: Anti-Aging For Men
How to Slow Down, Part 2
Age does provoke a wide array of functions (and dysfunctions). We aren’t as quick. We aren’t as strong. Our joints may not move as easily or as far. Some other body parts degenerate, stiffen up, or generally don’t work as well. The late S. J. Perelman described the condition with humor and insight in his book Under the Spreading Atrophy. We wish it were, but aging is not always a humorous or simple matter. Physical function can still be preserved to a great extent by careful attention to your body. Physical conditioning, reduction of stress, a good diet, and a host of other intercessions can hold off the decline and in some cases even reverse it. In plain English, If you don’t use it, you lose it. Following a plan of regularly scheduled maintenance should keep you running right.
We’ve been conditioned to accept a certain amount of dysfunction as we age. Yet it doesn’t have to be that way. We love the story, for example, of the elderly patient who goes to see his doctor. Doctor Cohen examines his sore right leg and says, “I’m not surprised that you have some problems with your leg. You’re not a youngster any more. You’re almost 80.” The annoyed patient retorts, “But Doc, my left leg’s 80 too, and it doesn’t hurt.”
The point is that there definitely are preconceptions and misconceptions about growing older. For instance, some would have us believe that we aren’t supposed to do certain things any longer because we are aging, or that our bodies have inexorably deteriorated and there’s nothing we can do about it. These, it appears, are myths. Thank the gods. Just think of Roy Carlsted, an internationally ranked ski racer who at 70 keeps up joyfully with racers 30 years his junior (laughing at them, to boot, as he speeds by).