Among the top reasons people die are cardiovascular disease, cancer, and dementia. It makes sense that we pay attention to each of these. But what about quality of life? What are the things we need to be paying attention to that will allow us to live as we wish, engaging in life the way we want to? Although the big three may kill us, the life we lead up to that point is probably at least, if not more, important. When we think in these terms, let’s focus on one of our primary human attributes: movement. If we cannot easily move, then a great deal of the life we want will no longer be available to us.
Most doctors are focused on keeping us alive, which I am very much in favor of. If you have one that can also help keep you healthy, which is not the same thing as the absence of disease, all the better. No one can know everything, and one of the many shortcomings of our medical system is that it has very little understanding or interest in what it takes to keep one’s body highly mobile. Mall walking 20 minutes a day is not going to do it. The bar is so low that anything beyond total sedentary living gets you a gold star. Yes, walking 20 minutes is much better than zero, but, sorry to say, it is way, way below what needs to happen if we want to have a highly mobile life in our 80s and 90s.
As the bearer of bad news, let me first say that living well requires considerable effort with age. There is no reason for you to do any of this if you are not interested in living an engaged life. No worries just be clear about where inactivity will lead. The inescapable fact is that without us doing something about it, our muscles decline at the rate of 1–3% per year. Cardiovascular capacity similarly declines as does our balance. The good news is that all of these facets can be kept at a high level for a considerable time if we pay attention to them and make them a priority. I am big on tracking (again, this may not be your jam) and get a DEXA scan twice a year. It tells me the composition of my body in terms of visceral fat, muscle per limb, total fat and bone density. By doing a DEXA twice a year, I can see what direction things are going in. Remember: Feelings are not facts. On this past scan, I managed to increase my muscle mass by 2.4 lbs, almost entirely in my trunk area, meaning I now have a stronger core. All my other measurements were pretty much the same as they were six months earlier.
Understand your why. If it includes moving your body from A to B, not falling over, being able to climb stairs, picking things up, grabbing something quickly, participating in sports—those are your whys. Need some inspo? Spend a few hours in an assisted living facility and notice what has put those people in there: It is almost always reduced mobility.
Onward and upwards,
David
