You don't stop running because you get old.
You get old, because you stop running.
This is a pretty famous quote by now, which I came across in a book I read several years ago called, Born to Run, which is about surprise surprise, rubbing. I am not a runner, but read it due to having foot issues and wanted to explore barefoot and minimal shoe content.
This is not about that.
The quote came up the other day when friends were helping cut wood and we were talking of our elderly neighbors, who are in their mid-eighties. They do all the work around the house themselves still, cut the lawn, plough the snow, do the gardening, build bits and pieces. They have worked their whole lives, and they aren't going to stop.
One of the friends was saying how his grandmother was similar, but as Alzheimer's set in, they moved her from a house to an apartment bad a year later, she was gone.
She stopped running.
But this is not about old age either. At least not directly. It is about how our sedentary lifestyles are doing this to us now, from very young ages. We are running less in youth, as young adults, and in middle age, but because we are relatively young, it isn't as noticeable at how much we are degrading our minds and bodies. However, if it starts to drop off heavily for people who have been active their whole lives, what is that cliff going to look like for people who have been inactive lost of theirs?
We know that being sedentary is bad for our health, yet obligation ad convenience keeps us on our chairs. As does entertainment. While it isn't as noticeable while young, the lack of movement, the damage done will compound and increase the rate of decline, likely from earlier. This means that despite all that we know and have available to improve our health, we will be more affected than before. We are already seeing a lot of "lifestyle disease" with cardiovascular issues, obesity, diabetes and many forms of cancer on the rise. When we stop moving even more, these will worsen.
My foot problems for instance, date back to between the ages of 17 and 20, where I was so ill I spent a lot of time in bed, sitting, or not doing much of much. Prior to this, I was extremely athletic, but once I stopped, my body atrophied, including my feet. Compounded by the medications I was on at the time, my entire system warped, and while I have improved in some areas, in others, the damage is largely irreparable.
And then, each of these issues compounds against all the other issues of aging, which means that I am forty five with the body of a sixty year old - even though from the outside, I look relatively healthy. This has many affects on mental and emotional health too, because once we start to notice the decline, we start to shift our focus, seeing other aspects of aging, feeling ourselves slide away. Yet, we aren't old at this stage, just not in good condition.
I wonder how much of the mental health issues that are currently plaguing society have their roots in a sedentary lifestyle, where we aren't physically doing that much that actually matters, that makes an impact, so we look for other ways to create meaning. And it isn't about going to the gym or for a run, because that is largely "pointless exercise" in the sense that it is non-creative, and isn't relevant to our daily lives in the sense that it brings very little value. If we worked to our actual needs in life, we wouldn't need gyms, would we?
A year or two ago, a group of friends got together for an evening of games and conversation, and one of the questions that came up was, "what would you tell younger you?" and someone said, Start squatting at the gym. He had started about a year prior to this, and the change in his body, posture, and general feeling had been huge - and this is someone who has never been over weight, and would be considered pretty fit.
I suspect many of us would look back at some of what we have done and perhaps would choose differently, while some say they "wouldn't change anything" as it would change who they are today. I question this second one, because if we could go back and eat a bit better, move a little more, we would likely feel much, much better today. For the people who are suffering from one of the lifestyle diseases, or multiples of them, if an obese person could instead be much thinner, or a diabetic not be so, all through making a few small changes in their lifestyle, wouldn't they?
So looking forward, if we are younger now, should we learn from those who are older as a cautionary tale of what happens when we stop running? Should we think a little about whether the cupcake is worth it, or if the discomfort of exercise is so bad, that we would rather the pain to come in the future?
It seems like a pretty simple decision.
So why is it so hard to make?
Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]