Earlier this month I was Spring skiing at Stowe. As I was getting on the lift, an older skier got on next to me. Once we lowered the safety gate he turned to me and asked, “Have you skied Goat yet?” (Goat is the most challenging trail at Stowe, if not all of New England). I answered, no. He replied, “after a warm-up run”, that’s where he would be heading. I had to ask him is age, and he proudly responded he was 75.
Of course I then questioned him how he has managed to stay healthy and fit enough to ski double-black diamond expert terrain at 75. He launched into a wonderful explanation of how he has stayed healthy and vital. The key for him is to keep his the mind and body fit. He spends at least an hour a day exercising his brain by memorizing texts and passages. I can’t remember the exact number, but he said he could recite over 5,000 passages from memory. He runs stretches and lifts weights several times a week. He mentioned how lucky he was to live in a hilly neighborhood because gets an especially invigorating cardiovascular workout when he runs.
I asked him how many of his contemporaries are as healthy and fit as he is. He responded his 2 best friends are as active as he is, but not many others. So he has a core group who encourage each other to stay healthy and active.
I don’t know what your longevity goals are, but I plan to keep skiing, mountain bike, playing tennis and just participating in life enthusiastically as I age. When George Burns turned 90, he said, “If I knew I was going to live this long I would have taken better care of myself.” When I turn 90, I want to be able to say, “I knew I was going to live this long so I took great care of myself.” In order to do this I need to work backwards. I need to take care of my physical and mental health and be pro-active.
Our goal at Performance Health Center is to inspire, encourage and assist our patients in staying healthy and active for a lifetime. For many it is a process. Most patients present originally with years of physical abuse to their bodies. The first step is getting those patients to a point of maximum function. Once that goal is reached, most of our patient’s choose to continue with Wellness Care so that they can stay healthy. It is much easier to stay healthy than get healthy.
There are many things we can do ourselves including eating “clean” and healthy, stretch, exercise, use good ergonomics, and stimulate our minds with learning new skills, doing puzzles and memorizing. But there are things you can’t do without assistance. That includes keeping the joints and muscles in your body functioning, balanced and adhesion free. That is where your function based chiropractor comes in.
You may not want to ski double black diamond ski trails, but there are activities you enjoy doing now that I know you want to do for as long as you are physically able to do. What do you need to do to make that happen? Then work backwards!
It was a quick lift ride to the top. I regret not getting this 75 year old skiers’ name, but when I got off the lift I skied Goat.