Exercise Your Way to Old Age

Use it or lose it isn't just a cute catch phrase. To be fit, both physically and mentally, the body and mind must be dusted off on a regular basis. One need only to click onto websites such as WebMD, Arthritis.com, ACS.com (The Cancer Society) and several e-mags that deal primarily with fitness in mind to realize they all promote/suggest that regular workouts will improve your health.

Since I am not trained athlete, professional trainer or medical doctor I will not pretend to "know what's best", I can only tell you what I myself have discovered by doing a consistent amount of physical training. Observing others and how it has affected their health also has given me an excellent source on the benefits that occur from getting the heart pumping.

When I was 7, the pediatrician informed my parents that I had scoliosis. They suggested ballet to help strengthen my muscles. Now my parents had both been raised to believe that only the very rich had to "get exercise", the rest of the world worked and therefore were fit enough. It was that thinking that didn't serve either parent well as the aging process began. They both developed heart conditions, high blood pressure, diabetes and were always having a minor battle with the bulge.

Thankfully, I loved ballet and all other forms of dance (which wasn't easy with parents who thought I'd perish if I sweat a couple of beads!). As I became older, I also became quite the healthy cook. Even in the early 70's I saw the correlation between diet and exercise. This was on the cusp of what was considered to be a "new wave" of vegetarians and "going to the gym" era.

As years passed, my friends and I continued to go to class and learn about good eating habits, but I also was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis and sciatic nerve problems. Unfortunately I had to leave the world of tights and leotards behind. But that did not mean I would stop exercising!

Thanks to physical therapists I formed my own new routine which I continue to use today, nearly a decade later! I have found that even with a broken foot (had a cast that was non-weightbearing for 6 weeks) that I could still maintain something of an exercise schedule: