When you were young, didn't you wish you were older? You did, didn't you? We all did and guess what? All those wishes have, or will, come true. You are going to get older. You just have to wait a decade or five. It is unavoidable. I have hit that landmark spot, so now I spend useless seconds dreaming of the old days, wishing I was young again. You go through life blissfully avoiding the fact that time is limited and has the obnoxious quality of speeding up, going faster as you age, while you wallow in a flurry of vacuous, yet beautiful and envious pictures of our youths.
Unfortunately,
you have reached your personal event horizon. You are old. You recognize your own mortality! But that's not the worst of it. Most elderly citizens are in danger of:
- loneliness, as friends, or spouses or parents die off. The best solution is to act naturally. When you are you are young and able, turn off the bedroom light and produce babies, reliable children who will watch out for you and be there to hold your hand when your time expires.
- Being unable to find things to occupy your time and causing your brain to decay. Join clubs or a support group. Be with other people in the same boat.
- Kidney and bladder problems and adult-onset diabetes, etc. You know, all those nasty, over the age of 65, common diseases including,...wait for it....Parkinson's Disease. Yes, the good old "shaking palsy" is in the ranks of diseases yet to fall.
We PwP are doomed to suffer as we journey to the light. But are we really doomed? Is our destiny known at birth? More questions, yadda, yadda, yadda.
I vote "NO!"
Our bodies breakdown with age and Parkinson's makes that breakdown less palatable. So, until they find a cure, go to the gym and try working out.
Healthline.com ( 2017) featured an article Intense Exercise Could Slow Parkinson's Symptoms
The researchers found people with Parkinson’s can slow the decline of the PD motor skills by engaging in high-intensity exercise three times a week.
Intense means exercise that gets the heart working at 80 to 85 percent of its maximum capacity. Researchers concluded such exercises provided health benefits to the experimental group of PwP that didn’t show up in the conrol group composed of
PwP who got no or moderate-intensity exercise.
From this we learn:
- exercise need only be done triweekly
- high intensity = 80 - 85% of your own max heart rate maximum.
- Just make sure your workout shirt is damp/wet on the front and back. That is an indication you have had an intense workout.
I had been a runner for 6 decades or more, until grounded by PD. In my 30's and 40's, I was obsessed. I was miserable until I got my run underway. Without the run, I was a jerk; but with the run, I was euphoric (as was my family). Then, when diagnosed. I went crazy with running and exercising using weights, bosu balls, kettlebells, the 8 brocades of qigong, recumbant bike, treadmill, and nordic poles.
I have changed!
Now, to save my sanity, my daily routine consists of:
- the 8 brocades
- stretching and balance exercises
- use of the bullworker and half hour high intensity on the treadmill.
I try not to overdo the workout. I
don't want to end up like Jim Fixx (running guru. He wrote "The Complete Book of Running") who ironically died from a heart attack while jogging. He was only 52.
Don't become an exercise junkie.
I have started exercising. Today I bench-pressed my sheets three times. I also did some stretching. I plan to be 6'8", all muscle." my friend, Wayne Thompson.
