Sheppard Wellness Club

Wellness Essentials

• Regular Exercise
• Healthful Nurtrition
• Fresh Air
• Clean Water
• Adequate Sleep
• Nurturing Relationships

Why Exercise?

Human beings, not so long ago were hunters and gatherers, moving from place to place to forage for plants and to kill game. Then we became agricultural and we worked long physically exerting days in the fields and on the range. Human bodies are made to move in order to function best. Nowadays, in just a couple of generations, technology has ushered in a sedentary lifestyle; many sit for long hours at computers to work; we drive to and from work and errands; we vegetate in front of our TVs or laptops, occasionally getting up to raid the fridge or cupboard for a “delicious” high-calorie processed snack. In fact, many of us eat all the time, standing, driving, working, relaxing.

Aging complicates the problem. The fact is our not so healthy lifestyles start to catch up and we can’t get away with as much as we did when younger without feeling the consequences. The expression “Use it or lose it” says it all for people over 50. We must stay active, through walking and core muscle exercise, or regular sports, if we want to stay mobile and healthy. It’s not how long we live but the quality of life we enjoy and there are many scientific studies that tell us in black-and-white that exercise is critical to our health and well-being AT All AGES.

Why is regular activity so important? Let’s tackle this question systemically, in terms of the most prominent lifestyle diseases and the organs affected.

First and foremost is our circulatory muscle, the HEART.  This pumping muscle needs to be strong to deliver oxygenated blood throughout the system enabling us to move around, digest nutrition, and even think. A fit person has a resting pulse rate of about 60-80 heartbeats a minute. However, unfit people’s hearts have to beat much faster to deliver the same volume of blood flow because the muscle is weak.  When we exert ourselves by walking up comprised of more fats and animal products, these coronary arteries have a tendency to get congested with plaque that sticks to their walls as we get older. This cholesterol thus causes them to narrow in places where there are deposits, causing high blood pressure, along with much scarier conditions. Where there is this narrowing (like someone standing on a garden hose), the pressure builds up in the area causing your heart to have to work harder to get the blood past the obstacle.a hill or a flight of stairs, our hearts beat faster because they have to pump more blood to the muscles in our extremities. Obviously, unfit people will find this exhausting and in extreme cases can experience heart failure with too much exertion. Often this is a wake-up call for diagnosing heart disease when people can’t manage even easy exertion and have grey complexions indicating lack of oxygen delivery to the skin. But if you exercise regularly, your heart will be strengthened and be able to meet the demands you put on it. Your heart will pump more blood per beat; it will be an efficient piece of equipment. Why allow your heart to fail you when daily exercise can often avert heart disease and other complications related to a weak circulatory system?

Now let’s examine exercise’s affect on our SKELETAL-MUSCULAR SYSTEM. Our Bones are living – unfortunately, we only usually see them when they belong to something that has died! They are constantly breaking down and building up. However, they won’t waste precious body resources making themselves stronger UNLESS they are stimulated to do so. Regular weight-bearing activities such as walking are good for this and can contribute to lowering the chances of the bone –thinning osteoporosis that afflicts both men and women. This aging disease is responsible for debilitating hip fractures and hunched over people barely able to walk because their spines cannot support them.
One of the most important roles of your muscles is to protect joints, this includes the joints of your spine. Our so-called core muscles should be capable of stabilizing our pelvic area so that lower back pain isn’t an inevitability as we age or engage in strenuous exercise!

Also, the discs in between each vertebra are dependant on your muscles moving on a regular basis as this is how they receive the nutrients and exchanges that they need – nutrients are literally squeezed in while toxins are squeezed out!

How often do we need to exercise to maintain our skeletal-muscular health? The recommendations vary from one study to another but depending on the type of exercise, 30 minutes to an hour a day of cardio-vascular exercise (including walking, biking, sports … anything that raised the heart rate and moves the joints) is a good goal to aim for. Add core-building exercise into the mix so you have better balance, can recover from potential fall situations, and can lift heavy items safely. You may want to get a set of light weights (find out how to use them safely), bands or a ball, and aim for two to three sessions weely. You can get great benefit from classes offered at gyms, TV exercise classes, or Pilates or yoga CDs that can be practiced in the comfort of your home. The main issue is to start, schedule your time to make exercise a habit, find routines or sports you enjoy, mix them up to keep it interesting, and work your way up gradually to more strenuous work-outs. We have literature at our office and links below to help you get started, but before you begin anything physical, ask Dr. Sheppard and your family physician if you’re able. And remember that regular chiropractic care can help you become more active and physically fit.

Added to all this, the body needs regular activity to REGULATE BLOOD SUGAR (thereby lowering the chances of type 2 diabetes. In fact, even if diabetes has already occurred, it’s still possible - in most cases - to improve the intensity of the disease with exercise and diet.
Our BRAINS also benefit from exercise, we think more clearly, are less depressed, enjoy more ‘feelgood’ endorphins. Following recent scientific research, it also seems that regular activity and mental challenges can help to keep dementia at bay.

In summary poor health is not an automatic result of aging – especially if we follow the Pillars of Good Health – remaining physically active, eating nutritious food, getting adequate sleep, breathing fresh air, drinking enough pure water, and enjoying a strong social network. Being active often brings us into contact with others who share the same desire: to feel well at any age.
Just recently a 100 year old man finished the 42 kilometre Toronto Marathon. He might have finished last in the competition, but he finished first in terms of his health and conditioning, So like it or not, as we age we must work a little harder at enabling the body to function well at this time of life by regular activity.  As noted earlier, we human animals were designed to move. An increasing body of research has shown us that cultures in which older people stay active well into old age have far fewer incidences of lifestyle diseases.

Like the Velveteen Rabbit, we may look a little worn (or well loved) as the years pile on, but with a small amount of preventive exercise, we need not lose our mobility.

 CORE-STRENGTHENING EXERCISE LINKS  

www.chiropracticcanada.ca (see “Fit in 15”)

www.exerciseprescriber.com