Be Happy Even When Gray

November 15th, 2011

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“No longer forward nor behind I look in hope and fear;

But grateful take the good I find,

The best of now and here.” – John G. Whittier.

I don’t know if Mr. Whittier directed those wonderful lines to elderly people like me. At 63 yrs of age, I certainly feel alluded to. Don’t you think so?

If there’s a time in a man’s life that he takes “happiness” as a state of being rather than of having, it is when he is old and gray.

At this age our lights can go off anytime, our breaths, our last. So while we feel the warmth of sunshine against our face and hear the birds sing, why not make a sunshine within ourselves so others can hear our souls sing like a lark attracting a mate?

I know it’s a tall order for most. It’s like asking one to dance the bogey on a pair of arthritic legs. I feel it sometimes, as a matter of fact. But to give in is to surrender and surrender I won’t, till I drop.

So here are a few things I urge guys of my age do to be happy even when gray:

Never even think that you are old:

To do so would be to put yourself in a box – a box of old toys, used clothing and other relics of the past which are too precious for the thrash can but worthless for a garage sale.

Think of yourself as a person who’s seen and done much and whose data base is full of wisdom so timeless and precious to enrich the lives of those around you – assuming, of course, that you lived a full life.

Learn to live with diversity:

I am blessed with two kids, a girl and a boy. They grew up with the same love and caring and the discipline of boot camp. Yet they grew up to be entirely different in a lot of things in life.

Being a widower I have to be both father and mother to two adult people who  love me so much, I think, that they still refuse to marry.

I have learned to accept not to create a fuss when my daughter will just announce that she is going to Singapore to visit a friend or my son to sleep over at his fiancée’s house.

Uuugggghhhh! The things young people do these days.

Be alone, but not lonely:

Of the inescapable facts of being an elderly, I find this the most difficult to cope with.

Both my children are out of the house most of the time, leaving me alone. The look in my wife’s face a few seconds before she died has remained a default in my brain; of how I dragged her to the car hoping that she will be revived when we get there.

These and many other crazy things I did can easily creep into my mind, making me feel melancholic and suicidally lonely

I keep them at bay by switching my mental channels and think, instead, of healthy, productive, happy and life-giving thoughts.

Take up a hobby or pastime:

As a freelance writer, a blogger and online business entrepreneur, I am well-covered.

On the side, I donate something to an orphanage to give hope to young kids.

We are all gifted with something. Find out what is yours and exploit it to the fullest. Never, ever, be glued in front of a TV set munching on something that gives you nothing but a stronger desire to do nothing.

Keep fit:

There’s nothing like a healthy body to make a healthy mind. Compromise one and you compromise the other.

At my age, I still play tennis, visit the gym and do tai chi.

Oh yes, my knees and hips are complaining. But it’s nothing that Tylenol couldn’t take care of.

Be sexually active:

There’s no doubt that sex is one of the determinants of being happy and fit. Let not the tolls of age worry you. Science can take car of that.

But nothing can take care of a mind that has given up on the spice that gives life a wonderful flavor.

Our needs diminish as our age increase. It means we are no longer burdened with having to make a choice among a lot of alternatives.

Which means that if given the choice between making an endless string of visits to my doctor or sit in a coffee shop and watch an endless flow of beautiful girls pass by, I would take the second choice anytime? Wouldn’t you?

Donate $ 1.00 and give an orphan a life


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Exercise Tips to Control Diabetes (Part 1)

June 28th, 2011

Today, while having my regular afternoon coffee, a news item caught my attention. It was about the doubling of diabetes cases this year compared to the same period last year. I have long developed the habit of treating any news item with pessimism. Not diabetes. With so many diabetics among my friends and acquaintances, it’s got to be true.

Diabetes, a quick tour:

Diabetes is chronic disease characterized either by the body’s inability to produce insulin or inefficiently use what it produces. There are three kinds:

Type 1 diabetes occurs when the body’s immune system destroys the cells in the pancreas that produce insulin. A person with type 1 diabetes can’t make insulin and has to take it from the outside. This is very rare and accounts for only about 5 to 10 percent of all diagnosed diabetes. It is common among children and young adults, but it can occur at any age. People with this type of diabetes can still live healthy lives and avoid or experience few complications.

Type 2 diabetes occurs when the body cannot efficiently use the insulin it produces. It accounts for 90 to 95 percent of all diabetes and normally develops after the age of 40. Though experts are still trying to determine its exact cause(s), of the cases are overweight, sedentary or has a family history.

Recent studies show that diet and exercise can prevent or delay the onset of this diabetes type.

Gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy. About 3 to 5 percent of women develop gestational diabetes when pregnant. It usually goes away when the baby is born. The bad part is that it can develop into type 2 diabetes as the woman gets older. About 40 percent of them do. Women with gestational diabetes go on a diet to control it. In severe cases, insulin may be taken. But caution is necessary if medication is taken to avoid harming the baby.

Benefits of exercise to diabetics:

Exercise is beneficial to all, especially to diabetics. While it is easy to just pop in a pill to control their sugar, exercise can be the best thing for diabetics for the following reasons:

-    It burns calories resulting to weight loss or the maintenance of a healthy weight;

-    If done regularly, it helps the body respond to insulin and effectively manage blood glucose levels, possibly reducing or eliminating the need for medication;

-    It improves blood circulation, especially in the arms and legs where diabetics can have problems;

-    It reduces cholesterol and blood pressure – the essential elements of a heart attack or a stroke;

-    It helps reduce stress which can raise the body’s glucose levels;

-    Exercise, when combined with a good diet, has shown to control type 2 diabetes without the need for medications.

I have seen what unmanaged diabetes can do to a person. A friend went blind; another developed liver problems and has to go through expensive dialysis session each week. Many have died.

I have seen, too, what exercise can do for them. A few members of my tennis club are diabetics. Some bring along biscuits to munch on when they feel it coming; others have insulin within easy reach. Though not all drink alcohol, at least one can stay up until late nights loading up on beer. They have one thing in common – they laugh their diabetes away.

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Health Tips for the Brain (Part 2)

June 9th, 2011

A social networking friend hopes to find peace of mind. I told her that peace of mind cannot be found. It has to be created. At the end of the day, the decision to have healthy thoughts or to have a healthy brain, or both, rests entirely in each one of us.

Having healthy thoughts is entirely personal while having a healthy brain is rather general. This post, a continuation of the previous one, deals with some of the widely-accepted ways to achieve better mental health.

Vary your food intake:

Variety is always interesting, especially in your diet, and it assures full servings of the micronutrients our body needs. Vary your carbohydrate sources from bread, cereal, potatoes, rice or others. In between, have plenty of fruits and vegetables.

Have some read meat and fish for protein and vitamin B12 and other nutrients associated with good mood. If you’re a vegetarian have enough soy mince and yeast extract to increase your vitamin intake.

Eat fish:

Some studies suggest that omega 3 may reduce depression symptoms in people on depression on antidepressant drugs.

If fish is fried, use monounsaturated oil from olives or rapeseed. If tinned fish is preferred, buy those in water, brine or tomato sauce rather than in sunflower oil.

Omega 3 oil can also be taken from supplements in case you don’t like fish. Buy those that high in vitamin A and eicosapenanoic (EPA) acid.

Keep a healthy and steady weight:

Depression can make other people lose interest in food while others develop a compulsion to eat. Excessive weight loss or gain can give people mood swings. Weight loss and poor nutrition will deprive the brain of glucose and other nutrients that control mood.

Overweight people should limit their fat and sugar intake, reduce alcohol consumption and increase exercise level.

Drink enough water:

An adult loses about 2.5 liters of water a day through the lungs as water vapor, perspiration and urination. This has to be replenished by drinking as much or more of water every day. Even a mild dehydration affects feelings and behavior.

Caffeine (in coffee, soda, some energy drinks and tea), can boost energy levels. In large quantities it increases blood pressure, induce anxiety, depression symptoms and sleep problems. It has also a diuretic effect making you lose more water through urination.

If you must take it, limit your caffeine intake (3 – 4 cups a day) and drink other fluids like fruit juice and other non-stimulating herbal teas.

Minimize your alcohol intake:

Alcohol is a depressant and can worsen your mood. It also has a toxin that has to be deactivated by the liver. During this detoxification process, the body uses thiamin, zinc and other nutrients depleting the body’s reserves, especially among people with poor diet.

Thiamin and other vitamin deficiencies can cause low mood, irritability and/or aggressive behavior, as well as possible long-term mental health problems.

Regular exercise:

Exercise releases endorphins – those feel-good chemicals in the brain making us feel relaxed and happy. Outdoor exercises also expose us to sunlight affecting the pineal gland which boosts mood.

It is good in controlling our weight, beneficial to the heart, prevents loss to bone mass minimizing the risk of osteoporosis.

The benefits of exercise need not be elaborated further. What is difficult to comprehend is the reluctance of a lot of people to take a hike, get on that bike, mow the lawn, swim a few laps around the pool and many other things that can make them feel better, physically and mentally.

Latest social developments have recognized the need for coming up with devices and contrivances for the physically handicapped so that they will not be limited in the pursuit of their dreams. Unfortunately, these contrivances and devices for the mentally handicapped are still within the confines of research laboratories. They haven’t come up with a cure for Alzheimer’s. So next time you put on you jogging shoes and your sweat shirt let it be both for your physical and mental health. Losing the latter is losing everything.

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What She Wants…What He Wants

September 25th, 2010

An interesting mix:

One of the social networking sites I subscribe to is about health issues. And it is interesting to know what men and women are most concerned with, health-wise. Among men, penis enhancement, weak erection, improvement in sex performance, etc are issues often raised.  Women, on the other hand, have vaginal health, menstrual cycle problems, contraceptive effects on health and other esoteric things like hormonal imbalance, endometrioses, lipid fat and so on. They do, however, share one interest – to have flatter tummies.

A problem defined is a problem solved:

Most people will, at some time in their lives, experience an excess amount of fat around the belly Though older people sometimes look regal with a bulge, younger people are a disaster, appearance-wise. I never had a fat-tummy problem simply because of self-talk. I talk to myself that I shall never be seen in public if my tummy grows to obscene proportions. Somehow it has worked for the last 62 years.

But people with fat tummy problems, though they desire otherwise, find it not such a big deal to tote that extra weight around. So why do a lot of people have this problem? It is because of one or all of the following:

1.  Over-eating:

“I eat out of need, not out of greed,” I tell my friends each time they commend me of having kept a steady weight all these years.

At church one day, I saw an excessively overweight young girl who gorged on a piece of donut given her by an aunt. She just didn’t bite on it, she thrust a good portion of it into her mouth.  That’s eating from greed, not of need. She will definitely grow up overweight, constantly nagged by her apparent hopelessness in having a sexier figure. Well, I would say, “her weight is entirely in her mouth.”

2.  Metabolic rates:

Metabolism is the process of converting the food we eat into energy. Some have high metabolism while others have low. I can hardly handle a good-sized drum stick but a friend can singlehandedly pick a roasted chicken to the bone. Yet he never gained a disproportionate weight. He had a high metabolic rate. Unknown to him though, he also built up arterial plaque faster than me. In his early 50s, he had a “multiple bypass.”

Food not sufficiently burned until the next meal will somehow find its way around the middle. The good news is that low metabolic rates can be upped through exercise.

3.  Lack of exercise:

At dinner the other night, I consumed a large amount of rice on top of the noodles that went with the fare. I was so full that I can hardly move. My daughter cautioned me on it. I told her not to worry because I will just burn them off at tennis the following day. And I did.

Nothing riles me so much than hear a blob ruefully talking about his excess weight, yet never lifting a finger in exercise.

4.  Stress:

I find this ludicrous but some people do turn to food to relieve stress. I have seen it often enough among people working in stressful hours. Overeating can result to huge amounts of hormones and chemicals in the body throwing off its fat-burning capabilities.

Feel stressed out? Do bio-feedback or take up yoga. This will have better long-terms effects than eating.

5.  Intolerance to certain food types:

Some food types, i.e., dairy products, yeast, gluten or sugar can make the stomach swell to unusual size. A person with bloated stomach will experience tightness in the abdomen, sometimes accompanied with pain. I have this sometimes, not worried the least because a good burp will normally ease things up.

People constantly having this problem must keep away from food types causing it, no matter how hungry they may be at the moment.

6.  Improper digestion:

People who “swallow” their food rather than chew on it have the tendency to grow extra weight around the waist. Food chewed improperly will not be improperly digested. This will ultimately be stored improperly in the body where they should not be. Drinking sufficient amount of water each day and loading up on digestive enzymes from outside, i.e., papaya, pineapple, etc, will help the body digest food more efficiently.

7.  Keep away from junk food:

When we went out to buy groceries, no junk food ever went into the cart. Now that my children are grown-ups they can sometimes lavish on little pleasures. But my house never was and is a storage place for junk food. These are devoid of energy-giving calories, yet loaded with things that can make one feel “full” but never really is, nutrition wise.

Still want to have flatter tummy?

You owe it to yourself. But before going into an expensive exercise routine or diet plan, take stock of what you are doing. Get rid of the things that you do which qualify, even remotely, to the things listed above. And if you are going to do it consistently enough, your dreams are as good as realities.

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Exercise for the Elderly

August 7th, 2010

“My lower back pains“

I have an off-on case of lower back pains. When and how it comes, I don’t know. What I do know is that I haven’t had this checked so far and that it typically lasts for a week or so. When it comes, walking straight is so excruciatingly painful and raising a leg to put on my underwear is an impossible task. But what is most aggravating is that it keeps me away from tennis, my regular exercise.

My sedentary friends and my daughter tell me that I am too old for this sport. But is someone, or anyone, too old to play tennis or any other sport, for that matter? If some people find sanity in walking over burning coals, I cannot find one in stopping, especially at my age.

More needed than before:

Nothing can be worse than for an elderly to fill the gap caused by retirement with idleness. It deteriorates the mind, then the body, ultimately the entire self. At the very least, exercise helps to get digestion and metabolism “moving.” It increases mobility and blood circulation. And if these benefits are not good enough, an elderly should pay heed of favorite commercial which says, “It doesn’t matter to be 50 as long as I look 30.” Yes, exercise can definitely make one look younger. My friends and acquaintances always mistake my young brother to be older than I.

Exercise routines for the elderly:

We are no longer spring chicken, alright, and basketball is not a very good way to achieve the desired ends. But there are low-impact and uncomplicated routines that can safely relieve joint pains, improve physical abilities like balance and coordination. Here are some of them:

1.  Aerobic exercises:

Best for maintaining or improving heart rates, aerobic exercises are also great in maintaining weight (or lose some), increase muscle strength, flexibility, mobility and circulation. As a bonus, it also allows one to be in the midst of very attractive women wanting to remain “sexy.”

2.  Weights:

This exercise regimen will forestall the decline in strength and muscle mass for decades. Advice from a physician is needed for people with arthritis, osteoporosis, high blood pressure or heart disease, and guidance from a physical fitness instructor is a must in managing the weights used in this exercise type.

3.  Yoga:

Yoga is a Sanskrit word which refers to the traditional physical and mental disciplines originating in India. It is associated with the meditative practices in Hinduism, Buddhism and Jainism. A long time ago, yoga was an esoteric word. Nowadays, there is a yoga center in practically all major cities in the world.

Though it still carries a certain degree of mysticism, yoga, these days, are taken to by most as a form of exercise combining the meditative characteristics of the mind with the stretching, breathing, relaxing needs of the body.

A friend in my college days taught me a yoga technique to fall asleep no more than five minutes after my back hits the bed. I still do it now.

4.  Cardio exercises:

Commercialization has resulted in the delineation and identification of a lot of similar things we do. Cardio exercise is one of them. By the name itself, it is intends to give strength to the cardiovascular system of which the heart is the superstar. Taking it generically, anything that makes one humph and pump is a cardio exercise – from the simple walking to the more demanding bicycling.

Exercise, hedging against expensive medical bills:

A guy I know plays a set of singles everyday. He is in his late 40s. Seeing him run all over the court, at his age, would make one ponder how much would he have been spending on drugs had he not been playing tennis until now.

Your guess is as good as mine.

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How to Keep the Elderly Happy and Healthy

July 31st, 2010

“The senior citizen in my Mom”

Before she had a kidney stone problem which led to her death, my Mom was the treasurer of the senior citizens chapter in our locality. Other than that, she embodied the entire elderly group. Never to shy away from any activity, always first on the dance floor at the beat of the first note, she was the pom-pom girl of the old and grey.

Yes, she was one of a kind so people like me will just have to do it differently to stay healthy and happy.

Staying healthy and happy:

Barring the effects of illness, our brains and bodies will undoubtedly reflect the onset of advanced years. Forgetfulness and lapses in memory, lack of focus and interest in a lot of things are a few manifestations of a brain grown tired after all those years of working for a living. Muscles start to soften, strength deteriorates, huffs and puffs are all that’s left with our stamina. And if our brains and bodies are not given the revving up, albeit, in different ways, they will soon erode and waste away until we reach the end-of-life point.

In a study done by the National Institute of Aging and the Journal of American Medical Association, it was shown that the difference between a relatively healthy 90 year-old person and that of a bed-ridden 70 year-old is lifestyle. Elderly people who are both mentally and physically active tend to live longer, and with a very high quality of life.

The following are simple things to exercise the elderly’s brain and body:

1.   Do crossword puzzles at night:

This a good exercise to keep brain cells active and continuously creating connections with other each other. Don’t get discouraged with your lack of vocabulary. Very soon it will grow and things will be easier and more fun;

2.   Learn something new:

Engage in online business and there is never a shortage of learning something new each day. If one is not into it, learn a new language or carpentry or needle-work. The Internet is never in shortage of self-learning “How To….”

3.   Learn a hobby:

I am a late photography enthusiast. No, not the point-and-shoot digital cameras flooding the market but the digital SLR (single lens reflex). If you think it is easy, try getting a reasonably decent picture of anything in diminishing light in Manual mode. The feeling of satisfaction of getting one makes my neurons happy beyond compare.

4.   Join bingo, bridge or card clubs:

Study after study have shown that people who socialize a lot live longer. The feeling of belonging is good for the soul and body.

5.   Exercise:

This is something an elderly should never do without. It can cover a very wide spectrum of physical activities from gardening, walking, swimming or competitive sports. The tennis club I belong to is good both for the body and mind. The ribbing one gets for a lost game can offset a saint’s composure.

In a coffee shop I frequent, is a group of five or six elderly women. They come together each afternoon to do their own “chatter.” I dare not eavesdrop on what they are talking about but by the happy look on their faces, they must have a helluva lot of good things to talk about.

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