Do sports played over a lifetime help us live longer?

Liam reminds me smiles lead to
longer lives

Tennis anyone?

 Gretchen Reynolds writing for the NYT health reports on recent studies looking at common sport actives people may do throughout their lives. These sports include "cycling, swimming, running, tennis, soccer and, perhaps unexpectedly, badminton." How do these activities compare with the lifestyle of sedimentary living? The study was done in Denmark, England and Mayo Clinic. It involved 8600 people, in Britain 80,000 men and Mayo Clinic looked at both studies with their own on jogging and racket sports. Information collected over 25 years. 

Before I show you what they reported I think it is fair to think the lifestyle of a person who involves sports that involve social connections that differ from a person who does solitary sports like jogging, swimming, cycling. People who continue a consistent program of fitness will be different from those who are more sedimentary. When somebody becomes sedimentary may be a factor as well. 

For example in my own case walking and sports that I did when I was young gave me benefits I have experienced all my life. Playing tennis and racketball into my 40's and developing the habit of hiking and walking with Barb has helped me in my 50's and 60's. The challenges I now face will determine my 70's and beyond. (Thinking positive here)

The numbers below are compared to those who are sedimentary. 

Sport	Years gained
Cycling	3.7 years
Running	3.2 years
Tennis	9.7 years
Badminton	6.2 years
Soccer	5 years

Do people participating in sports through out life also have more money and resources for health? Is a

Playing for GRSBM 1979

question raised in the article. There may be many reasons connected with these activities that make a difference. The researchers consistently thought social connection may favor team sports. The article ends with the following quote, “Raising your heart rate is important” for health, he says. “But it looks like connecting with other people is, too.”

There are many studies that refer to the benefits of social contacts and health. I played, coached tennis for a long time. Right now I don't see myself returning to the courts. Competitive sports will change as we age. Injuries, joints, and fitness all weigh in for me. I had to change my activities. 

Longevity matters when wee talk about a lifetime. When we get older I think the shift changes to daily living. If you are under 50 I think you can change your life span. Changes we make when we are older matter too. If not why should I take the time to share these things. The shift to day by day has it's value too. "Teach us to number our days carefully so that we may develop wisdom in our hearts." ps. 90:12 

Does cycling help me today? Will it make tomorrow a little bit better. Can I find and do activities that create interest and movement? The biggest underlying idea for me is can I build new friendships and stimulate old ones? Keep walking

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/05/well/move/the-best-sport-for-a-longer-life-try-tennis.html?action=click&module=Associated&pgtype=Article&region=Footer&contentCollection=Phys%20Ed

https://www.mayoclinicproceedings.org/article/S0025-6196(18)30538-X/fulltext

How do you live a century and be married for 80 years? Some clues are in the writing

Vivian & Donald Hart

I can still hear David's big laugh.

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich. (WOOD) — Two 99-year-olds celebrated their 80th wedding anniversary on Sunday, making them the longest-living couple in the state, according to their family.

How did this couple live so long? I think there are clues in the story.

Isn't that remarkable to live 99 years and be married someone for eighty years. It doesn't happen that often. They were born in 1918 or late 1917. World War I was in progress. They are married in 1937. The country was still in the grip of the depression. Grand Rapids was the city of churches where people did attend.

Hitler, Mussolini, and Japan formed an alliance  that would soon put the war at war. What were their stories during the war? 

Donald Hart and his wife, Vivian, reminisced about the eight decades they’ve spent together while looking through old photo albums Friday in Grand Rapids. But for the couple, the albums are only the tip of the memory iceberg. They are still living at home. They have the health and strength to still be able to do this.

The Harts today

The Harts’ relationship blossomed in the 1930s. Donald Hart was leaving church when a group of “gals from out of town” needed some help home. But just giving out directions wasn’t his style.

“We said, ‘Aw, shoot. Why don’t we just walk you there?’ So we ended up walking them way across town,” he said. “We were just going to [walk] a little ways and then quit, but we ended up going all the way.”

He served in the Air Force and was drafted in World War II before spending more than 20 years at American Seating.

David Hart a Friend and brother from
GRSBM still has hair 

Vivian Hart, a chalk artist and avid reader, is most known for her unwavering love her family — especially her kids.

24 Hour News 8 spoke with the Harts’ oldest and youngest sons, who both touted their parents’ strength, forgiveness, and commitment to their family and church.

For the  Harts, having faith and living it out may be one key in their longevity. They were committed to bring their family up for Christ. They lived out their faith as well as they shared it. They were poor but not impoverished. They were provided with blessing where one of the cornerstones of their home was fun. 

David was one of the early morning crew at the Commons (GRSBM cafe on Campus) having coffee and debating the fine points of theology. David was one who interjected a lot of laughter. He had a good sense of humor. I believe he shared his families' faith and commitment to challenge their children to live for the Lord.

“When I look back on it, I think, ‘Boy, we were really poor,’” eldest son Don Hart said. “When [my dad] first got out of the military, I was 7 years old. We lived in a dinky house — it had been a chicken coop. We didn’t have things, but we had a lot of fun.”

In a life well lived we see that they were creative, reading and art. They cared for their family throughout their life. Words like commitment, strength (to pull through the hard times) and lived out forgiveness (I take it to mean they did not hold grudges and anger.) These are good principles that definite lead to a longer, healthy lives. Even nearly 40 years ago their children were loving their parents and I am sure they helped care for them as Vivian and Donald got older. Love that is returned always is good for our health. Keep walking

The black print is the article from the Grand Rapids newspaper. The blue ink are my musings.

The internet can be good

One of the newspaper postings I get links stories from the Washington Post on health. One helpful article is titled, "It Is Family Not Friends Who May Help You Live Longer." Within the article linked were two studies supporting how longevity is improved with family and also friends. 

When we retire being alone can be one of our biggest enemies. We can benefit from reduced stress from work, but I suspect there is a people element in our work that is good for us. Studies in health are often a numbers game. Exercise, Family, Friends, or lack of has an impact on our longevity.

Two of the studies followed people 6 years after retirement. The other study look at social connection throughout life.

Often social media and the Internet is criticized for people posting off-the-wall kind of stuff and bad information. In my own way, I like to push back a little bit and look for many of the good benefits of social media and internet research. In the fatman blog I focus on things that concern an old man about life and health. 

In my Liberian posts I am pursuing my passions to help Liberians fulfilling a lifetime ambition to serve the Lord anyway I can and show His love and care. I trained to be a missionary in psychology and pastoral care. As a missionary, education and medicine play a part.

As we age it is good to know what helps us and what doesn’t. 

If we are connected to the family only 6% of us will die in our first six years. If we do not have a good family connection then it is 14% more likely that we will die in the first six years. 

Being a cub fan I have seen the Cubs under bad management. There were so many mistakes every game and that added up to more losses then wins. This year we have good players but I've also seen the difference in having a good manager. 

In health I have seen an analogy that we are players. The coaches and manager could be our health team. If we look at good reports and information, we have a better ability to make good decisions on the field of life. No doctor or manager can replace our involvement in our health plan. 

Having a strong family

One of my health advisers

supporting us can improve our chance to survive six years after retirement by 8%. There is no guarantee, but if we know the numbers, that may help us pay attention to the importance of family when we get older. 

We are better off being connected socially with others in church or other interest groups. Loneliness can be like sedimentary living, bad eating habits, and smoking. If we make the right choices concerning these things we improve our chances. 

I think you will find the following articles from the Washington Post interesting. This connection was made possible by the Internet. Think of the Internet is a tool. If we learn to use it can be a great benefit. As always keep walking
Reviewed by Barb Reeves RN.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/08/22/its-family-not-friends-who-may-help-you-live-longer-study-says/?wpisrc=nl_lean&wpmm=1

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/01/05/your-relationships-are-just-as-important-to-your-health-as-exercising-and-eating-well/?tid=a_inl

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/to-your-health/wp/2016/02/16/joining-a-book-club-church-or-sports-group-linked-to-longer-life-after-retirement/?tid=a_inl

Big idea keep moving

According to an article from the Wall Street Journal, Why Life Expectancy Keeps Rising, http://www.wsj.com/articles/why-life-expectancy-keeps-rising-1421726465 it appears as if we're living 1.5 years longer and we did in 2000. That improvement is over short period of time. Longevity has its limits which is why we should enjoy each day. Improvement seems to come because were better at dealing with heart disease cancer and strokes. Consistent with what I've been reading there is a recommendation to improve muscle strengthening as we get older. Having muscle improves our quality-of-life.

A hot topic in health last couple years has taken a closer look at sedimentary living. Sedimentary living is considered to be the new smoking in changing lifestyles for better health. We can be healthy with fat for a while but overtime obesity will hurt our health. When I think about any bad habit that we may acquire over life the results seem to multiply will age. If we partied hard we were younger we pay the fiddler when we get older. But maybe sedimentary living can be a new enemy for us when we retire. Now granite we may have issues with our work environment being sedimentary. The rocking chair may actually becoming at the wrong time. When get older we need to keep moving. 

So here we are, an article, Sedimentary Behavior Trumps Fat as a Killer http://www.chicagotribune.com/la-sci-sn-sedentary-behavior-fat-death-20150115-story.html by Melissa Healy from the Chicago Tribune, where she sites evidence that really affects obese people but also can have a deadly effect on thin people. So if your waistline is under 40 for man or 35 for a woman don't think you're immune if you're sedimentary. We were created to move Leslie Sansone often says. For me I have to eat to live and be more effective losing weight. 

http://www.chicagotribune.com/la-sci-sn-sedentary-behavior-fat-death-20150115-story.html

All of us need to move when we are 50s and older. It is real easy to encounter problems that can slow us down. If aging is the reason we're slowing down, what I find interesting is as we adapt how reasonable new goals can be established. Walking for short periods throughout the day can I have a major impact on her health. Another strategy if we can walk 20 minutes a day it can make all the difference in the world. Strength training can be real simple using household products to exercise all parts of our body. Getting dumbbells, resistance bands and I've talked about suspension training are always we can adapt strength training. Doing push-ups off the counter, or even off-the-wall standing straight can offer resistance that helps us. The further you move your feet back the more resistant sure you will have. If you have a walker, you can do squats from a comfortable chair in the support of your walker. 

For senior fitness, you have your doctor, and if you have need of a physical therapist your doctor will work with you on that. There are a lot of good websites that have good information about senior fitness. You can go to your library and there are resources there. I know what the local senior citizens Center there is support. I will keep throwing out a lot of ideas, but you and your doctor have to decide what's right for you. The main thing I am saying there are a lots of ways to put moving into your life. Keep walking