Happy New Year!
Did you stay up to watch the ball drop? Most of my friends did not. I watched the Sydney, Australia fireworks on You Tube and then went to bed. We don’t stay up as late as we did when we were younger. Patterns and habits change as we age. Mostly that’s good since we learn from living life and can then make our lives and the lives of those around us better. We become wiser.
Our hair turns grey – although for some of us women over 60, our hair has been many colors over the years! Grey is just another one. We may have to write notes to ourselves to help us remember meetings, or what we need at the grocery store, or family’s birthdays. We may have also gained or lost some weight in the last several years. Muscle loss begins at age 30 and it’s more difficult to keep the weight off after menopause. Patterns need changing.
BUT the good news is that, right now, we know more about the human body than we ever did! Medical technology has become what we used to believe as science fiction! We can now become the bionic generation with new knees or more youthful hips due to medical progress. We have all the tools we need to continue to live healthy, joyful lives well into our 80’s.
Look at the groups of bike riders that you see riding scores of miles at least a couple of times a week. They’re mostly grey-haired guys and gals! Look at the people in your Yoga or Pilates classes, or playing pickleball. There are more people over 60 than not! There is a trend these days for people to keep fit and remain as healthy as possible and enjoy life as long as possible.
How do YOU feel about your aging?
If you have grandkids, do you want to be the “fun” grandma who gets down on the floor to play with them, who goes to their sporting events and supports their dreams, or who takes them on hiking adventures?
January is traditionally a time to look at our life and examine what we’ve done or haven’t done. It’s a time to celebrate the new patterns we’ve made – however small or big, and to plan for our continued good health in 2024.
We are wiser now. Let’s use that wisdom to learn the exercises that best suit our age group, to find an activity that gets our heart rate up and that we LOVE doing, so we’ll have fun getting fit.
Here are a few suggestions for your goal planning for this year:
- Write down what you are glad that you did for activity last year.
- Congratulate yourself for that.
- Write down another activity that you love or one that you’ve wanted to try – like pickleball.
- Decide to join a Pilates or Yoga class this year or join a hiking or biking group and make new friends.
It’s important for us to do some muscle building type of exercise (Pilates and Yoga) as well as an aerobic activity, but as I’ve mentioned before, we do NOT need to spend 30 minutes in the gym every day. Many studies have shown that we can do short bursts of exercise every day and remain fit and healthy.
Here’s a link for signing up for my Pilates class. Join us for a month and see what you think!
C’mon, let’s DO this!
I’ve included a video of an easy exercise from my Pilates class that you may want to start with for muscle building if you haven’t worked out in a while.
Best of Health,
Kathi
