A Strong, Active Body Helps Build a Strong, Active Mind

This week's Newsweek has a done a nice job of emphasizing and summarizing the critical part that physical exercise plays in brain fitness. It's true: whatever is good for our hearts is twice as good for our brains. Exercise helps our bodies efficiently route oxygen to our hearts and brains. I, for one, believe that the complexities of everyday exercises and sports, like walking or dancing or swimming, call on multiple cognitive and physical skills, which we keep trying to separate but are forever and crucially entwined. They should just go together, along with nutrition, as important pieces of the fitness puzzle.

I like the suggestion in the article of an "exercise snack plan": run up and down steps in your house during a TV commercial, walk around your office floor, pace when you talk on the telephone, etc. Hopefully, these will be taken as starters or supplements with ramp-ups in activity the goal.

I personally find that regular exercise enables me to sleep less, sleep better, de-stress, makes my mood more positive and balanced, and energizes me. How can all of that not be good for my brain? Nevermind the other skills needed for my dance class, for example: long-term memory of the basic routine and choreography, concentration (or I'll look like a fool), balance, rhythm, short-term memory to adapt to my partner or the teacher's instructions, hand-eye coordination, visual-spatial skills so I don't bump into the other people, deductive reasoning (what comes next in the sequence?), etc., etc. Wonderful cross-training for the mind and the body and the mind-body connection.

Of course, the danger is that folks will think physical exercise is the magic bullet for brain fitness. As the Newsweek article points out, "Having a big, gorgeous, healthy brain isn't enough, of course; it also has to be full." Yep, exercising those neurons (also called learning) once we've gone them is also a must.

Boomers Put Our Own Twist on Exercise

I've just returned from my health club. My NIA teacher didn't show up (a rare occurrence) so I headed for the weight room where I flipped through magazines and chatted with one of my fellow NIA classmates, while zipping along on the recumbent bike for 20 minutes, scooted through the weight machines, and then headed to the pool for a swim. For some reason, I started noticing that 99% of the people in the room were leading-edge Boomers. Then I began to think about how weight rooms had changed. No more Nordic Track machines. Only one stair-climbing machine and one stationary bike. Now, there are stretching machines, rows of recumbent bikes (great for weak or injured knees), elliptical motion training machines (also good on knees), and big orange and green plastic balls for Pilates and yoga stretches. And of course, many more weight machines. Only one young woman was running on one of the old treadmills.

It turns out my observations are on the money. The research folks at American Sports Data inform me that "older Americans are transforming the landscape of physical fitness." It turns out that the number of people who are 55 belonging to health clubs surged by 33% from 1999-2004 whereas the 18-34 crowd had zero growth in memberships.

". . .the compound measurement of Yoga/Tai Chi has grown by 118% . . . . At 11.2 million participants, Recumbent Cycling, a particularly back-friendly exercise. . . has grown 66%. . . . surpassed only by Fitness Walking and Aquatics." And the conclusion? "Mature exercise enthusiasts are not merely playing havoc with abstract fitness statistics; they are rocking the foundations of fitness facilities across the U.S. "

Interesting facts: Pilates participation has increased 506% during the period of the research report, elliptical training machines, 306%, Yoga, 118%, Nordic ski machines, -40%, aerobic rider exercise, -58%, stair-climbing machines, -29%.

These are great trends to contemplate. Boomers as a group are continuing to value physical exercise and fitness as one important key to a vibrant, active life. And, if we need to find new exercises that put less strain on our joints and backs, then we find them and we continue to stay fit. Boomers may yet succeed at making the concept of wellness and prevention a perfectly natural part of our culture and thinking.

Boomeritis

Thanks to Boomer Chronicles for alerting me to Boomeritis, defined by Prime Time Fitness as "a quasi-disease of aging Baby Boomers who are refusing to slow down."

A different attitude has helped me. Aerobic used to be the name of the game for me: backpacking with 40-pound packs up steep mountains, running miles and miles and miles, etc. Now, I swim, love yoga and Pilates and NIA. I still cycle but do so sensibly and enjoy myself on the long hauls with lots of time for lunch and rest stops. The author of Boomer Chronicles, Rhea, recently went on a 32-mile ride. If she cycled with friends, stopped and had lunch and rested whenever she felt like it, it sounds lovely. I do day-hikes now, without huge backpacks. I still love kayaking and whitewater canoeing. But I don't run and I try not to compete with everyone in sight (still hard but I'm trying to be disciplined). I also don't play pick-up basketball any more to show off (I fail at that now). I actually enjoy walking my dogs in the neighborhood. And gardening, too. And I'm thinking of trying Tai Chi because I know balance is so important. I skied until I hurt my knee about five years ago but would like to ski again, with a new, more relaxed attitude. I think I can, this year. One of the best things about skiing anyway is just to have the cold air blowing on my face and the great views unfolding before me as I glide down the mountain. I'll take brush-up lessons first.

Both of my parents had very severe arthritis and I've been determined to avoid it as much as possible. So far, so good. I think regular, and varied, exercise has been one of the best preventive things I could have done. I have a friend who recently defined me as "an athlete" although most people don't know that side of me. I like the idea that I've changed my own definition of what is meant by "athlete." I like the adventure of trying all kinds of new approaches to exercise.

I know exercise is every bit as good for my head as it is for my heart. I wish everyone knew that our brains need more oxygen than our hearts and that physical exercise also tones and flexes many cognitive skills, too . Sad how few folks get the connection.