There is a phrase that I hear a lot at the gym these days. It usually involves someone, typically over the age of 35,  sitting on a chair or stool, red faced and sweaty at the end of a workout, saying variations on “Oh man, I’m too old for this.” The “this” in question can be anything from tennis or running to basketball, swimming or squash. But while the sport may vary the reason behind the statement does not – the body in question has taken a beating and doesn’t want to do it any more.

Ouch!

But here’s the amazing part. Next time I go to the gym I see those same fellows – and it’s always men because they don’t allow women in our locker room and for some reason the club won’t allow me in the women’s locker room to see if the same thing happens there  – doing the same activity, hurling their body around and bruising and battering it all over again.

Too old for what?

There’s an almost ritualistic quality to it. They tell themselves they are too old to do that kind of physical activity, and then go out and do it any way to prove they are not too old, or maybe just to say “Well, I may be too old but what the heck it’s too much fun to stop now.” It’s as if they are using the notion of “too old” to psych themselves up for the activity.

None of us are kidding ourselves that running or swimming or biking or playing basketball are age-defying activities. Our knees and backs and and ankles are constant reminders that we are not turning back the clock, that we no longer bounce back as quickly as we used to, that the things we could get away with in our youth no longer apply. Instead there’s a kind of wonderful “oh heck, who gives a tinker’s curse” approach. Everything wears out sooner or later and the more you do the greater the odds are that it will be later. And even if it isn’t then at least you can have fun along the way.

There’s endless studies out there that show if you exercise regularly you are better able to cope with stress, less likely to get heart disease or diabetes or even cancer, more likely to lead a longer, better quality life.

But to be honest, I’ve never heard anyone in the gym lift a weight and says “take that cancer” or chase a ball in tennis or basketball and say “wow, this greatly reduces the likelihood that I might develop type 2 diabetes in the upcoming year”. No, most people are doing what they are doing because they enjoy what they do or how it makes them feel.

Ice ice baby!

There’s a kind of camaraderie among us, sitting around after a tough workout,

Ankle, on the rocks!

bags of ice strapped to different parts of our body, trying to calm down the flaring and inflamed muscles and tendons and whatever else we injured.

It’s almost as if there’s an unspoken agreement among us. Yeah, we probably are too old for this. But what the heck, see you next time.

Sometimes it feels as if you can’t turn around without bumping into another study that tells you how wonderful exercise is. Most of it is stuff you probably already know – at least it is if you read Health and Simple regularly – but once in a while you come across some fun new benefit that makes you think “cool”.

We’ll get to that in a minute.

But first.. Just Being Fat Increases a Kids Risk of Heart Disease
Now, we all know that more and more children are becoming overweight or even obese. Not just here in the U.S. but throughout Europe and other developed and affluent nations. Now a new study says the consequences of that may be far graver than we thought.

The study, in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism, found that as early as age 7, being obese may raise a child’s risk of future heart disease and stroke, even if they don’t have any other risk factors for cardiovascular problems such as high blood pressure.

That’s a wake-up call to parents, schools and pediatricians that they need to be more aggressive in working with kids with weight problems, to tackle them early and often so that those kids don’t grow up overweight or obese. The longer the problems persist, the greater the risk of future health problems.

Now, the news that fat kids start showing signs of heart disease early on is not new. But this adds an extra wrinkle. This shows that even if the kids are otherwise healthy and show no other indications of heart problems, just being fat shows they are heading for a world of health problems, unless we act quickly.

Move More Live Longer, and Healthier
OK, stop me if you heard this before. Exercise or physical activity is linked to a friggin’ host of wonderful things such as reduced risk of:

• arthritis
• falls
• fractures
• heart disease
• lung disease
• cancer
• diabetes
• obesity
• watching the Kardashians (OK, the evidence isn’t all in on this one but hopefully if you workout regularly you won’t have time to watch this dreadful, awful, scripted “reality” show) (note from Shirl:  I kinda like it…love the make-up!)

But now a bunch of new studies in the Archives of Internal Medicine show that exercise can have benefits in all sorts of fun, new ways

• Among women who are 70 or older, those who exercise regularly during middle age are healthier in many areas of health from less risk of chronic disease to lower risk of heart problems or dementia
• Exercise programs are associated with denser bones in older women. Why is that good? Because stronger bones mean less likely of fracture or other serious problems if you fall – either fall in love or fall in the shower
• Here’s my favorite. Resistance training can improve some cognitive skills in older women. This is such a cool study. The researchers found that doing resistance training just once or twice a week can not only improve attention and concentration skills among older women, but it can also improve conflict resolution skills. Amazing eh. Better conflict resolution skills. But then I figured that no one wants to argue with an old woman who’s built like Arnold Schwarzenneger so maybe that explains it. But what a cool granny eh!