GettingOn

Shakespeare’s words are still as current in today’s world as they were when he wrote them, “Age, I do abhor thee, youth, I do adore thee.”

If we are lucky we will all get older. One of the indignities of the ageing process is that bits tend to drop off, sag or simply malfunction. This is the modern take on Shakespeare’s seven ages of man, and we’re at number six. That means we are on the slippery slope, which is pretty bad, but nothing compared with what is sure to come when the teeth, eyes, gums, bladder and brain start to give out. If this is not yet happening to you it is, for sure, happening to people you care about, be it parents, grand parents or just someone you like or love. Help them to look after themselves.

Right now it feels like we should have a party just for waking up. A prize should be given to the old fart who can remember his name and a bonus given for sitting down without that noise coming out of our mouths, the sigh of contentment that reminds us how much like our parents and grand parents we really are.

It’s a special, secret joy to hear the list of ailments of friends who have a more extensive collection than you. This is not because you’re mean and nasty but rather, because this reflects the honest emotion that you’re just a little bit less unhappy than the other poor bastard.

My dad used to say that it was truly horrible to consider all the indignities of old age until you consider the alternative.

Is there anything we can do about the results of the advancing years?

Well, there are some deficiencies you can do nothing about. Your eyes will dim with the passage of time, your body does change and your memory will simply not operate in the same way it did when you were younger. However there are methods to deal with all of this.

The first and most important thing to do is to take some care of you. It is truly vital that even if you don’t have to do anything you should keep yourself busy. It’s just as vital to exercise your brain as any other part of your body. You must keep your mind active, it’s vital.

Nothing can replace a healthy diet and regular exercise. A healthy diet does not necessarily mean less food, but it should mean more of the right balance of food.

Exercise should means different things to us at different ages throughout our lives. When we’re small kids its about coordination, learning about team games, and how to contribute. It should be about fun and taking part. Recently a friend gave me pictures of myself in the under 11 boxing and football teams at Holland House school in Edgware. We both remember the time we spent taking part with enormous pleasure. I loved all the sport I was encouraged to do, except working out how to climb a rope in the gymnasium. Although I was about 8 at the time, I knew that it was physically impossible for me to take my body straight up a rope so why bother?

Next comes the stage when your body is naturally pretty fit and taking its strong adolescent shape. Now you compete and the harder the better. You learn to win and, perhaps more important, how to handle losing. Then you reach bodily maturity and you are competing because you want to. You’re enjoying the experience, and the benefits of taking part. In England we have lost some of this spirit but still do well enough to prove we haven’t lost all our fighting sprit part of which comes, I am convinced, from the playing fields of our youth.

There is another, not much discussed period after this, when you’re in your thirties. This is when you begin to fully understand your physical limitations but still get a ton of pleasure from taking part. Perhaps you are more suited to individual sporting pursuits rather than team sports. The latter now becomes more difficult to play except within your own age group. When you get injured it takes progressively longer to recover, and it also takes a little bit longer to get your wind back and for your heart rate to drop back to its resting norm.

Personally I played fairly competitive football until my mid to late thirties, and really enjoyed the experience until the injuries were taking forever to heal. There was then a big gap as I searched for something to replace the pleasure I had enjoyed. Eventually, and against my better judgment I was introduced to running (more like jogging) when I was in my early forties. This was also the time I quit smoking, which is probably just as well, as I would have probably killed myself had I tried to do both. The running, with gaps every so often, continued for many years. I started doing this purely for fitness but over an extended period it became an immensely enjoyable experience.

I suppose the first thing to go from the too constant pounding was my knees. They started to ache, and then, as if in sympathy, so did my feet. I developed strange aches and pains that wouldn’t stop until I stopped running. During this period I was introduced to exercise videos, and much to my amazement I enjoyed working out, despite the fact that I’d never enjoyed the gym. Now I happily work out about 4 to 6 times a week to some rather vicious Australian ladies on Sky Sports. Believe me their mix of aerobics, Pilates and outright sadism does the trick!

A great many of my friends and relatives do none of the above. They don’t exercise or have regular check ups and they would argue that they are just as fit and well as anyone else. Of course this is possible, but we are looking at probabilities. It is certainly true that regular exercise, a good diet and regular check ups will benefit the majority and anyone who says different is stupid, they might get lucky, but they’ll still be stupid!