The Journey Continues

Walking And Aging

         What a wonderful beginning of a new day!  I just returned from my hour-long morning walk.  During the hours when I walk I use a form of meditation, which concentrates on my deep breathing as I count my steps (perhaps it’s more like marching than “walking”)

1---- 2-----3-----4 (during which I breath in one deep breath)  

5---- 6---- 7-----8 (during which I breath out completely)

         It sounds simple but like other forms of meditation thoughts emerge during the process and I have to keep detaching from them and getting back on track. 

                                       Over and Over Again.

         The breathing part gets much needed oxygen into my brain and walking helps me keep my body in order and I’m  loosing weight.  The journey itself is wonderful; some but not all of it is along a path called Willoughby Trail. I then cross over a major highway on a walking bridge and I also like saying “hi” to some members of my neighborhood who are also out for their morning walks.

         Today, as is typical for me, I began surfing around the Internet to see if could find material about aging and exercise.  I found one!  I will cite some material from it in this blog entry.  The Article’s title is “On The importance of a positive view on aging for physical exercise among middle-aged and older adults”

         The article begins by telling us “Physical activity is one of the most important health behaviours associated with the prevention and management of chronic diseases in older adults.”  The question the authors ask is whether or not a positive view on aging (PVA) may contribute to a higher level of physical activity.  They examined some information from the German Aging Survey. One of the things they found was that “ For older adults PVA was particularly associated with more regular walking and increases of walking over time.” And check this. “..even older people with worse health walked just as regularly as those with good health, provided they had a positive view on aging. The results shed some light on recent findings about the importance of PVA for health and longevity.

         Finally the authors tell us that “…the finding that a PVA can motivate older people to physical exercise suggests that it remains important up to old age to see the gains in life – regardless of the age-related shift from striving for gains to balancing losses