Waking up this morning in Sewanee was wonderful. The view was nothing but white fog. Wind and light rain blowing across the bluff, I opened the windows and it feels great with a light breeze blowing though the house. Temperature about 68º.
For me, the thing about the athletic discipline and training is that it affects so many other aspects of lifestyle, far more than any job, artistic, or academic pursuit. It affects what, when, and how much I eat. It affects how well I sleep, and sleep affects how well I recover, heal, and train. My training schedule structures the day and affects when I eat and sleep and when my leisure time is. It affects my overall health - cardiovascular health, blood quality, disease prevention, longevity, aging, stress management, etc... I dare say I haven't aged at the same rate as my longtime colleagues at the college who are sedentary.
On the way back from Finland, I sat on the plane from Munich with a high level cancer researcher, a physician and medical college faculty. We talked about aging and disease. The gist of what he told me is that there is so much we don't know about disease and a lot of it is random. The cure is definitely on the genetic level and environment plays only a partial role. I told him I had some theories on disease prevention and lifestyle, he said, 'ok, let's hear them.' After telling him, he essentially agreed I was likely right or at least on the right track.
This is an expansion on what I told him:
Food and nutrition: eat less, maintain low body fat, intermittent fasting. Eat simple whole foods, read labels. Avoid anything fried, processed, burnt, refined, artificial. Know what you're putting in your mouth... READ LABELS! Avoid a lot of saturated and animal fat. Moderation, periods of plant based only nutrition. The more you eat, the more you want to eat. We've all experienced food so good that you want to keep eating long after you're full. Avoid such addictive foods. For me it's carbs, baked goods, bread, cereals, grains, pasta, chips, fries, etc... combine these things with either a lot of salt and sugar - even worse. I avoid at all costs things like pasta, french fries, boxed cereals, store made cookies and junk like that. I do like artisan bread - (typically with an ingredient list of just grain, salt, yeast, water) but when I'm getting down to low body fat, I eat no bread or starchy carbs. Losing the last 5 lbs is the toughest. There are so many good alternatives to choose. Like konjac noodles instead of wheat or rice noodles, purecane sweetener instead of sugar, ice cream made with protein powder and skim milk (with the Ninja Creami), etc... Also, eat foods that pass quickly through the digestive system... a slow digestive system has the potential to retain waste and for toxins to be absorbed by the blood stream and affect the quality of the intestinal lining. Exercise is also a stimulant for an efficient digestive system. I think any form of extremism or purism to a ridiculous extent is counterproductive. That includes everything from veganism to keto.
Exercise: A recent large scientific study again links longevity to vigorous exercise. LINK Further, I think that HIIT (high intensity) interval training that progressively pushes the heart rate to the max (160+ bps) for short (less than 5 min) periods of time 1 to 3X a week is extremely beneficial for cardiac health and for hormone production (HGH, testosterone). Such hormones are essential for healing and I believe also for disease prevention. As the Dr. mentioned, our success at disease prevention comes from the ability to heal and regenerate. Good natural hormonal levels (not artificially supplemented) are key to this ability. I think you can get away with higher lipid levels in the blood without having plaque stick to your arteries and heart when one engages in this type of exercise. Other benefits include a marked decrease blood pressure. Hours after workouts, my resting blood pressure plummets to very healthy levels, often below 108/60. Also, cross training - biking. swimming, weights, and just being up on your feet a decent part of the day, walking, things that require one to stand and move around are particularly good, like yard work, cleaning, building things, maintenance, etc... But, these things won't ever take the place of, or yield the benefits of high intensity training. As we age, sarcopenia (loss of muscle mass) is a natural condition that can be remedied by weight training. It also has benefits in producing a healthy and strong tendon and skeletal system. Again, resistance training with free weights or machines is not the best way to get high intensity training in my experience, unless you're rowing, stationary biking, or some machine where you can sprint.
General lifestyle:
- Sleep is huge. It is one area I'm always trying to improve on. It's important for both physical and mental health. Nothing is better than long and sustained sleep. Naps are ok and I get some, but I rarely sleep the recommended 8 hrs uninterrupted. Good sleep hygiene is important. Also, never having to set an alarm clock is good for me.
- Low stress, structure. Living in a natural environment, away from crowds, in and around nature, plants, trees, etc... is good. Asians call it 'forest bathing'. Having some structure but limited stressful responsibilities is good, a few days a week is just enough structure to keep one balanced and sleeping well. Working as most Americans do at 40+ hrs a week is too much IMO for optimum wellness. Having goals and projects to challenge the mind and give structure is import, as opposed to just mindless entertainment, like sedentary TV / media consumption. Also, constant traveling and living in an ever changing environment can be stressful, especially for short visits.
- Vigilance, evaluation, health care. Excellent health care in the US is available but varies significantly per region. Also, healthcare insurance and benefits are really uneven and inconsistent. The system definitely has flaws. However, preventative medicine is just common sense. Health issues like cancer, blood pressure, heart disease and other diseases can go unchecked and do far worse damage than if they are found and dealt with sooner. I really think the yearly physical and blood work is the bare minimum and would like to see real time blood monitoring come to fruition at some point, which is clearly inevitable. Those who have never had colonoscopies, or have been checked for common diseases, like heart, BP, prostate, intestinal, skin cancer, etc... are going to be far worse off if they find the disease once it has progressed. And at that point, it will be life-changingly expensive for the uninsured. I have had numerous friends have such cancers who had to have surgery because they found out too late. Some died young, one of skin cancer at age 50, one of intestinal cancer at 46. Several lost their prostate, one his bladder, etc... Some of this is random of course, and can't be prevented but those who refute the necessity of adequate monitoring are simply science deniers and putting themselves at risk. You have only one life. Good health care goes a long way. My dad is an example, he has been very vigilant with his and my mom's healthcare. It likely has extended his life, considering he is an obese and sedentary person age 82, now living longer than the average US male. I'm not a fan of taking pills for every malady - like statins for lipids, BP medicine, psychiatric mood stabilizers, etc... I think it is far more healthy to address those issues with lifestyle rather than pills. However, once you're in your 80s, medications can probably extend life.
- Drugs, alcohol. As a former user of cannabis and occasional drinker, I can say light use of those drugs are probably not going to affect one much, but for me, I can do without and not feel like I'm missing something. I might drink a few beers a year or get high once a year but there seems to me no benefit physically from these drugs, although cannabis has apparently had medicinal effects for some. In the past it had helped me stay interested in long practice sessions on the guitar and even provided some inspiration and alternative perspectives on some technically challenging musical problems. I do think that the 'medicinal cannabis revolution' of sorts that is taking place is over hyped, except in proven cases where it has helped people with seizures and such. Of course, smoking anything is bad for the lungs. And, as I said previously, the fewer pharmaceutical medications you take, the better. It is far more healthy to address those issues with lifestyle rather than pills.
- Body weight, orthopedic issues. Athletes put a lot of stress on their bodies and joints. Particularly lower body and spine. The #1 thing to lessen the potential for damage is to retain a healthy body weight. Non-athletes tend to have knee and joint injuries in later life if their weight is higher than it should be. What is the optimum weight for an older person, especially a masters athlete? Simple answer: the same as it was when you reached maturity and/or were at your athletic peak in high school or college - somewhere typically age 17-23. (The exception to this is if your were an obese teen who was not athletic / active or of normal weight). If you want to prevent injury to your joints, endeavor to weigh what you weighed as a high school senior or in college - or even less, since at this age we do not regenerate or heal at the same rate. For me, I weighed 143 as a high school sprinter, and as a 62 yr old masters athlete, I like to be not more than 141 lbs when I compete. A lot of masters athletes look disparagingly at the BMI chart, but I can tell you that in masters track, those that are in the top 50% in performance, I would estimate 95+% of them are a normal BMI. That is generally the case with any athletic endeavor that doesn't depend on physical size (like football), and involves running or swimming. (Body builders are nearly always overweight on the BMI scale, and that is appropriate, because they are carrying far more bulk than necessary and conducive to athletic performance, and generally don't compare favorably with athletes in strength to weight ratio. Make no mistake about it. Body builders are NOT athletes).
UPDATE: Just saw this article in CNN about ultra-processed foods being linked to dementia and Alzheimers. Here's a quote:
“... prepackaged soups, sauces, frozen pizza and ready-to-eat meals -- isn't good for our health. Nor is gobbling up all the pleasure foods that we love so much: hot dogs, sausages, burgers, french fries, sodas, cookies, cakes, candies, doughnuts and ice cream, to name just a few… a new study has revealed eating more ultraprocessed foods may contribute to overall cognitive decline, including the areas of the brain involved in executive functioning -- the ability to process information and make decisions… "
"men and women who ate the most ultraprocessed foods had a 28% faster rate of global cognitive decline and a 25% faster rate of executive function decline compared with people who ate the least amount of overly processed food, the study found.”
I've often said, hotdogs and donuts are about the worst things you can put in your mouth. Now the proof is that it not only affects your body, but your mind as well.
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After the meet, I indulged in a once a year cheater meal. On the way home, I had a baguette with a tub of honey walnut cream cheese. My friend Gary, a heart surgeon told me: cheat meals a few times a year are ok, but NOT a few times a month. I weighed 145.5 before I went to bed, but the damage only comes if I kept up eating badly for 2 or more days in a row. I was relatively back to normal today at 141.5. It's not hard to keep a low body fat once you're there. It's just real hard to get there, especially on a plant based diet due to the carbs.
Anyway, that's all for now. I've been sitting too long and the rain has finally stopped. The competition season is over but as Alan reminded me, the season for athletes never ends. Cheers!
