I knew I was in trouble when my granddaughter said, “Daddy can fix it.” I WORRIED that lid off with dogged determination. Olive was not impressed, but I was relieved and not a little chagrined to start hitting the gym.
I was struggling to twist open a container secure enough to withstand an F5 tornado. And no, there was no time to wait for her father to come home.
The humiliation of seeming ill equipped to handle the simplest of tasks occurs more often than I care to admit. They say a pair of scissors is an elder’s best friend. And no, it’s not wise to use your teeth to rip open a sealed package.
Two recent articles highlight how today’s careers and lifestyles jeopardize our health.
The first is about firefighters and how the extreme physical demands of the job is a challenge for those overweight and out of shape. Half of all deaths among firefighters do not occur in the line of duty, but from heart attacks.
The New York Times piece tells of how a department in New Brunswick, N.J., has adapted an exercise routine to replicate fire-fighting duties such as breaking through walls, Army crawling under thick layers of smoke and hauling victims.
Exercises include running with 32-pound buckets in each hand to increase grip strength, manhand-ling cumbersome fire hoses, running up and down stairs while burdened with 70 pounds of gear and repeatedly jumping up and down from the rear bumper of a fire engine.
As a society we’re not necessarily eating more calories than our ancestors, but we’re not burning them off as they did. Calories in, calories out is the rule according to a piece in this month’s Runner’s World.
Two-thirds of Americans are overweight or obese because of an increasingly sedentary lifestyle.
“Take a load off,” is more literal than you realize when someone suggests you sit down. Merely standing up is a weight-bearing activity and burns calories. Move, and it also becomes a cardiovascular activity.
Researchers say today’s typical office worker should exercise one hour a day to expend the same amount of calories as your granddad did out on the farm. We were designed to run, lift, shove and stretch and when we don’t it throws our bodies off script.
Easy lifestyle plays havoc on health
