Maintaining the Machine

There are many exercise books and many diet and nutrition books. However, I have not found a good text, in my opinion at least, that addresses the health and fitness issues holistically for persons who have entered retirement. Those of us who have done so know that retirement is only good if we have funds to get through it – I cannot help with that – and have good health as well. In fact, if one had to make a choice, I suspect it would be the latter. This page is about how one can not only maintain but how one can return to health and fitness in these later years. It is not an exercise plan but a plan for a style of living that incorporates a good mental and psychological perspective along with sustainable physical conditioning. My personal experience through many years of working, raising a family, and living, while maintaining good mental and physical condition, has caused me to want to share the experience.

The blog is not for the compulsive athlete who is running marathons or lifting enormous amounts of weight; nor is it for the person who has never been in shape. Both of these groups need special counseling. If you are in reasonable condition and would like to improve or simply want to maintain your present level of fitness, this blog may help you. 

Why am I writing this? There are several reasons: the first is that I weigh now what I weighed in college. I have been exercising on a regular basis since I was discharged from the Army more than fifty years ago. Although I certainly am not as strong or resilient as I was then, I am in much better condition than most of my peers. Like the reader, I have worked in various capacities all my life and my exercise program has been designed to keep the body machine in condition. It was a standard part of my life and shifted style and focus as I aged. Whenever a joint or muscle began to complain, I eased off until it repaired itself. When a form of exercise became too intense, I left it and shifted to something else. As a consequence, I have not replaced any joints.

Maintaining good mental and physical condition has been done as a part of life but not as a focus of life. Yet, my blood pressure is well within the normal range, my body fat is about 15%. I have had the usual types of damage that go along with a long life – low back pain, some cervical arthritis, a dislocated shoulder, a broken finger that I did not treat soon enough and now does not bend. We all have accumulated damage over a lifetime, physical and mental. Some of us have genetic advantages and some do not. Even those with family histories of certain diseases now can mitigate those risks.  Although some damage or genetics might hamper physical or mental conditioning, they should not prevent it.

We all are aware that there is a decline in physical fitness that becomes evident in the twenties and continues along with the aging process. This can be slowed by mental and physical exercise but, unfortunately, not stopped.  The increasing prevalence of diabetes and high blood pressure in our population as it passes into and through middle age is a vivid example of this decline in fitness and lack of attention to diet. Our increasingly sedentary lives compound the problem. The fact that we have increased longevity emphasizes the imperative to maintain health and fitness if we are to enjoy this time and use it productively. Healthy aging has the additional significant social benefit of decreasing the burden on delivery of medical care to a population subset that now consumes a large percentage of what has become a costly commodity. 

Entering into retirement was a psychological issue for me, as it is with many people. That transition can carry significant psychological baggage that manifests itself in depression and an increasingly sedentary lifestyle. Currently, we have an additional issue: COVID-19. The age group of 60 and up sustains a low per cent of the infections but suffers the highest per cent mortality. This prevalence of this virus requires us to stay inside or, at a minimum, to venture out wearing a mask and to remain distant from our friends and families. This worsens any depression that we may have already. The threat of infection will be with us until late 2021, depending upon the vaccine program. Moreover, it is likely that the epidemic will revert to an endemic condition. If so, it will be with us for a very long time.

This blog takes a more holistic approach to maintaining health and fitness - it is difficult to stay in good physical condition if one does not have good mental health as well. Mental health is paramount, and depression is a very common malady in retirement. Our purpose here is not to discuss treatment of depression. Clinically evident depression is a serious disease and needs professional care. We are concerned here in preventing depression or managing mild depression. In early retirement, some form of depression is understandable and even expected. We undergo a transition from being in charge, or operating a business, or being competent and experienced at our particular work to one who now must rebuild a life under different circumstances. This takes time and adjustment. When I retired, a friend told me it would take about two years to adjust. He was about right. I never was in a state of depression, but definitely was uneasy, somewhat without purpose, and looking for something meaningful to do. The operative word here is “meaningful.” What is meaningful to one is not for another. Meaningful also varies with one’s state of health. The choices of how to use one’s time in retirement are important and have major impacts on mental and psychological bienestar.

During our working years we trade our time for money. In retirement, we trade back that money for time. How we spend or invest that time is an expensive decision. We must spend some of it managing the demands of our own lives. The rest should be invested in engaging with others. It is this investment that underlies our mental and psychological well-bieng. For many, a major part of this time is spent with grandchildren. There is, in my opinion, no better use of time. It is an opportunity to know a completely new generation and to have a hand in shaping it and…allowing it to reshape you. You will have seen your own genetics play out in your children and now will observe the remixing of genes and the dilution of your own genes. You also will see that your own genes still are there and involved in the development of a new child. This is the best use of retirement time if one is fortunate enough to have the experience. The remainder of the time investment should be in the well-being of others. Retirees are a major labor and management component in charitable organizations throughout the nation. These organizations could not operate without us. The return to us is a sense of accomplishment and fulfillment and that sense is a large contributor to our own mental and psychological health. There are no bitter old people working in food banks, churches, shelters, and the like. Those who live this balance are fortunate indeed.

Unfortunately, the only constant in life is change. This change has come to us in the form of an animal virus that made the leap into humans. Our poor response to this leap has resulted in a pandemic. This has altered our society and our individual lives. It need not, however, destroy our sense of well-being. More on this in the next blog.