Coach Gostnell
04-08-2005, 10:22 AM
The local Community College has early morning broadcasts of tele-courses, which I often watch with half an eye while doing Warrior Wellness. Depending on the day it might be Economics, Geography, Geology/Earth Processes (my favorite!), Cultural or Health Studies.
This morning, I tuned into a program on aging at the point they were discussing heart function. Learned some things of course: Resting heart rate in older people can be as good as in younger folks, but working heart rate not so much because the walls of the heart tend to thicken (part of the hardening-of-the-arteries process) so the heart is able to move less volume at the beginning of each beat. At least that's how it typically works in the USA.
People in other countries who work hard and have low/no salt diets, and those who engage in regular strenuous exercise generally experience less of this thickening. No surprise there.
From the heart, the program moved onto the brain & nervous system. The gist of that: While we lose brain cells that can't be replaced, we've got so many "spares" that we can make new synaptic connections pretty much at any time in life. Yep, sounds good.
Now comes the TILT! Reflexes, fine motor skills and BALANCE are out the window when one gets old. Period. Really!?! This is where I wanted to grab the people in the TV and shake them - NOT SO! There were no disclaimers, or studies cited showing people can hang on to these attributes with even a little work. Heck, older people in Dr. Teagle's class are improving in all these areas - and more - slowly but surely.
Did the producers even listen to what they said before that? That the brain can make NEW connections. Duh!
Two things really killed me - the 50 year old guy calmly accepting all kinds of physical limitations "because of my age." He didn't think being overweight and not moving off the couch except to get creamed in back yard basketball by his teenage sons have anything to do with it?
The second: A lovely, much older lady who said her handwriting and typing skills had deteriorated but she teaches literacy as a volunteer and needed to be able to write clearly. So she started printing instead of writing, and her printing was now beautiful. (Didn't Scott say something sometime about "Use it or Lose it"?)
Okay, so cells do age, and there are age-related changes that can't be completely eliminated - else why am I wearing these stupid reading glasses when I had great vision for the 50 years before? But the propaganda machine continues to crank out the message, "You're old. What do you expect?" I hear it from doctors, clients' families, articles and now, "educational" TV shows.
What I expect is not only to not fall apart just because I've reached some arbitrarily designated age, but to actually improve by working "smarter, not harder" and CST is absolutely the place to be for that.
I so much appreciate what I've learned here, want to spread the message to anyone willing to listen, and am grateful that so many people on this Forum are doing likewise.
Live and Age Well,
Jeanne
P.S. If this winds up posting six times, I apologize. Having a technical heck of a time w/ the Forum in general & this in particular.
This morning, I tuned into a program on aging at the point they were discussing heart function. Learned some things of course: Resting heart rate in older people can be as good as in younger folks, but working heart rate not so much because the walls of the heart tend to thicken (part of the hardening-of-the-arteries process) so the heart is able to move less volume at the beginning of each beat. At least that's how it typically works in the USA.
People in other countries who work hard and have low/no salt diets, and those who engage in regular strenuous exercise generally experience less of this thickening. No surprise there.
From the heart, the program moved onto the brain & nervous system. The gist of that: While we lose brain cells that can't be replaced, we've got so many "spares" that we can make new synaptic connections pretty much at any time in life. Yep, sounds good.
Now comes the TILT! Reflexes, fine motor skills and BALANCE are out the window when one gets old. Period. Really!?! This is where I wanted to grab the people in the TV and shake them - NOT SO! There were no disclaimers, or studies cited showing people can hang on to these attributes with even a little work. Heck, older people in Dr. Teagle's class are improving in all these areas - and more - slowly but surely.
Did the producers even listen to what they said before that? That the brain can make NEW connections. Duh!
Two things really killed me - the 50 year old guy calmly accepting all kinds of physical limitations "because of my age." He didn't think being overweight and not moving off the couch except to get creamed in back yard basketball by his teenage sons have anything to do with it?
The second: A lovely, much older lady who said her handwriting and typing skills had deteriorated but she teaches literacy as a volunteer and needed to be able to write clearly. So she started printing instead of writing, and her printing was now beautiful. (Didn't Scott say something sometime about "Use it or Lose it"?)
Okay, so cells do age, and there are age-related changes that can't be completely eliminated - else why am I wearing these stupid reading glasses when I had great vision for the 50 years before? But the propaganda machine continues to crank out the message, "You're old. What do you expect?" I hear it from doctors, clients' families, articles and now, "educational" TV shows.
What I expect is not only to not fall apart just because I've reached some arbitrarily designated age, but to actually improve by working "smarter, not harder" and CST is absolutely the place to be for that.
I so much appreciate what I've learned here, want to spread the message to anyone willing to listen, and am grateful that so many people on this Forum are doing likewise.
Live and Age Well,
Jeanne
P.S. If this winds up posting six times, I apologize. Having a technical heck of a time w/ the Forum in general & this in particular.