I read the other day about the benefits of weight training for older adults. The study suggested that doing resistance training can be good for you at any age, even after a heart attack or other health challenge. Meeting goals of being able to lift a grandchild or do the gardening are the reasons cited. High intensity walking is touted as a preventive for high blood pressure and to tone the thigh muscles. Another article talked about an 84 year old woman who made her first parachute jump.
Having a goal to work towards is important for any age. When the usual milestones of ambition have been passed, it might be hard to identify those goals. I saw George Burns when he was 99 years old. He had a goal of working in Vegas on his 100th birthday. He lived to 100 but wasn’t able to work, and passed shortly after. I met a man a few years ago who had quit smoking at 105 years old, I suppose not wanting to shorten his life. There are annual stories of yet another group of elderly ladies posing for a nude calendar to raise funds for charity. There are always new things to achieve, but if “survival” is the only goal, it is the one thing we all ultimately fail to do. A concrete, measurable, reasonable goal is most likely to keep you motivated and progressing.
In that theme, I will repeat two more headlines published on the same day. You decide if they are related. “JAVELINS KEPT AWAY FROM TRACK FOR SENIOR CITIZEN EVENT” & “ WHEN TO LET GO? MEDICINE’S TOP DILEMMA.”