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VIA E MAIL
USE IT OR LOSE IT
This dictum is true in most cases that we come across in life, be it one’s possessions, relationships, or skills. Take for instance ‘Money’. The famous ‘Amma’ had enough of it and yet her early departure prevented her from using it, and consequently someone else is going to use it. And so will be her massive collection of shoes and saris. If I deposit a large sum into a fixed deposit for three years and do not live that far, I have lost it. On the other hand, if I donate it to some needy person who uses it, say for medical treatment, I have used it to gain much satisfaction. I will retain my relationship with friends only as long I see them often enough speak or write to them frequently. The rule thus applies to our memory too, that fades if not used repeatedly. Since we rely on our cell phones, we do not remember phone numbers like earlier times when we did. Unused memory erodes. Skills like swimming, cycling or driving need a bit of practice to recover desirable levels, if resumed after a long break. Age matters in our inability in regaining past levels of our physical /mental capabilities. Even the speed of thinking gets slower as we grow old.
2. Basically the rule applies to muscles. An unused or ‘un-exercised’ limb loses its functions as time passes. Muscles need a regular blood supply for evacuation of dead cells and their replacement, and oxygenation for consuming glucose for growth. Even lungs need full inflation now and then, since we normally , busy in our work, unmindfully manage only ‘Shallow breathing’, leaving most air passages, like bronchioles and alveoli unused, reducing oxygenation of our body, resulting in a lower level of physical efficiency. Yogi Ram dev is right in recommending deep breathing Yogic exercises for keeping our bodies healthy. One of my acquaintances, accustomed to long sittings at bridge table, doing minimal breathing, has lost her lung capacity, now remaining only twenty percent, and has difficulty in oxygenating her body adequately. Actually, ’breathing’ is living. So whenever we breathe deeply we pump life into ourselves. The complex brain also needs problems and riddles to keep it exercised and functional. Exercise of tongue by its frequent use, in a recent study, is said to be helpful in inhibiting dementia. I know why my wife is healthier because I receive ‘tongue lashing’ quite frequently. May be my ears are healthier!
3. Numerous muscles in our body get their exercise during walking or even cycling, increasing blood circulation that help in digestion of food. Give up walking for a month and it becomes difficult to get back into that stride once again. For older people whatever one gives up, often goes out of life-style for good. The purpose of walking or cycling is to raise the heart beats to 150% of the normal rate, for a period of 30 minutes. This gives the heart an ability to cope with an unexpected activity, where, an unexercised heart may suddenly collapse. This most loyal muscle gets much help in pumping blood back to it from legs, when leg muscles contract sending blood back up the veins. Such exercise quickens up blood circulation at a faster rate putting load on lungs for more oxygen. Thus, one ‘Uses’ his body for a longer period before he ‘loses’ it. ‘How much exercise is adequate’ will remain debatable. A recent study says that one needs 10,000 steps for maintaining a healthy heart. Such an effort will take one hour and 24minutes walking, at a rate of 120 steps a minute –a Line Infantry rate of March - each of 30 inches in span. Perhaps definition of a healthy heart too is a subjective matter.
4. Our, groin located, ‘Happiness muscle’ obeys no such dictum. It is entirely controlled by the mind. It can be activated only when one is happy. Old age is rarely the happy part of life. Medical profession believes that most prostate troubles are on account of under exercising this muscle!
5. Spine is not actually a muscle but needs much exercise to retain its flexibility, to save its owner from losses in terms of a successful career. An unexercised spine, termed as a ‘stiff neck’, is loved by the juniors and hated by his superiors, who cannot make use of him, since he cannot bend backwards to please them. I recall an incident in Madras, around 1982, where during an ‘At home’ on Republic Day, service officers had been invited to the Raj Bhavan for tea. To greet MG Ramachandran, the CM, many civilian guests laid themselves prostrate on the ground to be able to touch his feet as he passed. We, in uniform, were saved from this, flexibility test, and instead we rushed to greet the beautiful lady, Jayalalitha emerging from another door, and who needed no such salutation at that time. An overly flexible spine is helpful in career building, although in a recent case it brought humiliation to a top civilian incumbent, who was not able to stand up to undue pressure from his ‘High Command’ in making his national level decisions.
6. What is given above may sound a bit pedagogic, but following is from recent personal experience. A ‘Total Knee Replacement’ is a major surgery that puts one down for a week. Disrupted muscles need to be brought into action through vigorous exercises to restore movement to the ‘re- formed’ joint. Much twisting and turning of the knee joint is needed, that causes pain. The level of tolerance of pain borne by the patient and that considered appropriate by the Physiotherapist differs. He believes – no gain without pain - and he proceeds with his assignment without remorse. This turns out to be true when looking back after about three months of suffering.
7. The dictum applies to life itself. Movement, physical or mental, is the sign of life. Inertness is partial death. Sitting long hours continuously is harmful to the body muscles. Learn. There are enormous changes occurring around us. If one does not run along them, they trample you. It is embarrassing to seek help from your grandson to fix glitches in you mobile phone. Standing in a queue if you cannot clear payments electronically makes one irritable. Limp along painfully if you are reluctant to get a knee operation done. Laugh more. There may not be many healthy laughter days left, since most old people in later years spend much of their time as bed stricken patients. Interact with friends before the cell phone is snatched away from you. This logic is woefully simple, that to live one needs energy. For this he has to eat. What is eaten has to be digested for converting it into energy. Chemicals from the liver aside, physical movement are needed for digesting the food. So physical activity cannot be overlooked.
8. USE an active, cheerful, generous and a loving life style that kicks in some ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Dopamine’ levels for happiness or LOSE life itself.
This dictum is true in most cases that we come across in life, be it one’s possessions, relationships, or skills. Take for instance ‘Money’. The famous ‘Amma’ had enough of it and yet her early departure prevented her from using it, and consequently someone else is going to use it. And so will be her massive collection of shoes and saris. If I deposit a large sum into a fixed deposit for three years and do not live that far, I have lost it. On the other hand, if I donate it to some needy person who uses it, say for medical treatment, I have used it to gain much satisfaction. I will retain my relationship with friends only as long I see them often enough speak or write to them frequently. The rule thus applies to our memory too, that fades if not used repeatedly. Since we rely on our cell phones, we do not remember phone numbers like earlier times when we did. Unused memory erodes. Skills like swimming, cycling or driving need a bit of practice to recover desirable levels, if resumed after a long break. Age matters in our inability in regaining past levels of our physical /mental capabilities. Even the speed of thinking gets slower as we grow old.
2. Basically the rule applies to muscles. An unused or ‘un-exercised’ limb loses its functions as time passes. Muscles need a regular blood supply for evacuation of dead cells and their replacement, and oxygenation for consuming glucose for growth. Even lungs need full inflation now and then, since we normally , busy in our work, unmindfully manage only ‘Shallow breathing’, leaving most air passages, like bronchioles and alveoli unused, reducing oxygenation of our body, resulting in a lower level of physical efficiency. Yogi Ram dev is right in recommending deep breathing Yogic exercises for keeping our bodies healthy. One of my acquaintances, accustomed to long sittings at bridge table, doing minimal breathing, has lost her lung capacity, now remaining only twenty percent, and has difficulty in oxygenating her body adequately. Actually, ’breathing’ is living. So whenever we breathe deeply we pump life into ourselves. The complex brain also needs problems and riddles to keep it exercised and functional. Exercise of tongue by its frequent use, in a recent study, is said to be helpful in inhibiting dementia. I know why my wife is healthier because I receive ‘tongue lashing’ quite frequently. May be my ears are healthier!
3. Numerous muscles in our body get their exercise during walking or even cycling, increasing blood circulation that help in digestion of food. Give up walking for a month and it becomes difficult to get back into that stride once again. For older people whatever one gives up, often goes out of life-style for good. The purpose of walking or cycling is to raise the heart beats to 150% of the normal rate, for a period of 30 minutes. This gives the heart an ability to cope with an unexpected activity, where, an unexercised heart may suddenly collapse. This most loyal muscle gets much help in pumping blood back to it from legs, when leg muscles contract sending blood back up the veins. Such exercise quickens up blood circulation at a faster rate putting load on lungs for more oxygen. Thus, one ‘Uses’ his body for a longer period before he ‘loses’ it. ‘How much exercise is adequate’ will remain debatable. A recent study says that one needs 10,000 steps for maintaining a healthy heart. Such an effort will take one hour and 24minutes walking, at a rate of 120 steps a minute –a Line Infantry rate of March - each of 30 inches in span. Perhaps definition of a healthy heart too is a subjective matter.
4. Our, groin located, ‘Happiness muscle’ obeys no such dictum. It is entirely controlled by the mind. It can be activated only when one is happy. Old age is rarely the happy part of life. Medical profession believes that most prostate troubles are on account of under exercising this muscle!
5. Spine is not actually a muscle but needs much exercise to retain its flexibility, to save its owner from losses in terms of a successful career. An unexercised spine, termed as a ‘stiff neck’, is loved by the juniors and hated by his superiors, who cannot make use of him, since he cannot bend backwards to please them. I recall an incident in Madras, around 1982, where during an ‘At home’ on Republic Day, service officers had been invited to the Raj Bhavan for tea. To greet MG Ramachandran, the CM, many civilian guests laid themselves prostrate on the ground to be able to touch his feet as he passed. We, in uniform, were saved from this, flexibility test, and instead we rushed to greet the beautiful lady, Jayalalitha emerging from another door, and who needed no such salutation at that time. An overly flexible spine is helpful in career building, although in a recent case it brought humiliation to a top civilian incumbent, who was not able to stand up to undue pressure from his ‘High Command’ in making his national level decisions.
6. What is given above may sound a bit pedagogic, but following is from recent personal experience. A ‘Total Knee Replacement’ is a major surgery that puts one down for a week. Disrupted muscles need to be brought into action through vigorous exercises to restore movement to the ‘re- formed’ joint. Much twisting and turning of the knee joint is needed, that causes pain. The level of tolerance of pain borne by the patient and that considered appropriate by the Physiotherapist differs. He believes – no gain without pain - and he proceeds with his assignment without remorse. This turns out to be true when looking back after about three months of suffering.
7. The dictum applies to life itself. Movement, physical or mental, is the sign of life. Inertness is partial death. Sitting long hours continuously is harmful to the body muscles. Learn. There are enormous changes occurring around us. If one does not run along them, they trample you. It is embarrassing to seek help from your grandson to fix glitches in you mobile phone. Standing in a queue if you cannot clear payments electronically makes one irritable. Limp along painfully if you are reluctant to get a knee operation done. Laugh more. There may not be many healthy laughter days left, since most old people in later years spend much of their time as bed stricken patients. Interact with friends before the cell phone is snatched away from you. This logic is woefully simple, that to live one needs energy. For this he has to eat. What is eaten has to be digested for converting it into energy. Chemicals from the liver aside, physical movement are needed for digesting the food. So physical activity cannot be overlooked.
8. USE an active, cheerful, generous and a loving life style that kicks in some ‘Serotonin’ and ‘Dopamine’ levels for happiness or LOSE life itself.
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