Creaky old, or creaky young?
by Anjali Gupta
This weekend I ran into my 47 year old ex-boss who among other things remarked that his wife now refers to him as her “creaky old husband”. And the reason: he’s been having a back ache that comes and goes, his stamina is not so good, and he has accumulated a few extra pounds. That’s about it.
Now the scary this is that he sounded a lot like me!
Initially I thought he was kidding but as I visualized every occasion on which I had met his wife I realized why her comment made sense. She always looks young and energetic and there’s a glow on her face that he doesn’t have. He shortly revealed her secret – she doesn’t miss a chance to get up and move around even if it’s just between rooms in the house, and she eats only 2/3rd of her capacity at every meal. Basically, no bad postures for long without breaks and no extra calories.
On a similar note, my dad recently met an 80-year-old who had a different secret – he washes his clothes every morning to keep himself fit. His wife complains about it all the time as she thinks the clothes need another wash after he’s done :).
I’m not the only person searching for that one healthy habit that lasts beyond a week. My “creaky young” colleagues are in the same boat. In fact at startups, we have many more excuses available to us – the office does not have a gym, the workload is overwhelming, the mind never stops churning, that email must get answered now, and finally, the best of them all – we’ll get to a healthy way of life once the startup has made it!
After that honest confession, I’m going to make an enthusiastic attempt at one of the above habits.
A humble request – please share your health secrets, I might need to switch to a new one very soon 😉
Very recently I have developed a lower back ache, due to a close-to-slipped-disc problem. The doctor says it could be the stress build up over years in my back due to long sitting hours / incorrect sitting posture. One exercise I can’t afford not doing these days is taking breaks every 45 minutes, and stretch my back and limbs a bit. For my wife I am a creaky young (rather old) husband already.
I try to sit still with my thoughts and meditate…
Take care of your back Shabbir and thanks for writing in.
Play squash my friend!
That IS the answer! 😉
If thats too much work, go to KNP every morning for a run with all the uncles and aunties, join a laughing club, sip on some karele ka juice – the options are endless! 😉
Use workrave http://www.workrave.org/. This ensures that you take those regular breaks
There is a book that shall solve all your problems and is applicable to men (married and otherwise) and its not one of the..How to say No and mean it types..
The School for Husbands, by Wendy Holden, apart from being popular fiction from UK, it holds some pretty truthful things..shall blog about it when I am done with it..perhaps it might help 🙂
Great post Anjali! All that’s needed is willingness to exercise 🙂
Thanks for all the ideas.
BTW Santosh, look who’s talking 😉
Came here from wordpress dashboard…
Can’t imagine anyone who does just cerebral work. In my eyes not doing exercise is like smoking or something…
Hey, look at the statistics in India…of heart disease, diabetes etc. One look at them and I am sure anyone will decided to move. That was what galvanised me into action ( I have written some health articles for TOI) and I also had flashback and playback experiences of my parents’ nagging about exercising. Now if I don’t go to the gym I feel I have done something terrible…GUILT! btw, I do NOT enjoy exercising. But I do it anyway.