This post is all about you finding some very healthy habits and daily rituals that are going to make a positive difference in your life, in your 50’s and 60’s.
But first, let’s go back to you being 30. And here’s my question:
“Are 30’s the BEST years of your life?…
It’s a question that a very dear client of mine named Bridget, from (Darlington) posed to me on the day of my 30th. Truth be told, she TOLD me it was. Reason why, was this:
“It’s the time of your life when you have just the right mix of wisdom and life experience, and still of great physical health to enjoy it. As you hit 40, the pendulum tips in favour of wisdom and experience”. What do you think? Would you agree?
Here’s the thing: At some point in their life, usually round the age of 30, every person wakes up one Monday morning with aches and pains that weren’t there the day before. Doing a simple bit of D.I.Y, a spot of gardening or even just a standard game of 5 a – side with your mates could have easily caused them (aches and pains) – it’s usually then you know that you’ve tipped 30.
In your work place or even in your home, it’s probably known as ‘getting old’ and if you let slip that you’re “stiff” or “achey” it doesn’t take long before one of your work colleagues or even a family member delights in that fact that you’ve tipped the other side of 30.
But seriously, your 30’s are defiantly the time of your life that things start to take just that little bit longer to get over. Now, some people choose to “grow old gracefully”, bowing out of being active, exercising and playing sport at the first sign of aches and pains in muscles that seem to now take DAYS to recover from (not just one).
But for some, and you know may know someone like this in your group of friends, family or work place, even running club, who choose’s to continue with their activity well into their 50’s and 60’s. And that’s in spite of the aches and pains and stiffness that are suffered at work in two or three days following.
And that’s great. Because these aches and pains that you get after activity, you know the ones, where your Achilles or calf muscles feel so tight when you first get out bed on a morning that it feels like your foot doesn’t want to move, and even if it does, its going to hurt, are actually very normal. But it comes with accepting that the optimum period for physical activity IS in your twenties.
In your twenties you’re able to do pretty much anything physical without the consequence of suffering for days after. Was it also your early 30’s that you realised that the hangovers took an extra day or so to get over? But it’s important to understand what’s happening in all phases of your life.
At EVERY stage you’re going through a natural ageing process that just means it takes that little bit longer for muscles to return to their normal size. You see, all muscles need to be flexible and elastic. But as you get older and by the day, these muscles become less flexible and not only more prone to injury, but take much longer to return to their normal length. So whenever you stretch these muscles, say, playing tennis, badminton, cycling, paying golf, going for a run, or even just doing the gardening, you’re actually stretching these muscles beyond a limit that is slowly but surely reducing.
In your 20’s, your “KING”. Able to do to pretty much any type of exercise, activity or sport, anytime you like. As you move into your 30’s, it’s about accepting that in order to prolong your participation in exercise or any form of physical activity, you might have to occasionally “pick your battles”.
And that means being more selective of when and how your going to be active and keep yourself fit. Vary your activity with things like Yoga and Pilates, swimming and bike riding, walking and even the something like Zumba, that we’ve all ready discussed in previous chapters of this book, and you’ll be keeping your muscles and joints as supple and as flexible as possible, no matter what phase of life you’re in.
Enjoy 😉
You might know Paul as an expert Columnist who writes weekly health articles for TWO of the North East's biggest daily Newspapers, The Northern Echo And The Hartlepool Mail, he is a regular Speaker at Industry Seminars around the globe and a Radio Personality, often heard on the BBC. Paul has been an expert guest on dozens of Radio shows and regularly interviewed in newspapers, magazines and trade journals all over the world, including the Guardian.
Paul’s background included working extensively in the Premier League with a Top Professional Football Team, and since quitting his job in Professional Football in 2007, his Physio Practice has become the fastest growing in the UK and biggest in the North East. So successful, that companies like BUPA, ASDA, The Vela Group And Coast & Country, repeatedly retain his Physio company's services to keep healthy their own staff and workforce. Paul Gough Physio Rooms is now a large multi-physio, multi clinic speciality practice in Darlington, Durham, Guisborough and Hartlepool.
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