Ageless: staying active as you age
Our bodies were designed to move, not to sit in one place. Learn tips to stay active as you age and instill mobility in every part of your life.
Transcript
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Our bodies are designed to move. Our bodies were not designed to sit in one place.
When I think about aging, the most important piece of advice that I give myself and other people
is that we have to pivot our mindset from worshipping our youth, which basically means our inexperience,
to pivoting a time where we've grown into our brain, our body, and our bliss. Living longer means more opportunities
to do the things you love, whether it's to work longer, see not only your grandchildren, but your great grandchildren, experiencing
the amazing technology that is exploding and making life worth living around us. That is what living longer means to me.
We're designed with the biggest muscles below our waist. And what do we know about mobility? Contraction of skeletal muscle releases all kinds
of proteins and chemicals in our body that not only work on our muscles locally, but travel to our brains.
We are not capable of dividing what we do with our muscles in our bodies with what happens in our brains.
We are all connected. That's why as an orthopedic sports surgeon I know that by keeping people mobile,
I'm not only going to save people from the ravages of chronic disease. I'm going to help them build a better brain.
But the fact of the matter is there is a complete neural network that connects what happens
in our bodies to our brains. We know that physical exercise helps us build a better brain.
It increases the connectivity between our neurons. It keeps our brain young, as well as our bodies young.
Everything counts. Whether you're walking up the stairs at home, whether you're walking across Central Park, whether you're gunning it out
on a treadmill or in a road race, everything matters. The thing is we just have to do it.
What doesn't matter when it comes to mobility and aging is sitting around. And so for so many of us, we have sedentary jobs where
we sit for 10 hours a day. And so even in that, we have to live more every moment
and take advantage of standing up while we're working, instilling mobility in every parts of our lives.
The menopause really affects so many aspects of your life.
Hi, I'm Dr. Juliana Hauser. And I'm here to help us unpack and redefine the milestones that we often miss.
I'm about to turn 53, which is kind of upsetting. But, I don't know, it's OK.
So I'm about to turn 53 and we're going to talk about menopause. Yes, so you're going through something that over half of us
will be going through or have already gone through. And tell us basically what's going on with you?
There was sleep issues at first. I was just-- I couldn't sleep. A straight eight hours just couldn't happen.
I experienced every single thing-- hot flashes, weight gain, dry skin, painful intercourse.
Like you name it, it was pretty much textbook for me. But I don't want to make it so doom and gloom, but it also, at the same time, was freeing.
I was like, OK, like you just said, I'm done, it's finished. Let's move on to the next thing. You don't have to worry about this, this, and this.
And so it kind of was a balance, I guess, for me. What would you tell your younger self about this milestone?
I would say get prepared. I think because the more knowledge you have, the better the journey will be.
Go menopause. So you're still saying I got the swag, huh? That's the only way you're going to get the swag. You got to drink the water.
[LAUGHS] My basketball career and my willingness to move-- a life after basketball and stay active mainly
with just keeping myself physically fit. But just with my kids, I want to be
able to go out there and shoot with my son, which I used to play him one-on-one. I don't do that anymore, because he's at that age
I can't handle it. But it still gives me some satisfaction to stay fit where I can still go out
there and do certain things. One tip to age less is drink a lot of water and have a lot of physical movement in your life.
Staying active is very important to me and makes you sharper, thinking wise. You have to have a good support system around you
when you're trying to stay motivated, focus as far as staying healthy, staying young.
But sometimes you got to look at yourself and say, first of all, I got to make sure that I build a relationship
with my physician where I know where my health is. So you kind of build a portfolio over your health so you better understand the things that you need
to do to manage your health. I think that's first and foremost. Secondly, you've got to find some things that you're comfortable with doing.
Most people think you have to go to a gym to work out to stay fit. And you don't, because your gym is
right outside your front door. Walking, even washing your car-- that's doing different things that give you
some type of physical activity. You know, I take a lot of walks. I'm always doing something. I can't sit down.
And so for me, that's my exercise.
My health advice to my younger self is stretch. Don't just play the game.
Stretch. Don't just have a good time. Stretch. Don't just build muscles and endurance and stamina.
Your body will love you much more if you stretch. My health advice to my younger self
is eat a good breakfast every morning, Gail. There are so many mornings when I would run around and not
remember to eat breakfast and I always felt terrible come lunchtime. And I still do it. So I still need the advice.
I feel better now than I did when I was in my 40s. I feel better. I mean, my body feels better.
My mind is clearer, quieter.
So I'm 64. I'm 65 in pickleball tournament years, because you're whatever age you would turn that year.
I've been coaching now for three years, been playing the sport for four years or so. It's the greatest way of life I could have.
It's a friendly, social sport. You can play with your children and your grandkids. It's a multi-generational sport.
I will guarantee you there are many 70-year-olds who can beat up on their high school grandchildren.
If you can walk around the block one time, you can play pickleball. Of course, you want something that you can keep on doing.
People don't want to exert all kinds of effort to get good at something and then find out
they have to stop doing it next year because they've aged out. As long as you are mobile, to some degree
you'll be able to play pickleball. I want to play and teach this sport as long as I can.
Now, having said that, every day I am fully aware that this might be the last day I can play.
I have to pay attention to it. A sport like this, that there is just no barrier for you
to keep on playing as long as you're reasonably healthy, it will help you stay healthy.
And you can certainly keep playing as long as you can move around.
longevity
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