Are all the signs of ageing inevitable?

I've lost count of how many times I've heard people around me talk about their aching joints or their gradual weight gain in the last few years or their lack of energy and their loss of muscle and the comments are always followed by a sigh and the phrase, "I'm getting old I guess. It had to happen sometime." Have you noticed how some of those people actually seem to feel almost happy that they can blame all of those afflictions on the fact that they are getting old? They always say it with a smile! I guess it probably makes things easier to have a scapegoat. Honestly, I think, the phrase, "I'm getting old," is a bit of a copout. It moves any possible blame off of your shoulders, and onto Father Time's.

There is no question that we are all getting older. We start out, as little kids, with truckloads of energy. Everything we do as kids, we do at 110%, be it playing, eating, sleeping or learning. Kids have a naturally higher metabolism than adults because they are doing some serious growing. That means they burn energy faster and they recover faster and, unless you are feeding them tons of rubbish, they don't get fat BECAUSE they are on the go, all the time. An overweight child is a child being fed too much of the wrong foods and sitting around too much. Kids should be using whatever they eat, to fuel their ever-moving, ever-growing bodies. It shouldn't be turning to fat at this stage of their lives.

As we get older, things start to change. Most people tend to think that the body shape changes we experience over the years, are inevitable. For a lot of people, it is, these days. We are usually at our thinnest, growing up, and that mostly remains when we are in our early 20s. But, as you hit the late 20s, and then the 30s, things start to change without you really realising. You kind of know something isn't quite right, but you keep saying, "It's just because I haven't been eating right. I'll eat better from Monday and things will go back to normal." That doesn't quite sort the problem out, and, all of a sudden you have gained 8kgs and they just won't shift.

Along with the weight gain comes a sudden decrease in energy and fitness. The stairs you used to be able to run up, two at a time, suddenly seem difficult when you WALK them, one at a time. You can't carry as heavy objects as you used to, your muscle definition seems to have gone down a bit. It's a gradual process, and you hardly notice at first, but, eventually, it creeps into your subconscious and the reality can be quite a blow. Suddenly,one day, you think to yourself, "I'm getting older.  That must be it! It had to happen sometime!" And then you carry on because now you have an EXCUSE and that makes it ok for most folks.

As an exercise specialist, we get given risk factors to look out for when we want to train someone. One of the main risk factors is age. If a person is over a certain age, they need a doctor's approval to train. That applies to ALL older, or elderly, people. Given how the last couple of generations have aged, I can see why age would be a risk factor. Most elderly people these days have hyperkyphosis, osteoporosis, arthritis, heart disease, high blood pressure, alzheimer's and diabetes type 2, to name a FEW. We all consider most of these diseases a fairly natural part of ageing.

But why should we? A few generations ago, these things weren't NORMAL. They weren't even heard of. The weight gain, the loss of energy and muscle mass, the aching joints and the diseases are NOT an inevitability of ageing, they are an inevitability of the lifestyle that most South Africans are choosing to live.

Human beings were meant to move, but very few of us do. A by-product of civilisation is that people don't need to move much anymore. We walk a few metres to our car, we sit and drive to our destination, then we walk the few metres to the lift, catch it to the 2nd floor, and walk to a desk, where we sit for 7 or so hours and then we repeat that in reverse, to get home and sit on our couch watching TV until we lie down on a bed and sleep. Not much movement happening there at all! When we are kids, our metabolism is so fast that, even while we are sitting, we are burning fuel. But, as we get older, that metabolism slows down if we don't give it reason to keep its momentum. The problem with our metabolism slowing down is, we are still eating the same stuff, only, now there is too much of it to be used for fuel, and so it goes into storage, on our hips, thighs and stomach mostly!

Can you say, "Couch Potato?"

To make it worse, the food we are eating is all wrong. A few generations back, we not only moved around a lot more, but we also ate proper food. Not the processed, pesticide-ridden, genetically modified rubbish lining the shelves of grocery stores; we ate meat from animals that were allowed to range free and eat their natural diets. We ate fruit and vegetables grown in a garden without pesticides, in nutrient-rich soil that transferred its nutrients to the fruits and vegetables, and to our bodies. Nothing was made in a science lab, everything was wholesome and natural and real.

The POSSIBLE inevitable signs of ageing are graying hair, thinner skin and perhaps hearing and sight loss due to over-exposure to loud noises and too much computer work or television. Gaining weight, lossing fitness, aching joints, muscle loss, kyphosis, arthritis, high blood pressure, diabetes type 2, heart disease, alzheimer's and osteoporosis are NOT inevitabilities of ageing. They are inevitabilities of your lifestyle. If you don't exercise, if you don't eat real, organic food, if you live on processed food and chemicals, if you smoke, you WILL experience all of those inevitabilities and the only reason it happens when you're older, is because a body can only take so much abuse before it starts to give in. If you repeatedly beat on a wall with a hammer, the plaster will eventually crack. Our bodies are no different. When you look after your body, you give it the tools to repair itself, when you DON'T, it will start to give in.

Sound harsh? I guess it IS a harsh reality. But I think it's better to know the truth because you can WORK with it.

Before you allow yourself to give in to the "inevitabilities" of aging, try a lifestyle change, preferably sooner rather than later. Prevention IS really better than cure!