Dear Dad,
There was an important lesson that you taught me when I was young and I want to circle back to re-emphasize it.
When I was a kid, this single lesson may have had the most immediate impact on my confidence and ability to connect with people, and I can now use it as a parameter to gauge my physical health.
A proper handshake. Yup, I was the six year old who would firmly grip, look into the eyes, and introduce myself.
How’s your handshake lately?
Grip strength correlates to morbidity (likelihood of disease or medical condition) as a proxy to demonstrate someone’s overall skeletal strength. Gone are the days that strength is only useful in athletics because maintaining strength is more critically important as we age. Some of the most important tasks to live independently require maintaining a baseline level of strength. Think carrying in groceries, opening jars or doors, moving furniture, and gripping handrails to support your body. There’s a reason that a “fall” become common and more dangerous each trip around the sun.
Not that it’s essentially important to exercise your grip strength specifically, just that grip strength is a good indicator of overall strength. In fact, I’d challenge you to forget everything you know about “exercising” because it will likely lead you astray when it comes to your long term health. Exercise, as we think of it today, the hour spent in the fitness center, on an exercise bike, going for a run, or lifting weights, is more a healthy hobby then an essential mandate of health. Great habit, worth picking up or sustaining if already part of your routine, but not necessary to be a healthy person and definitely not an excuse to remain still the rest of the day.
Instead, being consistently active through the day through natural movement is most applicable to long term health. Many people (me included!), have a morning exercise routine then feel empowered to promptly sit at a desk for the next 8-hours at work before moving to the couch at home. This pattern is detrimental. Humans are not meant to be sedentary, even if after a time of intense exertion. We are meant to be on the move consistently. Have you ever wondered why there are more gyms open today than ever before and as a population we are more unfit and unhealthy than before? To steal a phrase from political debate, we are losing the “middle class,” when it comes to fitness. There is a population of exercise junkies and Netflix bingers, and far less simply active people.
If being active was a pill everyone would take it. Probably twice. Unfortunately, remaining active through a day requires a mentality against the grain. It’s quite amazing how convenient modern day conveniences have made our daily lives. There are times it feels like there is nothing better than a TV remote to change the channel, but your health would be better served by standing up to do it on your own. Think, that’s one squat to get off the couch, steps, and then using muscles to lower yourself back on the couch—multiple times a night!
As the mass of our workforce has moved into offices and household tasks have been automated it is very easy to sit in your car and drive to work, sit at your desk all day, sit back in your car to drive home, then sit at home the rest of the night. Staying active requires removing every day conveniences in place of more manual alternatives. Get used to uttering the statement, “I take the stairs,” when the rest of your party waits for the elevator (which usually is not even quicker by the way, but don’t get me started on that.). Try to implement these natural movements into your daily routine.
When at work: get a standing desk, take the stairs, and walk around the office every so often
When at home: walk after dinner, garden, shovel, rake, and open cans with a handheld can opener.
Embrace the mindset; not everything has to be the easiest most convenient.
We’ve all had the experience of meeting a person well into their eighties, shaking their hand, feeling a firm strong grip, and thinking “Well darn, they have it together!”
Move often.
With Love,
JSR
