Are you a baby boomer, older adult or someone who knows an older adult? We at Fun and Fit may or may not be in one of these categories. We’ll have to check with our actively aging mom. And that’s the point — to change the way we age and dispel the myths about aging.
If you want to age actively (a saw-weeeeet term that means “age at a rate slower than people your age who are not gittin’ up with their giddy up), consider the E-Z steps shared by Colin Milner of the International Council on Active Aging (out of Canada no less), which he recently shared with Fun and Fit. His Top 10 E-Tips encompass the seven dimensions of wellness: emotional, vocational, spiritual, intellectual, social, environment and, of course, physical.
1. Check your Expectations
2. Be Enthusiastic
3. Maintain Energy
4. Ferret out what is zapping Energy and Eliminate it — junk food, inactivity, too little sleep, improper hydration, TV time, negative people around you. (OK, you can’t eliminate them, per se. But you can limit your exposure to them, eh? That’s Canadian talk, by the way).
5. EXERCISE
6. Seek ongoing Education
7. Incorporate Enjoyment — a healthy life is a joyous life
8. Recognize and applaud your Efforts
9. Stay Engaged — with life, people, activities, community. Volunteer.
10. Take stock of your Emotions
People today are expecting to live past 100, and who wants that second half to be limited? We expect to make it to 100, mainly due to our desire to see disco come back in fashion! And to be able to get in the last twin word with each other. Society has been slow to respond to the opportunities and issues that accompany this increased life expectancy and expectations, and it’s a global challenge.
Interestingly, in a Yale University study, it was discovered that having positive expectations and thoughts helped people live up to seven years longer! As soon as we heard this, we decided to spend those seven extra years concentrating (positively) on gaining another seven!
Are you aware that 69 percent of people over 50 exercise to gain energy? Sounds like opposite day, doesn’t it? But no, exercise does not exhaust you (unless you do crazy long hours per day); it actually energizes! We’re doing push-ups while writing this so at least one of us will have enough energy to finish!
— Identical twins and fitness pros Kymberly Williams-Evans and Alexandra Williams have been in the fitness industry since the first aerobics studio opened on the European continent. They teach, write, edit, emcee and present their programs worldwide on land, sea and airwaves. They co-write Fun and Fit: Q and A with K and A. You can currently find them in action leading classes in Santa Barbara and Goleta. Kymberly is the former faculty minor adviser at UCSB for its fitness instruction degree offered through the Department of Exercise & Sport Studies; Alexandra serves as an instructor and master teacher for the program. Fun and Fit answers real questions from real people, so please send your comments and questions to info@funandfit.org.