| Hi Friend,
Have you ever met someone who seemed to effortlessly float through the decades of their life with hardly a physical setback in the world? No? Me neither!
However, I bet you've met some people who seemed to age with greater ease than yourself. It's not fair!
It's true. Some people do win the genetic lottery. They may not have a hypermobility disorder, rheumatoid arthritis, etc.
But you can't change those things, so what can you do?
Quite a bit.
But real quick: You might be wondering: Who am I to comment on this? That's a fair question. The thing is, therapists like myself get to work with people through all stages of their lives. It gives us a 30,000-foot view of the effects of taking action or inconsistent action when it comes to your physical health.
What do I mean by this?
Let's start with some GOOD news. Well, it doesn't take much movement to make a profound difference in your overall health. Surely you've seen general exercise guidelines jargon, such as "You should be getting five days of moderate-intensity exercise with a target heart rate of 85% of your maximum for 30 minutes."
These guidelines do exist for a reason. However, I feel they can seem so daunting (especially if you're in pain) that you may never START. Can you relate? Boy, especially during COVID. It's tough.
You might think to yourself, "well, I can never meet those numbers, so I'm not going to do anything."
Studies in heart failure patients showed that even a few hundred extra steps might reduce their chance of death by several percentage points. The list goes on.
I'm not sure if you saw the recent news article about how 7,000 steps can drastically reduce your risk of nearly all causes of death? That is a more achievable goal for most people than the common knowledge of 10,000 steps we've heard for so long.
So what does all this mean? Start moving more. Regularly, and don't stop.
Can't walk, start with crawling. (Can't crawl? It would help if you saw someone like me!)
So really... There's no secret to aging gracefully other than finding movement you enjoy doing and do it regularly.
There's no Facebook product you can buy online or secret pain cream that will take away all your aches.
What's that saying? "Getting old isn't for sissies!" It's true. But it's also true that even a LITTLE BIT can go a long way.
It all starts with intention, forming a plan, then taking ACTION. If you're having trouble with this on your own, OR you CAN get moving but struggle to stick to things, we can help with both.
Just reply to this email, "I need some help, Chris!" Not sure exactly what to say, but know you need help? Give us a ring. We don't bite.
On a more personal note: A lot has changed since our last email. We hired a very talented young lady named Shoshanah. More to come on her. Also, We have a new "therapy dog" in training, named Hope. And by in training, I mean six months (+) away.
Lastly, We love to get updates from you. Let us know how you're doing and if we can help you in any way.
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