“Just 6 months of walking may reverse cognitive decline”, finds a recent study reported in the American Journal of Neurology. Imagine that!
We don’t need yet another study to know that physical movement contributes to overall health and wellness, especially if it’s done in clean, fresh air. Unless we’re living on the moon, not lost on us is that we don’t spend enough time outside and today’s children are at risk of a range of health-related conditions that can be prevented if they’d just prise themselves away from technology and get outside and play. That’s what children are supposed to do, right?
Even those such as I, with challenges to mobility, appreciate that if we don’t move it, we lose it. In the course of a day, I get in a lot of walking - all of it purposeful. I have places to go and things to do, in and around my home. Winter weather keeps me inside most of the time but I’m far from sedentary. My outside time is most assuredly purposeful, clearing piddle paths for the dogs — one at the front of the house, outside the garage, and another inside their pen, clearing off the ramp that goes down into it and then shovelling a short path so they’ll actually get off the porch! They should be getting down on their hairy little knees and thanking God that I haven’t fallen on my face into a snow bank. Should that happen, their lives and my own would potentially be inextricably changed for ever.
With 2019 will be my coming of age. I’ll be a certificate of authenticity stamped senior citizen. The big 65! To sustain any sort of fall down and go boom episode could mean the difference between living independently or becoming a nursing home resident long before my time. My goal is to avoid that lifestyle for as long as possible, if not entirely. Because I’ve spent a number of years renovating/
redesigning/reconfiguring in and around my current home to make it functional and safe, I’d be hard-pressed to move. Moving to the city, however, would be an ideal solution to a range of growing problems, though another way to resolve the situation would be to have a housemate. Co-housing makes sense. That way, given my advancing age, I could still ‘walk this way’ in familiar surroundings and have someone with whom to interact on a daily basis.
redesigning/reconfiguring in and around my current home to make it functional and safe, I’d be hard-pressed to move. Moving to the city, however, would be an ideal solution to a range of growing problems, though another way to resolve the situation would be to have a housemate. Co-housing makes sense. That way, given my advancing age, I could still ‘walk this way’ in familiar surroundings and have someone with whom to interact on a daily basis.
Purposeful walking and its concurrent brain training is critical to someone like me, already living with a neurological insult. Keeping the brain fine tuned through movement goes a long way to ensuring that my legs will be able to continue patterning the movements taught to me over many years in childhood.
During the colder weather, beginning in late October and going through March, I keep my brain and body in shape by stair climbing. Real stairs, people!
Four times a day, at 6 hour intervals, I go to the den to put compressed wood bricks in the stove. The first set of stairs, from the living room has a railing on either side. The stairs going to the den have a railing on one side; medical grade grab bars have been strategically place on the wall spaces just above my head so that I may make the trek safely.
Years of practice in knowing where to position my hands on any given surfaces has allowed me to confidently move about. People who have watched me in action find that it’s all very fluid/seamless. Stair climbing is a challenge because I cannot lift my foot sufficiently to execute the steps up, up, up. I essentially have to swing my foot onto the step and then pull myself along.
A series of exercises I’ve done for years without assistance continue to ensure my upright mobility. The set of range of motion exercises undertaken with me by the team from Extra-Mural were ones that I could not and will not be able to do on my own. Once we’re into the warm weather, there will be another round of scheduled visits to work my legs so I may continue to go up and down the stairs. So that I may safely be able to put food dishes on the floor, and to tether the dogs at the laundry room door. Yup! Having a pet keeps me healthy and on the move. Memories are made of this.
Carla MacInnis Rockwell is a freelance writer and disability rights advocate living outside Fredericton, NB with her aging Australian silky terrier and a rambunctious Maltese. She can be reached via email at carmacrockwell@xplornet.ca
Carla, the only thing missing is how to get the determination you have and had for such a long time. Keep it up. Norah
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