Walking while old

 Can you hear me breathing hard?  We were in church (outside in the park) from 8:30-9:30 and then eating with friend at the Patio restaurant until about 10:15.  Then a walk home, change into cooler clothing, and out again for a short walk on Oak and Lynn before the day heats up.  I think it's supposed to be high 80s.  I'm using my smartphone to track, count and analyze my walking. Which means I have to keep it with me, either holding it or putting it in my pocket.  I rarely have made a phone call, but use it for listening and information. This message is from The Ridge Senior Living. I'm posting it for reference and inspiration for other days. How Many Steps Should a Senior Get in a Day? | The Ridge (theridgeseniorliving.com)

My smartphone says, "Step length is the distance between your front foot and back foot when you're walking.  The ability to take longer seps is related to your long term mobility.  Strength and coordination changes can affect your ability to take longer steps.  Step length will decline with age. Today, August 7 my step length is 28.7-33.5 inches

The smart phone also records "double support time." That's the percentage of time during a walk that both feet are on the ground. If you spend more of the walk with weight on one foot instead of two, there is better balance. The measure will fall between 20 to 40%. Today Sunday August 7 my Double support time is 25-28.4%, that's down from 27.8 - 31.6% on Wednesday, July 27. I hope that means my balance is better, although it doesn't feel like it.

The Relationship between Walking Speed and Step Length in Older Aged Patients - PubMed (nih.gov)

Impact of walking states, self-reported daily walking amount and age on the gait of older adults measured with a smart-phone app: a pilot study - PubMed (nih.gov)

15 Best Walking Apps for 2022 - Free Apps to Track Steps (prevention.com)

Walking Every Day

Walking is widely known to be one of the very best exercises for seniors. It’s low impact, low cost and low risk for injury. Plus, the benefits are many. Walking can: 

• Improve circulation, lower blood pressure and strengthen the heart muscle
• Burn calories and help manage body weight
• Ease joint pain and reduce lower back pain by strengthening core muscles
• Strengthen bones and help fight osteoporosis
• Improve balance and coordination, reducing the risk of falling
• Boost your immune system
• Improve your mood, reducing anxiety and depression
• Improve cognitive health

What Obamacare will look like for older women

Osteoporosis. After all, Dr. Zeke says if you are over 65, you can't contribute much and aren't worth treating.

Emanuel, however, believes that "communitarianism" should guide decisions on who gets care. He says medical care should be reserved for the non-disabled, not given to those "who are irreversibly prevented from being or becoming participating citizens . . . An obvious example is not guaranteeing health services to patients with dementia" (Hastings Center Report, Nov.-Dec. '96).

Translation: Don't give much care to a grandmother with Parkinson's or a child with cerebral palsy.

He explicitly defends discrimination against older patients: "Unlike allocation by sex or race, allocation by age is not invidious discrimination; every person lives through different life stages rather than being a single age. Even if 25-year-olds receive priority over 65-year-olds, everyone who is 65 years now was previously 25 years" (Lancet, Jan. 31).

NY Post, "Deadly doctors."

Health Maintenance class at Lakeside

Although I don't think I heard anything new about the importance of a colonoscopy, screening for osteoporosis or the value of exercise, Dr. John Weigand's talk was informative and entertaining. He noted that by 2025 over 62,000,000 persons in the U.S. will be over 65. The risk of osteoporosis is high, particularly for white women, so screening should start around age 60. Dr. Weigand recommends 1000-1500 mg/day of calcium--not sure I get that much, and also Vitamin D, perhaps 1000-2000 units a day. He also said 10-15 minutes a day in the sun would help without being a skin cancer danger (without sun screen, which blocks vitamin D). A t-score of a negative 2.5 is osteoporosis. He suggested we go to FRAX to get a 10 year risk of a hip fracture or major osteoporotic event. The good news about exercise is that even the oldest of the old benefit from a supervised program of high-intensity resistance training and weights; that aeroblic exercise helps brain synapses and possibly promotes the development of new neurons from adult stem cells.

And in the Sonnets class earlier in the day we looked at Shakespeare's Sonnet 73, which certainly seems to fit:

That time of year thou mayst in me behold
When yellow leaves, or none, or few, do hang
Upon those boughs which shake against the cold,
Bare ruin'd choirs, where late the sweet birds sang.
In me thou seest the twilight of such day
As after sunset fadeth in the west,
Which by and by black night doth take away,
Death's second self, that seals up all in rest.
In me thou see'st the glowing of such fire
That on the ashes of his youth doth lie,
As the death-bed whereon it must expire
Consumed with that which it was nourish'd by.
This thou perceivest, which makes thy love more strong,
To love that well which thou must leave ere long.

Bone health in older men

Age, weight and COPD are the predictors of bone health in men writes Jacob Goldstein in the WSJ yesterday. One in four men over 50 will have osteoporosis related fractures. Staying fit is important because strong muscles mean better coordination, and weight bearing exercise helps bone density. Of course, being a non-smoker will help the lungs and the bones. Another predictor is weight below 175--thin men are more likely to have weaker bones, just like women.

"[Angela] Shepherd's system, published in the Annals of Family Medicine, uses three variables: age, weight (lighter men are at higher risk) and a history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which mainly affects smokers. Smoking and excessive drinking both increase the risk of osteoporosis."

It also helps to stay off ladders and roofs and hire someone to clean the gutters while you rake, even if you were a good athlete in high school, drank a lot of milk, and currently lead an exercise class for women that includes weights. Last week a local architect in his late 60s fell off a ladder and died from his injuries.

[Public service announcement for the other resident of this household]