I go back to work today after a vacation that was just one day shy of two weeks. As I ate my breakfast and read the funnies this morning, I found myself chuckling at most of them. Was it because they were really funnier than normal, because I haven't read funnies in a couple of weeks, or because my sense of humor has improved because I haven't been to work for a couple of weeks? Whatever it was, it was fun to enjoy the comics this morning and get some good chuckles out of them.
Yesterday it was about getting back into the routine of day-to-day life, so we spent the day doing some of the essential chores and I went for a 5 mile jog, that I was sort of dreading. Why was I dreading it? I don't know. Maybe because my last 5 mile run, while Jack and I were visiting West Point, was so damn hard. But yesterday's run was almost pleasant. It felt good to get back out there, run my familiar route, and be able to run the whole thing without really wanting to walk any of it. I have started thinking about lengthening my route to six miles, to start to prepare myself for the triathlon. It occurred to me yesterday that I could just keep running for another mile, but that's hard to do when you are so close to home. What I need to do is add another mile to my loop. I'll scope out a new route this weekend.
This morning I got up and did my "Hotel Strength Training Regimen" one more time. It's one tough workout! I am getting stronger, though. I can do about 10 push-ups before collapsing on the mat and I can do all 20 of the elbow-ups, with a couple of rest breaks. Tomorrow I will do cardio at the gym and Friday I'll have a strength training session with Jeremy.
It looks like I will be going to China for a week, starting this coming Monday. I am going to have to work hard to keep up regular exercise throughout my travels.
I have recently read two books, one was excellent, the other was pretty good. The pretty good book was "Aging Well," by George E. Vaillant, M.D. The book was very interesting because it discussed three longitudinal studies of three different groups of people from childhood or young adulthood to old age (75 -85). I appreciated the fact that several of the author's preconceived notions about aging well were destroyed because of the study; to me, it always makes a book a little more interesting when the scientist writing it is discouraged that his own theories don't pan out. I'll admit that the book is a bit of a slog and my sister felt like the author talked down to the reader a little bit, which may be true, but I am so fascinated by the concept of "Aging Well" that I plowed my way through the book, anyway. I found the most illuminating information about two-thirds of the way through the material. Dr. Vaillant talks about the 7 aspects of our lives at age 50 that most accurately predict whether or not we will be Happy-Well or Sad-Sick at 75-80 (or dead before then). Two things were very surprising about these predictors. The first thing that was surprising was what they were not. The list of items that did not statistically affect a 50 year old person's longevity or Happy-Wellness/Sad-Sickness at 75-80 were ancestral longevity, cholesterol level at age 50, stress at age 50, parental characteristics (including parental social class, stability of parental marriage, parental death in childhood, family cohesion, and IQ), childhood temperament, and vital affect and general ease in social relationships.
To me, the very good news was that the accurate predictors (at age 50) of our 75-80 year old selves' Happy-Wellness/Sad-Sickness were all items that are under our control. They are: no heavy smoking (or had smoked heavily once and quit several years ago), no alcohol abuse, having a stable marriage, some exercise, not overweight, and having mature defenses (or having an adaptive coping style, being optimistic, being able to find a silver lining or turn lemons into lemonade, not making mountains out of mole hills, etc...). The seventh, very interesting, predictive factor was years of education. Those that completed high school were much more likely to be among the happy-well than those that did not. Completing college was also a statistical boost to being among the happy-well. The author found that having at least a high school education made a significant difference in making choices about such things as food and exercise. What the author found, through his research about the three groups he studied, is that if a person exhibited 5 or 6 of the 7 positive predictive factors at 50, the likelihood of being Happy-Well at 80 went way up. In one group, 106 men enjoyed 5 or 6 of the 7 predictive factors at 50. At 80 years old, half of these men were among the Happy-Well and only 8 were among the Sad-Sick (the remaining 48 were in between). But there were 66 men, in the same group, that possessed fewer than 4 of these protective factors. Of those 66 men, none were among the Happy-Well at 80 and 21 (almost a third) were among the Sad-Sick. In addition, men that had fewer than four protective factors at 50 were 3 times more likely to be dead thirty years later than men with more protective factors, and all 7 men in the study that had fewer than two protective factors at 50 were dead by the time they were 80.
As I said, I consider this great news. I am relieved that my childhood and my ancestors longevity are not statistically relevant to my happiness and health in my old age. I look at that list of 7 predictive factors and know that they are all things I can do something about. I can influence my own happiness and well being as I age. I guess the best way to put it is that information gives me a sense of empowerment. I've never been one to just let life happen to me, but reading about these studies gives me an even greater sense of my own ability to affect my health and happiness as I age. That's a good thing.
The second book I read while on vacation, which I thought was excellent, was, "Women, Food, and God," by Geneen Roth. This was a much easier book to read and was much closer to my ideal for a Self-Help Book. I am a firm believer that most self-help books are way too long and most authors can say what they have to say in a self-help pamphlet, but they don't do it because they can't figure out out to sell a pamphlet for $15. Geneen Roth's book is short and to the point. I have decided that I am going to re-read this book and blog about it, much like I did "Younger Next Year." I found a lot in the book that helped me understand some of my own behaviors and Ah-ha moments. It will be helpful for me to internalize more of the information in the book by blogging about it. So over the next few weeks, if you keep checking in, you will learn more about what Geneen Roth has to say in this book.
Until then, have a great Wednesday. It looks like it is going to be a pretty day in this part of the world!!
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