Wednesday, December 11, 2013

Exercise and aging

Yesterday afternoon I went to see if my 95 year-old neighbor might want help with clearing the snow off of her driveway.  Much to my surprise, she had already shoveled two thirds of it herself.  Wow! She told me she shoveled a few rows at a time and then would go into the house to rest.  She wanted the exercise.

Another of her fall exercises is raking leaves.  At the beginning of December I took five large bags of her leaves to our mulch pile, since the garbage company was no longer accepting leaves. Isn't it great when one can get exercise while also doing a chore?  I  wish more of us would naturally get exercise by driving our cars less and walking or riding our bikes more.

While exercise by no means guarantees a long life, it certainly can't hurt!

2 comments:

  1. this struck me as true! My mother now age 96 just moved from her own home last year to a sr. apartment because she lives in Williston, ND, and needed to be around more people in winters. However, up until she moved she still mowed her lawn (sometimes taking a few days), raked her lawn and walked everywhere around town to shop etc. because she never drove after wrecking the model T on the farm when she was growing up! I attribute her long healthy life to good genetics, a bit of luck but also walking everywhere and keeping active. Iris

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  2. Great testimonial Iris. Nice to hear about your mom's active life and corresponding longevity!

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