Aging: Didn't See That Coming!

Before I left for school when I was a kid, I had a morning routine of sitting on the couch, watching bits and pieces of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle cartoon (the original, not the new one), eating my favorite sugary cereal (Fruit Loops or Count Chocula) and looking forward to a weekend of playing Nintendo games. I remember thinking to myself ‘man, when I become an adult, I’m going to eat cereal for all my meals, play video games every day and watch Ninja Turtles all night because I’ll be able to make my own decisions’! Today, of course, I wouldn’t even fathom eating Count Chocula cereal for all my meals (let alone just for breakfast!). I have too many other responsibilities to spend every waking hour playing video games and I haven’t watched a television series cartoon in at least twelve years. The point of this analogy is that things change as we get older, not just from a rational standpoint, but also physically.

Metabolism decreases by 1% each year after the age of 25, which makes it much harder to stay active once we reach our forties. Unfortunately, once we arrive at the fourth decade, that is when it is the most important time to maintain an active lifestyle to prevent the onset of heart disease, type 2 diabetes and other debilitating aliments (not that this can’t happen at an earlier age, but it becomes more relevant with the passage of time). This is why it is so important to get into the habit of being active early on in life. An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

Upon graduating from high school, I’m sure you figured you would become a millionaire by the time you turned 30, play the field through college and maintain a sexy body for the rest of your life. Chances are things didn’t quite turn out the way you thought, but that’s fine because your perspective and outlook on life has changed since then. Certain things become less important once we get older, much like how we thought the ideal life would be in elementary school. Our health, on the other hand, should always remain a constant. Get regular check ups with your physician, develop a consistent exercise routine and always challenge yourself by setting new personal goals. You may not have the irrational, fantasy-like thoughts as an adolescent, but you can keep that same energy and spirit by keeping yourself in good health!

*See more on my website at www.jbeckfitness.com!