*** Are You Preparing Fiscally and Physically for Retirement?

If you are like most people, you have been diligently putting some of your hard earned money away in some type of retirement plan. For most people though, their preparations involve only the monetary type with a total lack of awareness about preparing and preserving the body they live in for their later years.

It is a sad fact that by the time most people are ready to retire, their body and their health are pretty much a train wreck. The goal for retirement for most is to finally do all the things they wanted to do but couldn’t because they were raising a family and working full time. The reality of retirement for most is a litany of ever increasing medical costs with countless visits to the doctor and a continual decrease in activity level.

Over the past 40 years, one of the most important things that we have come to realize is that information about the body and how to use it properly is not available from anyone. Doctors are not trained about function, they are trained to repair the damage we do to ourselves and to treat the symptoms we complain to them about. Other professionals don’t understand either and simply give their interpretation of what they think is correct, hence the conflicting information from one person to the other.

We have taken the time to learn about the human body and how it is designed to function as a result of our own physical problems, namely chronic back pain. What we have learned is that the most prevalent condition in medicine is totally preventable as well as controllable for most people. Medical intervention is only needed as a result of not understanding or ignoring the causes leading up to the back pain. This is the current state of health care that has resulted in 85% of the population falling victim to back pain.

If you are lucky enough to not have back pain, it usually only because your life and the activities you perform each day do not challenge the deteriorating condition of your body. Statistically, only about 20% of the population attempts to exercise or otherwise take care of their body.

A good share of people do attempt to do things like walk, bike, swim or some other physical activity but most of these amount to “usage” and for a lot of people “abuse”. These activities along with golf, bowling, fishing, hiking, shopping, etc. all amount to the same thing to the body, creating accumulated abuse that ends up with some sort of body pain requiring medical treatment. This is where the nightmare begins and usually never ends.

Unbeknownst to most, the body we live in is the most important asset we have. That body is capable of many remarkable things such as keeping you alive in spite of the poor choices people make about what they eat and drink and other wise take care of themselves. The good news is that the body you live in is also capable of coming back from years of abuse and a lack of maintenance.

Why don’t people take better care of themselves? The truth is, most people have no idea that they have to and if they do realize this fact, they have no idea what to do or how to do it. When in doubt, most people are told to do what they enjoy doing or better yet, “to just do it”. Recommendations from your physician will amount to taking up a walking program or a vague comment such as “you need to be more active”. Is there any wonder why no one sees any results from their misguided efforts at taking better care of themselves.

People have all kinds of reasons for not taking care of themselves such as “I am not athletic” or “I don’t like to exercise”. These euphemisms do not exonerate us from the responsibility of taking care of the body we live. Again, we feel the reason people feel this way is they don’t know what to do or they have attempted “their version” of exercise and failed to see results concluding that exercise is boring and does not work for them.

The media and the misguided information that people are privy too is responsible for the rampant ignorance about exercise and what should really be done. Contrary to all the misinformation running rampant, you do not need to exercise your heart to keep it strong. Cardiac muscle, unlike skeletal muscles does not need to exercised to stay strong. Your heart is made to work 24/7 and only falters due to the deterioration of the rest of the cardiovascular system such as deficient breathing, clogged arteries and veins and nonfunctioning muscles. When a person has a heart attack, it not from the heart being weak but rather from the heart being over-worked.

Let us make it simple for you. The muscles of your body make up the largest biologically active component in your body. They need regular demand and proper usage to remain functional as you grow older. The old adage,”you use it or else you lose it” is very true. However, muscle function is not automatic similar to the fact that driving your car is not automatic. Your car has to be driven every time you use it and your body has to be directed every time you use it. Properly performed resistance training is the single best activity you should be doing to maintain the vital muscle on you body as you age.

One of the most important activities that every person should do is to address the muscle tightening that is a result of simply daily living. It is this unattended tightening that is the root cause of most of the body pain we incur as we age. Properly performed stretching, done regularly is the single most important maintenance tool that every person should do regardless if you are active or sedentary.

We have all been given a body to live our life in and it is our responsibility to maintain so that it lasts a long time. It is never to late to learn and learning about the body you live in and how to maintain it is a life long project. You, your health and your body are the recipients of this learning that will allow you to live a long, healthy and productive life. Remember, your body doesn’t grow old from overuse, it grows old from lack of use and abuse.