So I used to run around 5km everyday in the evenings with my neighbour.
Even though I had a knee pain from my NS days, I continued to run. I mean, it's just a light knee pain right? I've been used to it for the past 15 years or so, it only affects me when I land my feet wrongly or when I run more than 4km, so I didn't bother too much about it.
The specialist advised me to undergo surgery, I declined cos it doesn't affect my daily life unless I do strenuous activities so I didn't see the real need to do it.
One day, I don't know why, it dawned upon me that I should stop running. I'll be needing this knee for the next 40+ years at least and I needed to keep it from deteriorating from whatever condition it is already at. There are other types of exercises which I could use to keep fit and lose weight, running was just more convenient and I liked it.
I mean, I'd never know how bad it could be 5 years from now. I probably don't even remember what it was like having a perfectly functioning knee right? I've gotten used to a squeaky knee which hurts every once in a while. (Read about you can get used to anything.)
Maybe 10 years down, as my knee slowly falls apart after years of abuse, I would be limping when I'm 40+ and I would regret the days when I just ran through the pain.
There's no spare parts of this machinery. (Well there's knee replacement surgery but... (-.-)
A close relative recently complained of her back getting worse. Similarly, she has an on-going back pain. It got worse in the past couple of weeks. I advised her to get it checked. It doesn't really affect her daily life unless she needs to lift heavy weights or other strenuous activities so she was reluctant to get it checked. So I told her. Look, you're going to be using this body for the next 40+ years, please take care of it. 5-10 years down, you won't even remember what a properly functioning back would feel like cos you have gotten used to a bad back. I mean I can't force her, I just recommended she just get a specialist to look at it. Consultation maybe $100 + another $100 for X-ray. Just to see if it's anything really serious. If it's an acceptable deterioration, then just leave it, but it's still good to know if you need to do anything about it.
So this idea of maintaining your body, of course works in many ways.
Keeping healthy, getting sufficient exercise, light exercise is better than no exercise.
Less sodium and unnecessary sugars. You get a lot of salt and sugar in daily consumption avoid it if you can.
Avoid unnecessary fatty food. I'm not someone who advocates restricting fatty food. I believe everything is fine in moderation. But avoid it if you can.
Like if I'm going to eat fried chicken, then eat the skin, else might as well just don't eat it.
Keeping a low stress level, apparently people look younger just by leaving their jobs.
Hey that's like a free beauty package.
Yep, so take care of yourselves. You'll be needing your bodies for the next few decades.
Unfortunately, we haven't been getting much exercise. I've stopped running and my wife doesn't really like to sweat so we just take walks around shopping centers. Does that count?
I do believe in trying to integrate healthy activities in our lives, the key word here is integrate. Cos I don't want it to be a chore. I'm still exploring on stuff that we can do together that would be considered sufficient exercise during the week.
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