When my sweet old Moms died at 98 and a half years of age, it dawned on me that she had not had the discipline to exercise daily, and this lack of exercise contributed to her dementia and in the end -- Alzheimers. I also feel bad, because I'd been a "wilderness hiker" but I simply became a couch potato when it was no longer easy or possible to go to the woods. that was in 2005, when Moms insisted I could not stray too far. She stopped driving her car then.
She had actually bought an "exer-cycle" and parked it in the den room where she spent much of her waking time. It wasn't a Peloton -- a good thing, because she didn't have any small children to feed it. But thinking back, from the time I arrived here in 2000, I never saw her use it. I feel bad for my thoughtlessness. If I had understood why seniors need regular exercise, I would've got Moms to go to the local park with me and walk a mile daily.
When Moms punched her last ticket back in October, I started trying to get exercise again, walking a half-mile loop on our street and steep hill. Then, I took a three month break. I resumed probably beginning in April. I had been diagnosed with COPD some years ago, and prescribed Trelegy Ellipta. I've also got type 2 Diabetes, and I take blood pressure meds. But I finally got serious about exercise, and in April, I started driving down to a small local park to walk.
CDC and HHS say that seniors need to walk a mile per day or 150 minutes per week for adequate exercise. The park has a peripheral path that is a third of a mile around. Three loops is a mile. Once I had mastered a mile at a time, I started doing two miles, and sometimes three. For each extra mile, I give myself one couch potato credit, or CPC, which I can spend by taking a day off from exercise. I'm currently trying to decide how to expire these CPCs. I mostly insist on walking every day.
At first, I would walk so far and begin to experience dyspnea -- a shortness of breath that almost feels like suffocation. This is a disincentive to exercise for the COPD patient. But now, I can knock out a mile without coming even close to this feeling. Even so, I will take a five minute rest every turn around the park -- an extra 15 minutes for a mile that theoretically should take me 20 minutes.
I use the GOOGLE FIT app on my cell-phone. Because it takes longer for me to complete a mile (or two) than the usual expectation for 20 minutes per mile , the app only awards me a single "heart" credit. I'm wondering, with the rest breaks, if I'm really getting adequate exercise. I'm improving on the time factor, even so.
But because of the COPD, I'm wondering if I'm really "getting enough exercise". After my family died, I felt like I needed a "purpose in life" -- which had previously been "taking care of Moms and Bro". After some experiences with depression, I realized that the exercise helps reduce that condition immensely. And I defined a new "purpose in life": to walk as much as I could every day.
The blood pressure is lower. Blood oxygen saturation is up to 96 at rest. I don't pee like a diabetic -- urination is pretty normal now. But I still wonder if this exercise will "save me".
UPDATE: I discovered this morning that eliminating rest breaks and knocking out a mile in less than 35 minutes adds those "heart" credits in greater amounts -- today I got 7. This has raised my confidence.
She had actually bought an "exer-cycle" and parked it in the den room where she spent much of her waking time. It wasn't a Peloton -- a good thing, because she didn't have any small children to feed it. But thinking back, from the time I arrived here in 2000, I never saw her use it. I feel bad for my thoughtlessness. If I had understood why seniors need regular exercise, I would've got Moms to go to the local park with me and walk a mile daily.
When Moms punched her last ticket back in October, I started trying to get exercise again, walking a half-mile loop on our street and steep hill. Then, I took a three month break. I resumed probably beginning in April. I had been diagnosed with COPD some years ago, and prescribed Trelegy Ellipta. I've also got type 2 Diabetes, and I take blood pressure meds. But I finally got serious about exercise, and in April, I started driving down to a small local park to walk.
CDC and HHS say that seniors need to walk a mile per day or 150 minutes per week for adequate exercise. The park has a peripheral path that is a third of a mile around. Three loops is a mile. Once I had mastered a mile at a time, I started doing two miles, and sometimes three. For each extra mile, I give myself one couch potato credit, or CPC, which I can spend by taking a day off from exercise. I'm currently trying to decide how to expire these CPCs. I mostly insist on walking every day.
At first, I would walk so far and begin to experience dyspnea -- a shortness of breath that almost feels like suffocation. This is a disincentive to exercise for the COPD patient. But now, I can knock out a mile without coming even close to this feeling. Even so, I will take a five minute rest every turn around the park -- an extra 15 minutes for a mile that theoretically should take me 20 minutes.
I use the GOOGLE FIT app on my cell-phone. Because it takes longer for me to complete a mile (or two) than the usual expectation for 20 minutes per mile , the app only awards me a single "heart" credit. I'm wondering, with the rest breaks, if I'm really getting adequate exercise. I'm improving on the time factor, even so.
But because of the COPD, I'm wondering if I'm really "getting enough exercise". After my family died, I felt like I needed a "purpose in life" -- which had previously been "taking care of Moms and Bro". After some experiences with depression, I realized that the exercise helps reduce that condition immensely. And I defined a new "purpose in life": to walk as much as I could every day.
The blood pressure is lower. Blood oxygen saturation is up to 96 at rest. I don't pee like a diabetic -- urination is pretty normal now. But I still wonder if this exercise will "save me".
UPDATE: I discovered this morning that eliminating rest breaks and knocking out a mile in less than 35 minutes adds those "heart" credits in greater amounts -- today I got 7. This has raised my confidence.
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