Body and soul - Lent 2022: Day Eight

I look after my health because I want a long life. I want a long life to fulfil my potential as a human being; to gather as much understanding as possible - and to share it my understanding with others on a similar journey, learning from each other, as we go.

As regular readers will have gathered, over the past eight years I have systemised my approach to health and fitness. Daily exercise, controlled alcohol intake, plenty of fresh fruit and vegetables, and a diet that has virtually cut out all sugar other than the fructose in fruit. Dry January and Lent mean 77 statutory booze-free days; each remaining week of the year should have a minimum of two consecutive booze-free days too. Drink (mostly wine for occasions, beer on hot summer days, spirits in the run-up to Christmas) is now limited to an average of 14 units a week across the year - in line with UK National Health Service guidelines. And way down from my 33.4 units per week on average in 2014, when I first started counting!

Health requires constant gratitude and internal feedback - not ignoring the slightest symptom, and a mind-over-matter approach. It has worked for me so far - should I ever get complacent or boastful, I am sure karma will step in. Health and happiness - inner happiness - are correlated. While brushing my teeth each day I give thanks for my health, and pray for the health of those near to me, especially those who are seriously ill.

My approach to fitness is changing with age. No longer am I focusing on those exercises that build the body into something the ego is proud of or wants to show off. Rather, it is focused on avoiding problems later in life. Sit-ups to maintain flexibility of the spine. Holding the plank (three sessions with short rest between) - up from an average of 3 minutes 40 seconds in 2019, to 4 minutes 11 seconds in 2020 to 4 minutes 21 seconds last year and an average of 5 minutes 11 seconds across the first 66 days of this year. This is an essential exercise to maintain internal or core muscles within the torso strong. Back extensions (two sets of eight a day) work on the same set of muscles but in the other direction. Last year I also started doing squats, partly to keep knees supple, but also to ensure balance. Weights? I've stopped building biceps, and stick to exercises to look after my rotator cuffs. Push-ups and pull-ups I stick with for the sake of habit, but I'm no longer trying to break records here.

Consistency is important - if I drop a set of exercises and return to the same set three or four days later, I find I've already lost it. Use it or lose it - with age, muscle strength diminishes faster. So keeping it going regularly is essential to maintenance of strength and indeed suppleness, consistency rather than setting and breaking new records.

Walking remains key. A good 90-minute walk, now often aided with Nordic-walking poles, is a daily must. Not only a health-and-fitness thing, but a time to contemplate and commune with the environment. Sitting down is bad for us, yet we do so much of it. We evolved to walk, our hunter-gatherer ancestors would walk on average 10-12km a day. Since 1 January 2014, I have walked a daily average of 11,000 paces, which, with my 80cm pace, is around 8.8km or 5.3 miles. A day, every day.

Healthy soul in healthy body. For life.

But here's a question - would you rather swap a fit and healthy body within which sits a troubled mind, for a body immobile in a wheelchair or bedridden - but in a serene and blissful state?

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As of today, I have given over the use of my działka to Ukrainian refugee family from Kyiv - a mother,  her18-month-old son, and her mother-in-law. They can stay there as long as they need to, amid the peaceful orchards and woods.

This time last year:

But where are you really from?

This time two years ago:
Buildings and the sense of the Mystical

This time three years ago:
Face to face with Schrodinger's Cat

This time seven years ago:
Opening of Line 2 of Warsaw's Metro

This time nine years ago:
A selfless faith

This time ten years ago:
Ul. Profesorska after the remont

This time 11 years ago:
Lent kicks off again, for the 20th year in a row for me

This time 12 years ago:
Halfway through Lent

This time 14 years ago:
Spring much closer