Tough week in health news

Wow! It has been a tough week on the health news front!
In the past week (actually about 10 days) I have received news of three people I know that have received cancer diagnosis and one cancer patient that is not doing well at all.

While cancer is still a mystery and it seems that any one can get it in its many variations, I know that are are also things that we can do that will put ourselves on the less-likely-to-get-cancer list.
I am thankful that it is becoming easier to identify and obtain foods that are organically grown. I am also grateful that there is more information available to us to help us with living more healthful lifestyles and pointing out exposures to everyday carcinogens.

Even so, cancer seems to strike people from all walks of life.
Early detection is a big deal when it comes to treatment so it's probably time for me to take care of some past due screenings. Maybe the same is true for you.

Eat well.
Get some exercise.
Take care of your body.
It's the only one you get!

John <><

Sleep

It has been a while since I've had an exceptionally poor night's sleep ... until last night.

For the most part, I've been pretty mindful of my late day caffeine intake but I had a little more than my usual nothing yesterday and paid for it with a poor night of rest.

I thought about getting up several times during the night, but opted for just benefiting from resting even though I wasn't asleep. I have found that resting quietly often leads to a full sleep cycle before waking again and having to restart the sleep process. Now that it is early morning and too late to manage another complete cycle, I decided to get up and enjoy a cup of coffee and the quiet time.

Back in the day, afternoon caffeine never bothered me. I guess one benefit to sleep deprivation is that your body can shut off and sleep whenever you get the chance!

It's funny that it was just yesterday that I was posting on a thread about sleep. For the past year (since retiring) I have slept better than ever. My 4.5 hours per night (sometimes 3) has nearly doubled to 7.5 hours per night. I sleep until I'm finished sleeping and feel great. At 4.5 hours, I don't remember feeling tired and I usually woke up without an alarm. But a regular sleep schedule does wonders for an overall feeling of well being.

I'll do better about watching the caffeine consumption past noon, even on the unusual days like yesterday. I managed three full sleep cycles last night so I'll be good for today and will rest well tonight.

Live well.
Eat well.
Rest well.

John <><

Minor Setback

I'm experiencing a minor setback on the February goals.
I've noticed a little soreness and a little swelling in my right knee and I'm guessing the daily squats are the culprit. I've tried modifying my stance a bit and that seems to help with the discomfort while doing them, but the problem persists.
The goal oriented side of my says, "press on," but the more sensible side says that maybe it's time to back off a bit.
That's also the part of me that says, "Dang! I hate getting old!"

Although I've never had a doctor look at it, I'm thinking that a knee replacement may be in my future. There have been issues with this knee in the past.

I am going to keep up with the walking (that doesn't seem to bother it) and see if the slight swelling will go down just by eliminating the squats. I'll also look at doing something else as an additional exercise after taking a few days off.

Sacrebleu!

John

Bad Day...

So yesterday wasn't a great day.
It was windy and cold and I let the fact that I had built an extra day of walking miles into my first week keep me from walking in the single digit (F) wind chill temps. I did get my squats, push-ups and ab work in and my diet was okay, but I do feel like I should have used my Nordic Track or indoor cycle or something.

Oh well. That was yesterday and this is today.
The sun is shining and it is warming up nicely. Perhaps I will double up on mileage today and regain my one day cushion.

If you had a bad day, put it behind you and make today a good day. I really believe that you don't even need to pressure yourself into making up for the bad day. Just make today a good one.

Eat well.
Live well.
Be well.

John <><

February Goal Update

The first week of February is now in the past and it is time for a brief look at how I am progressing towards my goals.

I am on pace (actually a day ahead of schedule) to meet my goal of walking 100 miles with 25.3 miles for the week. I am also keeping up with my schedule on both the 30 day squat/push-up challenge and the 30 day ab challenge.
I haven't done any running, but am looking forward to adding some bicycling to my days when the weather is a little bit warmer.
I also haven't added any other exercise to my regular routine. I am beginning to to a little bit of yoga in the evenings, but nothing that can be counted as really serious.

I managed to shed the few pounds that I gained on vacation and am back on the decrease. I feel really good and am less likely to use weight as a measurement of good health than I once did, but I also know that I am still a little heavy. Though I no longer meet the obese criteria (BMI >30), I am still overweight. Working on it -- just not focused on weight as a measurement of health.

John <><

First day of February

I didn't get out for my walk as early as I would have liked this morning, but I did manage to finish my three miles by 10:40. I also took care of day 1 of the squat/push-up challenge. I did the ab challenge in the afternoon and doubled up on the few push-ups because of a last minute decision to attend a lunch meeting at our Baptist Association office.

I've decided to up the squat/push-up challenge to 5000/2000. I found this plan for 5000/1000 and will just double the push-ups every day (I decided this after the morning session).

When it comes right down to it, it really isn't all that much on a daily basis so I'm sure that I'll find other stuff to do. But it is more than I've been doing and so I'll consider this my daily minimum and anything else as extra.

Simple steps...

John <><