Health

 

While waiting for the local business to conclude before I start the trip, a friend died of a heart attack. I was initially shocked. I had just talked with him in the morning of the night of the fatal heart attach. It was depressing for a while. It then got me thinking about the 60's (age not decade). As I recall, he was 66. I will be 60 in a few months.

There are a lot of variables with health. Diet, exercise, genes and more contribute to the state of health. In my friends case, he had told me that he had a bad diet and very little exercise, along with a family history of health issues. He had health issues dating back to his 40's.

In my case, I have had very little medical issues. It's a bit surprising since I had bad habits and inconsistent exercise. In fact, some of my close friends have died or lost their minds due to lifestyles similar to what I had a few decades ago. I sometimes think about what has made the difference. But a little background is in order for that. I want to note that the descriptions illustrate the need for a comprehensive health & fitness lifestyle, even if that is not initially apparent.

I was raised by my mother and grandmother. Both of them had health issues, partly due to bad personal habits. They thought that PE in schools was a waste of time and money. Also, there was little encouragement for physical activities at home. All evenings were spent in front of the TV for hours with little movement. They did have me tend the half lot garden. And I had bicycles. From 8 year's old until my Navy enlistment, we lived next to a large forest. So there were hiking options. My enthusiasm for cycling, hiking and gardening gave just enough to keep me firm albeit a bit too slim.

I was a teenager when I entered the Navy. I chose the Navy because it was just a few years after the Vietnam war, which motivated me to have a long distance between me and the targets. But the Navy was attractive to some people for problematic reasons. It had the least focus on fitness. We even had a guy in our boot camp company who claimed to be over 300 pounds. He was quite round. The non-marching exercise was dictated by the pace of the least fit guy. That was the 300 lb guy. There was so little that he could do that our company commander cancelled all exercise except for marching.

Shipboard culture was even more physically lax. The powers that be were far more concerned with the shine of our shoes than our physical fitness. In fact, some people gained weight, even to obese levels, while on the ship. We had no formal gym and berthing spaces were too small for much exercise. Most people would exercise topside when at sea and at the base gym when in port. Since fitness had never been a focus of my physical activities, I did not seek out these options. I was fortunately not among those who got fat. I remained on the lean side. As I will get into later, I had a size 34 waist from 17 - 40 years old.

I was the tallest and skinniest guy in my division until one of the Steves came aboard. He was normal height but underweight. He started to go to the base gym when our ship entered the Long Beach shipyard for a refit after our WestPac. He had dramatic results. It motivated me sufficiently that I started cycling on base and eventually got into the gym. Unfortunately, this was also the time when more partying occurred. But I mixed things up sufficiently to not have lost the positive gains of the physical activities. However, I could have been much more fit if I hadn't been influenced by the drug and alcohol use which was common in the Navy at the time.

I left active duty in 1982. The rest of the 80's can appropriately be called a roller coaster ride. The partying lifestyles which began in the Navy continued and even expanded. But I also had other interests which helped to generally neutralize the effects. This was especially the case when I settled in Santa Barbara, CA. I was involved in cycling, rollerblading, climbing and beach activities and cultures. Although I kept returning to party cultures, I often readily switched to the positive physical cultures when I wanted or needed to. So, although I would have been better off without the partying, the good activities kept me in decent condition with no negative health effects or the wrong kind of weight gain. I don't think that this was all due to my own actions. My body type had a pretty high metabolism. I think that my dad's side of the family had something to do with it. My dad and his family tended to be leaner where my mom's side had more overweight people.  I would do very little activity for months and eat heavily and still have the same waist. 

But a lot changed in my 40's. Some unfortunate events resulted in me moving to an area to which I was unaccustomed. Depression and a major change in physical activity, coupled with age related metabolism and continued heavy eating resulted in me pulling a Marlon Brando. Rapid weight gain further decreased my physical activity. But I managed to put the brakes on the decline. Although I didn't get back into the gym, I found adequate outdoor activities, including cycling. But I honestly did not do enough, in part because the weight gain was really the only symptom of physical issues. As in the past, I only had minor medical issues, most due to the occasional injury and affects of past injuries. In fact, most of my use of medical insurance were for yearly exams. With dental, I had only 2 small cavities in more than 40 years. The latter was far different from my childhood, which saw many cavities due to what I call the sugar culture. But ending my sugar habits in my early 20's saw major benefits. But, outside of sugar, my diet was still not as healthy has it should have been and that was a component which affected me as my metabolism changed. As a result of the weight gain in my 40's, I changed my diet and exercised enough to stabilize things. Although I still seemed "healthy" and stopped gaining fat, I was not loosing enough. It would have been good to get back into the gym. But the motivation simply wasn't there for structured workouts. I did get some home equipment. But outdoor activities again became my main methods for exercise. 

Here was a critical period when my health could have gone the way of my friend who died. Although the measures which I took should have been more, they were sufficient to prevent the health conditions which some other people in their 40's and 50's encountered. Plus I think that the genes were beneficial in this regard. But I knew that I needed to do more. My upper body workouts lacked consistency and I cycled about twice a month or when my motorbike was in the shop. And I did some hiking. I knew that I needed to do more but lacked the discipline. So I thought that it might be time to do a forced exercise routine, that being cycling. I was having maintenance issues with my motorbike and was planning to get a new one. But I decided to see if I could adapt to cycling full time. To make it as comfortable as possible, I purchased a Catrike recumbent trike. I donated the motorbike after exclusively riding the trike for 3 months.

I have been a full time cyclist for 7 years. Above are pictures of 3 of the bikes which I had since going full time. Until COVID-19 related work at home and eventual lay-off, I worked about 10 miles from work. Using a trailer, I did most of my regular shopping via cycling. Although the forced daily cycling has improved and maintained a level of health, I can't say that I am as healthy as I should be. I still haven't done enough for the upper body and I still eat more than I should. But cycling has made a big difference and has motivated me to do better in other areas.

I will certainly be testing things during my US cycling tours. I look forward to it.