Skip to main content

Go out and play!

I don't think that there's a single one of us who hasn't heard the phrase "Go out and play!", at some time in their lives. It wasn't just a way of getting kids out from under foot. It was a way of getting them to avoid sitting on the couch doing nothing. It was a way of getting them to have their exercise and to expend they're nearly inexhaustible supply of energy. And in that little phrase, there remains much wisdom.

The trouble is, we don't go out to play. We belong to gyms , we wear fitness trackers, we become slaves to fitness software and apps, we know all there is to know about oxygen consumption, training, caloric expenditure, oxygen use, and any one of a number of pieces of data. Despite that, we're a nation getting fatter and fatter every day.

As I said, we don't go out to play. Why? Because we think that the old wisdom is dead, and that the new wisdom must be right. New wisdom that says if we track everything, exercising some organized fashion, and somehow became a gym rat, we get healthier. Buzzer sound. Wrong answer!

Let's consider scrapping some of the new wisdom, in favor of the old wisdom. You know, maybe I can't go out the door and join a pickup game of stickball or punch ball. Maybe I can't find a bunch of friends to bike over to our favorite park. Or maybe I'm afraid that if I pick up a pair of roller skates it made land me in the hospital. But how about raking some leaves? How about mowing the lawn? Is it play? No, of course not. But it's not that highly organized oxygen in oxygen out sort of trackable data heavy exercise that we read about in fitness books. Get out and wash the car and wash your significant other's car, too! You'll be getting exercise. Valuable exercise. And time will pass a whole lot faster then running around a track.

If you're that interested in the calorie output, go check it out online. There are plenty of websites that will provide you with nearly all the information you need for these daily, ordinary activities. When you're an adult who pays bills, has a job, works hard, pays income tax, and does all those other things involved with adulting, then the play that our elders talked about is really good old-fashioned functional work around the house. Give it a shot!
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The "Nondiet Diet?"

At the ripe old age of 74, I've certainly seen and most likely participated in any number of diets. Including fad diets. Many fad diets. Lately, there's a lot of talk about something called intuitive eating. I still don't know very much about it, but it seems to be guided by logic, rather than mere number crunching. While most fad diets rely upon some measurement or distorted measurement of some nutrient or calories, intuitive eating depends more on good, healthful choices, eaten in moderate portions, guided to a great extent by mindfulness or slow eating, as well as a measure of hunger versus fullness. This last attribute is, perhaps, the most important. Many of us of my generation were taught to clean the plate. Much of that, of course, was generated by parents who did not have reliable refrigeration open to them. Food was prepared freshly, served quickly, and anything else needed to be thrown away. Nowadays, of course, we have reliable refrigeration, as well ...
Post a Comment
Read more

The World Was Not Prepared

When I look back, over the last few months, I see nothing but a global screwup, of astronomical proportions.  If the world's handling of the COVID-19 pandemic isn't the quintessential example of  Murphy's Law, I don't know what is.  From the early mischaracterization of the virus as not being a global threat, to nations and local areas not having the resources, it's been a mess. To make all this worse, it's clear that no one has set a long term communications plan, to report updates.  For example, here in the NY-NJ area, we typically get three, lengthy press conference style updates every day.  Each lasts anywhere from an hour, to an hour and a half.  Much of it is meant to be gracious, thanking the almost endless list of front-line personnel, to other government agencies, to individual patients.  A truly effective, long term communications plan would do three things: Set a reasonable, bite-size time limit, for each daily presser. Set standard ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Organ Meats

Before  You make a face, consider that organ meats are never eaten in large quantities. Not only that, but they're also mixed in with potatoes and vegetables and other things.. Lastly, the way organ meats are prepared before cooking can make all the difference in the world. I'm not urging you to eat organ meats, but I am suggesting that you give them a try, if possible.Although I have always liked kidneys, I hadn't had them until recently at a local sichuan restaurant. That same restaurant also prepares things like tongue and tripe, pork intestines and beef tendon.They're all highly seasoned and absolutely elicious, in small quantities and only occasionally.
Post a Comment
Read more