Swim And Move For Your Life, Boomers

Besides getting wet, spending time in water can heal us from the inside out.

Photo by Pete Wright on Unsplash

The day had arrived. I took off my brand-new blue training suit and got ready for the swim meet. The swimming hall was packed. One of the spectators was a boy I really liked.

Today was my day to shine. Between the stylish training suit and my anticipated swim win, I felt like the unstoppable Miss Cool on wheels.

The start whistle went off and I dove into the pool. Like Speedy Gonzales, I swam with all my might. Rose, my main competitor, was nowhere to be seen. I did not see anyone. For sure, I was in the lead.

The audience was roaring, “Maybe a world record,” I thought.

Suddenly, I felt someone grab my ankles. Having gotten to the shallow end of the pool, I stood up as if trying to loosen the grip from the hands of my friend Ola so that I could keep swimming.

Then I, the unstoppable, got it; it had been a false start.

Instantaneously, I shrunk to the size of an ant. I was 16 years old and miraculously, I did not die.

. . .

50 years passed before I again entered a swimming pool, intending to swim laps. This time there was no boy and no Rose around, only me and I.

Water-based exercise can be a magic bullet for older adults. At 66, it dawned on me that I was now counted among older adults.

This realization was not easy to come to terms with, but not feeling up to par has a way of confirming the fact. When the body is stiff and aching, when daily activities are cumbersome, the mind has a way of following suit into the land of misery.

We can stay stuck in misery, or we can keep moving. Swimming is one of the ways we can heal from the inside out.

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that water-based exercises improve the quality of life for older adults.

Swimming is a low-impact, yet highly beneficial form of exercise.
It works for all age groups and at all levels of intensity. For us in the Boomer generation, the benefits are supercharged.

Besides feeling good about taking part in our own self -preservation, swimming improves sleep and our mental health. It also boosts lung capacity, reduces body fat, and strengthens muscles.

Best of all, aerobics and swimming promotes a healthy heart. In the United States, heart disease is the leading cause of death for both men and women.

Heart disease was responsible for the death of 695.000 people in the United States in 2021. It is about having problems with our heart and vascular system. We don’t want that.

Heart disease belongs under the umbrella of cardiovascular disease (CVD). High blood pressure is one of the most common risk factors for CVD and death. The heart is a muscle. Prolonged and uncontrolled high blood pressure strains and damages the heart and the inner lining of our arteries.

Having spent nearly three decades working as a nurse, I tell you this; Blood pressure matters. Because almost half of all Americans suffer from high blood pressure, we may think that it is not a big deal. But it is. It can make us, and it can break us.

Photo by Annelie. Blood pressure cuff and stethoscope from my days of ICU nursing.

In measuring our blood pressure, the top number is called systolic, representing the pressure in the arteries when the heart is working. The bottom number, called diastolic, represents the pressure in the arteries when the heart is at rest.

Normal blood pressure allows our blood to flow through the body like a lazy river. That is what we want.

Striving for a normal blood pressure of 120mmHg/80mmHg is the gold star, with or without medication. This is not always easy; aging has a way with that. But having a steady target goal in mind makes us accountable to the ideal.

Being aware of our blood pressure, knowing what the number is, what it means, and what we can do to make it better, puts us in the driver's seat.

Knowing that high blood pressure, is a main risk factor for heart disease, we can do something about it.

The good news is that with swimming (or walking) and a healthy eating plan, like a Dietary Approach to Stop Hypertension (DASH), normal blood pressure is achievable. We can improve our blood pressure and a multitude of other ailments that tend to negate the quality of life for many boomers.

A study investigated the benefits of a 10-week water aerobic course to lower essential hypertension. In this report, high blood pressure was defined as a resting systolic blood pressure of > =140 mmHg and/ or diastolic blood pressure of > = 90 mmHg.

The results of the study showed that the 10-week water aerobics course markedly lowered the systolic and diastolic blood pressure. The program was especially recommended for obese and older adults who experienced problems with bronchospasm and others who had orthopedic problems.

Swimming is good for almost everything. This statement is backed by science and personal experience. All it takes is 2.5 hours (150 minutes) of weekly aerobics. With these benefits, we can go from misery to optimal personal health.

Annelie on a pool swim at 73. Photo credit: Diego Pelaez

Optimal is different for all of us. It does not matter if you are healthy, handicapped, in a wheelchair, or going through a difficult health challenge, we all have an optimal best.

Knowing what degree of optimal is attainable does not guarantee that we can draw upon the energy needed to rise to the occasion every time.

Have you ever felt frozen, as if you can’t seem to move forward in life?

This is a question, posed by Dr. Gladys McGarey, in her new book The Well -Lived Life. At age 103, she has earned enough credibility to know what she is talking about.

Photo by Annelie, from own book copy.

In this holistic-oriented book, she writes that it is normal to feel stuck at times and to feel that we are too exhausted or too hurt to move forward.

She wrote about one patient, a smart, self-aware eighty-year-old woman who experienced prolonged suffering from intestinal obstruction. After ruling out obvious causes like diet and water intake, she helped her patient discover that she had unresolved grief.

Having lost several friends and family members in the recent past, the patient had not allowed herself to cry and truly feel the experience and loss of her loved ones. Resolving the grief; allowing herself to cry, be sad, and get in touch with her inner being, also opened up her intestinal obstruction and made her bowels move.

All Life needs to move, writes Dr Gladys. Figuring out why we feel stuck, could be about forgiving ourselves, forgiving others, accepting a new living arrangement, or losing the ability to engage in a hobby we used to enjoy. Add your reason, this Boomer list is endless.

. . .

A few years have passed since I started swimming at 66. I remember from the first day of my newfound swim routine, is that I only swam for 10 minutes.

“Is that it?”, someone asked when I climbed out of the pool. “That’s it,” I answered. But I felt elated and on top of my game.

A new beginning was initiated. My spirit roared and my post-op healing continued, from the inside out.

Then I sent a loving thought to my beautiful young self, 50 years earlier. Life is not always easy, we just have to keep moving along.

Thank you.

. . .

🇳🇴Annelie Holmene Pelaez believes that everyone has an attribute to share with others. Promoting cardiovascular health and helping adults over age 65 is her contribution. When we don’t let age define us, but rather empower us to grow, we discover health and happiness are byproducts of who we are.

Annelie is the author of the book, Say Yes to A Better Life, available at Amazon.