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Good Health is Money in the Bank
By Stephen J. Butler |
 Archives |
Back in the sixties, I was encouraged by my botany professor to apply for his old job...traveling 60 paddling days beyond civilization up the Amazon River to research the drugs used by witch doctors which could later be synthesized and sold by the Park Davis Drug company. Professor Richard Schultes had lived this Indiana Jones existence back in the thirties and his research had lead to, among other things, painkillers like novocaine. Later, he went on to discover and synthesize the drugs used by Haitians to create zombies, but my lack of a draft deferment effectively closed the window of opportunity to work with a great pioneer of the drug industry.
Today, drugs can become a large part of the life of any retiree.
The ability to make informed decisions that lead to preserving
good health is as important as good financial planning when it
comes to enjoying retirement. Unfortunately, our society is hooked
on the notion that there is always a silver bullet in the way
of a drug that will make us feel better and cure whatever ails
us. The prescribing of drugs for school-age children is five times
greater than it was only a few years ago, so the notion of drugs
as a solution is becoming more firmly imbedded in our culture.
Drugs can certainly be lifesaving, no question about it, but all
too often there are other more constructive alternatives.
With a medical system in crisis, it is more important than ever to be armed with knowledge when it comes to our health. The nicest people in the world can rationalize what is in their self-interest, and this approach can carry over into entire industries...like the drug industry, for example. We all know of instances where someone was so "doped up" they could hardly function, and taking them off the drugs turned out to be the far better alternative.
The federal government has recently lowered the level of "safe" cholesterol levels. Suddenly, a lot more people who never had a problem are candidates for a long list of expensive, uncomfortable and very controversial cholesterol-reducing drugs. How much of the "problem" is real and how much has been created by drug-industry pressure? It pays to do some research and arrive at your own conclusion.
Not to be overlooked is the ability to manufacture our own anxiety-reducing and pleasure-producing drugs --- legally. We just start with exercise. The statistics about exercise and weight control are terrible. Most of us eat too much and don't exercise enough. Yet, exercise is the single most important ingredient of good health and well-being. It is extremely difficult for people without an exercise habit to develop one. Developing a regular program, where none exists now, is probably more difficult than ending a smoking habit. Yet, it is one of the most constructive things a retiree or older working person can do.
An 85-year-old friend at my health club has kept Parkinson's disease at bay for twenty years thanks to daily regular exercise prescribed for him by his Kaiser neurologist years ago. I talk with him about it periodically, and have asked him why so few other people have adopted the same regimen when the results seem so positive...especially when compared to the alternatives. He says that in his experience he has found it impossible to convince people to exercise if they don't already do so.
What is the problem? An exercise program and/or sunlight raises the general chemical level of well-being in the body. Our brains produce endorphins that are natural forms of morphine. This is why even a brisk walk can make people feel great. Depressed or anxious people can feel a lot better after forcing themselves to exercise.
At some point in their late thirties, males actually experience a sudden dramatic drop in the level of natural endorphins that, until that age, were regularly produced in quantity even while they were just sitting in front of the TV. This precipitous drop in natural morphine levels explains the nervous energy and sense of vague uneasiness that leads to what is called "mid-life crisis" and often some very bad decisions.
Exercise, then, can make a huge difference in the quality of life. It may take a toll on our joints, but joints can be replaced. My parents, in their mid-eighties, both play golf almost every day, and between them, they have three artificial hips and one artificial knee. A little Tylenol and off they go. Their dispositions couldn't be better.
So, planning for retirement should not be confined to just concerns about money and investing. If you don't have your health, you don't have much of anything. Exercise programs are best begun in small bites if they are to endure. Most failed efforts, evidenced by all those rowing machines and treadmills seen in garage sales, are the result of a far too ambitious beginning. A few minutes a day can be a great start, so as the Nike people say, "Just Do It."
Professor Shultes, speaking of exercise, had been an Olympic swimmer --- an ability that could have come in handy toward the end of his exploring career. By the late thirties, the aluminum canoe had been invented, and he used one of the first ones on his last trip. Amazonian women from tribes practicing cannibalism were amazed at the size of this gleaming"giant pot." In their minds, according to Schultes, it would have been so easy to fill it with water, add some salt, and place the "pot" with its professor right over the fire. That early version of an instant dinner could have had me on the menu.
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