40’s Workout Part 2
40’s Workout Part 2
By Marylin Salgado
In part 1 of the blog, I provided basic information on the challenges faced for dieting and exercising in and after your 40’s. If you haven’t read part 1 of the blog, please visit our website and read that blog first followed by the information I will be providing on this one.
I can easily discuss cardiac and respiratory output together, but they both deserve to be discussed individually. Both systems are probably the biggest ones we need to keep healthy to improve and sustain life. In order to maintain a healthy life, we need to maintain healthy cardiac and respiratory systems. We will look at both individually for a better understanding of how they complement each other.
- Cardiac output
“The right side of your heart receives oxygen-poor blood from your veins and pumps it to your lungs, where it picks up oxygen and gets rid of carbon dioxide. The left side of your heart receives oxygen-rich blood from your lungs and pumps it through your arteries to the rest of your body.” – Healthwise staff
In an article published in July of 2018, it had been studied that your cardiac health in your 40’s, will predict the kind of cardiac health and output you will have in your 50’s, 60’s and even 70’s. Are you in your 40’s, overweight or obese; or are you thin and lazy? This is a concern if you think being thin means no cardio or exercise; since thin people have been known to die from heart attacks and stroke.
Exercising is much like practicing meditation or going to church every Sunday. It is a lifestyle choice that we must make. People have been known to carry on with a healthy exercise and dieting program well into their 80’s. You still have time to do it if you start now. Once you start implementing those choices, your body and mind will crave the everyday interaction you have with food and the gym. You will also open a world of possibilities with new food items and recipes as well as a workout program that suits your age and schedule as well as medical profile.
Back on to the importance of a healthy cardiac system. Here is an eye-opening statement:
In a systematic age-wise study, a small decrease was found in cardiac index in 100 male subjects between 40 and 89 years of age. It was considered that the observed changes represented neither statistically nor physiologically a significant decline and that they were predominantly the result of a decrease in oxygen consumption. – By MARTIN BRANDFONBRENER, M.D., MILTON LAN DOW-NE, 1M.D. AND NATHAN W. SHOCK, PH.D.
In simple words, oxygen consumption will keep your heart healthy. You don’t necessarily need to be hooked to an O2 tank to do this, but exercising can definitely help increase your pulmonary output and in turn your cardiac output. In this blog, I will discuss the importance of pulmonary output.
Here is where things get tricky; the heart muscle, just like any other muscle, or bone joint, will degenerate over time. This is normal and expected with aging. What we are trying to avoid here is complete atrophy of your muscles and joints. We are also trying to avoid diminished levels of oxygen to heart and lung tissue.
Diminished oxygen levels to any body organ is called ischemia. Lack of oxygen to the heart is called Myocardial ischemia, which decreases the heart’s ability to pump blood and can lead to a heart attack.
Exercise should not be an option, but a life saving choice. Even if you are over 40 and choosing to read this blog, you still have a chance to make a lifestyle change, by adding natural bodybuilding or cardio exercise routines.
- Pulmonary output
The main function of the lungs is to process gas exchange during respiration, hence breathing. The oxygen that enters the blood travels through our blood stream. This oxygen rich blood flows into all of our major organs. Carbon dioxide, a waste of metabolism, leaves the blood when you exhale, or breathe out.
It takes the first 20 to 25 years of a young person’s life to have fully developed lungs. We then enjoy about 10 to 15 years of healthy lung function since studies show lung function begins to decline after the age of 35. Remember, this is just a study. The oldest marathon runner in recorded history is 101-year-old Fauja Singh’s, who finished Japan’s 10km race in just one hour and 32 minutes in 2013. I am sure you are thinking 6.25 miles is not a 26.2-mile marathon, but at any age, 6.25 miles is an accomplishment. We all had that fat kid at school who couldn’t finish a ¼ mile walk without sitting the rest of the mile out or complaining he or she was tired. I’ll let you ponder this one on your own. 17 years or 101 years, you decide when you want to start being healthy and how long you would like to live.
It is well known you can’t live without a heart. You can live with only one lung, but there will be limitations on what activities you can perform, especially those that exert you, i.e. exercise, dancing, or some sports. Ultimately, you will want to keep all major organs healthy, those you can live with and those you can live without, like your stomach, spleen, reproductive organs, gallbladder, colon and kidneys (you can survive with only one kidney.) You can start now by implementing a healthy diet and exercise regimen to learn how to build your body. At this time, even if you are in 40’s, 50’s, or 60’s, it is not too late. You may be able to reverse some of the issues you currently have due to the poor choices you have made in the past.
This platform is meant to educate Tokkyo Nutrition consumers with the information needed to help you stay mentally and physically healthy. Please consult your doctor before beginning any diet or exercise program.
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Sources:
https://www.ahajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1161/01.CIR.12.4.557
https://www.heart.org/en/news/2018/07/20/heart-health-at-any-age-40-50-60-and-beyond
https://www.lung.org/lung-health-diseases/how-lungs-work/lung-capacity-and-aging
