Occasionally I remember a stray thought from my childhood and it comes back to haunt me. "How does old age feel? Does it hurt?" I wondered about these things when I saw my elderly relatives struggle with physical feats that had become difficult.
My question was prompted by the often verbalized opinion by adults that any pain a kid experiences is a growing pain. It made sense to me that if adults said kids had growing pains then getting old should be painful, too.
Now I am learning a new take on pain in relation to age. Getting old isn't painful by itself, but some diseases and conditions that accompany old age may do it. As a matter of fact, I rather enjoy the fact that I have lived a long time. But let's face the tough facts: tasks get more difficult as we age, healing is slower, reaction time is slower, and cell loss accelerates. The only defense against the toll age takes is exercise. The doctor may call it rehab, but this is the place where pain really takes control.
The goal seems to be to push your physical exertion to the outer limits. When my husband was advised to do exercise to improve his functioning, he refused because it hurt. I can see the logic of rehab, but I'm not much better than my husband in the practice of it. Mostly I find it boring. I'd much rather read or surf he net or write a letter. I'd rather do almost anything than workout. The last time I walked to exercise, I broke my foot. Events like that tend to reduce my efforts. Maybe I'll just get old and deal with it.
My question was prompted by the often verbalized opinion by adults that any pain a kid experiences is a growing pain. It made sense to me that if adults said kids had growing pains then getting old should be painful, too.
Now I am learning a new take on pain in relation to age. Getting old isn't painful by itself, but some diseases and conditions that accompany old age may do it. As a matter of fact, I rather enjoy the fact that I have lived a long time. But let's face the tough facts: tasks get more difficult as we age, healing is slower, reaction time is slower, and cell loss accelerates. The only defense against the toll age takes is exercise. The doctor may call it rehab, but this is the place where pain really takes control.
The goal seems to be to push your physical exertion to the outer limits. When my husband was advised to do exercise to improve his functioning, he refused because it hurt. I can see the logic of rehab, but I'm not much better than my husband in the practice of it. Mostly I find it boring. I'd much rather read or surf he net or write a letter. I'd rather do almost anything than workout. The last time I walked to exercise, I broke my foot. Events like that tend to reduce my efforts. Maybe I'll just get old and deal with it.
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