Here I am banging on about being 50 this year.

I think I have mentioned in previous posts that I am celebrating not only my birthday, but also that I have got this far without serious illness and no hospital stays.

Winning at life.  

I’d like to keep it that way!

I’ll just get straight to the point.  Osteoporosis runs in my family.  You hear the word and you think, oh aye, I hear about osteoporosis a lot, and then don’t give it any more thought.  The heads up on this is, imagine losing 4, sometimes 5 inches in height, and all of a sudden you can’t reach cupboards anymore, not to mention the constant pain that be present as well.

Osteoporosis is essentially a bone thinning condition, and despite loads of fancy pants medications, sometimes there is no stopping its progress.

I’m trying to just give a heads up on a condition that is not spoken about often, sorry if it sounds a bit doom and gloom! 

Here’s the thing: 

I’ll summarise.

1.    If you KNOW that osteoporosis runs in your family, don’t take it lightly and I would encourage you to adopt lifestyle attitudes that may benefit you in the years to come.

2.    If you have people in your life 55 plus, encourage them to take up pilates and\or Tai Chi.  Seriously.  This is a game changer.  Anything that person can do to build up brilliant back muscles to support the spine can only be good for you!  If I was Prime Minister, I would make it compulsory for anyone over the age of 60 to attend weekly Tai Chi classes. (please only exercise after speaking to your doctor if you are predisposed of any other conditions).

3.    Take your wellbeing seriously NOW!  Sounds dramatic huh?  Don’t wait until something goes wrong before you apply a remedy.  Graveyard legislation is what my Dad calls it, when a company has an accident, then decide to apply health and safety measures. If you were to do a body scan, what areas of your body do you think need a bit more care and attention? What unexplained pain are you possibly ignoring, that could be made a bit better by massage for example (oh come on, I had to get it in there somewhere!)

4.    Get serious about your stress levels.  What are they?  What does stress look and feel like to you?  What does it affect? For me (lady of a certain age…), stress brings about a hot flush.  Oh joy oh rapture.  It also affects my stomach as I literally do feel like I get knots in my stomach if I am off kilter.  Not fun. I find that being organised helps me feel less stressed, and also getting a good night sleep.  I find that I have got very protective of my sleep pattern recently and really having a good bed time routine is what works for me also.  Why am I mentioning stress?  Apparently stress can affect how well our bodies absorb vitamins from food.  Crikey.  Whats next?

Live well, be happy, be organised, wear sunscreen, eat well, eat as many colours of vegetables as you can get your hands on.  What ever you want in life, start now.  What can you do to help you get where you want to be.  Take stock.  Make plans with people you haven’t seen for ages.  Gatecrash birthday parties (Thoroughly recommend, did this recently), Don’t wait for an invite, make the invite, get outside, read, do whatever you can to make the biggest dent of happiness in your life that you can.  Do something that you didn’t think you could do, have a go (I’m growing night scented stock from seeds, over exposure to Monty Don). 

Onward!

Elizabeth