Home Columnists Noel Garvan: We can stay healthy and mobile well into later life

Noel Garvan: We can stay healthy and mobile well into later life

It seems generally accepted today that once we hit our late 30s our bodies go into a rapid decline.

Over the years I’ve seen many people who in their teens and 20s believe they are invincible but once they hit their late 30s almost like someone flicked a switch they are more fragile and talking as if they suddenly are in their 60s or 70s.

“My back is sore”, “My hips are tight”, “That’s my bad shoulder” and “my mother had bad knees, I got them from her”. How does this powerful confident person turn into a lesser version of themselves in such a short period of time?

I’m not suggesting we can stop the aging process. We all go into decline at some point unfortunately. We do have a choice, do we go into a rapid decline where exercise and movement become a chore or do we stay healthy and mobile well into later life?

Pain, injuries and aging are complex and wide-ranging subjects. There’s not a one size fits all solution. Diet, stress, previous injury and other factors come into it.

For millions of years we moved throughout the day. Hunting, gathering and foraging in order to survive. These habits created the foundations of who we are today. Our bodies crave and depend on movement to stay healthy.

We now live far more sedentary lives and we need to find a way of closing the gap between our habits of the past and our habits now. Exercise is a human invention designed to close this gap. Often though we don’t exercise enough or if we do there is poor variety in the movements we use. Often our movements in exercise are too repetitive and don’t stimulate our joints in a wide enough range of motion.

Morning Routine

In the video link below I have created a morning routine which takes about 10-15 minutes where you will rotate most of your joints through their full range on a daily basis.

These are not designed to replace detailed assessment and treatment of injuries. These simple exercises performed daily increase joint health and longevity, educate the nervous system about ranges in our joints we rarely use and make us more aware of poorly functioning joints that may need closer attention.

These exercises benefit everyone from elite athletes to the elderly. So, whether you’re 8 or 80 give them a try.

SEE ALSO – Noel Garvan: How I turned one passion into another