Do you think of your body the way you think of your car? When a few lucky individuals buy a top of the range car that has some of the best automotive engineering available today, watch them read the maintenance manuals religiously.

They take their car for inspection even when it purrs like a kitten and take it for repairs as soon as something does not feel right. And they’re very worried.

That car is their most loved possession, a representation of all the long and hard hours they put in at work so they could finally own it. It cost a LOT of dollars, so looking after it is logically, their # 1 priority.

But how important is the person that drives that car? Shouldn’t that person – shouldn’t YOU – be the #1 priority?

The average lifespan for men and women is 80 years, give or take a few years. The painful truth is, a large number of men and women look and feel 80 long before they even make it to 45! You can spot the tell-tale signs from their physical appearance:

* sagging dry skin
* bad posture
* uneven and unsteady walk (they need to drag around those heavy pounds)
* aching joints
* displaying the “I’m not happy because I look terrible” look

Now, if their outward look is this poor, imagine what the inside machinery is like! Most likely, it’s even worse:

* clogged vessels
* inefficient heart
* mounds of fat parked in or around vital organs
* Conditions such as diabetes, nervous tension, high blood pressure and cardiovascular disease that are silently brewing.

If fitness authorities had it their way, they’d introduce legislation to make exercise mandatory as soon as a baby leaves the cradle, not during the teens when obesity is likely to strike.

But fitness must not be associated with any age limit. You can begin at 10 or at 25 – even at 50 and 60 – the idea being that fitness should not be seen as the solution for a condition that’s already come about. As the saying goes, don’t wait for illness to strike.

Brad King and Dr. Michael Schmidt in “Bio Age, Ten Steps to a Younger You” (Macmillan, Canada, 2001) created a questionnaire for assessing physical damage to a body as a result of no exercise. Some of their guidelines include:

Begin with the question, “How do I look?” Do any of these apply to you?
* Am I overweight, pear or apple shaped?
* Do I have a spare tire around my middle?
* Has my skin become excessively dry, almost paper-thin?

Next, ask: “How do I feel?”
Do my joints hurt before or after any physical exercise?
* Am I constantly worried and anxious?
* Do I feel fatigued and sluggish most of the time?
* Do I suffer from mood swings?

Finally, “How am I doing?”
* Are simple walking and climbing stairs difficult?
* Do I have difficulties concentrating?
* Is running impossible for me now?
* Am I unable to sit in a good posture, preferring to slouch or stoop my shoulders?1

You’ve finished your basic assessment. Note, however, that other exercise or fitness gurus will have developed their own parameters or indices for assessing your body’s overall state and one isn’t better than the other.

As long as they include all dimensions of the self – physical, psychological and mental – they are as valid as the next person’s assessment charts.

Now you need to develop your very own ACTION PLAN.

References: 1 Brad J. King & Dr. Michael A. Schmidt. Bio Age – Ten Steps to a Younger You. Macmillan, Canada. 2001.

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General Health