Taking a dive at the pool

Why does this middle-aged man continue to exercise?  Many men my age don't and seem to be healthy enough to live the life they're living.  Is it because I've done it so long that it's a normal part of the life I live just like breathing, eating, sleeping, working and the like?

A simple yes is my answer to my question but perhaps there's more to it than that. 

Maybe my motivation has a vanity element to it and if so, is there anything wrong with a little middle-aged man vanity?

Questions, question and more questions the deeper I go into honest reflection  seeking my truths to why I do what I do.

Maybe my vanity is a bona fide factor fueling what I do.  Maybe I do what I do because I don't want to look like a middle-aged man fatso when out in public taking a dive at the pool.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Numquam obliviscar

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A Violent criminal within us?

This middle-aged man seems to be on a roll as of late reading about recent health-related research and today I have another one to share with you.

Recently-published research suggests that low resting heart rate in late adolescence was associated with increased risk for violent criminal activity as an adult.

According to JAMA Psychiatry, where the results of this study were published yesterday, the research was a “population epidemiology study of more than 700 000 Swedish men reports that low resting heart rate in late adolescence was associated with an increased risk for violent criminality, nonviolent criminality, exposure to assault, and unintentional injuries in adulthood.”

An abstract of this research study reports how a “low resting heart rate is a well-replicated physiological correlate of aggressive and antisocial behavior in children and adolescents, but whether low resting heart rate increases the risk of violence and other antisocial and risk-taking behaviors in adulthood has not been studied in representative samples.”

In typical research fashion, the research study concludes by saying how “Resting heart rate and other autonomic measures merit further study in the development and prevention of violence and antisocial behavior.”

If you’re fascinated by these findings, here’s where you can go and read more:

A Longitudinal Study of Resting Heart Rate and Violent Criminality in More Than 700 000 Men

So this middle-aged man, from years of dedicated running and other cardiovascular training, is an owner of a lower resting heart rate.  

Years ago, when I was an active runner, my awakening resting heart rate was the low to mid-40 beats per minute range.  Now that I’m older and not the cardiovascular training beast I used to be, I now awaken to a resting heart rate in the mid-50 beats per minute range.

Pierini Fitness on the run circa 2004

According to this research study, that’s within the range of low resting heart rate associated with increased violent criminal activity.  The research study considered a low resting heart rate to be one that was less than or equal to 60 beats per minute.

“Yikes!” yells this concerned middle-aged man.

As a result of my cardiovascular training and conditioning, have I created in myself a Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hide complex character capable of being calm and collected one minute and then becoming a violent criminal thug the next minute?

Am I afraid of my own shadow or should I be?

Do we cardiovascular-fit middle-aged man fitness dudes with our low resting heart rates have a violent criminal within us?

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

“Hey man, want some acid?”

Can you believe this? 

An article appearing on the internet website WebMD reports how preliminary research suggests of the potential benefits using psychedelic drugs such as LSD or “magic mushrooms” to treat patients suffering from hard-to-treat anxiety, addiction or post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

The article does mention how this out-of-the-ordinary suggestion is based on a “review of small-scale and preliminary studies” conducted in the United States, Canada and Europe all of which await follow-up.”

What the heck does this mean – small scale and preliminary studies all of which await follow-up?

Was it done by a group of young college acid-heads from the United States and Canada vacationing in Europe who got together with some young Europeans and all stayed up all night partying at a psychedelic shack while listening to their favorite “acid-head” music?

This middle-aged man grew up in the generation in which LSD was the type of alphabet soup many young people preferred over the Campbell Soup brand and personally finds it hard to read and accept this unbelievable suggestion. 

But psychiatrists never cease to amaze me.  I’ve had some as acquaintances in my lifetime and two of them happened to be “basket case nuts” suffering from their own self-administered drug-induced mental disorders.  I know some doesn’t mean all but, nonetheless, “I only know what I know.”

So this suggestion gets my two thumbs down. 

My wise middle-aged man advice is to be on guard against some wacko psychiatrist you meet on the streets walking down a dark alley who, inspired by this research, shouts out to you, “Hey man, want some acid?”

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Who would one day be my wife

Birthdays are fun and what's even funner is to wish someone a happy birthday on their special day.

Today I wish a happy birthday to this little girl, in a yesteryear long ago photo, who would one day be my wife.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

"I can't hear you!"

Sooner or later, middle-aged man gracefully-aging small talk will includes discussions about failing eyesight and hearing.  The former has been discussed here a time or two but the latter hasn’t until now.

There comes a time when we middle-aged men have to fess up and confess that there are subtle changes going on with our ability to hear that about us.  There’s good and bad in this aging phenomenon. 

The good is that we may not be able to hear that fatso middle-aged man cutting a decibel-piercing fart in the public square such in line for seconds or thirds at the neighborhood all-you-can-eat buffet.

The bad is we may not be able to hear what someone is telling us in conversation.  Our lack of lip-reading skills may force us to get a little egg on our face and embarrassingly ask someone if they’ll repeat what they just said once, twice and maybe more before we get it.

I see young people in noisy places sometimes and am amazed at their ability to carry on a conversation on their smart phone.  I wouldn’t even bother attempting something like that.

It’s not that I’m deaf or anything like that but truth be told, I must confess, thanks to my wife bringing this to my attention, that my middle-aged man ears may be older than my chronological age and their ability to hear what’s being said is suspect.

So what’s a middle-aged man afflicted with declining hearing ability supposed to do?

Certainly I could go get my hearing tested by an audiologist and see what my truth is.  And if that truth is I have a hearing problem, then I could ask for a prescription for a hearing aid.  These devices seem to be more high-tech and miniature nowadays and I’m sure I could pack a pair inside my ears and the world may not even know.

I’m not sure it’s time for that journey so I’ll go about life as I’m currently doing while trying to be honest about this growing reality which, in time, will probably only get worse.

So maybe I’ll spend some time taking an internet online course on lip reading or just telling that person who seems to be whispering to me to speak louder because “I can’t hear you!”

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

A good friend of rest and recovery

As any experienced middle-aged man fitness dude knows, rest and recovery between workout sessions is as important as the workouts for strength and conditioning improvements. I’ve known this for the longest time but seem to struggle embracing it in my fitness pursuits. 

It seems like I suffer from the condition of “if [insert your favorite activity] is good then more must be better” in the context of my strength and conditioning training.  Where this came from I don’t know but it’s an ugly beast in my fitness, health and wellness journey with which I must content. 

It’s closely-related to another syndrome with which you may be familiar that I describe as “all or nothing”.  If I can’t do the whole darn enchilada workout, then I won’t do a darn thing at all.  I’ve written about it before, over 7 years ago, demonstrating my understanding of it and even espoused a healthier alternative that something is better than nothing.

Read about it here:

Something is better than nothing

Nonetheless, over the years I seem to relapse into what can best be described as a classic case of “Do as I say and not as I do” and fail to reap the harvest bounty of a regular labor of rest and recovery in my lifelong middle-aged man fitness, health and wellness journey.

It’s said the first step in changing something is to acknowledge that something exists and that’s what I’m doing here, again!  I struggle incorporating rest and recovery in my lifelong journey of fitness, health and wellness.

So this week I also share that I’ve gone light in my fitness training and it’s been like a breath of fresh air for me.  I hope this breeze of freshness stays around for a while and that I do a better job for the rest of this month and forward in being a good friend of rest and recovery.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Just outlaw tacos

Political-related middle-aged man reflections used to appear here at Pierini Fitness with more frequency than nowadays.  In fact, the current theme of what you’ll find here was changed some time back to focus on middle-aged man reflections about living and dying, gracefully aging and trying to live a good and honest life.

Of course there’s good middle-aged man diet, fitness and health stuff here too, all for your reading pleasure and adding to your wisdom bank.

But every once and a while, an outstanding political reflection or solution to a perceived national problem is necessary and that’s the topic of today’s blogflection.

This topic is immigration; more specifically the illegal immigrant problem which has turned out to be a major political issue constantly being discussed by all the 2016 Presidential candidates with each of them offering their own solution to the problem.

I’m sure this constant discussion about illegal immigrants has helped you think about this issue and form or validate your thoughts and opinions about it; it has for me for sure.

Well I’ve decided that it’s not necessary to build a wall to keep illegal immigrants out of our country like many have proposed.  Such a proposition would turn out to be one of the biggest pork-barrel projects ever undertaken involving your and my taxpayer dollars.

There’s a better way to keep illegal immigrants out and send those here back home where they belong.

Want to know my better way?

Just outlaw tacos.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Choose your haircuts wisely

About three months ago I shared how I now have a new barber.  He’s 80 years young and I’ve been to see him twice, both times enjoying our chat and his seasoned wisdom.

There’s a certain amount of getting to know your hair and the haircut style you like that every good barber must deal with.  And there’s also a learning curve for the middle-aged man dealing with a new barber in developing a communication and comprehension synchronism when explaining the haircut desired. 

In any event, a couple weeks ago I made my three-month barber visit for another haircut.  Such visits are less frequent nowadays because my hair doesn’t grow like wild weeds like my good olden days.  

I decided this time I wanted a shorter haircut than last time.  So I explained what I wanted while my barber cautiously and slowly went to work.  He paused here and there asking for feedback which I gave him in his earnest desire to give me a good cut.

Well at the end of his assignment, he had cut my hair exactly as I instructed him but what I learned is that this style of cut and shortness didn’t accentuated any fading middle-aged man appeal left in my bodily north pole.  

In fact, what it did was more prominently showcase my aging gray hair and the rough lines making up the shape of my head.  I was left with not a hint of any middle-aged man glamour.  Not that I had any real glamour to begin with but there was this illusion of imaginary glamour I thought I saw when looking at myself in the mirror.

But after the haircut, I couldn’t convince myself of seeing even a drop of imaginary glamour existing during daily encounters with my bathroom mirror.

So the lesson I learned and the lesson for all middle-aged men of the world, particularly when dealing with a new barber, is to choose your haircuts wisely.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum

Fueling our middle-aged man creativity

Forbes, Times, and many other media sources recently reported about new research suggesting - in a nutshell – how there’s evidence that people who score higher on measures of neuroticism also score higher in creativity.

Before I go any further with my two cents on this, some working definitions of both, for both your and my benefit, would be helpful.

One definition I found for neuroticism is the following:

“Neuroticism is a long-term tendency to be in a negative emotional state. People with neuroticism tend to have more depressed moods - they suffer from feelings of guilt, envy, anger and anxiety, more frequently and more severely than other individuals. Neuroticism is the state of being neurotic.”

Here’s one I found for creativity:

“Creativity is defined as the tendency to generate or recognize ideas, alternatives, or possibilities that may be useful in solving problems, communicating with others, and entertaining ourselves and others.”

The Forbes article I read began by stating how some of the great thinkers of past and present – Isaac Newton, Michelangelo, Woody Allen – have also been the most neurotic.

In my quick skim of the full text of this research study, researchers offer an explanation of the neuroticism/creativity link that people who are neurotic are more creative because they tend to dwell on problems to a greater degree than others.

This is important, they say, because a key feature of creative thought is the ability to generate solutions to problems in a non-traditional way.  Researchers give examples of the brooding, tortured, genius and depressive states of mind that facilitate analysis of complex problems.

Here’s website link to both a summary and full text of this research if you’d like to read more:

Thinking too much: self-generated thought as the engine of neuroticism

What does this mean for all the middle-aged men of the world?

Well we pride ourselves as having much sage wisdom from the roads traveled in the long lives we’ve lived and, more often than not, we point to our creativity for the great things we say and do.

So now we know that a morning cup of neuroticism will go a long way in fueling our middle-aged man creativity.

Pax Domini sit semper vobiscum