It felt different
The serene stillness pierced into his slowly departing sleep. Initial confusion and then the random bombardment of his still sluggish cerebrum fielded the eternal question.
Who am I, where am I and what time is it? One wonders if prehistoric man began their days in this frantic fashion? Presumably we would identify who we were in nanoseconds but were the club wielding hunters and berry gatherers as time obsessed as we were.
I’m guessing not. It would be a fair amount of sunrises before the world would know the pleasure of the world’s most coveted production watch, the Rolex Daytona Cosmograph and its calibre 4130 movement.
And I don’t think I’d be going out on a limb suggesting that Mrs Cavelady needn’t have worried about making that 11am appointment for the 24 Karat gold mask treatment at the Talise Ottoman Spa at the Jumeirah Zabeel Saray beach resort in Dubai.
And it’s $6,800 price tag !!!! But as the retreating night peeled away its final layers, the young and urgent morning sprinkled its own sun rays on the still resting earth. Lao Tzu, a Chinese philosopher once stated, “The journey of a 1,000 miles begins with a single step.” He wasn’t wrong but why is that first step so difficult? He finally convinced his obstinate body to vacate its cushy bed as he contemplated the task at hand.
He dragged his heavy legs towards the bathroom, making sure even in his foggy state not to introduce his little toe to the furniture lurking in his path. While that would surely have woken him fully, it would have been an unpleasant start to the day. The cold splash of water on his waiting visage fully thrust his senses into the waiting morning. As he climbed into his vehicle in this seemingly alien landscape, he looked for any sign of life. The planet was asleep. In fact, all sanity was still dreaming under the duvet. The vehicle negotiated the turns effortlessly, while music perfused the cabin. The exalted rhythms of Burna Boy’s “Anybody” pleaded for an upward adjustment of the volume level, but it would have to wait. It was far too early in the morning for an aural assault. As the cranial cobwebs finally disappeared and the adrenaline engine finally sparked, he noticed the serene blues and fiery orange of the young morning sky.
A smile creased across his lips. Orange was his favourite colour. As he negotiated his familiar journey past the few tired cars on the road, his destination approached. The waiting parking spaces competed for his attention as he pulled into one closest to the entrance. As he approached the recognisable entrance, it felt different.
Although the morning was warm and there was no breeze, it felt sterile and chilly. He pushed through a door, one that he had entered a thousand times and felt like a stranger in an at once familiar place. Gone was the familiarity, and the warm welcome from developed friendships. Stolen by an infective parasite, one we all were forced to know, one that had stolen the last two and a half years of our lives.
I was standing in the reception of Virgin Active for the first time since the pandemic began. A place that was as part of my life as any other. It was time to start over again. While a gym provides a multitude of exercise possibilities and certainly the motivation of shared sufferers, one need only an induced spirit to exercise anywhere. Fitness trackers abound, counting the steps its users negotiate daily. Compared to defined goals, how much is enough? Dr Evan Brittain, Associate Professor in the division of cardiovascular medicine at Vanderbilt University Medical Centre in Nashville, has published a new study that may shed some light on the subject.
Adults can avoid weight gain by walking 8,600 steps per day, while already overweight adults can reduce their chances of becoming obese by walking an additional 2,400 steps per day, for a total of 11,000 steps per day.
The new study also discovered important benefits for chronic diseases and conditions: Diabetes, sleep apnea, hypertension, depression, and GERD benefited from higher steps.
The relationship with hypertension and diabetes plateaued after about 8,000 to 9,000 steps but the others were linear, meaning higher steps continued to reduce risk. Though he added, the take home message is, the more steps, the better.
Another study in Spain discovered that walking 10,000 steps per day reduced the risk of dementia by 50%. Walking at a brisk pace of 112 steps per minute for 30 minutes, on the other hand, maximised risk reduction, resulting in a 62% reduction in dementia risk. The 30 minutes of fast-paced walking didn’t have to happen all at once; it could be spread out throughout the day.
Bottom line is, physical activity is essential. And if you’re looking for a magic recipe, then combined with a plant based diet, de-stressing, sleeping enough and connecting with others is your fountain of youth. Personally, I’m excited to return to the gym. And in time, the familiarity and the friendly faces will return.
Virgin Active is an excellent gym with great instructors. And I always need somebody (I mean you Sam) to monitor my lazy meter. Exploring the great outdoors in pursuit of your 11,000 steps is fantastic but I prefer to suffer alongside many others. Misery, as they say, loves company.