Somewhat OT: Health Issues

[Charles Mercer]

There’s no easy answer to this one. It seems the body starts to spread in our mid-forties, no matter how careful we are with our diets. I started to gain around the waist and when I realsised the next pants size was going to be 42″ I said enough was enough. My son persuaded me to go to the gym and it has really worked for me. I’ve lost 18 pounds in just over a year with a twice weekly routine. A brief workout with weights plus 1,000 yards on the rowing machine does the trick. But, and it’s a big but, you need the personal discipline to keep it going, especially on the days when you just don’t feel lke going.

Most people have trouble fitting exercise into a busy routine. The benefits and the feel better factor make it worth it and I regard exercise now as part of my work routine. I just have to get to the gym twice a week – no excuses. And my waist size now? I can fit into a size 38″ but wear 40″ for comfort, it’s a joy.

[Joe Hayden]

I have set two recurrent alarms on my ical (Mac computer) everyday. 1 at 11:00am and 1 at 2:45pm.

It pops on my computer screen and says stretch and walk. Most of the time I actually do it.

7 minutes later I sit back down and get to work… or visit the COW!

I also walk when I play golf. I try to limit the “12 ounce curls” at the 19th hole.

Cheers,

Joe

L.O.A.

[Dave Morton]

You can move more or eat less. I choose eating less. It takes about 3 hours of wrestling to burn about 600 calories or 2 less Snickers bars per day to reduce your caloric intake by the same amount(about 300 each).

I didn’t go on any healthy quest, just eat less. The loss was slow yet steady – 40 pounds later I have the energy to do more and feel a whole lot better.

This approach didn’t require me to become a new person, just a smaller one.

Here is the plan – You know how much you eat now? Don’t eat that much.

misterdave

[Kai Cheong]

Funny you’d mention badminton, as I was just going to reply to Tim that squats used to feature quite a bit in my routine – until I sprained my ankle (quite badly) playing badminton… On location… With my director.

‘A Different Kind Of Editing Exercise’ – or something along that line sounds like a great idea for an article!

I remember reading about our favorite editor, Walter Murch, who said that when he’s editing a film, he leads quite a simple and healthy lifestyle. Exact quotes are vague to me as it’s been some time since I’ve read The Conversations. But I believe it is also good professionalism to keep your mind & body in good shape because to a certain extent, so much of the work an editor does is in their head & made through a certain process – it will take some time to find a replacement & get the ball rolling again if you fall suddenly.
body

Kai
FCP Editor / Producer with Intuitive Films
https://kai-fcp-editor.blogspot.com
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[Tim Wilson]

[Kai Cheong] “Funny you’d mention badminton”

I used to snicker at badminton – especially at my friend in college who used to compete on the university team. On one hand, he looked kind of badass walking across campus in his whites with a couple of rackets under his arm. On the other hand, DUDE, it’s BADMINTON!

Guy was totally unselfconscious. Wasn’t the least bit defensive. It didn’t even occur to him. As far as he was concerned, he was an elite athlete, and that was that. Not the tiniest bit of arrogance.

Then I saw him play. Goodness, he was a demon! Very truly one of the most athletic guys I’ve ever seen.

Except maybe for the classmate who was an alternate for the Olympic handball team. Handball? Dude, SERIOUSLY? And then I saw him play. Sweetest guy you’d ever want to meet. A beatific smile, genuinely hilarious, humbly spiritual. He became a missionary. Yet, forever after seeing him play, I was a little afraid of the guy.

And it turns out that, aside from squats, jumping rope is the most demanding exercise I’ve ever done. So there you go.

[Bob Cole]

[Tim Wilson] “[Kai Cheong] “Funny you’d mention badminton”

I used to snicker at badminton”

Me too. Until I started playing with a club, and realized that one game of indoor badminton took as much out of me as a set of tennis. And that was when I was playing with the senior citizens in the club.

It’s a great, low-impact (usually) sport. The best part of it is that you can play at as low or as high a level as your ability and commitment allow. In international play, the feathered “bird” reaches speeds of 200 mph.

And it’s fun.

Back more directly to the health issue: this has been covered extensively elsewhere on the COW, but standing up even while doing desk work or editing helps tremendously.

Bob C

[Richard Dolesh]

Scott,
As an editor/designer I have spent some 16 years doing a lot of sitting. In 2008 my whole medical journey started with gallstones. Then a gallbladder removal (cholecystectomy). Then researching vaccines before our daughter’s 2 month appointment. (I can’t even get into what I found out here but learn of the tremendous dangers before you get a vaccine.) I started to read everything I could about digestion, bile, body’s function and the like.

After reading some good posts to your topic, most of them cover 4 of the 5 critical steps.
I want to stress 3 & 4 ( #5 is way too much to get into here )

1. Diet
2. Exercise (helps eliminate toxins from your body)
3. Reducing Toxic intake (preservatives/ junk food/ mercury/heavy metals/drugs)
4. Supplementing your diet: God’s way Herbs/Supplements
5. Faith / Metal imaging / DeStressing

Are you on any medications?
Most of us run for the Tylenol when we get a headache. But to my dismay, the medications I have considered the ‘staple’ of my health, couldn’t be further from the truth. Have you ever heard of wildlife thriving after an oil spill disaster? Think of that picture when you take medications/drugs. I know this is a hard pill to swallow…as big Phama video/animation productions are some of the slickest in the industry. I have not yet found a drug that is safe: 1. They mask the symptom and create a host of side effects, and 2. They ALWAYS produce Toxicity in your body, that you liver/kidneys need to work harder to clean up your blood, which is dangerous when you body is already in disrepair. But, this is great for Pharma because drugs beget more drugs. Thought: if drugs can make a well person sick, how can they make a sick person well?

This is too much to get into here but, just want to suggest to seek much safer alternative medicine. The problem is: Lack of Information about alternative treatments/supplements.
(The FDA prohibits any type of health claim unless it is a ‘drug’.) But this is changing:
https://danielchapteronefreedom.com/
The Bible says: “In the presence of many counselors, there is wisdom” Proverbs 11:14. The trouble is, we don’t want to do the work (reading researching, on sites like curezone.org and other holistic sites) it’s much easier to show up for an apointment and have the doc write you a ticket.

I had to overcome tremendous strongholds in my thinking! I used to laugh when a naturopathic doctor would warn about the dangers of sugar—( It has tons of pesticides and suppresses the immune system) because so many of the things we eat have sugar processed into them. When we eat God’s food, (organic foods) our symptoms start disappearing! It become true ‘medicine’. See: https://www.dadamo.com/ It’s like we live in the Matrix…But some are opening our eyes to America’s disease economy:https://www.foodincmovie.com/

Tim’s post about vegan is good start, I agree, and unless you can get RAW dairy, I would agree with him to stay away from dairy. In the effort of making the dairy safe, they have killed anything that was good in it through the pasteurization process. We live in Ohio and had to buy a herdshare to get raw milk ( It’s also a tremendous way to go green) The milk we drink is brimming with living organisms that help digestion…soon I will be making my own kefir. See: https://www.realmilk.com/healthbenefits.html Or read here if you really want to get healthy: https://www.naturalnews.com/021986.html

Finally, and most importantly, I praise God for being my ultimate healer….science is really starting to catch up to what believers have known all along: https://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2008/04/12/re-growing-organs-the-future-is-here.aspx

Richard Dolesh

[Phil Eastabrook]

Is this off-topic? No. Despite our fixation with kit of all kinds, there’s one piece of equipment that is absolutely vital to our business survival, and that’s our bodies.

There are some great thoughts and ideas in the posts responding to this. One I haven’t seen (although I didn’t get all the way to the end) that made a big difference to me was simply recognizing this fact and putting aside the guilt that by going out for a run, a swim, a bike ride, or going to the gym I was just indulging myself when I should have been working.

If I add up the hours spent fixing, updating, resolving software conflicts etc (even reading the Cow so I can avoid the mistakes of others – boy, am I glad as an XDCAM user right now I haven’t UG to Snow Leopard yet!) then exercising for an hour a few times a week seems like a sensible and justifiable precautionary maintenance schedule.

Also, I used to suffer from bad backs a lot more than I do now, despite the fact that I’m a lot older now. Part of the improvement I think is down to lots of core exercising and stretching.

[Karen Fraser]

My friend Jeremy was an online editor for many years and as a direct result developed repetitive strain injury in his wrist. There was nothing he could do about it except leave the job behind. He has now travelled to Australia and is learning permaculture.
take care
karen

[Markus Weilguny]

i guess i’m one of the youngest contributors here. i’ve had a bit of a bad back since i was a kid – probably the chair topic gone wrong in school 🙂 but now i’m doing well, physically, as well as working freelance.

all the big topics have been covered, and of course sitting, sleeping, moving and eating are the essential points in all of our lives, and everyone is trying to find the best, individually ideal way.

something i’ve been hearing a lot from colleagues and training partners is that they chose martial arts (tai chi, boxing and pilates have been mentioned here) as a form of staying fit, not only as a means of a physical and mental excercise, but for their complexity:

i spend my day improving my skills in my application or technology of choice, but after work i want to do something different. still, that keenness for improvement and making use of my time remains – so dully doing push-ups to activate a couple of muscle regions is not my idea of good fun.

in martial arts, i get to do all sorts of complex, demanding stuff that is great fun for me at every moment, even when someone is trying to make me cry (reminds me of work). and the good thing? i strain all parts of my body (even those i didn’t know existed before), without ever needing to motivate myself to go on for another 100 repetitions.

another absolutely essential question in choosing any sport for me is this: are there people above 60 doing the sport, and are some of them better than their 30 year-old colleagues? if yes, i know i won’t be wasting my time and ruining my body.