As We Age, Please Pay Attention Fellow Men
By C. Naseer Ahmad
Washington, DC
Life is a precious gift from God and so it’s important to pay attention to one’s general health, which includes the mind and body, to ensure that we live fruitful lives.
It might come to you as a surprise that the most dangerous places – perhaps more perilous than the minefields - for men as they age are the buffet tables at weddings, diplomatic receptions and social events. The delicious killer koftas, the beraham lamb chops, the scheming sizzling steaks and the badmash botis in the biryanis are staring at you in the devil’s plan to entrap them in your belly. In cahoots with them are the arch enemies: the gulab jammons, luddoos, barfi and the treacherous kheer. Hidden in each of these delicious items are suicide bombers ready to explode your arteries or clog them up for which many powerful roto rooter medicines and medical devices become impotent.
Lose no hope my friends, because the battle of the bulge can become an epic victory against the forces of evil. Remember, if you still have that ability left, that God has gifted you with a brain to make the evil design of the russgullas – who are trying to sweet talk you into gulping them endlessly – to fail. All you have to ask yourself is that “what additional satisfaction will the next bite provide or better yet what will it cost you tomorrow?”
If you still have a working pencil or pen and a scrap of paper, please put them to use. This writer will volunteer to be the prosecution’s witness with untainted evidence as I’ve been secretly recording the daily battle with the zalim barfi since 2012. My first act in the morning is to record the weight and the number of steps I walked the day before. Later during the day, I enter the evidence in a spreadsheet with the daily account. A formula planned in this spreadsheet informs me the daily variance as well as the difference from the minimum and maximum weights during the six plus years of accounting helps me adjust the food intake. Recently, I have added the time of any medicine used. Together this simple discipline has helped me lose some weight, fit back in old clothes and eliminate a medicine I was taking for digestive issues for several years.
Beware that your other mortal enemies are lurking somewhere near the buffet table, in your homes and next to your desk - the conniving comfortable chairs and sofas. Consider them as weapons of mass destruction and jealousy guard your well-being. These days, the knight and shining armor is the phone in your pocket or palms. Use the clock timer to go off after 45 minutes to help you from the devilish sofas going after your welfare.
Being old fashioned, I try to do what I say. In this vein, my internal clock went off when I was sitting on the bench on the platform waiting for my train. So I started doing some stretching exercises when a gentleman remarked in appreciation: “Do you do Tai Chi?” What’s that, I wondered. Curiously, I inquired about Tai Chi and registered in a class at the county recreation center.
“Old age is a state of mind brought about by failing body parts,” quipped my buddy John McPeek while we exchanged notes over coffee.
But, when I followed the Tai Chi instructor – who was a decade ahead of me in years - there were no visible failing body parts because his moves were so smooth, his face always smiling and with an enthusiastic spirit of a teenager he guided everyone through the Harvard Medical School protocol at the end of the session.
“Can you come to the conference room at noon? We have a discussion on men,” said the administrative assistant as she walked into my office at a federal agency that helped protect the lives of millions every day - where I have been serving for about thirty years.
A health care professional from the Virginia Hospital Center gave an excellent presentation about men, especially after 50. She provided valuable statistics and the risk factors. We learned what we can do to mitigate the risks, while also learning about things about which we can’t do much such as our genes, hereditary baggage and advancing years.
“Compared to a woman, at most stages of life a man is 88% more likely to die of heart disease, 69% more likely to die of pneumonia or influenza, 45 times more likely to die of stroke and 41% more likely to die of any cause,” said the handout from the Virginia Hospital Center about “Men’s health.” The document identified the links to many types of cancers to tobacco use; it educated about the dangers of obesity and the associated risks for contracting diabetes and other serious ailments.
One of the things that stood out was the emphasis on physical activity as a guard against disease. This is what makes simple walking, stretches, doing yoga or tai chi become important for our health.
An important takeaway from the seminar was not to rely too heavily on “Dr Google,” which can provide valuable information and also contribute to a lot of misinformation. Being in touch with a primary care physician was well advised by the Virginia Hospital Health Promotion Department representative. From personal experience, using this contact via the Kaiser Permanente email system has proved very beneficial to me and my family as well as friends.
They say nothing lasts forever but the Punjabi poet philosopher Mian Muhammad Bakhsh said is more aptly over a hundred years ago:
“Sadanaabaghi bulbul boley,
Sadanaamapey husanjawani
Sadanaasoh batyaaran”
In other words, the birds won’t sing in the blossoming garden forever. Nor do parents remain with you and your youth and beauty last forever. And, sadly the charming company of friends is not ever lasting too.
Therefore, as we age, it becomes important for health to maintain and/or reconnect with friends and family because time is fleeting.
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