Tuesday 1 August 2006

Pic of the day: Irrelevant parts blanked out.

Body: 8

As seen for the last few days, I took an online "rate your life" quiz. For the edutainment of my readers and my future self, if any, I comment on the various parts of it each day. This time it is body (and in this context, it refers almost exclusively to health, although the were a couple more generic questions like whether I was satisfied with my body.)

If 8 out of 10 means that I have realized 80% of the human potential as concerns body, then obviously that's on the other side of the vast uncharted Land of Crazy. If it means I am healthier than 80% of humans born the same day as me, it may well be true... at least if you include all those who have died from various reasons and count them as less healthy, which they surely are. Especially if you do this on a global basis, I am sure I qualify, and then some. I am not sure it was meant like that, though.

But it is true that I don't really have any chronic illnesses or disabilities, officially. My right wrist will probably never fully recover (although it is better than it has been for years in summer, possibly excluding last year). Random bouts of hyperactive digestion can be impractical at times, but is not a leading cause of death. (We're not talking about cholera-level diarrhea here, which is indeed a leading cause of death, albeit in the third world.) I do have some weird condition that makes me sick if I eat more than small amounts of fat, but most people probably thought I dieted to look younger and sexier. I guess I did look that, too. Anyway, now my digestion has expanded its capacity for carbs, so I am saving (nearly) all my fat and gaining my weight back again. So, it is like I am chronically almost ill, but not quite. Enough to whine, but not enough to get any sympathy! ^_^;

Doctors who check my heart tend to come up comparing me to an athlete. This is true in so far that I have a fairly low rest pulse, between 50 and 55 when I don't have any infections. While far from record breaking, it is indeed comparable to many local, non-professional athletes. The difference is that in my case it is a familial condition that says very little about my actual athletic capabilities. In real life, I cannot run more than a few steps. I simply haven't run since I was a child, and little enough then, since in my childhood any strenuous exercise would risk an asthma attack. Even though I don't have those anymore, I simply don't do it. After 30+ years that way, running is little more natural to me than flying. I can still dash away from a bee or a swerving car, but it is not a way I can cover any distance. I don't know that I would collapse and die, but I simply can't do it. The relevant muscles are not able to keep it up. I can walk fairly briskly for an hour or two, sure, including uphill. But I can't run or jog. It is the same with swimming too: I can do it if needed to not drown right next to land, but I can't use it to cover any distance. So, even though I look like this, and my heart looks like this, I am less athletic than some visibly overweight people.

Being less than overweight is probably good for my health (although statistics show that the just barely overweight tend to live the longest, but in my case this would almost certainly give me diabetes like my parents). Also being a lifelong non-smoker is a big star in the book, not to mention harder pleasure drugs. On the other hand, the risk factors really pile up: No wife, no sex, no pets, no churchgoing, barely any social life at all, and very little fruit and greens. These are all known lifesavers. Also I tend to forget to drink alcohol, which is healthy in moderation.

My ancestors used to live close to 90 years old. But they worked with their bodies and had their minds free. They ate as much as they worked, rarely more or less. They were married with children and grandchildren, and they knew who their friends were. They also breathed country air without exhaust, drank mountain water and ate food without chemicals. I know more than they did about the body, but I don't know what to do about it.

Strangely though I have stood up fairly well to a life without sex and broccoli. Perhaps better than 80% of you could have done. But it is certainly not because of my optimistic attitude! ^_^