{"id":46095,"date":"2011-04-08T01:00:38","date_gmt":"2011-04-08T06:00:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/?p=46095"},"modified":"2011-04-06T13:09:55","modified_gmt":"2011-04-06T18:09:55","slug":"senior-stereotypes-can-be-hazardous-to-your-health","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/04\/senior-stereotypes-can-be-hazardous-to-your-health\/","title":{"rendered":"Senior Stereotypes Can Be Hazardous to Your Health"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Benjamin Goode is a Senior Fitness Consultant, medical writer and educator. Ben publishes a website called GoSeniorFitness.com<\/a> and a blogs at bengoode.blog.com<\/a>. The website provides older adults with practical health and fitness information. In 1972,<\/em> Mr. Goode founded and published the American Journal of Sports Medicine \u2013 the first professional American journal dedicated to the diagnosis and treatment of sports-related injuries. This journal is now the official journal of The American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine.<\/em><\/p>\n

There are a lot of myths and misconceptions about the infirmities of old age. The sad result is that the oldsters themselves start to believe them. Then, they use these fallacies as excuses for not exercising and not following a sensible diet.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m just too old and out of shape for that sort of thing\u201d says a 65 year-old, retired accountant. He\u2019s gained more than twenty-five pounds in the last few years and finds it difficult to get around. He takes medication for hypertension<\/a><\/strong> and he\u2019s been told by his doctor to reduce his dietary intake of sugar, salt and fats. He complains of being tired all the time and has lapsed into a sedentary lifestyle<\/a><\/strong>. He\u2019s a victim of That Ol\u2019 Rockin\u2019 Chair\u2019s Got Me<\/em> syndrome.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Like Voodoo<\/strong><\/p>\n

There\u2019s a medical term for these damaging myths. They\u2019re called nocebos. They\u2019re the opposite of placebos which mean, \u201cdo no harm\u201d. A nocebo is something you think will do you harm. If someone in authority tells you a certain something will cause you harm, the chances are \u2013 it will. Kinda like voodoo. This is true of foods, drugs or behavior. So, don\u2019t listen to those who tell you to \u201ctake it easy\u201d or \u201cdon\u2019t exert yourself\u201d or \u201cact your age.\u201d They\u2019re just handing you a lot of \u2013 nocebos.<\/p>\n

Our accountant should be armed with the facts about exercise, \u2013 that it can increase his metabolic rate so that he can \u201cburn\u201d more calories efficiently; that it can lower his blood pressure and heart rate; that it can add muscle mass and improve his strength and balance<\/a><\/strong>. That way, he\u2019ll gain more energy and be able to reverse the downward spiral of \u201cbeing too out of shape for exercise.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Dangerous Advice<\/strong><\/p>\n

Rhonda is another \u201cnocebo victim\u201d. She never has been very active throughout her quiet life in a small town in North Carolina. She sits at home most of the day, afraid to do the small bit of gardening she used to enjoy. She just turned 60 and has been diagnosed with chronic, congestive heart failure. She\u2019s been told by friends and relatives not to exert herself \u2013 well-meaning advice that can turn out to be deadly. She\u2019s afraid that if she does anything \u201ctoo strenuous\u201d she\u2019ll suffer a heart attack.<\/p>\n

What Rhonda doesn\u2019t know is that a well-planned exercise program can actually improve her cardiovascular function.<\/p>\n

Studies have shown that if Rhonda persists in her nocebo behavior, i.e., sitting on the sofa, then she\u2019d better start getting her affairs in order.<\/p>\n

Word to the Wise<\/strong><\/p>\n

When faced with a physical challenge, don\u2019t say, \u201cwell, I guess I\u2019m just getting too old.\u201d That\u2019s a philosophy of defeat. Instead, turn your \u201cGolden Years\u201d into \u201cVictory Years\u201d. Refuse to allow those discriminatory stereotypes define who you are. Seek every opportunity to do what you can as well as you can. You\u2019ll be amazed at what you can accomplish.
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\n<\/strong><\/p>\n

Guest Blog Series:<\/strong> Look for the following badge on your favorite health sites to see if they have been a featured guest blogger on<\/em> DietsInReview.com<\/em><\/a><\/strong>. See other posts in the <\/em>Guest Blog series<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Diets<\/em><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

If you would like to apply to be featured as a guest blogger, please <\/em>contact us<\/em><\/a><\/strong>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Benjamin Goode is a Senior Fitness Consultant, medical writer and educator. Ben publishes a website called GoSeniorFitness.com and a blogs at bengoode.blog.com. The website provides older adults with practical health and fitness information. In 1972, Mr. Goode founded and published … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":16,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4333],"tags":[1699,8122,4848,23,7499],"class_list":["post-46095","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-senior-health","tag-balance","tag-ben-goode","tag-exercise","tag-guest-blog","tag-heart-health"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/16"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46095"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46095\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":46107,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46095\/revisions\/46107"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dietsinreview.com\/diet_column\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}