Every day it’s inevitable: I talk with someone who, at some point during the conversation, says, “I wish…” WHAT they wish for may be highly improbable. “I wish I could win the lottery.” “I wish I could go back in time and change blah blah blah.” “I wish…” But some of what they utter a wish for IS obtainable if only they would ACT to make their wish come true. “I wish I could control my future.” “I wish I was skinnier.” “I wish I was built better.” Hmmm… I’m pretty sure you can make such wishes come true.
For several years now I’ve been paying attention to my health and fitness. Why? Well, way “back in the day,” when I was in my 20s, I thought it was pretty cool to be more fit than the average human. How did I compare? Resting heart rate and blood pressure. The “average” adult resting human heart rate is 70 beats per minute (BPM). Mine was always in the low 60s – and I attributed that to exercising quite frequently. I was involved in sports in junior high school and high school and did well with physical training (PT) in the Army. In the police academy I kept pushing myself hard. The average adult blood pressure is 120/70 (for a healthy adult) and mine averages (even today) 115/65. While there IS such a thing as blood pressure being TOO LOW, I’ve never had that problem. As people get older, having their blood pressure tick slightly higher is no big deal. I’ve heard my doctor say that 130/85 wouldn’t be “too bad.” I take pride that mine is still below average for a typical 20-30 year old healthy adult. But it takes work!
As I said near the beginning, I’ve been paying attention for a long time. Even when I wasn’t actively eating healthy or exercising regularly, I was aware of my body, my weight and my fitness level. If I was ignoring it, it was a conscious decision on my part. When the time came (and in truth I NEVER should have stopped eating right and exercising), it was just a matter of self-discipline to get back into a healthier routine: watch what I eat, both in quantity and quality, and exercise regularly. Thanks to having done so for about the past three years, I’m back to a resting heart rate that averages 64 BPM and an average blood pressure of 115/65. What made the difference? What I did.
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