Maintaining physical, mental health is critical during winter months
If I was still living in Illinois, I would have made my pilgrimmage to Rockford to gaze again on the beautiful and complex snow sculptures of people of many different countries.
Yes, I do enjoy the wintertime, as the other three seasons. OK, enough of my insanity.
I am happy and proud to say that, to date, none of us as gotten stricken with the COVID-19 or its cousin the new strain. One report is that the new cases of the virus are down.
Then I hear the new strain is getting its fingers on us and we’re being requested to wear both a paper mask and a cloth mask. It’s good to err on the side of the safe side and go with what the scientists are suggesting.
I can’t wait until tomorrow. I have another big day of hand washing and looking out the window planned.
As a reminder, please don’t become a couch potato. If you haven’t been going outside, just a walk through the house for any reason will do.
Carry a can or fruit or vegetables if you don’t have weights that you can carry around – just to carry.
One thing my dad used to do was stand an arm’s length from the wall and do a pretend push up from the wall. I do that sometimes to stretch and just move. It’s helpful to let your imagination kick in to move muscles in a way as to put some mild stress on them.
Something else that my dad got me started on was apple cider vinegar. Dr. Oz did a segment on apple cider vinegar. Recently, there was an article I read about this pandemic causing episodes of depression and other problems, and one of the things to help people through these times was to incorporate apple cider vinegar along with a good idea, and, of course, exercize.
Not to say apple cider vinegar is a cure all. The book I had on apple cider vinegar did have a variety of symptoms and conditions that it could benefit from the use of apple cider vinegar.
I was blessed years ago to have someone mentor me on healthy ways of living. One thing that really helped me was being introduced to a book about stretching. That helped me understand how to stay flexible.
Myself, I try to stay physically and mentally active. Sometimes, I rely on on the guidance of others to get by on my daily activities. Just to keep physically toned is enough for me.
There are several people I keep contact with. Sometimes, I can feel the uncertainty in a voice. Moving the topics of discussion tends to help me and the person I’m speaking with. We don’t solve many of the world’s problems, but it seems to reset our train of thought.
As I am writing this, much of the country is bracing for another punch from “Old Man Winter.” As much as people complain about the winter weather, I have yet to see anyone do anything about it.
As soon as my daughters were able to walk on their own, they started ice skating, sledding and cross country skiing. Yes, we celebrated the winter, sometimes with have a picnic at the local park.
March is a time that we’d start making plans for our summer camping and bike trips, and special outdoor activities, as well as planning our garden for the season whether for vegetables or flowers.
Some of this column might be redundant, but keeping healthy physically and mentally is a very important thing. Also, daily contact with friends and family should be an important part of your day.
Continue your efforts to be safe for yourself and others as well. Where one has an injury, others are affected. God Bless you all.
Conrad is the president of Canonsburg Senior Center.