Q. Working Out

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I would like to comment this month on working out. I hope everyone here in Chiang Mai is delighting in our perfect weather. It is easy to be outdoors, swooned by the song birds, dazed by the brilliant flower blossoms and comforted by the gentle winds and the warm sun. No need to get out early in the morning before the furnace like heat causes a melt down nor do we have to wait until sunset to exercise, exposing us to the hungry mosquitoes during their feeding frenzy or the dogs who are fully alert by now in protecting their turf. So what is the “best” exercise? This question gets asked often by all comers.

Let us first roll our eyes inwards and look more closely at our body. Our body was designed to move. We have over a hundred joints. What are joints for? It should be a no brainer. Our ancestors did not have a built in weapon such as fangs or claws. Nor did we have speed or excessive strength or ability to fly. But we had something that most animals don’t have, endurance. This unique ability allowed us to track animals for hours if not days. This allowed us to cover great distances as we foraged. If need be, we could even run for hours at a time at a slow steady speed. We had no couches to lie on and certainly no remote controls to play with. No one needs to be convinced that exercise is good for us in so many different ways. The human body speaks for itself with its form and function. So we could all agree that some amount of movement is intrinsic to who we are. The key issue again is what type of movement and how much? Couch jockeys claim that if one lives extra years from exercising, those extra years are spent on exercising, so why bother? It is to be hoped that they will also be thinking about how great it is to avoid crippling strokes, heart attacks, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, obesity, low energy, insomnia, depression, mood swings, etc.

Walking daily for two miles (3.3 km) in about 30 minutes is all most of us need to be in good shape (with all the attendant benefits). Yes, there are many guidelines on exercising but please remember, these are just that, guidelines, and therefore not chiseled in stone. For example, we all have different rates of metabolism. Thus, someone with a high metabolic rate will burn off more calories for the same amount of exercise than his/her neighbor who happens to have a lower metabolic rate. One thing you will hear me repeating until the sun rises from the West is that we each have unique composition and thus one of the major keys to happiness and health is for us to tailor our activities, nutrition, etc., to who we are (don’t compare yourself to the person next door). We also need to be able to distinguish between mental fatigue and physical fatigue. Thus when mentally exhausted, often related to stress, it would be of great benefit to exercise and burn off some of the accumulated stress hormones. On the other hand, if you are physically exhausted, yes, this would be a good time to get on the couch and enjoy your favorite program or simply take a nap. Exercising when fatigued, because your mind says you need to stick to your program can be quite harmful. And yes, exercise is not always beneficial. For you garden lovers, time spent gardening can be equally helpful. Dancers, yoga enthusiasts, Tai Chi or Chi Gong practitioners are generally quite fit. Please consider if your exercise routine before you became an ex-pat is still appropriate in this climate. For example, if you ran ten miles, six days a week in Massachusetts, doing the same during the hot season may build enough free radicals to shorten your life. While in Boston, I would see young athletes who ran while experiencing flu symptoms. Some ended up with irreversible heart disease as a result.

We are fortunate to have many choices in deciding how best to stay fit. Therefore, choose an activity that you really enjoy. Do not engage in something you dislike but think that it is “good for you”. You won’t last and there is a good chance you will get an injury. So if you are not already doing something fun on a regular basis (remember, weekend warriors are placing themselves in harms way), consider, swimming, hiking, jogging, biking, or any other activity where you are continuously moving for a period of time. For beginners, it is perfectly OK to pause while exercising, thus walk and run or alter speed while hiking, etc. It takes several months to get into shape, so there is no need to rush. Ones “aerobic capacity” is the ability of the cells in the muscles to consume the oxygen that so easily enters our body through the lungs. The muscles only produce a certain amount of energy called ATP (a combo of sugar molecule and an oxygen molecule) which is determined by our current physical activities.  Thus a non-exercising person’s muscular system will only produce the minimum amount of ATP. As this person wakes up to the importance of regular activity (and I am not talking about opening the refrigerator door) and starts to demand more ATP, the body will hear the message and act accordingly. This is what is known as the “exercise effect”. Over time, the energy production will have been reset, at a much higher level. This explains why someone in shape can perform so well without running out of gas so quickly. Simply let your body know that your demands are increasing and your body will respond accordingly.

There are many with extreme competitiveness, obsessive-compulsive disorders who pride themselves with their physical performances. Let them be. I hope they realize that this is not the key to happiness. They should also know that they often have higher levels of stress hormones than the folks who not only exercise in moderation but also carry what the Thais call “jai-dii” (a good heart).

Next time, I would love to discuss barefoot running (with the five finger shoes). If you jog regularly, please check it out. You will be impressed. Breathe in and relax.