Holidays and Younger Next Year

I am in North Carolina with my kids visiting my brothers. So am on holidays enjoying time off with my kids and extended family. So not much business focus now except the odd call and of course email.

My brothers and I did have a charette yesterday. We each have different businesses with unique challenges. Mark mostly sells embedded and specialty computers. Lyle is trying to get his Biodiesel plant going. Glen is in wind power. We also had discussions on blogging (both Glen and Lyle are active bloggers).

Lyle is writing another book. His first one - Biodiesel Power is into the second printing so I am getting tips from him.

Mark is a comedian so we always have lots of laughs.

My brothers and I are very close so always have a great time when we get together.

I was given a book at one of my recent seminars, Younger Next Year, a Guide to Living Like Fifty until you are Eighty and Beyond, by Chris Crowley and Henry S. Loch, M.D. Of course, I am not yet 50 so why should I be thinking about when I am 80? The book does make valid points that the earlier you start, the easier it is to take the clock lower.

Most of the book re-enforces what I already know: eat right and exercise. In addition to that, the book talks about the need for purpose, interaction, and contact with other people. As people get older and consider retirement, etc., they often lose their circle of friends and lose their purpose and that is what causes premature aging.

The book is written in an interesting way. The two authors, one in his seventies, talks about his life experiences and how he has been responded to by the younger doctor author who explains his theories of medicine and why things work the way they do.

I have not read anything else that talks the way this book does about why exercise is so good for us. The thesis is that evolution takes ten of thousands of years and so we have not yet had time to evolve. It was only a few hundred years ago when there was famine and exercise was a huge part of daily lives, just to survive. Our bodies have not had time to adapt and as a result, we often go into "famine" mode where our bodies metabolism slows down and we start storing fat. The book points out that technology has allowed us to eat very poorly and certain innate cravings which are healthy when things are scarce like sugars and fats are tremendously unhealthy because we can end up with hugely concentrated sources of them. They are well within our reach and means.

Technology also allows us to exercise and walk less with simply less motion. This goes every where from cars to elevators to electric can openers. I have always been a big advocate of being careful of watching what I include in automation. (You will notice that I conveniently don't bring up anything about the negatives about computer technology, which of course is different.)