Health expert says to stay fit, move your DNA

(Editor's note: The following column appeared in the April 7 2017
Finger Lakes Times newspaper in Geneva, NY)

By Michael J. Fitzgerald

     Watching daytime television programming is usually ranked somewhere below scheduling a root canal on my to-do list.
     But a highly recommended segment on last Friday’s NBC “Today Show” featuring biomechanist and fitness author Katy Bowman turned out to be too good to miss.
     Bowman’s name might be familiar from the string of eight books she has published in the last six years, all carrying a variety of advice about how to stay flexible and fit — and keep advancing age from slowing you down.

     Her more familiar titles are “Don’t Just Sit There” (2015), “Move Your DNA” (2014) and “Alignment Matters” (2013).
     And even though the clever names on the covers of these tomes might lead one to think they are lightweight pop culture, they have serious science backing up Bowman’s narrative with footnotes from medical and academic journals like The Lancet, the Journal of Physiological Anthropology or the American Journal of Preventive Medicine.
    

    The release of Bowman’s newest book — “Dynamic Aging” — caught the attention of NBC correspondent-anchor Maria Shriver, prompting her to produce the lively five-minute bit that probably should be must-see TV in the Finger Lakes.
    It’s informative (and entertaining) for anyone from 18 to 80.
    Her basic premise is what we consider normal aging is not age but a lifetime of bad habits of how we stand, sit and move. It’s possible to restore our bodies by focusing on movement.
    In the NBC segment, Shriver interviews Bowman and a group of women she labels “superagers” who follow Bowman’s restorative exercise regime.
    Although in their 70s and older, they are measurably as mentally fit as 20-somethings and maintain physical health levels of people decades younger.
    The secrets to their successes sound familiar. People need to challenge their brains and bodies on a regular basis, daily pushing themselves physically and mentally.
    But the pushing Shriver noted is more intense than taking longer walks each day or doing a few extra Sudoku or crossword puzzles each afternoon.
    One woman featured in the broadcast had learned to play the piano, chess and how to shoot pool — in the past year.
    But the video of the women stretching and swinging on playground equipment — and even climbing a tree — was nearly jaw-dropping.
    

    They are, indeed, superagers, although my wife has started to call such people “perennials.”
    While the NBC video was inspiring, “Dynamic Aging” expands the filmed concepts with 200-plus pages of specific exercises and advice.
    This column, for example, is being written in 15-minute segments.    Fifteen minutes at the keyboard, followed by five minutes of getting up and moving around.
    Then it’s back to this week’s “Write On.”
    And there is no using the arms of the chair to help boost to a standing position.
    “Lean your torso forward, shift your weight back on your heels ... then rise,” the book counsels.
    It’s harder than it sounds. But you can feel muscles working, physical evidence supporting the notion of how important movement is to health.
    

    Reading a number of the exercises and suggestions in “Dynamic Aging” seemed eerily familiar, with good reason. My bulletin board contains a half-dozen or so pages of recommended exercises prescribed in the last few years by my Watkins Glen physical therapist. The stretches and various contortions she says are so important mirror much of what’s outlined in the book. 

    As the weather continues to flip from snow and slush to spring and summer around Seneca Lake, it’s a good idea for all of us to get out and move our DNA, physically and mentally.

    Now if I can just remember to stand without using the arms on the chair.

     Fitzgerald worked for six newspapers as a writer and editor as well as a correspondent for several news services. He splits his time between Valois, NY and Pt. Richmond, Calif. You can email him at Michael.Fitzgeraldfltcolumnist@gmail.com and visit his website at michaeljfitzgerald.blogspot.com.

LA Times editorial today: California Fights Back

   POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times concluded its sixth-in-a-row editorial about the presidency of Donald Trump with today's "California Fights Back."
    The series has included (in order of appearance): Our Dishonest President, Why Trump Lies, Trump's Authoritarian Vision, Trump's War on Journalism and Conspiracy Theorist in Chief.
    All of the editorials can be accessed through Times website here: LA TIMES.
   
   The sixth editorial suggests that while California officials are to be commended for their courage in resisting many of the 45th president's demands and maneuvers, they should pick their battles carefully.
    Here is a link to today's editorial:

California Fights Back

LA Times editorial: Conspiracy Theorist in Chief

   POINT RICHMOND - The fifth in a series of six editorials about the presidency of Donald Trump was published today by the Los Angeles Times.
     The headline reads: Conspiracy Theorist in Chief.
     The sixth - and final editorial - in the provocative group of opinion pieces penned by the Times editorial board is expected to be published on Friday.
     Here is a link to today's editorial:

Conspiracy Theorist in Chief

LA Times today: Trump's War on Journalism

   Point Richmond - The Los Angeles Times today published the fourth of six editorials in a close analysis of the presidency of Donald Trump.
    The two final editorials in the series are expected to be published Thursday and Friday.
    Today's editorial, titled Trump's War on Journalism, details out his strategies for sowing distrust about the Fourth Estate and why it damages participatory democracy.
 
   Collectively the editorials are historic. They already represent perhaps the most strident, direct - and negative - narrative leveled at a sitting president in many decades.
    Here are links to the first three editorials:

    Our Dishonest President

    Why Trump Lies

   Trump's Authoritarian Vision

   Below is the link to today's editorial:

Trump's War on Journalism

LA Times today: Trump's Authoritarian Vision

    POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times today published the third of six powerful editorials, critical of the 45th president of the United States.
    Today's was headlined, Trump's Authoritarian Vision.
    It follows Sundays (Our Dishonest President) and Monday's (Why Trump Lies).
    A fourth editorial is expected to be published Wednesday with two more to follow.
    All three published pieces contain stinging indictments of Donald Trump's months in office, drafted by the editorial board of the Times.
    Below is a link to today's editorial.

Trump's Authoritarian Vision

LA Times second Trump editorial: Why Trump Lies

   POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times published the second of six planned editorials Monday on the manifold problems the newspaper believes the nation faces with our 45th president.
     Today's installment is headlined, Why Trump Lies.

     The series of editorials is intended to lay out the case of why Times editors believe Donald Trump's presidency presents such a threat to the nation and the world. The Point-Opinion will publish links to the editorials Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday.
     Sunday's editorial was headlined Our Dishonest President.

     To read today's LA Times editorial, click the link below:

Why Trump Lies

LA Times publishes 'Our Dishonest President'

   POINT RICHMOND - The Los Angeles Times published a blockbuster editorial today - the first in a series of six opinion pieces - that line out in detail why the Times editorial board thinks the 45th President of the United States is unsuited to hold that office and presents a danger to the nation.

    "The Times called him unprepared and unsuited for the job he was seeking and said his election would be a "catastrophe," the newspaper wrote today.
    "Still, nothing prepared us for the magnitude of this train wreck."

    For a daily newspaper like the Times to take such a strong - and bold - stand attacking a sitting president is nearly as unprecedented as the election of Donald Trump was in the first place.
    The Point will publish links for the balance of the LA Times editorials in the series.
 
    Here is a link to today's editorial in the Times.

Our Dishonest President