Zappos Blogs: Health and Fitness: Baby Boomers: Walk the Years Away August 19, 2008

Zappos Blogs: Health and Fitness: Baby Boomers: Walk the Years Away

Please read this short article on the Zappos Blogs.

If you are over fifty, like me (WAY over 50), I do recommend walking as a way to start exercising.

Here are my tips for being a successful walker:

• Buy a great pair of walking sneakers or shoes
• Invest in good thick socks
• Start slowly–I began by getting off the bus one or two stops before my stop, and worked my way up from there. Then I picked a hill close by work–I live and work in Seattle, so I have a lot to choose from. I picked the hill to the downtown public library, which I go to a lot. That’s my reward.
• Don’t try to power walk right away, especially if you do not exercise often. Just enjoy yourself, and listen to your body.

And that’s it, in my book anyway.

I’ve lost about twenty pounds since January, and I’m joining the “Y” this winter so I can use the pool.

My health is better, overall, and my depressive symptoms are under control for the first time in years.

Give it a try!

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What’s a baby boomer, anyway? August 19, 2008

You may call yourself a baby boomer if you were one of the 76 million births after World War II, the years 1946-1964.

Here are some links for information about baby boomers:

• Aging Hipsters
• Baby Boomer Headquarters
• The Next Fifty Years

After World War II, The U. S. economy was healthy (sigh), and people like my Dad, a high school graduate, got a job after he came out of the Air Force. Dad worked for New York State until he retired. We were never rich, but my parents owned a house, got a new car every few years, and were able to fill our bellies with lots of good food.

My dad grew up on a small farm in rural upstate New York. My grandfather grew enough food to feed his large family and sell some things to neighbors. It was the Depression, and times were tough. Every month or so, a neighbor would steal over to my grandfather’s farm and steal a chicken. My uncles wanted to chase him away, but they were always stopped by my grandfather.

Leave him be, boys. He’s a good man, he’s just trying to feed his family. I never met my grandfather because he died of a heart attack a few years after the start of World War II.

My father told that story every so often, to remind us that we had it good, compared to the lean years of the Depression.

Anyway, besides the house and the car, we had television.

Oh yes, black and white television, the subject of my next post.