http://news.discovery.com/human/health/walking-speed-seniors-longevity-110104.htm

Older people who walk quickly tend to live longer than those who slow way down as they age, found a new study.

Excerpt from Article listed above:

The findings do not mean that slow walkers are doomed to die early, the researchers warn. Nor will intentionally pushing yourself to hustle keep you young.

Instead, the study suggests that, like blood pressure and cholesterol levels, the pace that you feel comfortable walking at can be a simple sign of your overall health.

In turn, a simple walking test could help doctors and patients make decisions about when to perform certain screening tests -- and when not to.

"We are not saying that if you just go out and walk faster, you will live longer. Absolutely not," said Stephanie Studenski, a geriatrician at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and at the Veteran Affairs Pittsburgh Healthcare System. "We are saying your body selects a walking speed that is best for you based on the health of all your body systems."

"The best way to live as long and well as you can is to be in the best health you can be," she added. "Walking speed might help you reflect or monitor how healthy you are."

There has long been a sense that slowing down is an ominous sign of aging, and not just in people. As pets get older, they may need more rest stops during their morning walks. Even C. elegans worms that wiggle slowly die sooner than worms of the same age that wiggle more quickly.

"Whether you're conscious of it or not, you may feel like grandpa's doing pretty good because he's got a spring in his step, he's out moving around, and he looks lively. But I'm worried about Aunt Mary because she's slowing down a lot," Studenski said. "The observation that there's something about how well you move that reflects health is almost implicit in human experience."

Scheduled

Over the last five weeks, I have completed a workload that would normally take me four months - at the insistence of the client, which meant I could not really decline. Not if I hoped to earn that four months' worth of income.

I have also been highly involved with helping the girls adjust to school's demands for the year. I had 10 teacher conferences just last week.

Now, the work is done. I'm back to my "regular" schedule.

I feel like I am crawling out from under a huge, heavy boulder. Blinking in the bright light and slowly looking around to see what the rest of life is like. A little bit weightless after that oppressive load.

School

School - ugh!

I was so much better at it my first time through. Everything has changed so much, and it has become so much harder. I don't know where all this pressure and expectation is leading, but it doesn't seem healthy.

We are all so stressed out now about everything.

Asyndeton

Reading, analyzing, answering questions, defining vocabulary - because I love to write so much there is a measure of joy for me in the homework that my daughter brings home from English class. There aren't that many places in day to day life where an in-depth understanding of literary devices is called for. It is a fun break to dive into analysis, comprehension, figurative language.

I learned a new one this week, one of my favorite devices in my own writing, a structure that I return to again and again -- asyndeton !

Biased Standards

So... my older daughter is turning out to be quite differently-abled. Even though she is super smart, these disorders are causing her to struggle with regular school in a way that we never, ever expected. Mothering her through the school day is non-stop exhaustion, with me working hard to support her from the moment I wake her up until we slog through our four or five hours of daily homework and re-teaching of concepts and drop into bed completely spent.

Time wise, it would be much more effective for me to simply home school her. In the five hours a day we spend doing required (often busy-) work, I could teach the equivalent of the 3.5 hours of instruction she gets in each subject each week. That would free up about nine hours per day for her. But, no, she wants to stay in school and do it the usual way. So on we persist.

This year, I've crossed a line. I've always helped her by doing her work with her, prompting her and guiding her to understand. Because of her speed difficulties, I've encouraged her to dictate work to me and I type it. But this year, as she drowns in Chemistry and flounders in math, I've taken over her English homework.

Just leave it to me, I said. I'll just do it for you so that the pressure is off there. And I did. I read all five short stories for the short story unit. I discussed them with her. I wrote the answers to the questions. I discussed those with her. It is actually a valid teaching method, a very good way of exposing someone to a literate mentality and bringing them along into it. The problem is... I'm only getting C's on the assignments.

Yep. C.

Thanks to my help, she is barely passing English.

Apparently, I forgot to double-space. Apparently, I did not adequately explain the function of literary devices. I'm like, look, lady, I USE literary devices on a daily basis.

Apparently, my bachelor's and master's degrees in English (where I had the top grades in the classes), my twelve years as a secondary English teacher, and my current career as a professional writer have all left me unable to successfully analyze literature. Hmm. Oh, and I forgot to double-space. (Because I do so much business writing where single-spacing is the gold standard.)

It's a little bit of karmic justice. A little bit of the absurd. It is a big dollop of the reality that grading is pretty darn arbitrary and that what an authority figure says about you or your work is not necessarily valid. Or predictive of actual life skills. In that, these low grades are a brilliant lesson for my daughter and reassurance for her not to take it all TOO seriously. Life has a way of working out despite what people say. :)

We've moved on now to To Kill a Mockingbird. My family is having great fun reading it aloud together and discussing it, really going over the concepts. I have slowly increased the effort I am putting into the Chapter reading check assignments. I've moved from a solid C to a B- and am edging my way up to a B+. I am routinely writing more than 1000 words per assignment, a level of work that in the real world would bring in $500- $2,000 in pay.

I hope to get an A some day.

Well Said!

Here is the refrain to my song today:

 

Life can be hard. A constant string of challenges and obstacles.

Find some moments that bring you joy.

Embrace them. Let them light the rest of your day.

Rest in the happy spots, like an oasis in the struggles.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

( Hey, look at that. I have an off-rhyme ABBA pattern. Without even meaning to.)

Joy.

Autumn Arrival

I walked into the backyard earlier, and a single leaf floated down from the trees. It drifted past my face in a perfect spiral of autumn arriving. Finally, it feels like a new season.

The weather lately has been relentless. So hot and burning. Nonstop. Like the demands of life.

But now, there is a hint of chill in the air. A coolness like hope of things improving. Hang in there, everybody.

Just hang in there. The seasons will change. The obligations will ease. Autumn will come.