I want to have a long, healthy life and a short death. Think about it. It’s the best option, wouldn’t you agree? If you ask the people who love you, isn’t this what they would want for you too?
I love having good health, and am willing to work for it, knowing that one of my two boys will need my help for as long as I’m able to provide it. Then my other son will take over that role. Yet I want that changeover to come later, not sooner. To me, I have a moral obligation to stay healthy, as the future of both my boys depends on it. Besides, I like feeling good inside my body. I want my heart and brain to work with and for me, not against me. Seeing what stroke does to families close up makes me extra determined to prevent that in myself.
Nearly 35 years ago I started teaching exercise classes, partly because it meant a free trip to West Berlin, and partly because I knew I wasn’t self-disciplined enough to attend fitness classes on a regular basis unless I had to. Sure, it’s now a habit, and I feel uncomfortable when I DON’T move, but I still wonder how often I’d exercise if I didn’t “have to.”
I also wonder if I’d be a vegetarian who cooks and bakes from ingredients rather than a microwave if it weren’t for the need nearly 20 years ago to change our eating habits due to our son’s food allergies.
No matter how I got to where I am now, it’s under my power to decide where I go from here. I will turn 60 in a few months. So I am firmly in the second half. You know, the half where the phrase “quality of life” is always in the back of my brain. I have a lot of power over my next 40 years. I get to decide if I’ll keep exercising. I get to decide if I want to eat healthy foods. I even get to decide what color my hair will be (the red-headed twin thing is still working for me).
One easy way to work at keeping in good health is to know your #bloodpressure. Preventing stroke is a family goal. #ad
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And by now I really know myself well. I know I am motivated by markers and measurements. I do use the scale to weigh myself daily. I do count the number of pushups I can do. I do pay attention to compliments. I do read my blood test results carefully. And I do like my low blood pressure numbers and want to keep them that way.
If you read my recent post “Going for Zero: No More Strokes or Heart Attacks” and my partnership with Omron Healthcare and their “Going for Zero” mission, then you know that I have seen the ripple effects on a family system that a stroke can have. Taking my blood pressure with the EVOLV BP arm monitor they sent me is super easy. The only thing that is easier is NOT taking my blood pressure. Yet that’s an irresponsible option for me, knowing that my health affects others’ health and happiness. Truthfully, I’m not technically-oriented, and I stared at the monitor on my desk, unopened, for longer than I should. But my sister insisted that it was easy to use, even for such a Luddite as myself. Read my sister’s post “Your Blood Pressure: Should You be Worried?” It talks a bit about how easy it is to set up and measure your BP with the arm cuff. If you have a smartphone, you can also save all the measurements to the Omron Connect App. Your doctor will be extra happy to see the measurements too, especially as she only gets to check your BP a few times a year. I have low blood pressure (usually around 110/70), which puts me in the Normal range. Whew.
Every day I, like every other human, make small decisions that create the whole of who I am. I know my goal: stay healthy and functioning for my sons. And I know that keeping my BP low is part of the path and process. Still working on decreasing my stress, but we all have our “thing.”
The pictures are of my beloved boys. We get to do fun adventures together. I plan to keep my Normal BP readings so I can continue to have adventures. I wouldn’t have it any other way.
This post is sponsored by Omron Healthcare, makers of the Omron EVOLV BP arm cuff that I use. They know how important stroke prevention is to me, and they are helping me get my message out.
Text & Photos by Alexandra Williams, MA
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