The First Boomer

Last night on the news they had a story on the first baby boomer to receive Social Security. The question that looms is whether we as a society can absorb the 79 million aging boomers.

I think about the medical costs we face or let say the generations following us face. And I think about the quality of life we face as we age. (Hell you can stick the kids with the bill but what about me?)

It was interesting that this report was also followed by a report on the decline in cancer statistics, The news report gave the all of the credit to the medical advances. Early detection and so forth is the key to this decline according to the news.

While I believe that early detection has contributed a tremendous amount there wasn't even a mention of self empowerment. There was no hint that people taking proactive steps towards nutrition, stress reduction, exercise and so forth could be contributing. Well I guess they know where their advertisers come from.

So on that note I plan to do a series of "Boomer Alerts" or things you can do empowering yourself to better health and being less of a burden on society and mostly your kids. We all don't want to be slackers, do we?

1st "Boom Alert" Have you ever notice how older people's chins are headed toward their belly buttons? This is gravity moving us out of alignment from a position where our head is supported in alignment with the rest of our bodies to where our head is dangling out ahead of us headed for our feet.

This does a number of interesting things. It makes us fragile and easy to topple over. Hip fractures contribute billions of dollars to health care costs.

We are more stressed as we have to adapt to this new stance. The feet tend to lock up since we shift our center of mass forward locking up the middle part of our feet or the locking wedge as it is called it.

This locks the the metatarsal heads (ball of the foot), our heart/chest/lung reflex area and locks the mid-tarsal joint which is right over the pancreas/adrenal reflex area.

Instead of circulating fluids they stagnant in not only the feet but the rest of the body as well. Stress is placed on the heart, kidneys and so forth.

The shoulders round over and a nice hump forms. The gait changes to adjust to this new stance. Sound familiar?

So here is a simple remedy for detaching your chin from your belt buckle. Bend back the other way. If you are sitting in a chair bend back and over the back of the chair and hold this for a few seconds. Or reach for the sky, partner. Only make sure to bend back as you do that. Again hold it for a few.

Or take up Yoga. But make sure you are bending in the opposite direction to the forward pull of gravity.

Break up that pattern of stress that is forming in your posture. Remember interrupt stress and do it frequently.

I will write more on the feet part of this solution in the next Boomer Alert. We need to unlock those feet before we get pounded to death.

Kevin Kunz