What Older Adults Should Most Avoid: Doing Things ‘Too Long’
In Chinese, the words for ‘a long time’ and ‘alcohol’ sound alike, but here ‘long’ does not mean alcohol. Alcohol is a beverage with few benefits and many harms and is best avoided. ‘Long’ is the opposite of ‘temporary.’ It means that older adults should pay attention to the length of time involved in daily routines. Doing something for too long may be unfavorable to health and may injure the body, so it must be guarded against. Safety is a blessing for older adults.
As people age, physiological functions and organ systems naturally decline. Spirit, strength, vision and hearing are no longer what they were; even height, weight, skin, bones and muscles change. An ancient saying advises that the body should work but should not be driven to exhaustion. Older adults need a small amount of physical activity to exercise body and mind and promote health: light work, not prolonged work, and never overwork. Apart from sleep and rest, a day may include reading, watching television, walking indoors or outdoors, visiting friends or sightseeing. Yet lying down, looking, sitting, standing or walking for too long are all unsuitable and should be stopped in moderation.
Lying down too long harms vitality. Traditional teaching describes qi as energy moving through the body, including inborn vitality, energy acquired later in life, nourishing energy and protective energy. Lying down and sleep relieve mental and muscular fatigue; both ‘brain sleep’ and ‘body sleep’ are needed for sound sleep. People differ in constitution and depth of sleep. If sleep is sound, it need not be long. More rest is appropriate during illness, and severe illness may require bed rest. For an older adult living normally without illness or pain, the original article states that eight hours may not be necessary and that six may be enough for some individuals. Too much sleep can instead produce laziness and listlessness.
Looking too long harms the eyes and, in traditional terms, the blood. Reading, writing and television all use the eyes. Aging eyes may need reading glasses. Traditional five-elements medicine associates the liver closely with the eyes and describes the liver as storing and regulating blood. It links insufficient liver blood with dry eyes, blurred vision and night blindness. Therefore, looking without rest harms both the eyes and, in that tradition, the blood.
Sitting too long harms the muscles. Skeletal, trunk and limb muscles, as well as cardiac and smooth muscle, support posture and movement. Walking, writing and chewing involve contractions of different muscles; breathing, digestion and fluid movement involve cardiac and smooth muscle. Muscles gradually atrophy and lose power with age. Whether driving, riding, reading, listening to a lecture or using a computer, sitting without moving for too long can cause fatigue and injury.
Standing too long harms the bones. The adult skeleton has 206 bones distributed through the skull, trunk and limbs. Bones bear force but bend only to a limited degree at the joints. With age, calcium loss can reduce bone density, thin the cortex, lessen resilience and elasticity and produce osteoporosis. Fragile bones bear external force less well and fracture more easily. Standing too long may burden bones beyond their capacity.
Walking too long harms the tendons and muscles. Skeletal muscle works with bones and joints to create movement, while tendons and ligaments connect muscle and bone. When an older adult walks without rest for a long time in a park or shopping center, exhaustion, aching legs and hip-joint strain may result.
In later life, being able to walk freely without a cane, drive and manage errands without help is precious. Keep a regular daily schedule and obtain sufficient sleep. Alternate sitting, standing and walking rather than continuing any one for too long. The original writer suggests no more than two hours at a time and says half that is better, so that skin, muscles and bones are not exhausted or injured.