Today, I went running on the beach. An unexpected luxury. DH and I took part of today off with the boys. So we went down to the beach. The boys (and by this, I mean collectively all 3 of them) decided to kick the ball around. I took Lucy the dog and when for short jog up and down the beach to clear my head. A few things had been irritating me this week – in particular a news station yesterday giving air time to a gym owner promoting that the purpose of cardio was to “burn calories”.
As Lucy and I jogged back, I realised another boy (around age 10) had joined the game, which was now 2-a-side (kind of, I mean, 5 y.o. C. was really just playing his own rules). It was an empty beach, so had plenty of time to look around for the rest of the boy’s family — then saw his father sitting on the rocks nearby, cheering everyone on. They were visting from abroad, and had ventured down to the beach this morning. The father was already visibly winded from the walk from the carpark to the sand, and clearly unable to join in. A closer look at the father – and he’s not that much older, if not the same age, as DH. My 8 y.o. T. and the other boy had excellent fun this morning, and I hope it’s a great holiday memory for that boy when he goes home – a sunny brisk game on the beach.
At first, that’s where I left it. Then I ran another lap – my thoughts kept running too. I realised, that in a better world, I would have come back next lap to a father-son game – that other father would have been able to join in. But I didn’t. The father sat, the son played. I am not judging the father. I don’t know his medical history. But statistics for his age is that there is an 80% chance that his ill-health was preventable or reversible. There is also, sadly, a statistical chance that he doesn’t see his inability to be able to casually kick a ball around with his son as a marker of poor health. And it is completely possible that his story may not be like the stories of those patient-families I work with – part of me still wondered if it was.
The run did me good, because it did clear things up:
that is why that gym owner’s interview niggled at me. The stakes are high. When we are promoting health, it is not about size or aesthetics or “burning calories.” The states are much higher than that. There are 100 reasons to move – and being able to kick a ball on the sand with your son on a glorious winter morning is just one of them.
If that had been you on the beach this morning with your child or grandchild or godchild, would you have been able to kick around a ball with them? If not, is this is something that can be – should be – fixed? Short of breath? Smoking? Hangover? Pain? Can’t remember the last time to did any activity because, well, life? No judgment, no “New Year’s Resolutions” babble – but, in all serious, is this the time to get help fixing it? At least start with a NCT with your GP, especially if you’re a man over 40.
0 Comments