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A famous drawing by Leonardo of a healthy man in perfect proportion |
It is usually translated as ‘a healthy mind in a healthy body’ as the two usually tend to go together. The only problem with this, as I see it, is that a healthy body requires a good deal of exercise, which I find boring, even as I approve of it in theory. I constantly read about the importance of doing stretches or running, taking part in pilates or yoga. I do start the day by doing a series of stretches to strengthen my knees which takes twenty to thirty minutes.
And that is about it. My work often involves waking a good deal and I am not afraid to do that. By its nature tourist guiding means moving from place to place. Sightseeing can be quite tiring for people away from home and outside their comfort zone and I am always conscious of the need to pace a tour in a way that clients can cope with. The tourist guide is always expected to cope with the pace of a tour he is leading.
My oldest friend spends a good deal of time running, swimming and cycling and hopes to win – or at least take part – in an elder’s ironman competition in which he does these three activities. I could join him in at least some of them but, frankly, I cannot be bothered. I do not mind doing necessary exercises to strengthen worn out joints and muscles but I simply get more enjoyment from sitting at a computer than running along a road (or cycling, etc).
We live in a society that increasingly worships fitness. The healthy body is considered a prerequisite to a a successful life. Even I, who do not share this view, find myself mentally tutting if someone is seriously overweight or obviously unfit, even if I am a bit overweight myself and reluctant to do much to get myself fitter. There is always someone in worse condition than you and I can (and do) take some comfort from that.
I am also suspicious of going to the doctor, although I conscientiously do all the tests I am summoned to complete. As a result of these, I am now taking a statin and diabetic pills every day. My mother and grandmother bot suffered from diabetes and I have had problems with ingrowing toenails, which seem to be an indicator of diabatic a condition, so the news that I had higher than healthy levels of blood sugar was not exactly a surprise.
The problem – there is always a problem – is that the pills I am now taking seem to be causing constipation. I am sure that readers do not want to hear about problems with my bowel movements so I will skip over that issue. Suffice to say that David Sedaris, a comic writer I love, has written that he and his partner Hugh (he is gay) do not have bowel movements, or at least do not talk about them in public. Not everyone shares Sedaris’ shyness about shitting. He refers to couples who discuss their bathroom habits and compare effusions from their nether regions but he (and I) are not among them.
This is not the first time prescribed medication has caused constipation. I once had a pain in my leg that was not responding to the usual pain killers of ibuprofen and paracetamol – so I prescribed a stronger type of pain killer. This was codeine, which cleared up the problem but caused me to feel bunged up for a week. I have forgotten the pain but I will never forget the constipation that the ‘cure’ caused me.
I sometimes show people is the line of pills in the British Museum taken by the average man and woman in their lives. No longer, however, can I do so with a little feeling of smug superiority at the amount of pills people obediently take. I too have joined the list of senior citizens being dosed up daily byt the pharmaceutical industry. One of the perils of growing old< I suppose. As Mark Twain said, only two things in life are inevitable -death and taxes.