Well, May Gray days have passed for those of us in Southern California.  And, with our May flowers brought to bloom, some of those allergenic (achoo) histamines that hit folks like me are lessening.

You won’t get complaints from me for that seasonal advancement, nor for the added “eco” presence of bees and monarch butterflies…

June Gloom in my San Diego region is upon us.

 When we wake up to dog day summer mornings in July and August we can reflect that cool and gray days of May and June were appreciated.

About the only downside at our home is lesser power generation and energy storage in our solar panel roof system. 

Odds Are

Our newsgram addresses what I call our 1-3-5-7  Summer Span Ex.  And yes, I hope that we committed folks will make the most of our longer days in the northern hemisphere to thrive and strive a little bit extra. Even for vacation or staycation time… We have more daylight hours to take charge and move out after a rise and shine and of course making our bed.  Do contact me if you want more rationale or context for these Odd number Challenges for June.

1 – Move 15% more each day to get ready for the pool or beach.

3 – Make it a 3-D day! 

Move in all three of our body planes daily – 

a. Front to back (sagittal movements)

b. Side to side (frontal plane movements) and 

c.  Twisting / Corkscrew (transverse plane efforts.)

5 – Move your body isotonically with 5 types of  resisted movements

1. Lift things
2. Push Things
3. Pull Things
4. Twist while holding things and
5. Carry things.

7 – No, I don’t ask you to pursue extra METAs on all seven days of the week, or on the Beatles’ 8 days a week 🙂

I do suggest that you and I take a META holiday one day each week. (I use the term META to mean Metabolic Equivalent of Tasks and Activity.)  I made a separate post that details this caloric accounting system for our physical banking.

Again, I don’t mean total skipping of motion on your “off day.”

 I do mean a taper day with some stretching, plus balancing acts, so to speak, for spatial awareness/fall prevention, and perhaps a little bodyweight work in your activity of daily life (ADL).

When you resume your HEALTHITUDE movements on the following day, you will be revitalized.  

Rest and Restoration are important at any any, yet more so when those calendar years creep up on us.  Trust me…

Span Ex

7. And, the last entry in our 1-3-5-7 Rubric is a combination of Upgrade and X-Factors in my new book, Burden? Or Banish!  

Are you ready, Healthituders?

1. Mentalspan (yup – Mind-Body Alignment or MBA reminder to treat your hippocampi well.)
2. Socialspan (No man or woman is an island – right? The social aspect of pickleball is nearly as important as the physical activity.)
3. Strongspan (Commit to 2 or 3 dedicated sessions of moving stuff or isometric muscle contractions every week. I do 2X/week, at my calendar age of 72. Gen X or younger may do nicely with 3 resistance workouts weekly.)
4. Windspan (strive for at least 15% more aerobic motion above our Government’s guidelines). And I quote, “Adults who sit less and perform any amount of moderate to vigorous activity achieve some health benefits.”
5. Gutspan (treat your microbiome well and use respect the undeniable linkage of food and vitality since antiquity. Don’t contibute to our Inflammation Nation!)
6. PNSspan (enhance parasympathetic feed and restore efforts including restorative sleep, as opposed to chronic fight or flight stressors)
7. Safespan (Remember that your living to 100 calculator highlights proper use of seat belts, dental floss, and sunscreen. Limit your exposure to forever chemicals, plastics, blue wavelength light, and beware of electronic radiation (5G EMF).

Here’s to your and my daily progress for HEALTHITUDE.

As a refresher, I use eleven (11) HEALTHITUDE letters to encapsulate enablers to   Keep America’s Healthspan UNAbated – yup – the big KAHUNA:

Heart

Endocrines (Hormones)

Adaptation

Lungs (Cardiovascular Health and mindful breaths) and Liver function

Transcend  for that “lil bit extra” –

Hormesis and Homeostasis

Investment in our physical portfolios

Training

Upbeat Attitude

Desire to move past glothic ways (of sinful gluttony and sloth)

Exercise efficiently and effectively

Stay well past forty,

Dave

Postscript. Here is my “gloomy” humor of this June day to help with our weather-guessing:

• “I’m pretty sure the fog is just jealous of how beautiful and sunny our neighborhood is supposed to be.”