Fly Well: Celestial objects

Keeping the fuel lines clear: Let’s start with taking steps. I wrote an article (“Fly Well: Off We Go Into the Wild Blue Yonder,” October 2016 AOPA Pilot) that focused on Blue Zones—locations where longevity and robust good health are the norm. I addressed similarities between Sardinian highlands, Loma Linda, California, and Okinawa, Japan. Although people in Okinawa live longer than elsewhere, and tend to have less chronic disease, they do not exercise as is generally recommended in America. Rather, they do frequent, low-impact work such as walking regularly, and occasionally stretch their physical limits. Grandmothers climb up and down stairs, garden, and stroll with friends. Just stretch your legs regularly, and occasionally push the limits; that will help keep your fuel lines (arteries) clear. Your airplane likes to be used; so does your body.

Cleared for the option: My chosen option is to do physical activity only on the days I eat—and, believing in efficiency, I exercise my brain listening to podcasts of TED Talks while keeping my aging airframe fit with a routine of runs and other workouts. Here’s a checklist for you: Document your daily activities and all you eat and drink, and then consider alternatives. One option is to walk while on phone calls, another is to choose healthy snacks. We all know our emergency procedures; follow this recommendation and minimize your risks of being the subject of one.

Inherited genes play a major role defining your healthy years, but there are many steps you can take to influence your healthspan.Attitude: A bad attitude can lead to a deathly spiral while flying. The same is true when not flying.Isabel Allende, the Chilean author, gave a wonderful TED Talk on living life with passion, pointing out that our attitude is a potent influencer on how we feel and whether we thrive. As my very wise 20-year-old son recently reminded me, “Whether you think you will fail, or succeed, you are right.”

Flaps: We know flaps increase lift or drag, and that it’s a drag if you walk into one. But there are other ways to get into a flap, an expression meaning bent out of shape. (You, not the flap.) There is so much attention today on the word “working,” such as: “Are you still working on that steak, sir?” I am not working, I am eating. Working is a verb applied to the prosecution of one’s employment or avocation. Working out? What’s going out? Don’t do things that might ensure you are the best-looking corpse in the graveyard: taking steroids, unproven dietary supplements that might carry cardiovascular risk, pushing the limits, and risking injuries and other negative consequences. You may not want to look like a Sardinian granny, but you might want to be as healthy as she is.

Undercarriage: A good landing that leaves aircraft and occupants undamaged relies on a diligent and attentive pilot, a headwind, smooth pavement, and good tires. So it is with sneakers, the one exercise item where expense is justified. Get fitted for good shoes at a dedicated running shop, even if you only use them to walk from car to hangar. Poor support can induce painful and debilitating foot, calf, knee, and hip issues. Tires need to be replaced regularly, so do shoes; cracked rubber tricycle gear suggests a change, same goes for your shoes.

Nextgen: Revolutionary avionics, more efficient engines, and other advances will change flying for the better and keep airplanes aloft longer. But what about us? Biologist Cynthia Kenyon and others took a humble worm, loftily named Caenorhabditis elegans, and fiddled with its genes, first doubling its lifespan, then lengthening it even further. And these senior worms were not in the nursing home—if they were 300-year-old people, they would be skiing. Could the fountain of youth be that accessible? Aubrey de Grey, a colorful researcher from Cambridge University, believes so and has suggested that the first humans to live 1,000 years have already been born. That’s a lot of flight time and, if true, life insurance is going to be a dying business.AOPA

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