This week I had a real proud papa moment! Earlier this week, Dr. Carol asked our middle daughter, who is turning 8 this weekend, what she wanted for her birthday. Typical (soon to be) 8-year-olds will tell you about the toys they want... not this one! I fully expected to hear that she wanted Legos, or American Girl Doll stuff, or something like this, but not Madelyn! She looked us in the eye and said "I want kettlebells and a Kindle."

She is CLEARLY my girl!

I have recently been pondering a quote that has really resonated with me. The quote, in Latin, reads "Mens sana in corpore sano." It translates as "A sound mind in a sound body." This is what it is all about for me. To simply exercise your body without exercising your brain, or vice versa, is to sell yourself short. You NEED both. Especially as we age.

It has been suggested that 1 in 10 Baby Boomers will develop Alzheimer's disease in the next 10 years, and approximately 28 million Baby Boomers will develop it before the year 2050. Those are some crazy statistics. We also know that as we age we begin to lose strength, mobility, and balance.

We can slow these processes though. One of my mentors, Craig Liebenson, recently shared the following acronym - SNAPS. These are 5 things that you can do RIGHT NOW to limit the likelihood of developing Alzheimer's disease as you age. 

S - Smoking
N - Nutrition
A - Alcohol
P - Physical Activity
S - Social Interaction/Cognitive Stimulation

Keeping our mind and body sound may just be the answer! You are in complete control of all of those! This might explain a little of why I was so proud of my daughter's gift request... It was not just because she wants to be like her Daddy, who almost always has his Kindle within arms reach. It was because she, at age (almost) 8, is doing what she can to create a "mens sana in corpore sano."


What are you doing TODAY to cultivate a sound mind and a sound body?


 

Movement is my medicine,

Dr. William "Chip" Bleam

Dr. William "Chip" Bleam

Chiropractor

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