The health and fitness thread about random things

[T42]

Modern British man must be even fatter than I thought.

We were ambling past a menswear shop in Christchurch earlier today and David thought he'd like some new shirts. He asked me what size he needed andI suggested 15" as the 15½" shirt he'd been wearing was too loose on the neck.

Shop had only ONE shirt in that size, which was unsuitable. Shop assistant measured David and agreed 15" was the correct size. Said she used to sell loads of that size in the past but there was no longer any demand.

David is not particularly thin and would appear to have a thicker neck than his taller brother.

Which ties in with this:

I did that heart-age thing. I'm 1m74 for 70 kilos. I lied about being diabetic & coronarily afflicted and didn't have any of my figures to hand, so they used the averages for the UK (without telling me what they were, obscurantist twats that they are) and told me that I had a cardiac age of 79. Since I'm only 71, the implication is that the average UK male is in a bad way.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've never quite got the point of sizing shirts by collar when there are so many other variables – chest, waist, arm length, torso length – which vary without affecting neck diameter.

[hellymedic]

Nor did I, though there's a range of body and sleeve lengths for a given size.

In the days when men wore ties almost all the time, a well-fitting collar helped a tie and neckline look neat.

My rule of thumb is collar size in cm = chest size in inches...

[MikeFromLFE]

I've been trying to improve my dire levels of fitness by cycling (yes really!) - I've been going out almost every morning for the last 10 days but despite doing no more than 18km (and averaging 11km per ride) at a moderate pace (about 20kph), I'm constantly knackered, exhausted and tired  . I know I'm really really ancient (at 63) but this is hardly coal mining territory, and I'm wondering how long to persist.

[hellymedic]

Do you have breakfast before riding?

[MikeFromLFE]

Yes. I have my usual 50/50 cornflakes /fruit & fibre with Oatly milk substitute, and a cup of tea. I've also been careful to drink about 300-500ml of water (or squash) when I get in because I know I've been previously bad at hydration.

[hellymedic]

Cornflakes cause me to get a reactive hypo.
Suggest a BIG porridge!

My mum used to put butter in my porridge...

[ElyDave]

reactive hypos are nasty from what I've been told!

My porridge is packed with nuts and fruit and maybe lashings of double or clotted cream

[hellymedic]

I get symptomatic below 2.8mmol/l...

[MikeFromLFE]

Interesting thoughts. I like porridge and it's getting to that sort of season. I'll give it a go. Thanks.

[mrcharly-YHT]

You are 63 and you expect improvement in 10 days?  20year olds improve in 10 days. People over 50 who are unfit take 2-3 days to recover from a sudden change in exertion.

Stick at it, aim for exercising 3 days a week for over an hour a time. Look for improvements every fortnight. Expect to feel tired. If you aren't feeling tired, you aren't trying hard enough.

[simonp]

Almost every day means no recovery. You’ll only improve with proper recovery. Give yourself a break. Literally.

[chrisbainbridge]

Also I suggest that we both need to lift some weights. As we get older we lose muscle mass and cycling also leads to osteoporosis. Weights will help to reverse that

[T42]

Also I suggest that we both need to lift some weights. As we get older we lose muscle mass and cycling also leads to osteoporosis. Weights will help to reverse that

For God's sake don't tell my missus, she's bad enough every time I take a glass of Badoit.

I used to do quite a bit of weight training, until one day the structural integrity of my shoulders was compromised by sudden contact with a cycle track barrier. It probably wasn't organic.

[MikeFromLFE]

You are 63 and you expect improvement in 10 days?  20year olds improve in 10 days. People over 50 who are unfit take 2-3 days to recover from a sudden change in exertion.

Stick at it, aim for exercising 3 days a week for over an hour a time. Look for improvements every fortnight. Expect to feel tired. If you aren't feeling tired, you aren't trying hard enough.

You have a v good point! I just wasn't expecting to feel so bad.
The trouble with increasing age is that your body is aging, but your mind still thinks it's 30

Sent from my Moto E (4) Plus using Tapatalk

[hellymedic]

I attended my surgery yesterday for routine lady maintenance.

Nurse says there's a lump on the right side of my behind. I'm unconvinced there's anything there TBH.

If there is, methinks it's likely to be either a bursa or a lipoma, which are benign, asymptomatic (by definition) and best managed with masterful inactivity.

I'll have to see my GP about this.

But she is on annual leave and surgery's fully booked for her return.

<yawn>

[Cudzoziemiec]

I've just learnt that the number of parents refusing compulsory vaccinations for their child or children (from memory these are TB, measles and rubella) in Poland rose from 3,437 in 2010 to 30,989 in 2017. There is currently a citizen's bill going through parliament to repeal the obligation to vaccinate children "except in cases of an epidemic".

[T42]

You're not obliged to vaccinate kids here either, you just can't send them to school without.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Same rule there, applies to nursery schools too. Possibly also fines, I'm not sure. But of course the main argument of the antivaccinaters is "in Western Europe, where vaccination isn't compulsory, there are no outbreaks of measles etc." And appeals to the noble tradition of liberty, etc.

[Kim]

But of course the main argument of the antivaccinaters is "in Western Europe, where vaccination isn't compulsory, there are no outbreaks of measles etc."

https://ecdc.europa.eu/en/news-events/measles-continues-circulate-eueea-new-outbreaks-reported

But what do they know, eh?   

[Cudzoziemiec]

Oh but they (the people behind the proposition) do know. They just have other motives.

[DuncanM]

What is the endgame for the anti-vaxxers? Killing children with preventable disease is clearly just a by-product, but I don't understand what the purpose is.

[hellymedic]

The scientifically-illiterate Chattering Classes have seen publications in the Press or Web that state Vaccination is Harmful cos Chemikuls etc

Fake news causes harm.

[T42]

There's a common conviction, rampant among idiots, that things were better in the old days. Food was great before "chemicals" (except for 3rd-world famine but it's unfair to mention that), everyone was fine before vaccination was invented (never mind that smallpox, polio, TB etc took millions every year because it's unfair to mention that too) and anyway, that nice Dr. Westlake says that vaccines cause autism.

Dara O'Briain has it right: "on one side of the argument we have a dentist who studied for ten years and has 15 years of experience, and on the other we have Barry, who pulls his own teeth with a door".

A further consideration is that most of the anti-vaxxers were vaccinated as kids, to which a few of them probably owe their continued unfortunate existence.

[Kim]

Vaccines cause adults.