Tips for Being Healthy After Fifty
Eat a little less than your real appetite. Squeeze air out of your system from time to time by applying slight pressure on your stomach cautiously.
Air inside your system can cause a lot of problems. So it has to be forced out to keep you fit and fine.
As you know our body is composed of five elements i.e. Water, soil, air, fire and Akash (sky) in a definite proportion. Whenever this set up is disturbed some or the other problem is bound to arise.
A regulated living keeps you away from such problems. So it is in our own interest to follow a regulated schedule.
A regulated life style is full of restrictions. Early to bed early to rise, timely breakfast, timely meals, regular exercise and selective diet schedule.
Since we are concentrating on extracting air out of our digestive system it is but natural that we should avoid taking gaseous food items.
It follows that cereals, vegetables, fruits and other food items which are known to produce gas in digestive system must be avoided.
To keep our digestion fit and fine we should avoid drinking water at the time of taking meals as the acids produced by our glands to digest the food taken by us gets diluted causing hindrance in the digestion process.
On getting up in the morning after freshening up we may go for a walk if possible or we should do some exercises regularly.
Keeping our age in mind we should concentrate more on yogic exercises. Our main concern should be to force out gases from our system.
Once our stomach is free of gases we may drink a glass of cold or Luke warm water and take nothing there after for at least half an hour.
We are concentrating on maintaining health around the age of fifty because it is the age when people mostly get careless about their health, get used to eating spicy, oily and fried food items without caring the least for their health.
Expelling air out of stomach is to be done very cautiously. The pressure is to be applied very gently so that the contents of the stomach may not spill out.
In our breakfast and meals we must take restrictive food items as detailed above.
Expelling process should not be undertaken until around two hours after taking meals. Constant practice will give you an idea as to how much pressure is to be applied to force the gases out of your stomach. The process may be repeated after a little gap until the required result is achieved.
It should be kept in mind that this forcible expulsion of air will take place through belches that too in small bits.
As we know digestion of food taken by us is a biochemical phenomenon. Water and gases obtained as bye products are consumed by our body while the excess quantity is eliminated from the system. Water along with other toxic substances is passed out as urine while gas or air is released in natural way as wind pass.
One must eat to live and should not live to eat. Keep your stomach light you will always feel fit and energetic. Over feeding, on the other hand, will make you sluggish.
So one must be patient and continue to repeat the process from time to time rather make a habit of doing so off and on.
To start with let us talk about some precautions which must be taken while applying pressure on the stomach. Mostly gases are found on the upper side of the stomach. If we apply a little pressure on the stomach by sucking it inwards the air will come out orally in small bits. Repeated sucking will help in expelling sufficient amount of gases from the system making you feel lighter.
A regular life style, balanced and healthy diet, a little exercise will never give you a chance to be sorry in life rather will give you a long and healthy life which will be envied by your fellow members.
One must be very careful while resorting to this process of expelling air out of our system as stomach is a very delicate organ of our body and any undue pressure on it may be problematic.
I will however advise all fiftians i.e. people aged fifty and above to an early morning starter exercise schedule aimed at warming up the body and internal organs as well as squeezing air out of our system.
So far as the exercise part is concerned I don’t feel like interfering as to what exercise schedule one wishes to follow. So you are free to follow the exercise schedule you feel best for you.
Our normal exercise procedure should not be strenuous or vigorous and must be easy going. Further our exercise should be balanced for example if we rotate our right hand full circle four times we should also rotate our left hand four times too.
This starter exercise schedule will be in addition to the normal exercise routine you wish to follow regularly.
It is very easy to follow this schedule. It hardly takes 30 to 45 minutes. You have to do nothing but simply stretch yourself to the full extent in all positions ie lying flat, lying upside down, and lying sideways.
Now let us concentrate on squeezing air out of our system. There are three positions in which we can force air out of our system.
In this process you may sometimes have to elongate your stomach, sometimes to shorten it, sometimes you may have to suck your stomach upwards and sometimes to push it downwards
You may have to toss, turn, twist, tilt and stretch your body and do all sort of internal acrobatics to push air out of your system but always using mild to moderate force or pressure and without stressing your stomach. You may also explore your own method and positions to suit your purpose. But be sure that such type of exercise is possible only on a hard bed or surface on cotton mattress. Do not use foam or coir mattress for the purpose
This stretching will give a warm up to the internal organs of our body.
Position one is while we are lying upside down and positions 2 and 3 follow when we are lying sideways on our right and left sides respectively.
We need to put our hands under the chest and manage in such a way that the entire weight of the body does not fall on our stomach. When this position is achieved we can start the process of pushing the air out of our system by sucking our stomach upwards. On each sucking the air will come out in bits through mouth. Thus we can manage to push air out of our system gradually.
In position one i.e. while lying upside down we need to take certain precautions. Since in this position our stomach is hard pressed against the bed due to our weight there is possibility of spilling out of the contents of the stomach in the mouth.
When this position is achieved slightly press your hand against your stomach and suck your stomach upwards simultaneously. The air will come out in bits through mouth as belch. Our stomach may be compared with a balloon. You will notice that a tightly blown up balloon gets softer in a few days as its walls lose elasticity due to constant air pressure. If after a few days we open the mouth of the balloon we find that all the gas does not go out and some of it remains inside the balloon because of the stretched wall.
By the age of fifty our stomach is like a stretched balloon. Air remains filled inside and this is the reason why we do not feel like eating anything as the stomach already appears tight. If the pressure inside the stomach increases considerably you will often find people belching every now and then causing embarrassment to self as well as others.
We keep eating something or the other throughout the day so the gas level is likely to increase inside the system giving rise to complications. If we develop some technique to push the air out of our system from time to time we can remain fit and fine and save embarrassment to self as well as others.
I found this technique of voluntarily pushing out gases convenient as it is noiseless, unlike a belch, and easily manageable once you get accustomed to it. Besides, you will feel active, energetic, lighter all the time and will never feel dull or lethargic.
Please beware that pushing air out of our system must be resorted to when our stomach is almost empty.
Now let us discuss the remaining two positions while lying sideways. In either of the positions whether lying on your right or left you have to bring your knees up towards your chest as much as possible. Then insert your right hand, if you are lying on your left side and left hand, if you are lying on your right side in between your chest and legs, the pressure or force applied to push the air out of our system must be from mild to moderate and never beyond. Exerting too much force may create problems.
Last but not the least you should have a strong Will power and lots of patience and confidence that you will achieve what you wish to achieve and nothing could stop you from going ahead.
I hope this exercise pattern will suit you and you will be able to ward off problems related to over stuffing of gases in your system.