“The Match Technology” is an award-winning documentary that explores the lives of lively older adults in Canada, notably these of their 70s and 80s. Directed by Elton Hubner and produced by Eyes Multimedia, the movie challenges standard views on growing older and highlights the benefits of sustaining a wholesome, lively life-style effectively into your later years.
Within the video above, you’ll hear inspiring tales of seniors who, regardless of going through vital well being challenges equivalent to most cancers, arthritis and coronary heart circumstances, proceed to have interaction in bodily difficult actions and lead vibrant lives.1
“The Match Technology” emphasizes that age will not be a barrier to health and should encourage you to pursue an lively life-style and discover pleasure in your life. Additional, the documentary demonstrates how making daring decisions that carry you pleasure considerably enhances each your psychological well-being and bodily well being.
Match Seniors Show Age Is Only a Quantity
Think about being a full-time ski teacher at 82 years previous. That is only a day within the lifetime of George Tjelios-Nicholas, one of many lively folks featured within the movie. When it’s not winter, yow will discover Tjelios-Nicholas biking round Whistler or paddleboarding.2
“George Tjelios-Nicholas is without doubt one of the major characters of the documentary and, effectively, such a personality! He used to smoke, has undergone a number of surgical procedures and nonetheless suffers from fixed again ache — all good causes to remain house and watch for time to go,” in line with Eyes Multimedia.3 But, this doesn’t cross Tjelios-Nicholas’ thoughts:4
“Educating snowboarding is so rewarding! That is why I just like the ski college. I like folks, and my job is to get them comfy. It is an important motivation to maintain going … I discover it arduous to imagine, however technically my snowboarding remains to be getting higher. I’ve had folks say to me, ‘Oh, you are too previous to do this.’ I am not loopy, I do not go off large jumps and stuff like that, however I ski fairly quick.
I’ve had stitches in my head from skis hitting me on the top, I’ve dislocated a shoulder and I’ve had two tibial osteotomies as a result of my knees had been worn out from snowboarding … After which I’ve had two knee replacements. I had prostate most cancers too and I overcame that. I’ve loads of again ache, I’ve arthritis and I am nonetheless functioning, however I imagine that the extra lively I keep, the much less impact it’ll have on me.”
Others featured within the movie embrace Lawrence Huzar, who, at 79 years previous, performed hockey thrice every week and retains busy the remainder of the time by constructing and repairing issues in his yard — an ideal pastime for this retired mechanical engineer. “I’ve by no means been sick in my life. I don’t actually have a physician,” he says.5 Whereas Huzar lives alone since his spouse handed away, he’s not lonely.
He says he’s content material being alone and in addition enjoys spending time with different hockey gamers on his workforce — a number of of whom are comparable ages. Gwen McFarlan is one other inspirational athlete featured within the movie. At 81 years previous, the world file marathon runner, retired trainer and most cancers survivor continued to compete in races, regardless of accidents:6
“There’s a number of folks on the market who will enable you to and there are definitely a number of working teams that you may be part of, so if you wish to get on the market and do one thing, you’ll be able to, however it’s a must to need to, as a result of nobody can push you into doing something … My breast most cancers made me very, very optimistic.
On daily basis I get up now I am grateful as a result of when you’ve gotten one thing like that occur to you and you do not know if you are going to come out of it, you are simply so glad to be alive and simply face no matter right this moment is and neglect it and begin a brand new day tomorrow. I am taking a look at 100, no less than 100, and I need to run as a lot as I can till then. I do know I’ll decelerate, I do know that, however I am not going to cease.”
Optimism, Pleasure and Social Connections Are Frequent Threads
Whereas every of the folks featured within the movie have completely different pursuits and life tales, you’ll discover a number of frequent threads, together with optimism, pleasure and a real pleasure for all times. They every have robust social connections of their communities and have interaction in every day with a way of goal, whereas residing totally within the current second.
Regardless of going through well being challenges, lack of family members and different setbacks, every individual within the movie leads a vibrant life crammed with pleasure and fervour. This pleasure is deeply related to their bodily actions and the robust sense of neighborhood they construct via shared experiences and social interactions.
Ava Stone, a yoga teacher in her 70s, says, “To me, it is the most important pleasure to place myself in a spot the place I can provide one thing to others.” She makes use of class time to show not solely respiration and stretching methods but additionally meditate, share tales and inform jokes. Exterior of sophistication, she likes to drive her black sports activities automotive round city and encourages others to have enjoyable and create their very own pleasure:7
“Now stress comes from not appreciating what’s, not appreciating life, your life that you just created. We blame stress exterior ourselves as if it is brought on by some mysterious others. In a nutshell, have you learnt what stress is? This current second that you just’re having, you do not prefer it. You need to do away with one thing you don’t need otherwise you need one thing you do not have.
Then you definately inform your pals, hear, I had such a stress, you can’t imagine it, what the husband and the youngsters did. Oh, at work … And but, you retain creating it … Resisting life because it reveals as much as you is your stress. This consciousness has purchased me a lot pleasure and it got here from yoga, and when you have any smartness you understand that the thoughts will assist maintain you wholesome. Open your eyes, develop into conscious of the world.
This world right here is totally superb, is not it? The opposite pleasure is that these folks which were coming to see me all these years, they get it, they usually maintain coming again they usually need me to speak and need to have enjoyable and loopy stuff. So, these persons are alert, having fun with life and socializing.
… Solely the individuals who have targets, who’ve plans, who’ve pleasure, they need their physique effectively to take them round. Retaining the physique lubricated and shifting to construct the energy, to maintain the muscular tissues going and the digestion and sleeping effectively, that is simply to maintain you wholesome so your communication with life can go on. You’ve got the peacefulness, you’ve gotten joyfulness.
From this pleasure and peacefulness, you have come to pure information to say if I am sad, I am creating it, completely. The ego is one thing you create from day one, needing to be essential and being proper. While you let that go, it would not matter. And then you definitely develop into peaceable, however it’s a must to apply, really feel it, go it on, and you’ll solely have enjoyable when you do not suppose critically. If folks suppose all the things is so critical, the place is the enjoyable?”
Optimizing Mitochondrial Operate Facilitates Life Decisions That Carry Pleasure
At a foundational stage, pleasure comes from curiosity and the power to make decisions in your life. However when you don’t have sufficient mobile power, you’ll be able to’t suppose correctly, not to mention have sufficient power left over to navigate optimistic life decisions. Because of this enhancing your mitochondrial power manufacturing can carry you pleasure.
Your mind, being probably the most energy-dependent organ, makes up solely about 2% of your body weight but consumes 20% of the power utilized by your complete physique.8 Due to this fact, a surplus of mobile power creation is important to have the power to permit your mind to work optimally.
Avoiding dietary pitfalls like extra linoleic acid, within the type of vegetable and seed oils, is instrumental in optimizing mitochondrial perform and realizing your full capability to expertise pleasure. Components like estrogen and endotoxins may deplete your mobile power.
Nonetheless, participating in common bodily exercise can also be a robust option to improve mitochondrial well being, contributing to improved power metabolism. Train encourages the creation of recent mitochondria and helps the prevailing ones work higher, producing extra power extra effectively.
Understand that when you get into your mid-40s and 50s — and definitely into your 70s and 80s — train must be enjoyable and stress-reducing, not aggressive. In his evaluation, Dr. James O’Keefe, a heart specialist with the Mid-America Coronary heart Institute at St. Louis Hospital in Kansas Metropolis, stresses the significance of “social train” over solo train: enjoying a recreation of hockey with buddies, for instance.
O’Keefe and colleagues printed a examine in 2018 that checked out long-term granular information on bodily exercise and longevity.9 It turned out enjoying tennis added 9.5 years of additional life expectancy, badminton 6.2 and soccer 4.7, in comparison with 3.2 years for jogging and 1.5 years for well being membership actions like weight lifting and working on a treadmill.
At first, O’Keefe thought the evaluation had by some means gone incorrect. However then he realized it was the social features of the sports activities that conferred the added advantages.
“Exercising and making social connections on the similar time, that’s an absolute goldmine of a long life exercise. That implies that even strolling together with your canine or your good friend or [playing] pickleball is big … The entire thing is to maneuver your physique in a enjoyable, playful method and make it social.”
Pleasure and Well being Go Hand in Hand
This mix of enjoyable, social bodily exercise is clearly evident in “The Match Technology.” Additional, the idea of “vorfreude,” or anticipatory pleasure, additionally considerably improves happiness and well-being by permitting you to savor the anticipation of future pleasures. It is a idea these featured within the movie additionally appear to totally embrace, by participating in every day actions they take pleasure in and sit up for every day.
Pleasure and well being share a deep and complex connection, and people within the movie take pleasure in each. They don’t dwell on hardships or loss, as an alternative selecting to deal with the nice round them. This means to acknowledge and alter damaging thought patterns is one other key to foster a extra joyful mindset.
As a substitute of catastrophizing and specializing in the damaging, shift your perspective to understand small joys and social alternatives. In the end, as Stone put it, you’ll be able to construct the life you need, and it’s by no means too late to show a brand new leaf:10
“If persons are older and lonely, there’s a number of issues for previous folks. They’ve to speak to a good friend, a neighbor, and say what do you do, the place do you go, the place’s the following neighborhood middle, what’s on this system? It must be a behavior like brushing your tooth or sure belongings you do, and then you definitely begin having fun with it. There isn’t any pleasure out on the earth, solely what you place there.”
