“The Match Era” is an award-winning documentary that explores the lives of lively older adults in Canada, significantly these of their 70s and 80s. Directed by Elton Hubner and produced by Eyes Multimedia, the movie challenges standard views on ageing and highlights the benefits of sustaining a wholesome, lively life-style properly into your later years.
Within the video above, you’ll hear inspiring tales of seniors who, regardless of dealing with vital well being challenges reminiscent of most cancers, arthritis and coronary heart circumstances, proceed to have interaction in bodily difficult actions and lead vibrant lives.1
“The Match Era” 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 selections 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 individuals featured within the movie. When it’s not winter, you could find Tjelios-Nicholas biking round Whistler or paddleboarding.2
“George Tjelios-Nicholas is without doubt one of the foremost characters of the documentary and, properly, 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 await time to move,” based on 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 individuals, and my job is to get them snug. It is an excellent motivation to maintain going … I discover it laborious to consider, however technically my snowboarding remains to be getting higher. I’ve had individuals 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 a number of again ache, I’ve arthritis and I am nonetheless functioning, however I consider that the extra lively I keep, the much less impact it is going to have on me.”
Others featured within the movie embrace Lawrence Huzar, who, at 79 years previous, performed hockey thrice per 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 likewise enjoys spending time with different hockey gamers on his crew — a number of of whom are related ages. Gwen McFarlan is one other inspirational athlete featured within the movie. At 81 years previous, the world document marathon runner, retired instructor and most cancers survivor continued to compete in races, regardless of accidents:6
“There’s numerous individuals on the market who will make it easier to and there are actually numerous operating teams that you could be part of, so if you wish to get on the market and do one thing, you’ll be able to, however you need to need to, as a result of nobody can push you into doing something … My breast most cancers made me very, very constructive.
Each day I get up now I am grateful as a result of when you’ve 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 at this time is and neglect it and begin a brand new day tomorrow. I am 100, not 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 individuals featured within the movie have totally different pursuits and life tales, you’ll discover a number of widespread 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 function, whereas dwelling absolutely within the current second.
Regardless of dealing with well being challenges, lack of family members and different setbacks, every particular person within the movie leads a vibrant life crammed with pleasure and fervour. This pleasure is deeply linked to their bodily actions and the robust sense of neighborhood they construct by shared experiences and social interactions.
Ava Stone, a yoga teacher in her 70s, says, “To me, it is the largest pleasure to place myself in a spot the place I may give one thing to others.” She makes use of class time to show not solely respiratory and stretching strategies but in addition meditate, share tales and inform jokes. Outdoors of sophistication, she likes to drive her black sports activities automobile 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 outdoors ourselves as if it is attributable to some mysterious others. In a nutshell, are you aware 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.
You then inform your mates, pay attention, I had such a stress, you can’t consider it, what the husband and the children did. Oh, at work … And but, you retain creating it … Resisting life because it exhibits as much as you is your stress. This consciousness has purchased me a lot pleasure and it got here from yoga, and when you’ve got any smartness you understand that the thoughts will assist hold you wholesome. Open your eyes, change into conscious of the world.
This world right here is totally wonderful, is not it? The opposite pleasure is that these individuals which were coming to see me all these years, they get it, they usually hold 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 properly to take them round. Preserving the physique lubricated and shifting to construct the power, to maintain the muscular tissues going and the digestion and sleeping properly, that is simply to maintain you wholesome so your communication with life can go on. You may have the peacefulness, you’ve joyfulness.
From this pleasure and peacefulness, you’ve got come to pure data to say if I am sad, I am creating it, completely. The ego is one thing you create from day one, needing to be vital and being proper. If you let that go, it would not matter. And you then change into peaceable, however you need to observe, really feel it, move it on, and you’ll solely have enjoyable if you happen to do not suppose critically. If individuals suppose all the pieces is so critical, the place is the enjoyable?”
Optimizing Mitochondrial Operate Facilitates Life Selections That Carry Pleasure
At a foundational stage, pleasure comes from curiosity and the flexibility to make selections in your life. However if you happen to don’t have sufficient mobile vitality, you’ll be able to’t suppose correctly, not to mention have sufficient vitality left over to navigate constructive life selections. For this reason bettering your mitochondrial vitality manufacturing can carry you pleasure.
Your mind, being essentially the most energy-dependent organ, makes up solely about 2% of your body weight but consumes 20% of the vitality utilized by your complete physique.8 Subsequently, a surplus of mobile vitality creation is critical to have the flexibility 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 also deplete your mobile vitality.
Nonetheless, participating in common bodily exercise can be a robust strategy to improve mitochondrial well being, contributing to improved vitality metabolism. Train encourages the creation of latest mitochondria and helps the present ones work higher, producing extra vitality 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 associates, for instance.
O’Keefe and colleagues revealed a research 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 operating on a treadmill.
At first, O’Keefe thought the evaluation had someway gone unsuitable. However then he realized it was the social facets of the sports activities that conferred the added advantages.
“Exercising and making social connections on the identical time, that’s an absolute goldmine of a long life exercise. That signifies that even strolling along with your canine or your pal 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 mixture of enjoyable, social bodily exercise is clearly evident in “The Match Era.” 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 completely embrace, by participating in every day actions they take pleasure in and stay up for every day.
Pleasure and well being share a deep and complicated connection, and people within the movie take pleasure in each. They don’t dwell on hardships or loss, as a substitute selecting to give attention to the great round them. This capacity to acknowledge and alter adverse thought patterns is one other key to foster a extra joyful mindset.
As a substitute of catastrophizing and specializing in the adverse, shift your perspective to understand small joys and social alternatives. Finally, 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 numerous issues for previous individuals. They’ve to speak to a pal, 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 needs to be a behavior like brushing your tooth or sure stuff you do, and you then begin having fun with it. There isn’t any pleasure out on the earth, solely what you place there.”
