The Match Era
“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 getting older and highlights some great 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 important well being challenges reminiscent of most cancers, arthritis and coronary heart situations, proceed to have interaction in bodily difficult actions and lead vibrant lives.1
“The Match Era” emphasizes that age isn’t a barrier to health and will 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Think about being a full-time ski teacher at 82 years outdated. 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, yow will discover Tjelios-Nicholas biking round Whistler or paddleboarding.2
“George Tjelios-Nicholas is among the primary 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 residence and look forward to time to go,” in accordance with Eyes Multimedia.3 But, this doesn’t cross Tjelios-Nicholas’ thoughts:4
“Instructing snowboarding is so rewarding! That is why I just like the ski college. I like individuals, and my job is to get them comfy. It is an amazing motivation to maintain going … I discover it arduous to consider, however technically my snowboarding remains to be getting higher. I’ve had individuals say to me, ‘Oh, you are too outdated to do this.’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 pinnacle, 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 lots 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’ll have on me.”
Others featured within the movie embody Lawrence Huzar, who, at 79 years outdated, 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 also 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 outdated, the world report marathon runner, retired trainer and most cancers survivor continued to compete in races, regardless of accidents:6
“There’s numerous individuals on the market who will assist you to and there are actually numerous working teams you can be a part of, so if you wish to get on the market and do one thing, you possibly can, 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 optimistic.
Day-after-day I get up now I am grateful as a result of when you will have 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 as we speak is and neglect it and begin a brand new day tomorrow. I am 100, a minimum of 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 Widespread Threads
Whereas every of the individuals featured within the movie have totally 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 sturdy social connections of their communities and interact in every day with a way of goal, whereas residing absolutely within the current second.
Regardless of dealing with 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 sturdy 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 respiratory and stretching methods but in addition meditate, share tales and inform jokes. Outdoors 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 eliminate one thing you do not need otherwise you need one thing you do not have.
You then inform your folks, pay attention, I had such a stress, you can not consider it, what the husband and the children 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 recognize that the thoughts will assist preserve 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 individuals which have been coming to see me all these years, they get it, and so they preserve coming again and so they need me to speak and need to have enjoyable and loopy stuff. So, these individuals 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. Retaining the physique lubricated and shifting to construct the energy, to maintain the muscle mass going and the digestion and sleeping properly, that is simply to maintain you wholesome so your communication with life can go on. You could have the peacefulness, you will have 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 vital and being proper. Once you let that go, it would not matter. And then you definitely develop into peaceable, however you need to follow, really feel it, go it on, and you may solely have enjoyable for those who do not assume significantly. If individuals assume all the pieces 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 flexibility to make selections in your life. However for those who don’t have sufficient mobile vitality, you possibly can’t assume correctly, not to mention have sufficient vitality left over to navigate optimistic life selections. This is the reason enhancing 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 operate and realizing your full capability to expertise pleasure. Components like estrogen and endotoxins also can deplete your mobile vitality.
Nonetheless, partaking in common bodily exercise can also be a robust solution to improve mitochondrial well being, contributing to improved vitality metabolism. Train encourages the creation of latest mitochondria and helps the prevailing ones work higher, producing extra vitality extra effectively.
Take into account that when you get into your mid-40s and 50s — and definitely into your 70s and 80s — train needs to 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: taking part in a sport of hockey with pals, 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 taking part in 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 in some way gone improper. 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 mix 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 totally embrace, by partaking in each 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 great round them. This means 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. In the end, as Stone put it, you possibly can construct the life you need, and it’s by no means too late to show a brand new leaf:10
“If individuals are older and lonely, there’s numerous issues for outdated 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 must be a behavior like brushing your tooth or sure belongings you do, and then you definitely begin having fun with it. There is no such thing as a pleasure out on the planet, solely what you place there.”
