“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 typical views on getting older and highlights the benefits of sustaining a wholesome, lively way of life properly into your later years.
Within the video above, you’ll hear inspiring tales of seniors who, regardless of going through important well being challenges comparable to 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 isn’t a barrier to health and will encourage you to pursue an lively way of life and discover pleasure in your life. Additional, the documentary demonstrates how making daring decisions that deliver 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, you could find Tjelios-Nicholas biking round Whistler or paddleboarding.2
“George Tjelios-Nicholas is likely one of the important 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 anticipate time to go,” in keeping 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 folks, and my job is to get them comfy. It is an awesome motivation to maintain going … I discover it laborious to consider, however technically my snowboarding continues to be getting higher. I’ve had folks say to me, ‘Oh, you are too previous to try this.’ I am not loopy, I do not go off huge 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 quite a lot 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 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 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 previous, the world document marathon runner, retired trainer and most cancers survivor continued to compete in races, regardless of accidents:6
“There’s numerous folks on the market who will show you how to and there are definitely numerous operating teams that you may be a part of, so if you wish to get on the market and do one thing, you’ll be able to, however it’s important to need to, as a result of nobody can push you into doing something … My breast most cancers made me very, very optimistic.
Each day I get up now I am grateful as a result of when you may 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 at present is and neglect it and begin a brand new day tomorrow. I am taking a look at 100, at the very least 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 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 interact in every day with a way of goal, whereas dwelling totally within the current second.
Regardless of going through well being challenges, lack of family members and different setbacks, every particular person within the movie leads a vibrant life crammed with pleasure and keenness. This pleasure is deeply related to their bodily actions and the robust sense of group they construct by means of 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 may give 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. Exterior 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 brought on by 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 eliminate one thing you do not need otherwise you need one thing you do not have.
Then you definately inform your folks, 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 reveals as much as you is your stress. This consciousness has purchased me a lot pleasure and it got here from yoga, and in case you have any smartness you understand that the thoughts will assist preserve you wholesome. Open your eyes, grow to be conscious of the world.
This world right here is completely superb, is not it? The opposite pleasure is that these folks which were 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. Holding the physique lubricated and transferring 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 may have the peacefulness, you may 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 essential and being proper. Once you let that go, it would not matter. And then you definitely grow to be peaceable, however it’s important to observe, really feel it, go it on, and you’ll solely have enjoyable in case you do not assume critically. If folks assume every part is so critical, the place is the enjoyable?”
Optimizing Mitochondrial Operate Facilitates Life Selections That Deliver Pleasure
At a foundational stage, pleasure comes from curiosity and the flexibility to make decisions in your life. However in case you don’t have sufficient mobile power, you’ll be able to’t assume correctly, not to mention have sufficient power left over to navigate optimistic life decisions. That is why enhancing your mitochondrial power manufacturing can deliver 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 power utilized by your total physique.8 Subsequently, a surplus of mobile power 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. Elements like estrogen and endotoxins can even 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 latest 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 positively 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: taking part in a recreation of hockey with mates, for instance.
O’Keefe and colleagues revealed 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 operating on a treadmill.
At first, O’Keefe thought the evaluation had in some way gone flawed. 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 implies that even strolling together with your canine or your buddy or [playing] pickleball is large … 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. This can be a idea these featured within the movie additionally appear to totally embrace, by participating in each day actions they get pleasure from and sit up for every day.
Pleasure and well being share a deep and complex connection, and people within the movie get pleasure from each. They don’t dwell on hardships or loss, as an alternative selecting to concentrate on the great round them. This capability to acknowledge and alter unfavourable thought patterns is one other key to foster a extra joyful mindset.
As an alternative of catastrophizing and specializing in the unfavourable, 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 individuals are older and lonely, there’s numerous issues for previous folks. They’ve to speak to a buddy, a neighbor, and say what do you do, the place do you go, the place’s the subsequent group middle, what’s on this system? It must be a behavior like brushing your tooth or sure stuff 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 set there.”