This is a follow-up to my recent article, I’m Leading Death Again. In that essay, I mentioned seeing several doctors for routine checkups. None of them have indicated that they are aware of any life-threatening medical conditions looming over me like some grim reaper.

The Grim Reaper

While that is true, it is equally true that I’m 81. The article mentioned that I ran cross-country in high school and college but can’t even jog now without looking pathetic. That said, not a day goes by without getting on my elliptical trainer every morning for thirty minutes. I haven’t missed more than five mornings in 2024. A couple of those days, I did my exercise later that day.

That is the backstory. I was in one of the doctor’s exam rooms for a follow-up discussion. Prior to that, Naomi, her assistant, was doing routine tests like blood pressure, pulse rate, etc. The two of us were chatting about the results. I have done those fifteen-minute routine tests before the physician comes in. I often guess my blood pressure or resting heart rate.

As Naomi was doing her testing, I happened to mention my cardiologist years ago. Dr. Marchand was both an excellent physician and interested in talking to me about all sorts of ideas, like his comment, “You have seen the light.” Early in our relationship, he asked me how much exercise I did daily. To impress Dr. Marchand, I told him I exercise twenty minutes daily. After completing my workout on a stationary bike, I took 220, subtracted my age, and multiplied it by 80%.

Essentially, he wasn’t impressed unless I wanted to be a marathon runner. Naomi and I laughed about my failing to impress Dr. Marchand. However, I told her that I was sure of the equation, but I had no idea what the name of it was. I returned home and googled it. There are various names, but the equation deals with a target zone for one’s heart. The American Heart Association has a chart that deals with people seventy or younger. That was troubling. I googled other sites. While slight variants exist in the equation, I couldn’t find one that went to eighty. I’m doing my cardiovascular exercises to outlive George Burns, who reached 100 years and a couple of months. While that might seem a stretch, Security’s Life Expectancy Calculator predicts that I have eight years and one month left on my yellow brick road of life.

After leaving Naomi and the doctor’s office, I got onto my elliptical trainer for the first time in a couple of decades after Dr. Marchand blew off the equation and used it. Actually, I exercise for thirty minutes, not twenty. 220 minus 81, my age, and multiplied by 80%. My beats per minute (bpm) after thirty minutes was 111, which is in the range for someone who is 70.

That equation is less important than the equation after resting for 15 minutes. Tomorrow, I will do both and will be really interested in my bpm after resting. I would have never mentioned my comment to Dr. Marchand if it hadn't been for Naomi.

This is my story about my attempt to physically live a long and healthy life. My suggestion to all my readers is to exercise and care for yourselves. Additionally, merely living is not a valid goal in life. Remember my mantra, “It is in giving that we get.” Unless you live for others, you have wasted the gift of being.

One other point. While chatting with Naomi, I told her to read Wednesday’s essay.