The What If Question

The What If Question
Asked Three Times

I’m not being paid to write that cardiovascular exercise daily is a must. I ran cross-country in high school and college back in the 60s. The first thing I did after entering the adult workforce was get an Irish Setter. The next purchase was a Schwinn Aerodyne in 1969. It was a stationary bike I rode daily for a couple of decades.

Over six decades, I used other exercise equipment like a Nordic Track Skier, a treadmill, and an elliptical trainer. A few decades ago, I went to my first cardiologist, Dr. Marchand, Sr. During my first appointment, he asked whether I exercised for 20 minutes daily. I did, but I told him my blood pressure and recovery rate after exercising instead of addressing his question. He said that data wasn’t relevant unless I was attending to be a marathon runner. Nonetheless, I extended my exercise to 30 minutes. Several years ago, he retired, and I am now going to Dr. Shah.

I started going to Dr. Marchand’s son as my primary care physician two years ago. He knew that I exercised 30 minutes daily. On one of my routine visits, I complained that I wasn’t a spring chicken. His response was, “Go to a sauna every day.”

Usually, every morning around 5 am, I sweat for 30 minutes in the sauna at the South Lake YMCA. I return home and spend 30 minutes on my elliptical trainer. Now, nothing is exciting about exercising or sitting in a sauna sweating. However, I feel better and healthier than I felt prior to going to the sauna daily.

The Harvard Medical School published this finding of researchers in Finland.

Researchers from the University of Eastern Finland tracked 2,300 middle-aged men for an average of 20 years. They categorized the men into three groups according to how often they used a sauna each week. The men spent an average of 14 minutes per visit baking in 175° F heat. Over the course of the study, 49% of men who went to a sauna once a week died, compared with 38% of those who went two to three times a week and just 31% of those who went four to seven times a week. Frequent visits to a sauna were also associated with lower death rates from cardiovascular disease and stroke.

I only regret that someone didn’t tell me to go to a sauna daily six decades ago. There are all sorts of benefits to saunas. While sitting in a sauna, it doesn’t produce new brain cells. However, it does simulate a Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF) protein, which assists in the growth and longevity of existing brain cells. Saunas detoxifies the body, reduces blood pressure, delays dementia, and reduces stress and inflammation.

For someone at 82, there aren’t many as healthy as I am. How many people in their 80s do cardiovascular exercises or saunas for 30 minutes daily? In all of my visits to the South Lake Y’s sauna, I have never seen anyone in the sauna in their 80s. The oldest person was in his early 60s.

What fascinates me about my daily regimen is that it raises the question, what if? I would like a chart divided into three sections addressing what if.

Section 1. My chart would begin with a set of two what ifs. First, what if I didn’t exercise for 30 minutes for the last 6 decades? What would my medical condition and quality of life be, and what would my lifespan be? I wouldn’t bet that I would still be alive. If I were still kicking, my quality of life would not be good. The second part is, with all things being equal, I’d like to know how many more healthy years I have due to a lifetime of exercising.

Section 2. This section questions: What would my medical condition and general health be if I had not started to go to the sauna daily? How many more healthy years would I have added to my lifespan?

Section 3. The final question is, what would my medical condition and general health be like had I not exercised and gone to the sauna daily?

I can’t be sure what my 80s will be like, but I am delighted that I am doing both exercise and the sauna daily. At the beginning of the article, I mentioned that I was not being paid to advertise the benefits of exercising and sitting in a sauna. What I wrote was about my health and longevity. Now, here comes the zinger.

I wished someone told me about saunas when I bought my stationary bike in the late 60s. I’m happy I was introduced to saunas, even in my twilight years. I am doing you a favor that I didn’t receive about going to the sauna.

Wake up and smell the roses. In the grand scheme of things, our journey down our yellow brick roads of life is a finite trek. Do what you can to add quality and length to your life by sweating for 30 minutes while exercising and sitting in a sauna. Don’t pass me up with my suggestion.

I almost forgot that I do moderate weight-lifting exercises daily after 30 minutes on the elliptical trainer. I have a friend who works for Trump at Mar-a-Lago. He recently stopped by and gave me a set of Trump’s weights. They are pure gold, but Trump never used them; Trump would rather have a Big Mac than exercise.

This video is my workout on Trump’s gold weights.