William Penn Life, 2017 (52. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)

2017-10-01 / 10. szám

Focus on Fraternalism with Barbara A. House

A wonderful, fraternal August

At this writing, I am getting ready for our trip to Europe. National Director Richard Sarosi will take some great pictures, and we will tell you all about it when we get back. We have already begun making plans for next year's trip, during which we will revisit Croatia and end up in Hungary.

This year's Hungarian Heritage Experience was the best one ever. Everyone who attended had great things to say. The weather was great with temps in the low 70s. We actually got down to 48 degrees one night. The food was super as were the instructors, Tamás Markovits and Emery Marcus. Thank you also to National Directors David Kozak and Jim Robertson: we could not do it without you. Linda Enyedy and Nancy Martinsen kept us busy with Hungarian crafts in the evenings. Vicky Loesch and Magyar Marketing brought us some wonderful things to purchase. Thank you to David Valentine who taught us how to make palacsinta and csiga. He also made all the kolbász, hurka and gulyás. As I always say, it takes a village. Sequanota meets all our needs. Everyone loves their room and the fact we are all under one roof. I have already reserved the camp

for next year's Experience.

Szent István Nap (St. Stephen's Day) in Toledo was another success. The food and entertainment were wonderful. The only drawback was the heat. Sure wish St. Stephen had been canonized in the fall. Thank you to all who manned the WPA booth: Chair of the Board Andy McNelis and his wife Marguerite, Vice Chair Kathy Novak, National Sales Director Bob Bisceglia, Sándor Tollas, Paula Bodnar, Alan Szabó and Tom House. You were all wonderful, heat and all.

That was followed by our wonderful WPA Picnic in Hiram, Ohio. There are way too many people to thank, so I won't even try. All our volunteers were marvelous—Home Office employees, National Officers, Board members and Hiram members. We could not do it without you. We even ran out of some food items. The attendance was higher than we anticipated, so we will cook more and longer next year. Thank you to all who attended. One of the highlights of the day for me was meeting some of those traveling with us to Hungary.

A big WPA welcome to Sales Coordinator Barbi Tew. □

Aging Well with Cathy Graham

Step up to better health

OUR BODIES ARE DESIGNED to move regularly. More people are exercising and trying to get an hour of exercise in three times a week. The problem is that many think 30 minutes or even an hour of cardiovascular exercise can outweigh nine to 10 hours of sitting each day, and it can't.

Being "actively sedentary" describes people who are fit for one hour a day, then sit the rest of the day. Sitting itself isn't bad for you-it's the amount of time you sit consistently that causes damage to your health. Long periods of sitting every day can shorten your life. When you sit, blood flows slower and muscles burn less fat, which makes it easier for fatty acids to clog your heart.

Your body's ability to respond to insulin is affected by just one day of excessive sitting, which leads to a higher insulin production, a pathway to diabetes. Excessive sitting increases the risk of several cancers, including breast, colon and endometrial. Sitting after a meal makes it harder for your food to digest and is related directly to posture problems. Others experience back pain and weakness, hip problems and muscle degeneration.

In my work as a wellness specialist and exercise instructor, I see the down side of extended sitting daily. It starts with poor balance and posture, and the problems escalate from there.

So, when is the pivotal point? When I work with people who say they have trouble getting out of a chair, my internal alarm goes off. If you have difficulty getting up from a chair, you need to keep getting up from the chair until it is easy! We call them "get-ups." You may need help at first,

or perhaps you can only do it twice. Rest assured, if you have trouble getting out of a chair, and you don't increase your muscle strength to correct it, you will soon never get out a chair.

Walk, walk, walk...and walk some more. March through the house, sashay, hop, dance, stride—get on your toes and do it again and again and again.

The more you sit, the more you will sit. Aim for 7,000 to 10,000 steps per day, every day. Get up and move every two hours. Do 25 get-ups four times a day.

If you want to keep moving through the years, then you will have to move frequently throughout each day.

Cathy Graham is director of the Graceful Aging Wellness Center at Bethlen Communities in Ligonier, Pa.

WILLIAM PENN LIFE 0 October 2017 0 3