“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 old and highlights the benefits of sustaining a wholesome, lively life-style nicely into your later years.
Within the video above, you’ll hear inspiring tales of seniors who, regardless of going through vital well being challenges comparable to 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 will not be a barrier to health and should encourage you to pursue an lively life-style 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Think about being a full-time ski teacher at 82 years outdated.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 without doubt one of the major characters of the documentary and, nicely, 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 await time to move,” in response to 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 snug. It is a terrific motivation to maintain going … I discover it laborious to consider, however technically my snowboarding continues 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 I’ve had individuals say to me, ‘Oh, you are too outdated to do this.’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 massive 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 have 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 loads 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 is going to have on me.”
Others featured within the movie embrace Lawrence Huzar, who, at 79 years outdated, performed hockey 3 times per 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 staff — a number of of whom are related ages. Gwen McFarlan is one other inspirational athlete featured within the movie. At 81 years outdated, the world report marathon runner, retired instructor and most cancers survivor continued to compete in races, regardless of accidents:6
“There’s numerous individuals on the market who will assist you and there are definitely numerous operating teams which you could be a part of, so if you wish to get on the market and do one thing, you possibly can, however it’s important to wish to, as a result of nobody can push you into doing something … My breast most cancers made me very, very constructive.
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 immediately is and overlook it and begin a brand new day tomorrow. I am taking a look at 100, at the very least 100, and I wish 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 completely 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 function, 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 fervour. This pleasure is deeply related to their bodily actions and the robust 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 largest 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 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 simply created. We blame stress exterior ourselves as if it is attributable to some mysterious others. In a nutshell, are you aware what stress is? This current second that you simply’re having, you do not prefer it. You wish to eliminate one thing you do not need otherwise you need one thing you do not have.
Then you definately inform your folks, hear, 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 if in case you have any smartness you already know that the thoughts will assist preserve you wholesome. Open your eyes, grow to be conscious of the world.
This world right here is totally superb, is not it? The opposite pleasure is that these individuals which were coming to see me all these years, they get it, they usually preserve coming again they usually need me to speak and wish to have enjoyable and loopy stuff. So, these individuals are alert, having fun with life and socializing.
… Solely the individuals who have objectives, who’ve plans, who’ve pleasure, they need their physique nicely to take them round. Maintaining the physique lubricated and shifting to construct the energy, to maintain the muscle groups going and the digestion and sleeping nicely, that is simply to maintain you wholesome so your communication with life can go on. You could have the peacefulness, you may have joyfulness.
From this pleasure and peacefulness, you’ve got 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 does not matter. And then you definately grow to be peaceable, however it’s important to apply, really feel it, move it on, and you’ll solely have enjoyable should you do not assume significantly. If individuals assume all the pieces is so critical, the place is the enjoyable?”
Optimizing Mitochondrial Perform Facilitates Life Decisions That Convey Pleasure
At a foundational degree, pleasure comes from curiosity and the power to make decisions in your life. However should you don’t have sufficient mobile power, you possibly can’t assume correctly, not to mention have sufficient power left over to navigate constructive 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 complete physique.8 Due to this fact, a surplus of mobile power creation is critical to have the power 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. Components like estrogen and endotoxins also can deplete your mobile power.
Nonetheless, participating in common bodily exercise can be a strong approach to improve mitochondrial well being, contributing to improved power metabolism. Train encourages the creation of recent mitochondria and helps the prevailing ones work higher, producing extra power extra effectively.
Take into account that when you get into your mid-40s and 50s — and definitely into your 70s and 80s — train ought 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: enjoying a recreation of hockey with associates, 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 enjoying 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 by some means gone unsuitable. However then he realized it was the social points of the sports activities that conferred the added advantages.
“Exercising and making social connections on the similar time, that’s an absolute goldmine of a long life exercise. That implies 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. This can be a idea these featured within the movie additionally appear to completely embrace, by participating in each day actions they take pleasure in and stay 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 a substitute selecting to concentrate on the great round them. This capability to acknowledge and alter unfavorable thought patterns is one other key to foster a extra joyful mindset.
As a substitute of catastrophizing and specializing in the unfavorable, 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 subsequent neighborhood middle, what’s on this system? It must be a behavior like brushing your enamel or sure stuff you do, and then you definately begin having fun with it. There is no such thing as a pleasure out on the earth, solely what you place there.”
