Strength and health.

Well, same types of topics seem to crop up at particular times. Only the other day, I was asked where I went for my morning exercise by a friend. When I told him about my daily daily trek up the hill and down again, he was shocked that I would do such a thing at my age. According to him, it is an activity I should no longer take part in.

Immediately, I thought of those words that had been thrown at me since age forty-five. At that time, I was merely jogging through rubber estates. "What? You think you are still young, don't you. You will suffer pain in your joints soon unless you stop," my well-intentioned friends used to advise. If I had been unfortunate enough to follow that advice, today I would most probably be shuffling my feet slowly to move.

Instead, I got bored with jogging and went on to trekking hills where I could sometimes jog and skip along unknown paths. As for pains, I did have some but with greater strengthening of the leg muscles, I managed to send those pains packing. Today, all I ever suffer from are some tired muscles. Oh, yes! I did almost get cramps in my thighs the other Sunday when I trekked about thirteen kilometres at Penang's National Park. But I recovered fast enough to trek up the little hill at Taman Semarak the next morning.

In fact, fitness and health is mine today because of the exercise on that hill. It gave me sufficient exercise to keep my muscles toned and enough perspiration to remove some of the toxins. I also get the chance to empty my lungs of any stagnant foul air to be replaced by truly fresh air from among the trees. Of course, it is only a part of my health programme. Nutrition is just as important.

So, as I age, I have to maintain my health with this kind of programme to ensure, I can enjoy life as much as any healthy person.