QuestionGood Day
I am a 52 year old male. I am fortunate to be in physical and mental health better than most of the people I associate and live with; even many people a lot younger than my age.
One thing I am fortunate to have is an excellent memory of my past. I remember in detail when I was a very young child, about 5-7 years old, in my parent's yard, where a relative talked to me about the fact that I ran, did not walk, anywhere. He stated that if he (about 35 year old male) ran all the time, he would get too tired and would have to sit down. I thought about this, and began to run even faster; running to the point where my heart was racing fast and I was sucking in air - faster than my mouth and could pull the air into my lungs, and then quickly pushing the air out again to replace the air with even more air. This was a stationary slightly bent-over gasping and pushing out air, heart racing, uncomfortable situation.
Interestingly, within a few seconds, I was "back to normal." My heart was no longer pounding, my air was no longer gasping. I felt fine. I even commented to the man, "I cannot tire myself out!" "No matter how hard I try."
Now many years later, I am 52 years old. I still experience the same uncomfort; heart racing, lungs working hard, standing, slightly bent over when I have done something like running. But what HAS CHANGED is the time between when I reach the point where I no longer can run - the recovery - and the point where I can go back to running, i.e. "back to normal." This "period of uncomfortableness" now last from 2-3 minutes, up to 5 minutes. At age 7, it was a few seconds, now it is several minutes.
I have been doing weightlifting for over 15 years, so I am physically stronger than when I was younger. And I do a lot of aerobics such as stair climbing several times a day at work.
But something inside of me has changed with age. My rate of recovery now takes longer. Can you tell me what has changed? And why does it change?
Only other problem I find with aging? By age 15, I needed glasses; nearsighted. Now I need to wear them all the time to see words in distance.
Everything else feels and works exactly the same as when I was a young man.
Except muscles. They are now a lot bigger!
Thanks for the time. I look forward to hearing from you.
AnswerYour rate of physiolgical recovery after exercise has a lot to do with your aerobic health. While you may do some aerobic activities, I would imagine that if you concentrated on aerobic types of exercise, your recovery period would shorten as you gained endurance and capacity. There may be a point of exercise intensity that pushes your muscles beyond the ability of your heart and blood to supply them with nutrients and oxygen. You enter what is referred to as oxygen debt, and eventually your muscles fail. The recovery time has to do with how "in debt" you are. If your muscles are larger, the amount of debt may also be large, and the recovery time affected accordingly.
In addition to your muscle size and stamina, don't underestimate the effect of youth. Children have a remarkable capacity to recover and rejuvenate.
