“The Match Technology” 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 typical views on getting older and highlights the benefits of sustaining a wholesome, lively life-style effectively 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 interact in bodily difficult actions and lead vibrant lives.1
“The Match Technology” emphasizes that age is just not 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 selections 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 previous. 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, you will discover Tjelios-Nicholas biking round Whistler or paddleboarding.2
“George Tjelios-Nicholas is likely one of the major characters of the documentary and, effectively, 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 look forward to time to cross,” in line with 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 faculty. I like individuals, and my job is to get them comfy. It is a fantastic motivation to maintain going … I discover it onerous to imagine, however technically my snowboarding remains to be getting higher. I’ve had individuals say to me, ‘Oh, you are too previous 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 had 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 quite a lot of again ache, I’ve arthritis and I am nonetheless functioning, however I imagine that the extra lively I keep, the much less impact it is going to have on me.”
Others featured within the movie embody Lawrence Huzar, who, at 79 years previous, performed hockey thrice 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 group — a number of of whom are comparable ages. Gwen McFarlan is one other inspirational athlete featured within the movie. At 81 years previous, the world file marathon runner, retired trainer and most cancers survivor continued to compete in races, regardless of accidents:6
“There’s plenty of individuals on the market who will assist you to and there are actually plenty of working teams that you may be a part of, so if you wish to get on the market and do one thing, you’ll be able to, 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.
Day by day I get up now I am grateful as a result of when you might 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 at present is and neglect it and begin a brand new day tomorrow. I am 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 sturdy social connections of their communities and interact in every day with a way of goal, whereas residing totally within the current second.
Regardless of going through well being challenges, lack of family members and different setbacks, every individual within the movie leads a vibrant life crammed with pleasure and fervour. This pleasure is deeply related to their bodily actions and the sturdy sense of group they construct by way of 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 respiration and stretching strategies but in addition meditate, share tales and inform jokes. Outdoors of sophistication, she likes to drive her black sports activities automobile 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 just created. We blame stress exterior ourselves as if it is brought on by some mysterious others. In a nutshell, have you learnt what stress is? This current second that you just’re having, you do not prefer it. You wish to do away with one thing you don’t need otherwise you need one thing you do not have.
You then inform your pals, pay attention, I had such a stress, you can’t imagine 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 when you’ve got 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 completely superb, is not it? The opposite pleasure is that these individuals which were coming to see me all these years, they get it, and so they preserve coming again and so they 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 effectively to take them round. Holding the physique lubricated and transferring to construct the power, to maintain the muscle tissues going and the digestion and sleeping effectively, that is simply to maintain you wholesome so your communication with life can go on. You may have the peacefulness, you might have joyfulness.
From this pleasure and peacefulness, you have come to pure data to say if I am sad, I am creating it, completely. The ego is one thing you create from day one, needing to be essential and being proper. Once you let that go, it would not matter. And then you definitely grow to be peaceable, however it’s important to follow, really feel it, cross it on, and you may solely have enjoyable if you happen to do not assume severely. If individuals assume the whole lot is so critical, the place is the enjoyable?”
Optimizing Mitochondrial Operate Facilitates Life Decisions That Deliver Pleasure
At a foundational degree, pleasure comes from curiosity and the flexibility to make selections in your life. However if you happen to don’t have sufficient mobile vitality, you’ll be able to’t assume correctly, not to mention have sufficient vitality left over to navigate constructive life selections. This is the reason enhancing your mitochondrial vitality 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 vitality utilized by your whole physique.8 Due to this fact, a surplus of mobile vitality creation is important to have the flexibility 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. Elements like estrogen and endotoxins may also deplete your mobile vitality.
Nonetheless, partaking in common bodily exercise can be a strong method to improve mitochondrial well being, contributing to improved vitality metabolism. Train encourages the creation of recent mitochondria and helps the present ones work higher, producing extra vitality extra effectively.
Remember that when you get into your mid-40s and 50s — and positively into your 70s and 80s — train needs 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 sport of hockey with associates, for instance.
O’Keefe and colleagues revealed a research 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 working on a treadmill.
At first, O’Keefe thought the evaluation had one way or the other gone incorrect. 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 identical time, that’s an absolute goldmine of a long life exercise. That signifies that even strolling along with your canine or your good friend or [playing] pickleball is large … 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 mixture of enjoyable, social bodily exercise is clearly evident in “The Match Technology.” 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. It is a idea these featured within the movie additionally appear to totally embrace, by partaking in each day actions they take pleasure in and look ahead to 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 give attention to the nice round them. This potential to acknowledge and alter destructive thought patterns is one other key to foster a extra joyful mindset.
As a substitute of catastrophizing and specializing in the destructive, shift your perspective to understand small joys and social alternatives. In the end, as Stone put it, you’ll be able to 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 plenty of issues for previous individuals. They’ve to speak to a good friend, a neighbor, and say what do you do, the place do you go, the place’s the subsequent group middle, what’s on this system? It must be a behavior like brushing your enamel or sure stuff you do, and then you definitely begin having fun with it. There isn’t any pleasure out on this planet, solely what you place there.”
