SeniorFlow Moment – Rubber Bands, Airplanes and Seniors

My wife and I recently moved to a Retirement Community not far from where we lived for 47 years. As we were going through our “stuff” in preparation for the move, we came across a lot of archived “things” wrapped in rubber bands. Papers, stacks of old 3.5 inch floppy discs (remember those?), old electronic equipment power cords are examples; a lot of things that haven’t been used or even looked at for ages, all wrapped many moons ago with rubber bands to hold them together.

Guess what? When we pulled on the rubber bands, in most cases, they snapped, broke, or in some cases, were stuck to whatever they were holding together. They had  stiffened and lost their flexibility and elasticity over time.

I thought, “what a perfect metaphor for people who don’t move, who’s bodies aren’t exercised.” When you stretch a rubber band, you are using it like a muscle. You are expanding and contracting it just like a muscle. And when it’s not used or is old, it atrophies like unused muscle, or becomes brittle like bones that haven’t been stressed.

Here’s a similar metaphor.

Airplanes are made to fly. When they fly, they will last forever (as long as they are maintained). They are built to fly even when they get really old. And if they don’t fly, they atrophy just like people. Their parts rust out just like your joints when you don’t move them. The same with well maintained and driven automobiles. Keep driving. Keep them well maintained, and their useful life will be extended.

People are much the same. If we don’t move, we atrophy. We get stiff, weak and brittle. We break down from lack of use.

And, oh yes, rubber bands can snap from overuse. Pull too hard, or too suddenly, and they snap, just like we as humans. Make too many wild maneuvers in an airplane and the wings will buckle if overstressed. But rubber bands are made to stretch, and airplanes are designed and built to be heavily stressed. And the human body will take a lot of overuse and abuse before it gets to the point where it can’t recover.

So like rubber bands and old airplanes, we older humans must continue to “use it or lose it” if we want to avoid the atrophy and brittleness and “rust” that comes with a sedentary lifestyle.

At some point even well used rubber bands and airplanes finally wear out. So will we. But as Theodore Roosevelt once said: “I’d rather wear out than rust out.” Well said, Teddy.

Thank you for reading this SeniorFlow Moment.