As we get older, it is important that we recognize the changes that are taking place in our bodies and the risks involved in that.

When we were younger, we saw no problem with getting involved in sports. As we age, however, we realize that we have to take more precautions. Here are some simple rules to follow:

1. Avoid rigorous exercise. Just the other day, I was sitting at my desk, minding my business, and then stood up. Big mistake. I tweaked my back and for the next couple of days was in intense pain.

2. Don’t do anything you don’t normally do or volunteer for a job that is not your responsibility. A while after my back injury, I was helping to put away groceries, reached for something, and scraped my forearm over the corner of a box of pop cans. As we get older, our skin gets thinner and more fragile. My simple act of reaching for something tore a gash in my forearm four inches long, a quarter inch wide, and a sixteenth of an inch deep. Even worse, I am Canadian, so the gash was 100 millimeters long. Injuries like mine are another reason drinking pop is not good for your health. But that is not the lesson to be learned here. Obviously putting away groceries is women’s work, and I should have left it to the professional (my wife) to do it. 

3. Don’t make sudden changes to your routine. If you are sitting, stay sitting. If you are lying down, stay lying down.

4. Learn from other people’s mistakes. Remember my example from the other day when I threw my back out. Right about then, I would have liked to throw my back out. It hurt.

5. Don’t get overly nostalgic about how great things were when you were young. The idea that it was safe to indulge in sports when you were younger is nonsense. When I was younger, I played hockey and had a tooth knocked out by a stray hockey stick. I switched to a tamer sport and broke a finger playing baseball. Actually, it was softball, which is misleading. The ball wasn’t soft. I even got a concussion playing pushball in high school gym class. There was no golden age. Vigorous exercise is dangerous at all ages.

6. Don’t listen to stupid advice. Exercise is a good thing. I didn’t tweak my back because I stood up. I tweaked my back because I had been sitting too long. You won’t be injured sitting in a chair. But you might well die of a heart attack.

7. Life is to be lived. Don’t waste your life playing it safe and doing nothing. The riskiest thing is taking no risks. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

8. Be useful. You were put on this earth for a purpose. Fulfill it. The machinery may be old and not have many years left, but it is better for it to wear out than rust out.