I'm a believer in health and well being over and above diet and exercise (although I do pay a lot of attention to both personally, out of enjoyment).
Our increasingly sedentary lifestyles, coupled with over eating are creating problems for many in middle age, let alone old age. Lethargy, type 2 diabetes, joint/ back pain are becoming more prevalent, but are all eminently avoidable and can be reversed if you're sufficiently motivated.
Its a simple prescription, one that is easy to read but can seem harder to carry through.
- Eating well and matching intake to your real activity levels
- Being more active, good for the body and mind especially if it gets you outdoors
- Correcting your posture and preventing aches from becoming chronic
- Retaining muscle mass (for keeping mobile when you get older)
I want to jump to 3. as its not been focused on yet. Desk work, commuting etc causes havoc with our posture and alignment - this can lead to issues with mid/lower back pain, shoulder/ neck pain, stiff hips etc. Apart from the symptoms the classic tell tale signs are shoulders rounded forward, pelvic tilt and stooping - ie quite the opposite from what many of us were drilled at school 'shoulders back, chest out, head up'!
If I said yoga will sort these and make you stronger (contributing to 4.) I'm sure there would be howls of derision but bear with me for a minute. If you think about it as stretching, mobilising and strengthening are all good things and having a way of doing all three and sorting it all in ten minutes has to be good?
There's loads of stuff on this on the web, but I thought I'd post this as its called 'yoga for big bastards' (works the same for smaller bastards too).
Ten minutes every morning to help cure issues you might have, or prevent them in the first place.
https://www.t-nation.com/training/yoga-yes-yoga-for-big-bastards