Like Father Like Daughter

With Mona

Earlier you've read about how I've treated 2 of Singapore's fastest men in our clinics previously. Well, today Mr C Kunalan's daughter Mona came to see me.

I've known Mona since our school days. She used to dominate all the sprints in the National Schools Track and Field events held at the old National Stadium.

I remember when she was running in the "B" division (17 years old and under) as a 15 year old, she clocked 12.2 seconds to break the previous record and be the fastest school girl outright. Much faster even than the all the girls running in the "A" division (20 years and under).

It wasn't a surprise when she went on to don national colors and even won medals at the SEA Games.

As you can see from the picture, Mona is still in very good shape. Other than running, she still does strength training regularly to maintain her speed. Like father, like daughter.

See the resemblance?

Keeping Fit Helps You Sleep Better As You Age

Singapore track greats by Richseow

I don't know about you, I've been a terrible sleeper for as long as I can remember. Even when I was training a lot more when I was still racing. In fact I found that when I trained too hard, I found it harder to fall asleep. I still am a very light sleeper and once I get up (even in the middle of the night), I usually can't fall back to sleep.

C Kunalan in full flight

What I read though keeps me going at maintaining whatever fitness I have left. This is in hope that I can sleep better as I get older as more than 8000 adults tracked over a 35-year period showed that those who maintained their cardiovascular fitness as they grew older slept better.

Researchers noted that as one passes 50 years of age, their cardiovascular fitness can decline quickly.

Previous other studies and anecdotal evidence have suggested that exercise helps you sleep better. Most studies used a questionnaire to find out about subjects' sleep patterns. This particular study used a treadmill test as an objective measure rather than just relying on subjects' self reporting.

Every minute decline on the treadmill test endurance led to a 1.7% increase in sleep complaints. No surprises, the researchers concluded that those who kept fit (cardiovascular fitness) during middle age help protect against the onset of sleep complaints made to the doctor.

Well, more reason for you (and I) to keep exercising.

Reference

Dishman RK, Sui XM et al (2014). Decline In Cardiovascular Fitness And Odds Of Incident Sleep Complaints. Med Sci Sp Ex. DOI: 1249/MSS.00000000000000506.

*Picture by Spyros Papaspyropoulos from Flickr

Surely you don't wanna sleep like this