Over Sixty Spring 2022 Digital

14 LIVEWELL ISSUE 2 | 2022 | OVERSIXTY.COM.AU FLIP LIVINGSTONE LIVE WELL W e know the saying all too well: “Age is just a number.” But as we enter our golden years, there’s a number we should be more concerned about than the count of candles on a birthday cake. That number is 150, and it’s the length of time (inminutes) of moderate to vigorous physical activity Aus- tralian seniors require each week for optimal health. It can be as simple as going for a walk with your neighbour, or even involve getting off the bus one stop earlier than you normal- lywould, andwalking the rest of the distance. Here are five ways that adding physical activ- ity to your daily routine will leave you feeling energised, less prone to injury and a host of other benefits. Getting active keeps you steady on your feet Roughly a third of people aged 65 and up fall at least twice each year. Slashing your risk for a serious fall is as simple as mov- ing more. As you engage in more physical activity, you build muscle and strengthen supporting ligaments. These in turn im- prove your stability, balance and strength, making it less likely for you to fall. See our fall prevention feature on page 11 for more. Getting active means getting social Maintaining healthy social bonds becomes more challenging as we get older. One way to ensure you’re connecting with others in meaningful ways is through physical activity. Getting active with others is a great way to have fun and make new friends while at the same time increasing your mobility. Group activities like pickle ball, Tai chi, bowls or dancing are great options for older adults looking to “up” their social game. It helps you stay mentally sharp According to Dementia Australia, in 2022 there are an estimated 487,500 Australians liv- ing with dementia, with an estimated almost 1.6million people involved in their care. One low-cost way to combat those grow- ing numbers? You guessed it: physical ac- tivity. The brain is a dynamic organ filled with changing tissue, and physical activity actually has the power to stimulate brain cell growth. It also has beneficial effects on the hippocampus, the area of the brain respon- sible for boosting memory and learning. So, when you commit to that yoga class, you’re strengthening a lot more than just your core! Active joints are healthy joints Joints in the body are surrounded by a soft tissue called synovial membrane. This mem- brane produces a fluid (known as synovial fluid) that acts like lubricating oil in an en- gine, allowing your bones to move past one another more smoothly. Physical activity encourages circulation of this fluid, which can help relieve joint pain and stiffness. Water aerobics is an ideal activity to add to your weekly routine, since the water provides low-impact resistance, and warm tempera- tures can help soothe joints. An active life is an independent life Getting active also helps increase your chances of living independently. The more you move, the more likely you’ll be able to keep doing the things you love – and in the case of household chores, some of the things you don’t! Join a bowling team, a morning walking group or a senior exercise class.These are great examples of how to connect with others in your community, while keeping you both mentally and physically strong – and independent for as long as possible. 5 ways getting active keeps you young Medical mystery files LIVE WELL Nick Farrow’s fluttering heart would reveal an unexpected discovery in a completely different organ of the body Illustration: Victor Wong LIVE WELL The benefits of physical movement impact many crucial areas of our mental and physical health and wellbeing Photo: Shutterstock LUC RINALDI LIVE WELL O n August 2019, Nick Farrow, a semi-re- tired 65-year-old, was about to embark on a week-long holiday to Bali, along with his partner, her son, and his adult daughter. Not longbefore the trip, the family received a series of travel vaccines, including shots for typhoid and hepatitis A and B. Shortly after, Farrow began to experience flu-like symp- toms: fatigue, breathing difficulties, aches all over. And at random, his heart would start beating harder and faster than ever, prevent- ing him from falling asleep. “I’d sit there at night, and it felt like there was a bird flutter- ing in my chest,” he says. Farrow had a history of atrial fibrillation – an irregular heartbeat – but these were new and alarming symptoms, so he arranged to see his doctor. By the time the appointment rolled around, the flu symptoms were gone; the nurse he saw surmised that he coinci- dentally caught a bug around the same time he got the vaccinations. But the heart prob- lems remained, so he was advised against going to Bali and referred to a cardiologist. When Farrow visited the specialist, a num- ber of tests revealed nothing unusual. But when the cardiologist listened to Farrow’s lungs through his stethoscope, he noticed a slight rasp. Unsure what that might indicate, he redirected Farrow to a lung specialist. When the results came back from a lung scan in October, they revealed something no one had expected. Nestled behind Farrow’s sternum, in themiddle of his chest, there was a strange black spot. It wasn’t on his lungs, or his heart, but on his thymus. This little known but crucial gland helps develop virus- and infection-fighting T-cells. The thymus remains active only until puberty, at which point it typically begins to shrink, replaced by fat. But in Farrow’s case, it wasn’t reducing in size. It was growing. The lung specialist had two hypotheses to explain the swelling. It could simply be an enlarged thymus, a benign condition with several possible causes but no serious conse- quences. Or, if Farrow was unlucky, it could be a thymoma, a rare cancerous tumour that affects fewer than one in 1.5 million peo- ple. The only way to know was a biopsy. But because of the gland’s location, that would require, as Farrow puts it, “Cracking open my ribs and ripping them apart, Viking- style.” Whatever its cause, the growth helped explain his heart issues. The thymus presses up against vital blood vessels and the peri- cardium (the sac that houses the heart), so a bigger-than-normal gland can result in heart and blood flow problems like those ailing Farrow. The specialist recommended moni- toring the black spot’s progression to deter- mine whether it was cancerous. “It won’t kill you in six months,” he assured Farrow. So they set a follow-up date in April 2020. Of course, that appointment never hap- pened. Due to the pandemic, Farrow wasn’t able to return for another year, during which time he continued to experience hours-long palpitations about twice a month. “I was getting worried, because I thought this thing was growing inside of me, and I couldn’t get into a hospital,” he says. Finally, in October 2020, Farrow had another CT scan, which confirmed his worst fears: it was cancer. The black spot had grown twomillimetres, but the tumour was confined to the thymus, and Farrow’s doctors were confident they could remove it through lapa- roscopic surgery, inserting minuscule knives into keyhole-sized incisions. While Farrow waited for surgery, a col- league introduced him to her husband, Peter Harper, an oncologist who recommended Farrow forgo the laparoscopic surgery for robotic surgery. Harper promised it would be more effective and easier on his body. The machine, produced by an American company called Intuitive, is called the da Vinci Xi surgical system, named after the Renaissance man who advanced the study of anatomy and is credited with inspiring the design of the world’s first robot. There are nearly 6,000 da Vinci devices in hospitals around the world, used for a wide range of operations. “It’s a rather fierce-look- ing beast,” says Dr Thomas Routledge, the surgeon who would remove Farrow’s thy- mus. The machine has two elements: a mul- ti-armed contraption with an arsenal of fine instruments (knives, cameras, clamps) that would hang over Farrow’s bed, and a console that would provide Routledge a 3-D image of the surgical area while he manipulated the device’s arms with foot pedals and a control pad. “It’s not unlike a sophisticated version of a PlayStation controller,” says Routledge, who uses themachine for most of the surger- ies he performs. Over the course of 90 minutes, Routledge removed Farrow’s tumour and part of the surrounding thymus; they chose not to take out the entire gland because of the risk of damaging nearby nerves and causing long- term breathing problems. Though Farrow spent that evening recovering in the inten- sive care unit and a few more days in hospi- tal, he was soon back home and working. Two weeks later, a scan revealed Farrow was cancer-free. The heart palpitations also stopped. In October 2021, he went on a long overdue family holiday. By then, the surgical scars on his torso were already fading. “I feel very grateful,” he says. Adding small doses of physical activity to your daily routine offers plenty of benefits Was the shadow in his chest making his heart race? BONUS SECTION