Random Thoughts by Shelley: Intellectual Inquisitiveness

Curiosity, especially intellectual inquisitiveness, is what separates the truly alive from those who are merely going through the motions. – Tom Robbins

Week 10 in 49 Weeks ‘til I’m 50 – Ready, Set, it’s all about A FOCUSed plan to get there! Foundation – Fact-Finding. (Disclaimer...for some reason, last week I thought we were on week 8, when we were really on week 9, so this is really week 10!)

Our Foundation this week is Fact-Finding, a.k.a. Intellectual wellness from the 7 Dimensions of Wellness. In the Oola book, they didn’t talk about this as one of the 7 F’s, but I’m guessing it is related to their chapter on finding your passion. If I could describe my passion, it would be learning new things. I think that’s why I enjoy photography too. There’s always something more to find out and discover. Settling on what you find first doesn’t necessarily mean you truly know it all. If that were the case, there would be only one answer to every question. What I find intriguing about the learning process is the number of times you can find conflicting as well as supporting “facts” at the same time. That’s when your brain says, I’m going to simply pick the one that supports my beliefs and that’s what I’ll go with. Sometimes the further you dig, the contradictions begin to appear, that's when the brain goes into overdrive trying to reconcile the data. That's when you're thinking and learning something new.

Let’s take that thought further. I want to find things that support me in turning 50. Here’s a stance…I’m looking forward to turning 50. There must be some cool things about being 50 right? Luckily for me in comparison to when my grandmother was aging, I have the internet instead of the small local library to find answers. I can pick a topic, Google it and find answers, theories, facts and fun tidbits to keep me inquisitive. What questions did I randomly search?

What’s the average age women’s hair turns grey? Remember I’m still torn about the whole grey hair thing. This week is the appointment week. Turns out one answer to the average age of turning grey is 34. I guess that’s about the age when I started to see more of the salt and pepper look. If I look back 10 years ago, that’s when I decided I should color instead of going with the more salt than pepper look. I remember having grey hairs when I was in seventh grade. Therefore, the facts prove I’m mostly salt now. One interesting fact I found was: Hair becomes white over time because melanocytes run low over time and are replaced with air bubbles in the hair bulbs. Another site said something similar, but more detailed. http://genetics.thetech.org/original_news/news15 Guess there is definitely something to do with melanocytes that produce or don’t produce the Eumelanin. I must be out of Eumelanin. Is there any hope to stopping the greying process? It seems that there is a link to stem cells and Wnt and TRP-2: http://inventors.about.com/od/gstartinventions/a/Cure-For-Grey-Hair.htm Do I want to wait 5 years to figure it out? So what’s the bottom line? Greying process appears to be inevitable, individual, and a choice if you color or not.
What’s the average healthy weight for a 50 year old woman? The answer, it depends on your own unique body build. I love it when my research starts out and on the first site I find that the “average” person they describe fits me. It makes the math so much easier. I can then compare the results to my own reality and see if I’m in line or not. It appears, even better than weight is to make sure that your BMI is in line. Calculate yours here: http://www.mayoclinic.org/bmi-calculator/itt-20084938 More info here http://www.livestrong.com/article/443381-ideal-weight-for-women-who-are-age-50/ Knowledge is power here…if you’re healthy, then congratulations, you’re doing the right things! If you’re not, then research further, what can you do to change? What can you do to improve? I’m thankful to report that my love for running and my desire to not repeat the poor health choices of my mom have paid off. My weight and my BMI are in the “healthy range”. As a side note, no, more of a funny note from the past 30 days. I completed the BUTT Challenge. Remember I took before and after shots. My expectations were met. I suspected there would be minimal photographic proof. No…I’m not going to share them, but the photos didn’t lie. It was so subtle. The proof was in how the clothes fit different and the strength I feel in my legs and butt. I think the extra muscles will help with my ½ marathon training.
What is a healthy number of calories per day for 50 year old woman? This one ties into the healthy weight and the amount of activity you do per day. My current employment is 95% sedentary. I know that I have to balance that with activity when I’m not at work. On Saturday, all I want to do is stand. I also have been adding in standing up while reading emails, stretching often and adding some squats and lunches in while reading emails. I fortunately work from my home office and my co-workers (aka my pets) find the activity fun to watch. I find now that the longer the days are where I’m sitting, the more tired I am at the end of the day. Looking back even 15 years ago, I didn’t feel that tired from sitting all day at work. What was I talking about…? It wasn't sedentary life style, must be my butt being sore from typing! Back on track! This article has great tips for eating healthy http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/foods-eat-50yearold-women-3829.html
So how do you stay healthy as you age? Keep your brain active as well as being physically active. Keeping your brain active by being inquisitive about new things, looking deeper into yourself and what makes you tick or not tick as you age, digging for understanding of things you wonder about, all keep you healthy. Looks like this site has 45 great tips. http://www.health24.com/Lifestyle/Healthy-habits/45-best-health-tips-ever-20120721
Is there such a thing as information overload? I’ve always prided myself in my ability to multi-task. But as I’m approaching 50, I find that it is harder and harder to do that so well. So I wondered if the amount of information coming into me at one time via technology had any correlation to the overwhelmed or confused feelings, or is it related to age? Turns out that our high tech lives do seem to have adverse effects on us. http://www.mckinsey.com/insights/organization/recovering_from_information_overload

1 While, I’m still amazed at the people who can have either the TV or the radio on while they are doing intellectual work, it is not something I can do. When I’m cleaning or washing dishes, I love to have the background of music as I do that type of work. Is it that those activities don’t require my brain to learn something new? I’ve been doing those activities for so long I don’t have to think about how to them so I can listen at the same time. I definitely have to focus and not add extra things when I’m doing work that requires me to analyze data. How about you? Do you have the radio on, your cellphone ready for the next call, Outlook open with emails notifications popping up as they come in, Facebook open, Pinterest open, your blog open. Guilty as charged. I’m sitting here in silence, but I do have all those other applications open. While doing the research, I sometimes like to take a break and look at the pictures on Facebook and Pinterest to take me away from thinking too hard. They can be distracting and make it harder to get work done. But, they are the easy way to keep your brain thinking too.

Enough information! I think the key to the Fact-Finding Foundation is to be curious, learn new things, and create the life you enjoy. Thanks for stopping by, enjoy your intellectual activities! Next week’s Foundation – Family/Friendships.

PS – Photography for the week. Oh my, this week we had two snow storms with a thawing in the middle of the week. The second snow storm provided beautiful Wisconsin scenery. I tried so many attempts at capturing the beauty. No picture spectacular enough to write home about. But my running window to window to capture was fun for Copper to watch in real life. Thankfully I have a hero for a husband. His snow-blower was our best friend this week. We are both praying for a slow thaw!