Seniors Health & Fitness Day

May 26
Yearly Date: Last Wednesday in May

I’ve got good news and bad news.

The bad news is that I fit into the category (age wise) for celebrating this holiday. The good news is that I don’t at all think or feel the age on my drivers’ license. So I’m grabbing my tennis shoes and celebrating this holiday like a much younger person.

Okay, I’ll admit, I’ve got good genes. When I was a teen and young adult, everyone thought I was much older, which, then, was a good thing. Then, somewhere in my 40s, I think I hit a breaking point, when I started looking younger than my age. This is also a good thing. Maybe my friends and family were being kind, but my grandmother and mom were the same way.

So, regardless of genes, here are a few things we all do to live our best years, no matter how old we are:

Do something daring.
There’s nothing to make you feel young-at-heart like a good adrenaline rush. Take up a new hobby. Challenge yourself with a new fitness class or regime. Swim with the dolphins. Raft down a river. You’ll feel younger and energized. Be creative. Being in a rut will age you quicker than anything. Keep things lively and your health will benefit.

Develop a kid’s sense of humor.
Whether it’s a “knock-knock” joke or “a guy walks into a bar” classic, it sure feels good when you are laughing. And, to me, it feels even better when you help to make someone else laugh. It doesn’t matter how corny or silly you get, remember that everyone smiles in the same language.

Hug it up.
I’m a touchy, feely kind of person. Physical contact, by way of a hug, is one of the best ways to ward off depression and foster a positive, healthy spirit.

Play like a kid.
Do something goofy. Go to the park and swing or go down the slide. Buy a bottle of bubbles and spend the afternoon on your porch blowing. I love adult coloring books. Color and don’t worry if you get out of the lines. If you do “young” things, you’ll feel younger.

Exercise with younger people.
I’ll admit that I’m the oldest person at my current gym. I’m probably older than many of the members’ grandmothers. But even though everyone else is stronger and younger, by golly, I keep up. The positive vibes are contagious. I love it.

Develop good friends of all ages.
You don’t have to hang around folks that are only your age. From toddlers to great grandmothers, each age has something to teach you.

You are what you eat.
I don’t condone starving yourself, or rigorously denying yourself “to die for” foods, but keep things in check. As we age, our metabolisms slow down and it’s much, much, much harder to lose even 10 extra pounds.

Watch Jeopardy and do crossword puzzles.
Exercise your brain. You’ll never know how much you actually know unless you allow yourself a chance to prove it.

Keep an open mind.
Finally, the best advice I can think of, to stay young, is to simply stop counting how old you are. Don’t dwell on the old person aches and pains that are inevitable. Don’t get comfortable with what you can’t do. We all have a choice to soar beyond ordinary…beyond “old.”

Life has just as much to offer you as a senior as it did when you were a teen.

“You are never too old to become younger.”
~Mae West

Happy Senior Health & Fitness Day!

 

Quote for the Day

“Aging is not lost youth but a new stage of opportunity and strength.”

Betty Friedan

Famous People Born in May

May 1, 1909- Kate Smith, singer

May 1, 1916- Glenn Ford, actor

May 1, 1918- Jack Paar, TV personality

May 1, 1925- Scott Carpenter, astronaut

May 1, 1945 –Rita Coolidge, singer

May 1, 1960- Steve Cauthen, jockey

May 1, 1967- Tim McGraw, country western singer

May 2, 1729- Catherine II Empress of Russia (Catherine the Great)

May2, 1837 – Henry Robert, author of “Robert’s Rules of Order”, the standard for parliamentary procedures.

May 2, 1860- Theodor Herzl, founder of modern Zionism

May 2, 1892- Baron Von Richtofen, Germany’s’ WWI “Red Baron”

May 2, 1903- Benjamin Spock, physician, author, child-rearing expert

May 2, 1904- Bing Crosby, singer, actor

May 2, 1945- Bianca Jagger, actress, ex-wife of singer Mick Jagger

May 2, 1946- Lesley Gore, singer

May 2, 1972 – Dwayne Johnson, wrestler, actor

May 3, 1469- Niccolò Machiavelli, Renaissance writer

May 3, 1919- Pete Seeger, singer, songwriter

May 3, 1921- Sugar Ray Robinson, champion boxer

May 3, 1933 – James Brown, singer songwriter, producer, actor

May 3, 1936- Engelbert Humperdinck, singer

May 3, 1937- Frankie Valli, singer, the “Four Seasons

May 3, 1946- Greg Gumbel, sportscaster

May 3, 1951– Christopher Cross, Grammy winning singer

May 3, 1964- Wynona Judd, country singer

May 3, 1974- Jewel Kilcher, singer

May 12, 1820- Florence Nightengale, English nurse and public health activist

May 4, 1889- Francis Joseph Spellman, archbishop of New York

May 4, 1929- Audrey Hepburn, Dutch actress

May 4, 1930- Roberta Peters, opera singer

May 4, 1959- Randy Travis, country singer

May 4, 1979- Lance Bass, singer, member of “NSYNC”

May 4, 1989 – Rory McIlroy, Irish Golfer

May 5, 1818- Karl Marx, socialist, political theorist

May 5, 1913- Tyrone Power, actor

May 5, 1926- Ann B. Davis, actress

May 5, 1934- John J. Sweeney, labor leader

May 5, 1938- Michael Murphy, actor

May 5, 1942- Tammy Wynette, country singer

May 5, 1943- Michael Palin, actor, comedian, member of Monty Python

May 5, 1981- Danielle Fishel, Actress, “Topanga” on TV series “Boy Meets World”

May 5, 1988 – Adele, British singer-songwriter

May 6, 1856- Sigmund Freud, psychiatrist, founded psychoanalysis

May 6, 1856- Robert E. Peary, Arctic explorer, first to reach the North Pole

May 6, 1895- Rudolph Valentino, actor

May 6, 1915- Orson Welles, actor, director, “War of the Worlds” radio hoax on October 30, 1938

May 6, 1931- Willie Mays, Hall of Fame baseball player

May 6, 1945- Bob Seger, singer, songwriter

May 6, 1953- Tony Blair, British Prime Minister

May 6, 1960- Roma Downey, actress

May 6, 1961- George Clooney, actor, director, producer

May 7, 1812- Robert Browning, poet

May 7, 1833- Johannes Brahms, German music composer

May 7, 1840- Peter Tchaikovsky, composer

May 7, 1901- Gary Cooper, actor

May 7, 1922- Darren McGavin, actor

May 7, 1933- Johnny Unitas, NFL quarterback

May 7, 1945- Robin Strasser, actress

May 7, 1950- Tim Russert, TV journalist

May 8, 1828- Henry Dunant, founder of the Red Cross

May 8, 1829- Louis Moreau Gottschalk, pianist, composer

May 8, 1884- Harry S. Truman, 33rd U.S. President (1845-1853)

May 8, 1895- Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen, religious leader , radio/TV

May 8, 1926- Don Rickles, comedian/actor

May 8, 1932- Sonny Liston, boxing champion

May 8, 1940 – Ricky Nelson, singer, actor

May 8, 1943- Toni Tennille, singer

May 8, 1964- Melissa Gilbert, actress

May 8, 1975- Enrique Iglesias, singer

May 9, 1800- John Brown, abolitionist, led attack on Harpers Ferry

May 9, 1860- Sir James M. Barrie, novelist, children’s author

May 9, 1914- Hank Snow, country singer

May 9, 1918- Mike Wallace, TV journalist

May 9, 1936- Albert Finney, actor

May 9, 1946- Candice Bergen, actress

May 9, 1949- Billy Joel, singer, songwriter

May 10, 1838- John Wilkes Booth, actor, assassinated President Abraham Lincoln

May 10, 1899- Fred Astaire, dancer/actor, born Frederick Austerlitz

May 10, 1902- David O. Selznick, producer

May 10, 1944- Judith Jamison, dancer/choreographer

May 10, 1960- Bono (Vox), singer, member of U2

May 10, 1966- Jason Brooks, actor

May 11, 1888- Irving Berlin, songwriter

May 11, 1891- Henry Morgenthau Jr., conservationist

May 11, 1911- Phil Silvers, comic actor

May 11, 1912- Foster Brooks, comedian

May 11, 1918- Richard Feynman, physicist

May 11, 1933- Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam leader

May 11, 1946- Robert Jarvik, physician, invented the artificial heart

May 11, 1982 –Jonathan Jackson, actor

May 12, 1812- Edward Lear, artist, author of light verse

May 12, 1820- Florence Nightingale, British pioneer in the field of nursing

May 12, 1850- Henry Cabot Lodge, politician/historian

May 12, 1907- Katharine Hepburn, actress

May 12, 1925- Yogi Berra, baseball player, manager

May 12, 1928- Burt Bacharach, songwriter

May 12, 1936- Tom Snyder, broadcaster, journalist

May 12, 1937- George Carlin, comedian

May 12, 1948- Steve Winwood, musician, singer

May 12, 1950- Bruce Boxleitner, actor

May 12, 1962- Emilio Estevez, actor

May 12, 1966- Stephen Baldwin, actor

May 12, 1973- MacKenzie Astin, actor

May 12, 1978- Jason Biggs, actor

May 13, 1914- Joe Louis, boxing champion

May 13, 1923- Beatrice Arthur, actress

May 13, 1927- Herbert Ross, actor, choreographer, director

May 13, 1950- Stevie Wonder, singer, musician

May 13, 1961- Dennis Rodman, NBA basketball player

May 13, 1977- Samantha Morton, actress

May 14, 1686- Gabriel D. Fahrenheit, physicist, mercury thermometers, created Fahrenheit scale

May 14, 1914 – Joe Louis, American boxer

May 14, 1925- Patrice Munsel, opera singer

May 14, 1944- George Lucas, filmmaker, Star Wars creator

May 14, 1948- Meg Foster, actress

May 14, 1955- Dennis Martinez, baseball pitcher

May 14, 1969- Cate Blanchett, actress “Lord of the Rings”

May 14, 1984 – Mark Zuckerberg, Cofounder and CEO of Facebook.

May 15, 1856- L. Frank Baum, children’s author

May 15, 1859- Pierre Curie, chemist, research on radioactivity

May 15, 1915- Paul A. Samuelson, economist

May 15, 1923- Richard Avedon, photographer

May 15, 1937- Madeleine Albright, secretary of state

May 15, 1951- Chazz Palminteri, actor, playwright, screenwriter

May 15, 1953- George Brett, baseball player

May 15, 1955- Lee Horsley, actor

May 15, 1969- Emmitt Smith, Hall of Fame NFL Running Back

May 16, 1905- Henry Fonda, actor

May 16, 1913- Woody Herman, musician, bandleader

May 16, 1919- Liberace, pianist

May 16, 1928- Billy Martin, fiery baseball player, manager

May 16, 1929- Adrienne Rich, writer

May 16, 1953- Pierce Brosnan, Irish actor, “James Bond”, Mama Mia

May 16, 1955- Olga Korbut, Olympic gymnast champion

May 16, 1955- Debra Winger, actress

May 16, 1966- Janet Jackson, pop rock singer, Michael Jackson’s sister

May 16, 1973- Tori Spelling, actress

May 17, 1749- Edward Jenner, physician, pioneered vaccinations

May 17, 1911- Maureen O’Sullivan, actress

May 17, 1936- Dennis Hopper, actor

May 17, 1956- Sugar Ray Leonard, champion boxer

May 17, 1972 – Mia Hamm, Hall of Fame soccer player

May 18, 1897- Frank Capra, director

May 18, 1904- Jacob Javits, New York State senator

May 18, 1912- Perry Como, singer

May 18, 1920- Pope John Paul II (Karol Wojtyla), Catholic Pope

May 18, 1930- Pernell Roberts, actor

May 18, 1931- Robert Morse, actor

May 18, 1937- Brooks Robinson, MLB player

May 18, 1946- Reggie Jackson, MLB player, “Mr. October”

May 18, 1952- George Strait, country singer

May 18, 1970- Tina Fey, Actress, writer, SNL

May 19, 1890 – Ho Chi Minh, Vietnamese leader

May 19, 1925- Malcolm X (Little), civil rights activist

May 19, 1934- Jim Lehrer, TV journalist, author

May 19, 1935- David Hartman, actor

May 19, 1939- Francis Scobee, astronaut, died in Challenger Space Shuttle explosion

May 19, 1945- Pete Townshend, musician, member of the “Who”

May 19, 1945 – Andre the Giant, French wrestler, actor

May 19, 1968- Kyle Eastwood, actor, son of Clint Eastwood

May 20, 1768- Dolly Madison, First Lady of the U.S.

May 20, 1844- Henri Rousseau, painter

May 20, 1908- James Stewart, actor

May 20, 1944- Joe Cocker, singer

May 20, 1946- Cher, ageless singer, actress, producer

May 20, 1971 – Tony Stewart, race car driver

May 21, 1898- Armand Hammer, industrialist, philanthropist

May 21, 1904- Fats Waller, jazz pianist, songwriter

May 21, 1909- Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel, teacher, artist, created of Hummel figurines

May 21, 1916- Harold Robbins, novelist

May 21, 1917– Raymond Burr, actor, TV series of the same name, and “Ironsides”

May 21, 1921- Andrei Sakharov, physicist, human rights activist

May 21, 1924- Peggy Cass, Broadway actress, celebrity panelist on “What’s My Line?” and “To Tell the Truth”,

May 21, 1948- Leo Sayer, singer, songwriter

May 21, 1951- Al Franken, comedian, actor, writer

May 21, 1952- Mr. T (Lawrence Tero), actor

May 21, 1956- Judge Reinhold, actor

May 22, 1813- Richard Wagner, composer

May 22, 1844- Mary Cassatt, artist

May 22, 1859- Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, writer, detective stories

May 22, 1907- Lord Laurence Olivier, actor, director

May 22, 1941- Paul Winfield, actor

May 22, 1943- Tommy John, baseball pitcher

May 22, 1959- Morrissey, British pop star

May 23, 1883- Douglas Fairbanks, actor

May 23, 1910- Artie Shaw, musician, bandleader

May 23, 1920- Helen O’Connell, singer

May 23, 1928- Rosemary Clooney, singer

May 23, 1933- Joan Collins, actress

May 23, 1936- Charles Kimbrough, actor

May 23, 1951 – Anatoly Karpov, Russian Chess player

May 23, 1954- Marvelous Marvin Hagler, boxing champion boxer

May 23, 1958- Drew Carey, actor, comedian

May 23, 1974- Ken Jennings, Game show “Jeopardy” record winner

May 24, 1819- Queen Victoria, Queen of Great Britain

May 24, 1940- Gary Burghoff, actor, “Radar” in TV series “MASH”

May 24, 1941- Bob Dylan, singer, songwriter

May 24, 1946- Priscilla Presley, actress , ex-wife of Elvis Presley

May 24, 1965- John C. Reilly, actor

May 25, 1803- Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet

May 25, 1878- Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, tap dancer

May 25, 1889- Igor Sikorsky, aeronautical engineer, developed helicopters

May 25, 1898- Gene Tunney, champion boxer

May 25, 1943- Leslie Uggams, singer

May 25, 1955- Connie Sellecca, actress

May 25, 1969- Anne Heche, actress

May 26, 1886- Al Jolson, singer, actor

May 26, 1907- John Wayne, actor, best known for westerns

May 26, 1920- Peggy Lee, singer

May 26, 1923- James Arness, actor

May 26, 1928- Jack Kevorkian, physician, and assisted suicides

May 26, 1939- Brent Musberger, sportscaster, commentator

May 26, 1948- Stevie Nicks, singer, songwriter, “Fleetwood Mac”

May 26, 1949- Philip Michael Thomas, actor

May 26, 1949- Hank Williams Jr., country singer

May 26, 1951- Sally Ride, astronaut, 1st woman in space

May 27, 1794- Cornelius Vanderbilt, financier, railroad tycoon

May 27, 1837- Wild Bill Hickock, frontiersman, lawman

May 27, 1911- Hubert H. Humphrey, Minnesota senator, presidential nominee

May 27, 1911- Vincent Price, actor

May 27, 1912- Sam Snead, golfer

May 27, 1915- Herman Wouk, novelist

May 27, 1923- Henry Kissinger, U. S. Secretary of State

May 27, 1936- Louis Gossett Jr., actor

May 28, 1888 –Jim Thorpe, Olympic champion pentathlete/decathlete

May 28, 1908- Ian Fleming, novelist, creator of James Bond movies.

May 28, 1916 –Walker Percy, novelist

May 28, 1931- Carroll Baker, actress

May 28, 1944- Rudolph Giuliani, New York City mayor

May 28, 1944- Gladys Knight, singer, “Gladys Knight and the Pips”

May 28, 1945- John Fogerty, rock singer

May 29, 1736- Patrick Henry, Revolutionary War leader, orator

May 29, 1903- Bob Hope, comedian, actor

May 29, 1917 – John F. Kennedy, 35th U.S. President, assassinated in office(1960-1963)

May 29, 1939- Al Unser Sr., auto racer

May 29, 1956- La Toya Jackson, pop singer, sister of Michael Jackson

May 29, 1958- Annette Bening, actress

May 29, 1961- Melissa Etheridge, rock singer

May 29, 1975- Melanie Janine Brown, singer, “Scary Spice” of the “Spice Girls”

May 30, 1672- Peter I (Peter the Great), Emperor of Russia

May 30, 1846- Peter Carl Faberge, jeweler

May 30, 1909- Benny Goodman, bandleader, musician

May 30, 1943- Gale Sayers, football player

May 30, 1944- Meredith MacRae, actress

May 30, 1963- Lisa Kudrow, actress

May 30, 1964- Wynonna Judd, country singer

May 31, 1819- Walt Whitman, poet

May 31, 1894- Fred Allen, comedian

May 31, 1898- Rev. Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, religious leader

May 31, 1908- Don Ameche, actor

May 31, 1930- Clint Eastwood, actor, director

May 31, 1938- Peter Yarrow, singer/songwriter, “Peter, Paul, and Mary”

May 31, 1943- Joe Namath, NFL quarterback

May 31, 1950- Tom Berenger, actor

May 31, 1961- Lea Thompson, actress

May 31, 1965- Brooke Shields, actress, model

 

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