TRANSCRIPT

Charlotte  (00:06):

This is the XBHS Radio Network.

Skip Orem (00:10):

From the Nashville Studios of the XBHS Radio Network, I’m Skip Orem, and this is the Anchor Pointe Podcast. Hey, everybody. From the XBHS Radio Printers Alley Studios just off Broadway here in Nashville, Tennessee, welcome to a late February episode of the Anchor Pointe Podcast. Anchor Pointe, your faith and fitness podcast for us older folks, baby boomers in our 60s, and 70s and beyond. And we even have youngsters in their 50s listening to this podcast.

(01:05):

And thank you so much everybody for pushing the play button on this episode of the Anchor Pointe. We’re all working together to use the seven elements of the Anchor Pointe disease fighting and fitness model to get in shape, stay healthy, fight off diseases, and live long, happy, and healthy lives. Those seven elements, by the way of the Anchor Pointe disease fighting and fitness model, faith, exercise, diet, positive imagery, music, attitude, and research.

(01:38):

And on today’s episode, we are still investigating heart rate training. Specifically today, we’re going to look at how to measure and track your heart rate during exercise. And that will lead us into a discussion of fitness and health tracking apps and devices. And as usual, we will have some important medical news for seniors. And then later in this episode, how especially at our older age, things, they can change for us in the blink of an eye. All of that today on Anchor Pointe.

(02:21):

Before we get started with today’s medical news for seniors, I wanted to remind everyone about the Audio Burst page that’s located the anchorpointe.com website. Audio Bursts are short segments from the Anchor Pointe Podcast episodes sorted by subject and date of release. Most of the Audio Bursts, they’re no longer than about five minutes or so. These Audio Bursts are, well, they’re a good way to catch up on highlights from past episodes without needing to listen to the entire podcast episode.

(03:00):

Just click on the Audio Burst page link that’s on the anchorpointe.com dropdown menu, and then that link will take you to the Audio Burst page which has all of the Audio Bursts indexed or sorted by the seven elements of the Anchor Pointe disease fighting and fitness model. Then all you have to do is just click to listen and you can listen to any Audio Bursts right there from the anchorpointe.com website. And like the Anchor Pointe Podcast, the anchorpointe.com website has absolutely no advertising. And remember everybody, we spell Anchor Pointe with an E. The website address is T-H-E-A-N-C-H-O-R-P-O-I-N-T-E dot com.

(03:53):

All right. Let’s head right now to the Anchor Pointe’s medical news for seniors. Wearable technology is the top fitness trend in 2023 for tracking important health metrics for seniors. Seniors who are serious about good health are now wearing devices such as fitness trackers, rings, and smart watches. These devices can track your heart rate, counts your steps, counts your calories, measure your sitting and sleep time, your blood pressure, your EKG, and even your respiratory rate.

(04:38):

These new health and fitness tracking devices can be invaluable tools for hitting your health and your fitness goals. And really, whatever your fitness and health goals, these new devices that are out now, they can provide you with personal health and fitness information as you are striving to get and stay healthy. Some of the newer fitness trackers, they’re like pocket-sized personal trainers. New smart watches, they offer a range of amazing features with sleep tracking, stress management, workout tracking, real-time heart rate training measurements, prescription management, and health and medical record keeping.

(05:21):

But everybody, we need to keep in mind, just getting one of those personal tracking devices, they’re not going to encourage you to exercise. In fact, studies have shown purchasing a fitness device, it’s similar to when these people purchase gym memberships and hope that that will encourage them to exercise. They start it for a while, but then they stop going to the gym. Fitness devices can work just like that, so you need to have other motivating factors to get out there and start exercising. But for us older folks, better health, disease fighting, and living a longer life, that should be your real motivation to get active.

(06:07):

And then once you’re going full stride with your fitness program, these fitness devices can increase your daily motivation to exercise, get good sleep, and get and stay healthy. At the very least everybody, fitness tracking devices let you keep score on how you’re doing with exercise in your health. Bottom line, fitness devices are not going to get you to start exercising. But if you’re already doing an exercise program and monitoring your health, fitness devices can be a great help in keeping you on track. And that is your Anchor Pointe medical news for seniors for today.

(06:53):

I’m a firm believer everybody that wearable technology, fitness devices and fitness apps can help you to stay focused on your health and your fitness. Let’s focus first on those fitness apps that are out there that you can use on your phone and/or on your computer. They’re just so many available right now and they can help you do everything from tracking your weight, your daily eating, your heart rate, your sleep patterns and so much more. I can only talk about the apps and the fitness devices that I use because they’re the ones that I’ve had personal experience with. And I’ve done a lot of trial and error both with different apps and different kinds of wearable fitness devices.

(07:39):

My center for all my personal fitness tracking is my iPhone, with most of the apps I’m using available from the Apple App Store. But I think many of the same apps that I use are also on Android so you can literally use them for any type of a cell phone. And I also recently just started using the Apple Watch Ultra. But my progression for fitness apps and hardware started with a Fitbit and then using just my phone. And then a few years ago, I switched to the Apple Watch and just upgraded, like I mentioned, to the Apple Watch Ultra earlier this year.

(08:21):

But way back in the day, like back in the late ’70s, I used my trusty Timex chronograph to measure speed and distance and then I just write that information down in my daytimer. We all right now should be interested in tracking, first of all, our calories and then that critical marker of weight. Those things, they can be measured with a standard scale, taking your pulse, noting the time, start and finish time on a regular watch, and then writing that stuff down with pencil and paper.

(09:00):

However, with these new fitness devices and apps that are available now in so many different price ranges, many of the apps are free, it might be worth your time to investigate what’s available out there in terms of fitness apps and devices that might work for you. There are even stories now of how some of these wearable devices have actually saved people’s lives. And since we’re all focused on improving our health, being able to monitor sleep and rest, and keep health records, manage our medicines, they’re all important to us and there are devices and apps out there that help us do that. And there are so many different price points on most of these devices that they can fit within most any budget.

(09:51):

I have used and really liked the Fitbit because I use an iPhone and sort of an Apple guide, I changed to the Apple Watch several years ago, I love how it works together with the iPhone. And by the way, the Fitbit does that too. And the newer Fitbits are priced still lower than even a refurbished model of an Apple Watch might cost you. Prior to the release of the Apple Watch Ultra, much of what the Apple Watch could do, again this is prior to release of the Ultra, much of what the Apple Watch could do could be done on your iPhone without using the watch. If you can afford it, the Apple Watch Ultra, combined with your iPhone and Apple’s fitness app, is definitely the gold standard in health and fitness tracking management and health records keeping.

(10:51):

But whatever fitness device or app you use, these devices and apps are also fun, and I really feel that they help to keep you focused on your health and your fitness. And the way some of these wearable devices interact with our bodies to provide lifesaving information is just amazing. One last thing, my wife uses the Oura Ring. Now, it’s not much help with tracking workouts, but she enjoys it so much because it does interact with her body to provide some really cool health and fitness tracking. She just loves that Oura Ring.

(11:32):

And then everybody, one fitness app that I think is an absolute must have is MyFitnessPal. It’s available at the app stores for any type of a cell phone. It’s free. I mean, if you want additional bells and whistles on it, they’ll charge you some additional money, but the basic app itself is free. And I use the MyFitnessPal app to track what I eat, count calories and fat, measure my weight, and then credit those exercise calories that I’ve earned while exercising. And also, the MyFitnessPal app, it integrates really well with the Apple iPhone fitness app.

(12:13):

Now, everybody, I don’t get any money from the MyFitnessPal app. Actually, you all know this, we don’t advertise or sell anything on the Anchor Pointe Podcast or our website, but I would definitely recommend MyFitnessPal as perhaps a first step towards using fitness apps. Remember this though, none of these devices or apps are necessary in order to have a fun and effective health and fitness program.

(12:53):

Next week’s Anchor Pointe episode will be a standalone heart rate training workout. If you haven’t done so already, make sure that you listen to the February 10th episode of the Anchor Pointe Podcast. Just a reminder, that exercise element of the Anchor Pointe disease fighting and fitness model, the exercise element has two parts, heart rate training and strength training, and we’re focusing right now on the heart rate training. So that February, what is it, February 10th episode of the Anchor Pointe Podcast, if you haven’t listened to it already, it would be a really good idea to listen to it before doing the workout that’s contained in next week’s Anchor Pointe episode.

(13:40):

Remember, that episode is an all-workout episode. And like I talked about on that February 10th episode, in order to do heart rate training, it’s important to be able to determine when you are exercising in the different heart rate training zones. I’ll explain on that episode how listening to your body can give you a pretty good sense of which heart rate training zone you’re exercising in. I personally think listening to your body is the best way to pace yourself while you’re doing heart rate training.

(14:16):

A lot of people though want a more exact measurement and these wearable devices we’ve been talking about are a perfect way to get that exact measurement of your heart rate during exercise. If you plan to do heart rate training by having a more exact measurement of your heart rate as you go through these different heart rate training zones, whether you’re measuring your heart rate by taking your pulse or using one of these fitness tracking devices, the first step is that you need to know and determine your maximum heart rate. There is a calculation for determining your maximum heart rate, and I’ll include that, I’ll include that calculation in the transcript for this episode.

(15:05):

Remember, at the anchorpointe.com website, click on any episode and you can listen to it right there from the website, but also that page for the episode has a complete written transcript. After you do that calculation, once you know your maximum heart rate, you can very easily determine the measurement of your heart for each of the heart rate training zones. And once you know your numbers for each of the training zones, you’re all set to do heart rate training. Now, don’t worry because during next week’s all workout episode, I’m going to talk you through each of the training zones and provide you with some additional information about measuring and tracking your heart rate.

(15:52):

Next week’s episode, a special heart rate training workout episode. It will be released next Friday, March 3rd. And like all of the Anchor Pointe Podcasts, it’ll be available for you at the anchorpointe.com website or wherever you get your podcast. The Anchor Pointe Podcast is available on all of the major podcast platforms. And if you subscribe to the Anchor Pointe Podcast wherever you get your podcast, that’ll make sure that each new episode of the Anchor Pointe drops right there into your podcast feed as soon as it is released.

(16:40):

I was thinking that us older folks, when we look back on our life and we think about things that happened during our life, we are amazed at those times when something was going along and then something changed that, and it changed like it was just a blink of your eye and everything changed. When I was getting ready to be wheeled into the operating room for my prostate surgery, I was having my prostate removed, I had prostate cancer back in 2020, just before I was getting ready to be wheeled into surgery, the senior deacon from my church, he showed up right there in the pre-op room.

(17:35):

It was kind of funny because, well, in addition to being a deacon at my church, he was also a nurse there at the Vanderbilt Hospital. He was a surgical nurse on the heart transplant team. And he shows up there, the members of the heart transplant team, they wear this special scrub uniform. It says heart transplant team right there on the front of it. So he comes in to my pre-op room. And it kind of scared me because I thought for just a second, there might have been some kind of a mix-up. Now, they were going to wheel me in for a heart transplant by mistake.

(18:18):

It turns out that he was there to pray with my wife, Terri, and me just before my prostate surgery. I appreciate that so much and it meant so much to me. And I remember that he was saying to Terri just after we finished our prayer, she’d need to go on downstairs to the family waiting room and wait there for about six hours for the surgery to be completed. But for me, for me he said that time will go by just like the blink of an eye. In the blink of an eye. I’ve been thinking and actually praying, talking to God about what that phrase means to me because it helps me to understand how really fragile and short our life on earth here is compared to spending eternity with Jesus.

(19:24):

Now, think about this. That’s what our life is here on earth according to God’s total plan for us. Our time on earth, it’s just a blink of an eye. All the structure of this life, the beginning to the end and all the things we experience in between, just a blink of an eye, such a short time compared to eternity. One way you can live your life, get the most you can out of this life. Live for today because tomorrow we die. Acquire possessions, live the good life. Problem with that kind of thinking is because we don’t just die, there is an afterlife. And where we spend that afterlife, where we spend eternity depends on how we live our lives today.

(20:29):

Is Jesus at the center of your life? Because He needs to be. Living a life centered on Jesus, it begins by realizing God is the author of our story. Everything we have was given to us by God. Our blessings, our talents, everything comes from God. Believing in Jesus, believing in His life, His death, His resurrection, it’s more than just a ticket to heaven. This is important. Our Christ-centered life gives us hope and joy for the here and now in this life because Jesus has promised us His presence in our life, here on earth, until He calls us home.

(21:24):

It isn’t wrong to pursue our personal goals here on earth. But Jesus, Jesus needs to be our anchor, our guide, our one true compass on how we’d live this life on earth. If you haven’t done so already, I urge you everybody, come home to Jesus. Make Him the center of your life. You’ll see an immediate change in everything. This gift, it’s out there for the taking. Accept it and walk with Jesus. It’s unbelievably simple. You don’t need to have a plan to let Jesus into your life. You don’t need to tie up any loose ends. You don’t need to be real good for a few days before you accept Jesus. You can come to Jesus right now just as you are.

(22:33):

Like the verse of the old hymn, “Just as I am though tossed about, with many a conflict, many a doubt, fighting and fears within and without. O Lamb of God, I come, I come.” Won’t you come home to Jesus today? He’s waiting for you just as you are. Whatever bad things you may have done, He knows about them already. He doesn’t even care about them. He wants to forgive you. The devil is suggesting that you might want to think about this for a while before jumping in with Jesus. Satan, he’s telling you, “Don’t make any rash decisions. You have all the time in the world.” The devil’s lying to you. No, you don’t. You don’t have any time. Tomorrow is not guaranteed. It could all be gone in the blink of an eye.

(24:17):

Next week, an all workout episode of the Anchor Pointe Podcast. For the XBHS Radio Network and for the Anchor Pointe Podcast from Nashville, I’m Skip Orem. Bye, everybody.

Charlotte (24:40):

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