2 minute read
Matters of Your Heart and Health
Learning and Living Healthier for a Better You
BY DAVID PLAUT
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Hey y’all! Save the date! Join the Austin Bar Association and help the American Heart Association with its mission to build better lives, free of cardiovascular diseases and stroke, by walking or running in the 2021 Heart Walk on Saturday, Oct. 16, 2021. Bring your friends and family and come out to help the American Heart Association. You’ll be helping a great organization and doing yourself a solid.
Exercise—particularly cardio —is critically important to brain health. I’m writing this sitting at my desk, on a Sunday morning, preparing for a Zoom jury trial. The case is old and contentious and the lawyers want to be done with it, one way or the other. Handling most of my own tech and preparing everything for a Zoom presentation, including voir dire with a gallery of 48 potential jurors, has my stress levels nearing the red zone. And of course, things go crooked at the most inopportune times. Getting some exercise, despite the trial time suck, remains a priority.
I try to ride my bike three or four days a week for an hour or so to keep the wolves at bay. I used to ride bikes competitively, but now I’m riding mostly for fun and brain health. I always feel smarter, more efficient, and engaged when I’m getting regular exercise. Sure, work/life balance is difficult in a time of a continuing pandemic with all the stresses of family and the expectations and demands of others. Still, the science on this is unequivocal: Folks who participate in moderate or strenuous aerobic activity at least four days (or seven hours) a week have better brain health and cognitive performance, including memory and attention span. Here’s the great truth, you just can’t beat better blood flow to the brain. This is important for all of us, but it’s especially true as we age. All the evidence shows that increased cardio reduces age-related cognitive decline and impairment.
So find your regular cardio, whether that’s walking, running, swimming, cycling, tennis, paddle-boarding—whatever—and come join us for the Heart Walk on Oct. 16 as we walk in memory of former Austin Bar member Alan Waldrop. Let’s get moving together! AL
2021 HEART WALK
Austin Bar Association & American Heart Association
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16, 2021
Long Center, 701 West Riverside Drive, Austin, TX 78704
ROUTE LENGTH: 5K
Festival Opens: 7 a.m.
Opening Ceremonies: 8 a.m.
Walk Begins: 8:15 a.m.
You can Heart Walk here, there, or anywhere. Choose our path with your fellow Austin Bar Association members or yours.
Register at http://ow.ly/7E8c50GdkVg
