Turf Zone – AngelOfNorth
I’ve just watched a program called The Future, presented by Hannah Fry, and the episode was all about living for longer. This got me thinking and I asked myself some interesting questions. Is turfing good for your mental and physical health? Will being a turfer help me live longer? Will I still be able to ride my bike and go turfing when I reach the grand age of 100-years?
One obvious aspect of turfing that might go some way towards one or more of the above is exercise but I’ll leave that aside for the time being and look at something else that was mentioned in the program. The something was giving purpose to your life, something that can be very important when you are retired or indeed during any time of your life. Turf is something that gets you going, and also keeps you going for a long or as short a time as you desire. Turf is full of goals, be they simple in the form of the Daily-5 or as challenging as reaching that almost impossibly distant 50,000,00 points of Rank 60 – Turfalicious and a myriad of other turf goals in between.
The great thing about setting goals in turf is that you can set the level of those goals as you see fit or within your own individual circumstances, age and level of fitness or even can’t-be-bothered-ness. They can also be flexible to suit day to day life, particularly when you are working and/or raising noisy, sticky and expensive little humans. Turf goals help focus your mind and a focused mind can go a long way towards personal wellbeing. That is not to say that you need be totally addiction to turf, that could easily wipe out the benefits if taken to extremes. A balanced approach to turf goals, keeping within the realms of possibility is probably the best option.
Above, I asked the question, is turf good for your mental health? And the answer to that, simply put, is yes, but with a caveat. That caveat is to stay chilled when out turfing. It’s easy to get rattled when another turfer blocks the zone you are heading for, or family life gets in the way of your turfing plans, or you get a puncture and whatever else pisses you off when out turfing. I like to think of turfing as a form of meditation, be you walking, running, cycling or whatever means of transport you prefer. Turfing is an interesting activity in that you travel between two points and have little to do until you actually take the zones. This free-thinking time is what I think of as a form of meditation, time to chill out and enjoy the world about you.
The above question also asks if turfing is good for my physical health. And that’s also a resounding yes. Turfing = exercise, even if you are a car turfer, you still get some exercise, often a lot more that you might imagine before you set out. Zones that can be taken from a car are few and far between and generally require effort on your part to reach them once you depart your vehicle. For myself personally, cycling is the thing. I just love getting out on the bike for an hour or two, taking zones and gathering points towards that next Rank.
Now, will turfing help me live longer? Well, moderate exercise and good mental health will obviously do some good but there are other factors as well. The first one, perhaps the biggest one, is diet. I’m not going to go into detail here, or rant about the levels of obesity in today’s society, I think I’ve probably done that before, somewhere. All I’m going to say is that carrying all those extra Kg’s is not good for you, it makes your turfing that much harder. So, here’s my free Planet Gary guide to diet: eat a mixed balanced diet, don’t consume more calories than you need and learn to say no, or better NO!
I suppose if I want to live longer, I might also want to be aware of any possible risks I might encounter while out turfing, particularly when cycling. Of course, the main risks to cyclists are other road users and all you can do there is be alert, plan ahead and know what’s going on around you. Yes, walking might be safer but then I would not go turfing as much as I find walking a right pain in the arse, or more accurately in my left leg. I have something called lumber or spinal stenosis where a nerve in my spine is being constricted and causes pain in my left leg when I walk or stand still for even short periods Bit of a bugger I can tell you, so I’ll stick to cycling thank you very much.
So, is turfing good for your mental and physical health? Will being a turfer help me live longer? Will I still be able to ride my bike and go turfing when I reach the grand age of 100-years? Well, I’m going to have a damn good try. Perhaps there’s an angel watching over me? Came back after the next 35-years and find out.
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