Airport floors are so hygienic I suspect your health risk is greater doing push-ups than a day of being sedentary 
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Individual health outcomes do have some lottery aspects. However, choices regarding health do influence your health lottery ticket’s chance of winning or losing.
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So they say. I’m not convinced much of it is a meaningful difference, some yes, when looking at large numbers of people - and some things like smoking are definitely correlated with lung cancer, but many other things seem to have a smaller correlation.
Statistically most of us are going to die from either cancer or a heart attack. I’ve seen both first hand. I will still try to avoid cancer, but I no longer try to avoid the heart attack. To me, it’s a better way to go.
I still wear seatbelts and don’t use my cell phone while driving too (or drive when tired or after drinking alcohol). Those also have a strong correlation and avoid a cause of death I’d like to avoid.
I’ve seen Alzheimers too and watch articles talking about updates on that one as well. I play strategy types of games daily and keep up on my French plus have picked up learning German to assist with that. Those may or may not help, but I enjoy them, so why not?
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I completely agree.
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As Elle Woods said, exercise increases your endorphins and endorphins make you happy or happier. And happiness means less stress. Stress is bad.
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Exercise can change your DNA, your genetic makeup. Lots of articles on this, but here’s one:
- Lastly, exercise (and diet) can lead to less visceral fat (the bad fat around your organs). The visceral kind of fat is more likely to raise your risk for serious medical issues such as heart disease, Alzheimer’s, Type 2 diabetes, stroke, etc.
Personally, it’s been my mission for going on two decades to reduce my visceral fat to an absolute minimum. I believe, as @ucbalumnus mentions above, that I’m increasing my chances of getting that “winning lottery ticket.”
That’s why losing weight is great, but losing visceral fat is even better. For those interested, get a DXA scan, which will not only give you info about your body composition, but also give you info on your bone density.
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Heart attacks are not always fatal. https://www.bmj.com/content/377/bmj-2021-069164 notes that 27.8% of those who had heart attacks in the US died within one year (meaning 72.2% were still alive a year after). However, non-fatal ones can cause enough damage to significantly worsen quality of life.
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I’ve not heard “I’m no longer trying to avoid the heart attack” before in my life. That’s antithetical to my core value(s). Life is beautful and, personally, I don’t want to leave this world without giving it my best fight.
People always ask me, “What are you training for?”
My answer is always, “I’m training NOT to die.”
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OTOH, exercise helps boost your immune system and a healthy immune system helps fight off germs.
Add “boosts or helps your immune system” to the list of reasons to exercise. 
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So it sounds like if I ever do pushups at the airport (ROFL - I don’t do them at home)… I need to wash my hands afterward 
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You could try doing dips using chair armrests instead of pushups.
Dips are great too, more advanced, works some different muscles than push-ups, but if dips are done improperly, they can be hard on your shoulder joints.
Also, in terms of germs, I’m not really sure airport chairs/armrests are that much different than the floor. 
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Hand sanitizer works too.
FWIW, I usually don’t have a lot of time before flights, so no time to exercise. But with that flight cancellation, I had hours and hours of down time.
Stay healthy could mean doing very simple things, listen to your body. For years I thought my husband’s best friend and his wife drink too much coffee late at night, we stayed with them one week back in 2016, that’s how I know their coffee habits. Now she told me she has heart palpitation if she drinks coffee in the afternoon.
This is why I avoid all alcohol, coffee, and tea in the afternoon. I can’t sleep well otherwise.
Sleeping well has a huge health benefit from what I’ve seen, it’s the time your body gets to repair things. But be aware of your family health history, no diabetes in my family, but high blood pressure and kidney disease is a problem in my family.
I don’t do floor exercise when I’m traveling, mostly hygienic reason, but I do walk a lot.
Regarding squats, last year I couldn’t do them easily without hand support, but I practiced inside with a soft carpet and eventually I was able to do them for about 2-3 minutes, then I get bored.
In general I do things that makes me happy, so I don’t spend a lot of time stewing about something too long, there’s always something to distract me, lol.
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Someone ‘up the ladder’ on CC changed the last part of the thread name. I am fine with it - it seems to open more dialog with a very important topic in retirement - health and activities.
And sometimes with ‘activities’ or with healthy living, it may mean wanting to relocate, or changing in some form or fashion out of only primary residence - or a major change with primary residence.
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There is more public info now on alcohol and cancer risk - Europe evidently will begin labeling about the cancer risk, and we may see it in the US soon.
Everyone ‘knows’ people that have lived long lives despite bad habits like smoking and drinking, and some also with sedentary lifestyle and having body fat. And it can be frustrating to do a lot to be healthy, while others do not yet seem to do better overall (no cancer crisis, etc.).
For many, alcohol in moderation is fine - recent info seems to be 2 drinks/day for man and 1 drink/day for women (unfortunately many don’t ‘measure’ or account for what a drink is - how many ounces of wine/beer/liquor). I venture to guess most households and communities do not have the cocktail hour culture which was projected in the 60’s and 70’s - where neighborhoods or gathering at the country club very regularly. The cigarettes and other forms of smoking has gone through changes in the US by consumers.
As soon as my daughter’s MIL found out she was pre-diabetic, she became vigilant on diet and working at weight loss with more activity/walking. On the opposite end, DH’s brother - who is now age 67 and a former smoker – with his weight putting him at morbidly obese, and a compulsive eater, gradually went up to for maybe almost a decade taking blood sugar readings and insulin shots multiple times/day as his weight continued to climb. At a family evening dinner, I had to move the meat dish away from him because after a 2nd big serving, he would have eaten the rest given enough time sitting (I had prepared enough for a 2nd meal of leftovers) - and after a large dinner, then drinks/heavy servings of whisky/scotch/brandy/whatever, he later was eating cookies in the kitchen. Compulsive eater - could border on emotional eater but to eat, eat, eat…His ‘lifestyle’ did not change one bit. MD even talked to him about some kind of gastric surgery years ago - when I asked him which particular surgery he told me he was too upset about it to really listen. In social settings, he drinks alcohol and just takes whatever insulin needed for his blood sugar level. However their family has longevity so he may live longer than someone might expect. In their family refrigerator, one drawer (meant for vegetables) is filled with his cartridges of insulin.
It seems that if one is actively ‘working’ on exercise and diet modifications, it has benefit.
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Maybe it’s just me, but the title of this thread is confusing to me…what is the point of everything after the comma??? Is this thread “Staying Healthy In Retirement”??? Would the content be different for someone NOT in retirement???
I’m perplexed. Is this different than the Diet, Exercise, Wellness thread? Or is this thread just for people like 60 and over??? 
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This is us. A good thing for us is we’re not naturally couch potatoes, so we get exercise via our type of travel and basic farm chores. We like to eat healthy foods. We’ve never smoked. So while we do some things specifically for our health - like stairs in hotels instead of elevators (except when we have a bit of luggage or are above the 7th floor) - it’s not like we’re in the overly unhealthy group.
Yet I know people who are/aren’t in the groups and the results aren’t always what one would expect. I suspect that’s why I have no desire to go over the top hoping for better. To do so would cut some things we also enjoy - like comfort foods, movie theater hot dogs and popcorn, and similar.
I should add one thing we also do “for our health” is spend a month or more in winter down south somewhere. We’ve done this for over a decade now (since 2006) and it really, really helps us mentally. I suspect the Vit D recharge helps with this. We usually pick Feb when our bodies’ storehouses of it would be low. The mental enjoyment of Big Water, scuba, and more can’t hurt either. Fortunately H’s job allows it and I’m able to restrict any full time commitments to fall semester or late spring at school.
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My sister is now back to eating one meal a day, this is how she can control her weight with her inactivity. It seems to help with everything. I’m glad that she’s taking action especially after she told me her doctor said she might go from Stage 4 kidney to dialysis. Her doctor is also reducing BP medicine. She’s no longer drink hardcore alcohol.
I can’t believe she bought 5 bottles of red wine to Thanksgiving once, and my husband and I don’t drink. What were she thinking.
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I have stayed in a hotel with one very slow elevator. Going up or down the stairs (9th floor room) was usually faster than waiting for the elevator.
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When I climbed the stairs today, walked up the Grand Circle, many steps, my right knee was tender. But I’m glad I did it, normally when I’m at home, the steps are pretty easy.
Both topics go together. Do not need to be ‘perplexed’.
Someone not in retirement can think about these things certainly - just like the other thread covers a bit more than ‘how much do you need to retire and what age’. Some think of these things earlier than others.
I found that my priorities have changed - when I had aggressive cancer, and more recently when I realized in retirement that I drank too much cream and milk with coffee and gave up coffee altogether – and now drink hot green tea in its place. Since green tea has benefits, oncologist was happy when I reported that is what I am now drinking. In under 2 weeks I lost 6 lbs (both measurements at oncologist’s office with high end scale). Stopping coffee was easy for me at that point of realization - like a switch. When one realizes something is not good, that is that for some personalities. I have lost 9 more lbs since then and still have a long way to go. Daily exercise (2 choices, and sometimes do both - 1 1/2 hour walk/jog; 1 mile swim) on ‘regular’ days at home. Watch/count/portion size with eating.
Someone not in retirement is typically not going to think about primary residence living elsewhere right at that time because many jobs are tied to a location – a bit less so now with work from home options.
Lots of extra health considerations with someone over 65. Someone with chronic health conditions at a younger age has extra health considerations.
When someone has a job, there is an element of work stress as well as big chunks of time dedicated to work, typically at least 40 hours/week. I was eating too late and too many carbs with work ‘sunset career’, but that was my schedule with evenings and into the night shift - and I was doing the best I could keeping my head above water on life and general health.
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