4 the Better: Ageless Acrobat, Breathe Easier, Surprising Mold Fact
Bite-sized motivation and inspiration in 4 minutes
Ageless Acrobat
A while back, I was mesmerized by an inspiring clip of the world’s oldest woman gymnast performing an incredible parallel bar routine with aplomb at the age of 94. Outfitted in her trademark green crushed velvet leotard, Johanna Quaas—nicknamed “gymnastic grandma” by the press—deftly and flawlessly executed difficult moves just as well as young ladies 70 years her junior. Her movement was so fluid and strong, it was astonishing; I rewatched several times to wrap my mind around how well she was able to move for a woman in her mid-nineties.
Now 98 years old, Johanna was born in Hohenmolsen, Germany in 1925, and was 9 years old when she first competed in gymnastics. As an adult, she trained sports teachers at the university level and was a member of a championship handball team that won the Eastern German Championship in 1954. Eventually, Johanna turned her attention back to her beloved sport of gymnastics, training aspiring champions throughout the 1960s.
In 1981, at age 56, she returned to competitive gymnastics as a “senior” and was a regular fixture on the winners podium throughout Germany for the next 20+ years. At the age of 86 on April 12, 2012, Guiness World Records crowned her the world’s oldest active competitive athlete. Unstoppable, four years later, at the age of 90, she fulfilled a personal lifelong dream of skydiving from the height of 9,800 feet, dedicating her jump to Queen Elizabeth II, who was the same age and someone whom Johanna greatly respected and admired.
Johanna continued competing in senior events, racking up wins, garnering awards such as the Nadia Comăneci Sportsmanship Award from the International Gymnastics Hall of Fame, and wowing audiences until a torn bicep tendon ended her competitive career in 2018. But that didn’t mean she stopped moving; instead, the intrepid tumbler developed a bed gymnastics routine that she still performs every morning to stay limber and strong.
This ageless acrobat credits the winning combination of a well-rounded, healthy diet that “focuses on the greens,” not eating too much or too little, and—by the looks of her Instagram feed—moving every single day, incorporating walking, swimming, calisthenics for her overall good health.
With her indomitable spirit that pays no need to convention, and a determination to live life to the fullest, Johanna Quaas inspires me to live well, age great.
Change Your Sheets Once a Week to Breathe Easier
I don’t know about you, but one of the household chores that I sometimes fail to do weekly is change the sheets. Yes, I know I should, but for so many reasons (laziness being chief among them)… it didn’t always happen. But then I came across a critical reason that not only convinced me why it’s so important and but is also compelling me to be better: dust mites.
Microscopic dust mites feed on microscopic skin flakes, which all of us shed naturally. According to the American Lung Association, “An average person sheds 1.5 grams of skin flakes every day, which may not seem like a lot, but that's enough to feed a million dust mites.” In other words, though you may be blissfully unaware, the unseen but copious flakes collecting in your sheets are feeding colonies of dust mites. Though this shedding can’t be avoided, if left unchecked dust mites can trigger and exacerbate allergies and asthma, opening the door to all sorts of respiratory issues.
Although much of everyday allergen exposure is out of our control, changing and washing sheets once a week is an easy step to take to breathe easier and contributes to a healthier life.
Bleach Encourages New Mold Growth
I think there are a lot of people who use bleach presumably to kill mold and mildew in a variety of places such as shower stalls, shower curtains, the laundry, etc.… but did you know that bleach not only does not kill mold at the source but it will actually cause it to grow deeper and stronger? To make matters worse, the water in bleach actually feeds the deep-rooted spores, creating an environment for them to thrive.
I’ll stick to my go-to cleaning ingredient: distilled white vinegar, which naturally contains acetic acid that is able to disrupt the growth of fungi and molds.
