Lonely & Depressed in Thailand?

[Zebedee]

Dodger, your advice reminds me of advice given by a hyperactive friend (who jogs and walks). He told three or more people they should get out and walk/jog. One friend who is overweight and old; another who is very overweight and has health issues; another friend who has a bad back and bad knees and is elderly; and myself who has had heart problems.
Basically he was saying start jogging and "drop dead".

LOL .

Aw Francois, starting to exercise needs to be done in moderation and the individual's general health needs to be taken into account. Better still visit a GP for a checkup and ask him for guidance on what you should and should not do. But there is no denying exercise is a huge benefit to ones mental and physical health. As said even a walk in the evening, or early morning is good for you. Slowly build yourself up, remember its only for health reasons not preparation for the Olympics.

[goji]

Aw Francois, starting to exercise needs to be done in moderation and the individual's general health needs to be taken into account.

Exactly. One of my parents had a heart operation and has still been advised to exercise daily by the consultant.

[francois]

LOL .

Aw Francois, starting to exercise needs to be done in moderation and the individual's general health needs to be taken into account. Better still visit a GP for a checkup and ask him for guidance on what you should and should not do. But there is no denying exercise is a huge benefit to ones mental and physical health. As said even a walk in the evening, or early morning is good for you. Slowly build yourself up, remember its only for health reasons not preparation for the Olympics.

For me, I do visit a gym 4 times a week and have been doing so for 50 years and I do walk but admittedly,not enough. Now with Covid the gym is on a reprieve from my presence. Walking in Pattaya happens a few days/week but not a pleasurable walk!

[Dodger]

In trying to keep my balance, my (partial) solution has been to study up on my Thai (and a few other languages),

Marc,

I just want to thank you for bringing this up.

I have a Rosetta Stone Thai Language Course on CD that's been sitting on the shelf for two years now gathering dust. After all these years I speak enough Thai to order a beer, ask a person what their name is, and get my face slapped in a massage parlor.

I'm going to follow your lead and start dedicating 1 hour/day to this endeavor - with a goal of becoming 50% fluent in 12 months. If this was Spanish I'd be shooting for 90% fluency - but all this changing tone crap drives me fucking crazy.

Thanks again

[a447]

Going for walks and learning a new language or a musical instrument are great ways to beat boredom and keep the brain active.

You can even kill 2 birds with 1 stone by learning a language as you walk.

Last year during our lockdown I had a "friend" come and live with me for the duration. He was a bit clingy so to get a bit of time to myself I set up a home gym for him. It worked like a charm! Lol

Meanwhile, I was out walking along the coast enjoying the view and fresh sea air. I have never even stepped foot inside the gym, let alone exercise. But my friend uses it whenever he comes over.

Maybe it's an age thing - many of us oldies prefer to get outside and walk rather than run on a treadmill.

[christianpfc]

I'm an introvert, so quarantine (14 days on entering Cambodia Nov2020) or lockdown (14 days now) is not a big issue for me.

But I have a German friend here who is an extrovert, and during his quarantine some days we had a videochat for half an hour, which satisfied my socializing needs for the entire week, but for him was just an appetizer for the day.

Two weeks without exercise, other than walking from bed to bathroom to fridge to window, is no problem for me and did not affect my physical fitness.

I have a local friend here (Phnom Penh) who would have loved to spend the lockdown with me, but I refused because I would quickly tire of him. Whereas two other I would have let stay with me for the lockdown, but they have jobs that don't allow this.

As for losing crucial years, assuming a money boy has 10 years (age 20-30) where he can earn good money easily, he loses 2 years.

[gerefan2]

Walking in Pattaya happens a few days/week but not a pleasurable walk!

Have you tried the walk from the Jomtien police box at Dongtan Beach to the Sands Bar and back? It’s just under a mile each way along the seafront on the new pathway/road. I do it in reverse regularly and it’s a very pleasant walk. You can stop at either end for refreshments. Best in the evening, the later the better. Well lit and completely safe even at midnight.

The other good place to walk is around the circular exercise road near the top of Pratumnak Hill (0.8 miles) but you need a motor bike to get there. Unless you walk up the hill to it as well! Also very pleasant though a little more strenuous than the Jomtien Beach walk.

[Dodger]

No one has mentioned "swimming" yet which is probably the best exercise seniors can do.

I love swimming and routinely spend an hour a day (after my morning workouts) in either the small pool here at my condo, or in the ocean if the waters calm and the tide is in.

For seniors who are not big into swimming, there are some very basic swimming (zero impact) exercises that are probably the best types of exercise you can do. Evan if you have problems with heart, back, joints, etc., you can do these exercises and may even improve any preexisting physical conditions.

Note: If you're not an experienced swimmer I would avoid the ocean.

Here's a Utube video of some basic pool exercises for seniors.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uEOvqKpf_lc

Splish-splash!

[Ruthrieston]

I love swimming, and used to do sixty lengths of the pool in my condo building almost every morning. Just when I need it the most it has been closed for almost five weeks now supposedly to change it to a salt water pool, but that was supposed to take two weeks. Sigh. When I do get to swim I really do feel a whole lot better, feeling my mood rising and just stronger.

[Manforallseasons]

I love swimming, and used to do sixty lengths of the pool in my condo building almost every morning. Just when I need it the most it has been closed for almost five weeks now supposedly to change it to a salt water pool, but that was supposed to take two weeks. Sigh. When I do get to swim I really do feel a whole lot better, feeling my mood rising and just stronger.

All pools are closed under the most current Covid restrictions.