TAC Board: The Alaska Club Blog

Summer in Alaska is the perfect time for outdoor activities, and going fishing is one of them. We are fortunate to have an abundance of different types of fish here, and I hope you had the chance to harvest your own. For the first time this year, I caught my weight in red salmon. While fishing, it was delightful to hear people exchanging recipes on the beach. Another popular topic was the health benefits of salmon.

First, I would like to thank The Alaska Club for allowing Any Time Fitness members to transfer their membership. With this transfer, I have been able to continue work with my trainer, Joelle Miller. Her patience, knowledge and experience working with a wide range of abilities has greatly helped me.

I’ve been a member of the Alaska Club for decades beginning in the late-80s, early-90s. At first I was gung-ho doing step classes and lifting weights at The Alaska Club East (In fact, at 35 I was rock solid, happy and very fit). As I was approaching 60, I made the commitment to myself to get in shape, rather than aging. I saw people much older than me who continued to workout and looked great. I decided I would get myself back on track.

Just two weeks ago, I attended an education conference in New York City on learning and brain activity in youth and children. The chief concern at this conference was the preponderance of screen time, primarily cell phone usage, teachers witness among their students. While studies have not made a direct correlation to the rise of anxiety and depression seen among children and youth to electronic device habits, bullying and obesity have been positively correlated to cell phone usage by these groups. Consistent with these findings is a greater sense of social alienation found among children and teens who are now logging long hours on their electronic devices and becoming sleep-deprived in the process.

Whether it looks like it or not, my calendar says it’s officially Spring. As the light comes back and the temperatures rise, we begin to peak our head out from hibernation, ready to shake off the winter blues. So what’s the best way to shake off these blues and spring back into action? Well as Legally Blonde’s Elle Woods famously said, “Exercise gives you endorphins. Endorphins make you happy.”

There’s only one word to fully describe spring in Alaska: magic. It is a magical time of renewal, energy, sun (yes unlimited sunshine), green trees and blue skies and more outdoor time than you can come to terms with. It’s also sort of a progressive experience when you open the door in the morning to let your dog out and suddenly, you realize: there’s no expansive blanket of white snow everywhere. After seeing it for half a year and accepting the reality of white, everywhere, and yet a miracle occurs. Abruptly, Alaska changes its image quicker than a chameleon. The tulips and daffodils poke up through iced over soil, determined to emerge against the odds of bitter icy winds and gray days. I thrill at the emergence of just their little pointed sprouts and carefully monitor their growth.