@jc76

I live in a rural third world village, but I returned home for Medicare after a heart attack. It' s cash up front here, kind of like a lot of politicians would like at home, and the diagnosis turned out to be incorrect. My cardiologist at home was a family friend and confirmed a heart attack leaving me with heart failure and a 35, 30 now, ejection fraction. He told me I had maybe 2-5 years to live unless, and he knew how much I hate gym exercise, I bought a treadmill and religiously used it to strengthen the parts of my heart still functioning normally and elevate my heart rate to pump more oxygen to my organs. It's too hot here for outdoor exercise except for a few months, so I bought a basic model and have used it for nine years now. I have worked up to a 15 grade (maybe 8% incline) at 6.5 kmh which I do for 50 minutes every other day with a heart rate beteen 115 and 120 for most of it. I'm 80, so that's about 80% of max depending on whose formula you use. I do free exercises and light weights alternately for an hour on the off days, and take one day off each week, but do housework, which takes all day.

Since I get my blood circulating at a higher rate several times a week, I have had no kidney problems or any others that are related poor circulation. So I guess what my doctor told me is working. Netflix is fortunately available here now, so it's helped me deal with the boredom and general disdain for machine exercise. And I can exercise in a/c.

My point being is that I have stretched my predicted life expectancy from 2-5 years to 9 so far. I can still take 30 km bike rides and swim 2 miles. And while I don't feel "great", I do feel "ok", which I've learned to live with. I also take my dogs out for a 2-3 km walk in the evening. I have a big walled yard, but some local trails give them more exercise, let them socialize, sniff new stuff, and are usually free of snakes due to their being used a lot. My dogs ran into a cobra that shows up here occasionally and barked furiously to attract my attention. I shooed them away and was able to pick up the cobra with a snake stick and lift it over the wall, which about two meters high. But, yes, it got in here somehow, so we try to careful.

It's great to be able to live a semi-normal life, and I attribute that mostly to indoor exercise. If I outlive my dogs, one from the street, and the other wild, I will consider my end of life successfully lived and my time spent on the odious treadmill worth the effort.