Fitness tests, constipation and confidence: The week in Well+Being
Everyone agrees that lots of running, jumping and playing is important for kids. But how to actually get them to do that in gym class — and enjoy it? — is still up for discussion. A staple of many of our childhoods, the presidential fitness test, might be making a comeback. As part of the test, kids were asked to do 40 push-ups, 10 pull-ups and a 6½-minute mile. (Up until the 2012-2013 school year, when it was replaced with another program.) This week, we asked people, including fitness professionals, how they felt about the test. (Check out our story to get the details.) As someone who learned to love exercising only after graduating (let's just say I'm a bigger fan of running or Pilates than dodgeball), I'm hoping that we can find a way to make 'I hate gym class' a thing of the past.
Guest columnist Tracy Moore shared her health journey in a personal essay:
In 2022, I gained 40 pounds in one year and was tired all the time. Before these changes, at 47, I biked and walked everywhere in my Los Angeles neighborhood. I wrote articles frequently. And I raised my daughter with ease.
When I told my doctor about my health issues, she sighed, reeled off obesity risks and admonished, 'Lose weight. For your daughter.'
I also met with several other doctors, most of whom blamed stress, weight gain or age for my poor health. It took three years, thousands of dollars and two inches of height for me to get the right diagnosis.
Read more here about Tracy's road to the right diagnosis and treatment.
Guest columnist Bob Brody wrote about his experience playing sports as an older athlete:
Last year, at age 72, after a gap of almost 40 years, I resumed taking tennis lessons. I figured that if I am going to be the next Roger Federer, what better time to start than right now?
Many older Americans are playing sports — in one Ipsos survey, the number of Americans ages 60 and over who played a sport was 43 percent in 2025. The number of athletes who compete in the National Senior Games — a biennial event in which participants ages 50 and above compete in more than 25 sports — more than quadrupled from 2,500 in 1987 to 11,681 in 2023. The number of Americans, 55 and older, who played tennis at least one time was 4.3 million in 2024, according to the U.S. Tennis Association.
I picked up tennis again because I missed the high I got from it and knew I could still get better at it. As it happens, my activity may help me live longer. One study found that playing tennis was associated with a 9.7-year increase in lifespan compared with those who remain sedentary. Also, badminton was linked to 6.2 years, soccer 4.7, cycling 3.7 and swimming to 3.4 additional years.
To find out more about how playing sports can be beneficial as you age, read Bob's story here.
Our Ask a Doctor columnist is Trisha S. Pasricha, a physician at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School.
I have to travel for work sometimes and may be gone for a week or more. I end up not having a bowel movement the entire time I'm gone. By the end, I'm bloated and miserable. Any suggestions?
Here's a fact: We all poop weirdly on vacation. That goes for any kind of travel, whether for work or pleasure.
Our bowel movements love a routine. We're wired to optimally poop at certain times: within the first one or two hours upon waking, soon after eating meals, after a cup of coffee and after exercise. These classic triggers tell our colon to start contracting — propelling our poop forward and helping us feel the 'urgency' to go. Because of all this, traveler's constipation is quite common.
I strongly recommend you start taking something that will help at the start of the trip — even a day or two before leaving. It's always easier to get ahead of a problem than to chase after it when it becomes a crisis.
Read Trisha's full response here. And use our Ask a Doctor form to submit a question, and we may answer it in a future column.
Here are a few things that brought us joy this week.
Let's keep the conversation going. We want to hear from you! Email us at wellbeing@washpost.com.
Want to know more about 'joy' snacks? Reporter and former neuroscientist Richard Sima explains what they are and how they can make you feel happier. You can also read his advice as a comic.
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