Creating My Master Clock

Creating My Master Clock
11/28/07

Tennis is a demanding taskmaster. Tennis has forced me to become conscious of my internal clocks. All through my childhood my clocks were slow. When all the other school children ran and played in the school yard, I stood near the teachers and watched. I wasn't bored. Occasionally I would ask why a particular child did something interesting. In my 20's, I took up long, slow, long-distance running and bicycling. My slow childhood lasted for 65 years.
I took up tennis at age 65. Tennis has taught me to watch my clocks. Electronic devices have internal clocks. Humans are electronic devices. Therefore humans use internal clocks. The speed with which I respond is defined by the speed of my clocks. For example, the rate at which my heart beats is determined by a clock. My sleep cycle runs on a clock, the “it is time to eat” signal came from a clock, the “I have talked enough; now it is time to listen” signal comes from a clock, and so on. Have you ever wondered if the people who talk incessantly have turned off their “It is time to listen now” clock?
There are many clocks in our bodies. All of them are driven by the fastest internal clock. I call this my master clock. This must be fastest clock in my body, since all the other clocks operate by counting pulses from it. If the reference clock slows down, all the internal clocks slow down with it. Sports that demand a quick response test the speed of my master clock, since it is the only one fast enough to provide the quick signal I need. I notice that the athletes who perform best are always young, typically in their teens or twenties. As these athletes age, their clocks slow. In their 40's, they are are just as strong as they were in their twenties. However, they are slower. They can no longer keep up with the pace the youngsters demand. Perhaps only one clock has slowed: the master clock. Since that clock has slowed, all the others must slow also. That simplifies the problem I must solve. All I need to do is create a healthy master clock. Once I do that, all the other clocks will pick up speed.
My master clock has always been slow. I bet, as a baby, I even cried slowly. Now I am speeding up that clock. I am 67 years old. At age 60 I became senile and retired. I tell people I remember being senile. My wife contradicts me. She says she is the only one of us who remembers it. I never argue with my wife. Well, hardly ever. I observe the same symptoms in some of my friends: they don't remember their phone numbers. I remember being unable to talk easily; I couldn't remember the words. I could barely count to 9; counting to 12 was impossible.
After retirement I cured myself. I now teach physics in a college. Teaching requires intelligence, memory, and sensitivity to others. However, it does not require raw speed.
I decided to learn tennis. When a tennis player starts a point, he or she stands behind the back line of the court and hits the ball toward the opponent. This hit is called “the serve.” I have learned to serve quite well. I don't need a fast clock to do it. I use a long, big swing, and I watch the ball carefully. I have always enjoyed dancing, and the serve is a fascinating dance. I can do it slowly. Although my movements are slow, my serve produces a speedy ball. The ball I serve moves too fast for my eyes to follow. If I were my opponent, I doubt that I could return that ball. The opponents who do return it are younger than me.
However, when they serve to me, I have a real problem. First they hit the ball, and then the ball is upon me. That's it! It is like looking at a movie in which the frames are shot so slowly that the photographs miss much of the motion.
I started focussing on clocks a little less than a year ago. I noticed I could follow fast balls easily when I first arrive at the tennis court. Unfortunately, this happy condition lasted only for a few minutes. The longer I played, the more difficult it became to follow a fast-moving ball. My playing deteriorated. Something in me was getting tired. Strangely, I didn't feel physically tired. I could run just as fast as I ran when I started. However, my head began to hurt, and I couldn't follow the ball. I have read that some researchers have decided that Alzheimer's is a condition of insulin resistance. That conclusion fits my experience. I concluded that the cells in my master clock had become resistant to insulin. Since insulin is required to use the the energy source in my bloodstream (glucose), my master clock got tired quickly. It ran out of energy and slowed down. It could only replenish its energy slowly. I noticed that playing for more than an hour produced a kind of tiredness that felt acutely painful. Yet I was not physically tired! I did want to close my eyes, though.
Therefore I conclude that I had Alzheimer's. Recently I have noticed that my playing no longer deteriorates as I play. I improve as I play. However, my performance starts out terribly. At first I can't see the ball at all. I conclude that my body is replacing the damaged cells in my master clock, and it is trying to figure out how to reconnect the circuits. When I start playing, I have a very slow clock. As I play the body kludges something together, and my clock speed improves. We work together, and I become a better tennis player.
That's what I want.