As we grow older we can almost feel ourselves aging. We no longer roll out of bed full of vim and vigor – it’s more like a slow, coordinated effort so we do not rupture something important. Our joints are stiff, they ache and we have pains in spots we never had trouble from previously. Now we step in front of the bathroom mirror and it dawns on us – we are officially becoming an old fart!
Just because we have some age lines and droopy skin here and there does not mean we are beginning to decline. It means we are aging but not falling apart by any means, we simply are not aging optimally. The problems begin when our chronological age matches our sedentary lifestyle of loafing on the couch and sitting at a desk all day long. When this happens regularly you will begin to show signs of aging at twenty five years old instead of fifty. This is far from aging optimally.
Throw in some fast food and junk from the vending machine and toxic accumulation occurs in your systems, vital organs begin to show signs of wasting and you are on the fast track to the ER of your local hospital. Decline occurs when you stop doing what you know you should be doing for convenience sake – rapid decline occurs when you simply give up. If you think this is an over dramatization – it might be. If you are guilty of this lifestyle the good news is you can do something about it before bad stuff starts happening.
It is not difficult to pick up a slothful and slack lifestyle. When you find yourself in the doldrums it can be hard to find your way back out. The more time you spend in this state, the less likely you are to remain disease free. When you become ill your world turns and everything becomes more difficult to accomplish, including altering a lifestyle.
It might appear to be too much work to change and that your priority is to establish financial stability during a difficult economic period. The thing is, when you lose your health you lose every chance of accumulating anything worthwhile so you need to start looking for a plan to construct a viable future with that is healthy and wholesome.
Doctor Hans Selye once claimed that he was certain the natural human life expectancy was much higher than what was naturally occurring. He made this statement because he said after doing more than one thousand autopsies; he had not once found that an individual had passed away due to old age. He believed that we had yet to witness anyone actually dying of old age up to this point in time. He thought was that we always die due to a critical component breaking down prematurely – based on what is occurring with the rest of our physiology.
Basing decline on Selye’s theory, age does not mean decline. We do not perish because of aging – we die of illness that is stress related and ultimately responsible for the breakdown of a vital system. Having stated this, it would seem that partaking in any sort of stressful events could be equated to suicide – notwithstanding a passive suicide for sure.
Here Are Some Steps For Optimal Aging:
• We all need a method of managing our stress. We must find some way of impeding the anxiety and divergence that permeates our life setting off all kinds of negative reactions. Our adrenal gland reacts with fight or flight response, excess stimulation from adrenalin on the body and other chemical reactions develop into toxicity eventually. There is an accumulation and no discharge – there is not any fighting or escape so this accumulation strains the adrenals and arms other organ functionality.
Indications you are stressed or conflicted include – annoyance because you have been deprived of something and are irritated and furious. Your health suffers from digestive issues, bloating, waste elimination via constipation or diarrhea, headache pain and susceptibility to accidents. You have a lack of energy, you sleep too much or too little, you are apprehensive, easily annoyed and somewhat bewildered. You could be sad, lonely and beleaguered with some memory lapse and some systemic disarray mentally.
Your physiology suffers since you lack sleep and the body cannot rejuvenate itself because adrenalin surges last into the hours when you should be sleeping. Angst punishes your body with contaminates your immune system cannot deal with because it is overtaxed and this effects your thought process.
Plato said something like – we have become living cesspools it is so bad physicians must now come up with names for our illnesses. Your system is doing all it can do to alert you to the fact your body is in turmoil and needs assistance. Each stress indicator is a signal of reduced physical condition and a warning that there will be imminent harsh illness ahead. Worse yet, there is no culpability, not even your DNA can be blamed.
It is up to you to grab the bull by the horns and change things now that you are aware of the consequences. Remaining in the inactive lifestyle you are in means habits will die hard and you with them. Or you could relieve your stressors and overcome the fears dominating your life.
Quit the stress in your life as you would some other nagging problem you face daily. Recognize it, ten formulate a plan to deal with the trouble, now follow through on your plan. Think of it like pulling dandelions out of your lawn – a step by step process that is simple and works.
When we are faced with a problem the resolution is elementary, stop doing it! For the victim of a problem, anticipate endless pain and suffering. To paraphrase Cheryl Janecky.
• Get some physical activity twice daily. Not only does your heart thrive from exercise, every cell in your body needs oxygenation to remain fit and strong. The lymphatic system will work to remove waste from your body only when you are active. When you are experiencing a lethargic day you will worn out and your muscles will be sore do to contaminates holed up in your tissue. Eventually your joints become stiff and you are vulnerable to illness. Why put yourself through this?
Spend some time walking and exploring your area and observe nature while you breathe in fresh air. A good physical training plan might include some yoga. This form of exercise was developed to bring together the mind and body as well as your spirit. Yoga will swiftly bring you back to peak condition.
Dr. Roy Lee stated in 1951 that a great tragedy of our civilization is the standard of chemical treatments instead of nutrition. He felt this was a replacement of a false therapy rather than an innate solution – poison instead of food as if to feed individuals poison to solve the response of starvation.
• Eat fresh organic foods that are laden with nutrients. When we eat a well balanced diet our entire body runs more smoothly. The primary complaint about organic and fresh foods is they are costly and inconvenient. Inconvenient and costly is spending weeks or months with a serious illness in and out of hospitals.
We should be eating a lower calorie diet as well. Western cultures tend to overstuff themselves and in comparison to eastern society we are incredibly unhealthy and have shorter life spans.
• Consume plenty of water throughout the day. Our bodies are made up of mostly water – some say as much as eighty five percent H2o. Our health depends on water since every chemical response includes water and we will not survive without it. The longest we can survive without water is about three days. It cleans us out and is a natural detoxifier when we add mobility to the picture.
When we lack water, contaminates in our system accumulate and we are existing in a mess of waste derivatives. When this occurs we are pushing our liver, kidneys and lymphatic systems to their limits. We should be consuming about 8 quarts of purified water each day and liquids other than water do not qualify. When we become dehydrated our systems slow or cease operating altogether and we quickly become ill.
• Sunshine keeps us healthy and it’s a requirement. Ultra violet rays are worrisome for sure and exposure to them can be harmful. However, UV rays lose their danger one hour after sunset and before sunrise. Sunshine is an energizing necessity for our body and its chemical elements as well as our immune system. Sunlight therapy is actually used as a treatment for certain cancers and also depression.
When you begin to feel vital once more you can aspire to do the things in life you always wanted to do. As we grow older it is very easy to fall into a funk or rut and even easier to remain there. However, if we can learn to appreciate the incredible gift of life, regardless of our age, that appreciation will evolve into a sense of pride and a determination to make our lives better. This starts with good health and personal well being.
You may not be the same person physically that you were thirty or forty years ago but you can be the healthiest fifty or sixty year old you can possibly be. It begins with making the commitment to you and mustering up the personal constitution to better yourself.
This can be a life changing progression. Give yourself some time to work on your plan of becoming a healthier person and pursue the inner muse that motivates you. You will begin to see slight changes initially, enough to prolong your motivation. Banish all discouraging thoughts from your mind and push through the tough days and develop discipline. Progress comes in different tiers and each new level of success is better than the last.
Aging optimally means we put ourselves out there and do the things we know will be tough but we do then so we can extend our life. We want to spend more time with our loved ones and to do that we need to take better care of our self. It begins with a knowing thought that we have to do something. We can then prepare our optimal aging plan and each step of the way we will know that for every new breathe we take now; we will be adding another one to our life later. That is aging optimally with an eye toward a longer life span.
Thu, Sep 2, 2010
Anti Aging, Health And Aging, Lifestyle, Longevity