When determining what your health is worth to you, do not be waylaid by the dollar and cents value – not unlike an insurance actuary – but focus on those things where worth cannot be tallied. It quickly becomes apparent that there is no reasonable way one can place a price on their health. Not in currency anyway.
Just now the politicians in America are fiercely debating the costs of their health care reforms and one common concern continues to be heard above all others – the price tag for this new health care program will cost literally mega millions of bucks. Guess who picks up that tab? Will it be worth it? If every citizen values their health, than they should recognize the value of increased health care for more people. All that said this is not another diatribe about U.S. Health Care.
I believe that the true value of your health will not become apparent until you are well into your senior years. Someone famous once proclaimed that if he knew was going to live so long, he would have taken better care of himself, Mickey Mantle I think, and anyway the words are very true.
Science keeps a close watch on our life expectancy and currently we can expect to live until age 78 – or there abouts. Yet there are more and more people living into their eighties and nineties than ever before. It is worth talking to these vessels of knowledge and wisdom if only to find out what their secret is to living a prolonged life. When asked this question their reasons for a long life include the following
• Continue to live an active day to day life and walking is important
• They make sure they eat a nutritious and balanced meal plan
• They maintain strong relationships in their lives
• Their family support system is solid and sympathetic
• They keep up with community and try and participate in as much as they are able to
• Continue to stimulate their mind and maintain intellectual capabilities
This is the group of elders who are able to maintain vitality and health into their old age. There is another side of the equation that unfortunately is not so chipper. There are the senior who have one chronic ailment on top of another. Physical debilitation leads to mental and physical anguish and pain is prevalent in their lives.
One now must ask themselves not only what is their health worth to them but just what are they willing to pay to preserve or achieve a pinnacle of health and personal well being?
Personal wellness comes in numerous packages – there is not a single plateau of health for all. There are factors that determine our capability at achieving good health. Failure at health maintenance in so many is due in large part to the commercialization of the health and wellness, anti aging industry. We feel we need a particular program or product in order to succeed and we lose interest quickly when results are sparse. Guarantees for a long life, or more youthful existence mean little in general. Promises of weight loss abound in the market place yet we are an obese nation that is getting worse by the day. These anti aging and wellness businesses generate billions of dollars based on our sense of guilt.
The Obese Society
We are well aware of the fact by now that America is an overweight society quickly becoming an obese one. People who are clinically obese are forecast to be a prominent reason why life expectancy is likely to drop by approximately five years over the next ten years to an average life span of seventy three years of age. Unbelievably we will live in the most well to do country on the planet and the population will be perishing more quickly due to our day to day life choices.
There are two primary reasons why we are becoming obese and those are lousy dietary habits and not living an active enough lifestyle.
Knowing which foods are good for you and will promote great health and longevity will help you immensely as you age. We all need to eat foods that are antioxidant rich along with complex carbohydrates, healthy fats and proteins so our bodies are not strained and we assist our physical self to age elegantly.
This type of food is quality food and you pay more for quality than you would for fast junk food. There may also be a dearth of some healthier foods in some regions or even neighborhoods. Do not let this dissuade you from making the correct decisions when it comes to your health. Eating more wholesome foods is worth the extra effort to find it and prepare it.
Becoming Physically Active
Modern society does not make it easy to get regular physical activity what with all the automation and our busy schedules. We are a society on the move; unfortunately it is in our cars, on elevators and escalators. We do not walk anymore and humans were designed to be active walkers. Everyone knows they need to get more exercise and make excuses not to do it like, I work hard enough at my job, or cleaning the house, or its more important for the kids to get their soccer, football or karate classes in while I grab coffee and french fries and watch them!
We need to do something physical that will keep our interest level high. We need something of our own choosing and ability level that we can manage without losing interest. It is crucial to our overall plan of a new beginning that we experiment and find some form of physical activity that we enjoy and that becomes habit forming [two or three months doing it consecutively]. If you dislike running, try bicycling and walking is a great way to get exercise and decompress after a hard day.
Health and Our Surroundings
Our environment is critical to our health and well being since we intermingle in our surroundings always. How we treat our immediate environment speaks to how we treat our own physiology and whether we are creating a toxic and polluted area around us. What kind of chemicals are we using around our home? Could we replace cleaning chemicals with natural environmentally adaptable products? Do we make a conscious effort to safeguard our water and food supply? What about the air around us? Are we using aerosols, pesticides etc around our home? If we are answering yes we need to reevaluate things. How can we take our health seriously if we are doing everything we can to undermine it by disregarding the importance of our surrounding and their effect on our wellness?
Stress and Our Physiology
As we grow older our thoughts have more of a bearing on how we age progress and the effect on our physical and mental well being. Ask yourself if you are encircled by negative influences or things that promote stress and what can be done about it. Nothing ages us more rapidly than stress and it works to do so at the molecular level in our body. Stress directly works against our chromosome configuration.
We alone manage and regulate our thoughts. Why then do we appear to be losing control of them on a regular basis? It is scientifically documented how our level of stress plays havoc with our chromosomes so we need to find ways to think healthier thoughts and to alleviate our stress.
Initiating a Fresh Outlook and Healthy Lifestyle
Do not wait until a medical crisis rears its ugly head before you begin to take proper care of yourself. We need to aspire to make changes and challenge ourselves to do new things that will make us healthier. Self motivation is difficult for many of us but we need to find a way to encourage us personally to make the changes just discussed. If you are easily overwhelmed than do not change everything at once. Start by making a few healthful variations in y9ur diet like quitting junk food and start taking walks.
Make every effort to prove to yourself that you are able to commit to a simple program of exercise and better eating and maintain it until you begin to see the results. Nothing spurs motivation than seeing the outcome of your hard work and sacrifice. When you feel good about yourself and your improvement, take the next step and perhaps join a gym or purchase a piece of exercise equipment for your home work out.
This is all about releasing the old poor habits that were shortening your life and exchanging them for more healthy habits of diet and exercise you can stick with and turn your life around. Advancing age creeps up on us quicker than we can imagine so the earlier we make these positive changes in our lives the better. When you reach elder status and your golden years, will you be living in pain and chronic bad health or will you still be enjoying nature walks and a productive lifestyle?
Tue, Aug 31, 2010
Anti Aging, Gerontology, Health And Aging, Longevity