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Perception of Health

By On · Add Comment · In Ageless Body Timeless Mind, Deepak Chopra, energetic, health enhancing behaviors, longevity, optimal health, perceptions

In his book, Ageless Body, Timeless Mind, Dr. Deepak Chopra discusses a study done on longevity where the factors leading to longer life were outlined. One of those factors was one’s self-perception of health. That is, both men and women who believed that their health was better at the time of the study than it was fifteen years earlier tended to live longer than those who thought their health was worse.

This concept, in my opinion, is crucial to achieving optimal health, wellness and longevity. I also understand that some people might find it ambiguous. One might say, “People who are healthier will naturally see themselves as healthier–this proves nothing.” That’s a very real possibility from a skeptical point of view; however, I am certain that our perceptions color our reality. What I mean by this is, if you see yourself as financially well off, you are. It’s all relative, isn’t it? There will always be somebody who considers you richer than they are, and others who consider you less so. What difference does their viewpoint make? Who would be right anyway? All that matters is what you see.

This is true with your health, too. If you see yourself as healthy, your body will first respond energetically; and if you are wise enough to carry out the right activities–health enhancing behaviors–then you physical body will respond in kind. I know that this sounds rather obvious, but there is a subtle, yet powerful, component that makes it all reality–your state of mind!

Think about this for a moment: If you don’t believe in your ability to experience great health, do you think you’ll realize it in actuality? What the hell can you achieve without believing in it first? Space travel? High-speed internet? Wireless communication? Seven Tour de France wins? Billions of dollars? An African American U.S. President? What?

It’s the same with health. And it’s the message I most want you to walk away with from this blog, and all my writings for that matter. Your body, the human body, is capable of incredible things, particularly healing. We can accomplish miracles, but first we have to believe. You want to be a skeptic? Go ahead, be my guest. But you’ll achieve nothing that way; you can count on that. If you have the desire to achieve optimal health, and all the many benefits that come along with it, then you’ve first gotta see yourself as healthy. You’ll also have to do healthy things, but I’ll never stop telling you what those are, so keep reading this blog.

Note: If you want more health info, check out my experts page at Bizmoms.com!

Walking Extends Life

By On · Add Comment · In health, longevity, pain, physical fitness, The Six Keys to Optimal Health, universal exercise, walking
Walking a mile a day keeps the Grim Reaper away. So says an Italian study that looked at the universal exercise–walking–and found that people who walked regularly lived longer.

The study followed 248 volunteers aged 86 years on average for a period of two years. Although twelve percent of the volunteers died throughout the study, those that did not walk regularly (less than one hour per day) died at a rate of more than 30% higher than the regular walkers. Wow! Additionally, the walkers suffered less from depression and cognitive impairment, had less heart disease and high blood pressure, and had less debility from osteoarthritis. Double wow!

Well, of course, this is no surprise to me. I incessantly push the idea that regular physical fitness is paramount to not only a long life, but to one of high quality as well. I call walking the universal exercise because it’s the one that all cultures engage in to some degree. In my neighborhood you can see the Russian community out every night enjoying their after-dinner walks. It’s beautiful! And my wife and I take walks with our daughter and doggies every chance we get.

As I point out in my book, The Six Keys To Optimal HealthThe Six Keys To Optimal Health, walking is the best exercise for obese people, the elderly or people who haven’t exercised in a while or are trying to solve a pain issue. But mind you, the walk must challenge you. It doesn’t have to knock you out, but you should break into a moderate sweat, otherwise you are not doing much. And note, the study saw health benefits and longevity in those who walked for an hour or more every day. Do I think you need to walk for an hour every day? No…but how about twenty minutes? Or a half hour? Just make sure you’re breaking a little sweat by the end of the walk. I guarantee that if you walk 3-4 times a week for the next three months, you’ll have no problem–neither in motivation nor ability–to extend the walking in both length and frequency. Happy walking.

Happiness

By On · Add Comment · In depression, development, emotional, fulfillment, growth, happiness, health, hedonics, longevity, psychologists
As far as emotions go, happiness is highly overrated. Some pseudo-scientists (read: psychologists), however, feel that the pursuit of happiness is a worthwhile endeavor. Take, for instance, the latest study out of Rotterdam’s Erasmus University in the Netherlands which links happiness to health. According to its lead author, happiness is the key to a long life. Hmmm…I’m skeptical. Here’s why:

The study looked at 30 other studies (a meta-analysis) which were carried out worldwide over periods ranging from one to 60 years. The results were that “feeling good could lengthen life by between 7.5 and 10 years.” In fact, it compared the effects of happiness on longevity to smoking on life expectancy.

Oy vey. Does anybody besides me see the nonsense in this junk science? First off, there is absolutely no such thing as a life of perpetual happiness. Every living being experiences unhappiness, loss, challenge, and so forth, at various times in their life. Life is a constant stream of varying psychological and emotional experiences. Even the human predicament of dissatisfaction is a necessary component to personal growth and development. Actually, it’s the pursuit of perpetual happiness that leads to the inordinate amount of depression in our society. The people who choose this pursuit get let down again and again because they are chasing the unattainable. No wonder antidepressant use is beyond comprehension. The people who chase happiness the most tend to be the most unhappy, and more importantly, the most unsatisfied people in society. Just an observation.

I’m sure you won’t find this surprising but the lead author of this study, Mr. Ruut Veenhoven, is a psychologist. The psychology profession stands to gain the most from putting forth the illusion that we can measure, and ultimately reach, a “state of happiness”.

Listen, happiness exists, no doubt. But it’s certainly as objective as beauty is. A Laker win might make me happy, but that sure as hell doesn’t have any lasting effect on me. So whether or not that’s going to have an effect on my health or longevity is simply ludicrous. In fact, it directly contradicts an earlier study that showed women end up more unhappy than men later in life, despite the fact that they generally live longer.

So striving for perpetual happiness, in my opinion, is futile. Fulfillment, however, is worth striving for; and this, like happiness, is completely subjective–so we aren’t going to be able to measure it any better. Veenhoven’s study discusses hedonics–the branch of psychology that studies pleasant and unpleasant sensations and states of mind, as well as the economic method of estimating demand or value. But this concept, like the entire measuring happiness thing, is flawed. According to critics of this pleasure measuring statistical regression, it’s “impossible to measure the immeasurable”, specifically because what makes an individual or society happy (or fulfilled) changes all the time. Well, no duh..uh..uh..uh..uh!

So I reiterate my earlier thought, the group most benefiting from this nonsense is the psychology profession. Not surprising since they are the professionals that strive the most to help people become happier. But I think the whole concept is bunk. You just can’t put a measure on happiness, and you certainly can’t link something that subjective to health. We need both happiness and sadness, challenge and support, pain and pleasure to grow and develop–it’s part of human evolution. But wouldn’t you expect psychotherapists to push the one-sided ideal of a happy life? Makes good business sense, anyway, don’t you think?

Healthy, Healthy Japan

By On · Add Comment · In balance, depression, diet, emotional, health, healthy, Japanese, longevity, mental, perspective, suicide, The Six Keys to Optimal Health, wellbeing, work-related
They say that the Japanese are the healthiest people alive. They live on average 74.5 years in health, and 86 years thereafter. The Japanese diet–high in fish, rice, and seaweed–is said to be the main reason. Cancer rates are low and heart disease is pretty much held in check. Bravo to the Japanese, especially in honor of their 6th Healthy Food Expo held last week in Tokyo. When it comes to diet and nutrition the Japanese are, without a doubt, ahead of the game.

But if any of you have read my latest book, The Six Keys To Optimal Health, you know that diet is just one factor determining a person’s health and longevity. Multiple factors play a role, each having a profound effect on health and life expectancy. One of these factors is a balanced mental and emotional life–that is, one’s mental health.

When it comes to mental health, then, the Japanese may not be so ahead of the game after all. According to a government report released last week, suicides from work-related stress has doubled in the last five years. And the number of people developing work-related mental conditions such as depression has reached a record high of 268 in 2006 (the last year of complete statistics on the subject). Japan has one of the highest suicide rates in the world–32,160 people killed themselves in 2006. People in their 30s and 40s were most prone to stress due to working too many hours or personal relationships at work. Some of the people attempting suicide worked 160 hours of overtime a month. 160 hours overtime! The typical work week in Japan is 40 hours.

Dang! That’s whole lot of workaholism. And you thought Americans were bad. Listen, what difference does it make if you eat well and are nutritionally healthy if you drive yourself into the grave by overworking? Just doesn’t make sense. I get that there are pressures: one-third of these poor people were working between 80-100 hours overtime a month! Put this in perspective: That’s twelve or more hours a day for five straight days every week. That’s damn near chiropractic hours. Sheesh. What family time? What social life? What time for personal hygiene (I know if that was me, I’d probably quit cutting the ol’ toenails to gain a few minutes every week). And throw in a little cultural mind trip–many people don’t discuss their stress in order to not seem weak–and you’ve got a severe mental health issue at hand.

The bottom line is this: If you strive for good health you can’t neglect your mental and emotional wellbeing. Eating well is essential, but so is balancing one’s mental perspective. You ain’t gonna do that by working non-stop for extended periods. You need rest, social time, creative time, family time, and simply time to be alone with your thoughts. Sometimes we forget how important alone time actually is. And even if you do all this stuff regularly, you need a vacation every once in a while, too. Trust me when I say that burning the candle at both ends when it comes to work is the quickest way to burnout, and worse. Just ask the Japanese–it a national tragedy over there.

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