There are a lot of unrealistic ideas out there promising this or that life enhancing elixir or quick fix and then, hey, your life and health and or looks will be somehow optimised. Biotechnology may offer some amazing potential treatments to come, but is not without risks to people and nature, much of it is not here yet and some of what it promises may offer unrealistic hope. Pharmaceutical products and natural seeming tonics and supplements are also potentially a mixed bag of outcomes where it’s hard to distinguish between genuine efficacy and placebo effect (even though that is an efficacy). Beyond that, questionable expensive surgical enhancements may tempt people in the hope of looking and feeling better. Commercial interests underpinning all of these products also muddy the waters of the truth of what may really help us feel good and live well.
Staying well and working with what we have is to my mind our best and most affordable option . With a little thought and effort anyone willing to learn to live in alignment with principles that work for them, and be consistent with that approach, can experience positive change in health status and even reversal of some health issues.
Flux and renewal are at the heart of life processes; biologically and neurologically we are constantly regenerating and resetting in response to our environment even as we age. This is cause for optimism; life is malleable. Cellular renewal occurs at all ages and the brain and nervous system are constantly rewiring and restructuring in response to our environment. Positive change is always possible and to a fair degree in our hands. How we live hugely influences how we feel and how life goes for us so some basic understanding of how these processes work can empower us to live long, healthy and well.
So how can we create a realistic, affordable, sustainable lifestyle that allows us to feel healthy, energised and at ease within ourselves (and therefore probably look good)? Perhaps not surprisingly it likely needs to include considerations of exercise, diet, stress reduction, sleep and social enrichment. How this works is certainly individual and dependent on age and context . The saying that one person’s medicine is another’s poison carries truth – we don’t all respond the same way to medicines, treatments, diets and types of exercise regime.
Body and Biology.
It’s commonly thought that all the cells in the body completely renew every seven years. This is actually something of an overgeneralised myth, but the principle applies. There is a lot of variation; skin cells renew every few weeks, skeletal cells every ten years whilst some skeletal muscles can take as long as fifteen years. The regenerative process slows down as we age. The areas with least regenerative capacity are the brain, spinal cord, heart and joints (cartilage in particular). This is obviously a hugely detailed area of scientific research, but generalised results coming out of it conclude that the aspects of our lifestyle that most influence cellular regeneration for better or worse are: diet, fasting, exercise, sleep, stress levels, toxin inputs and our social and physical environments.
In terms of diet, there is so much information it’s hard to know where to go. Traditional medicine systems that are still very much in use such as Ayurvedic medicine from India, Thai traditional medicine and Chinese medicine think of food as medicine and generally suggest variations in diet according to your constitutional type, age, health and environment; in other words it depends on context. Some modern theories suggest varying diets dependent on blood type and ancestral history. My own experience of exploring this suggests some of this information combined with personal trial and error is helpful. In my personal case, as someone of O blood type and Scottish/Irish ancestry living in the chilly UK, I feel good on warming slightly spicy cooked foods (curries, stews, soups), some meat, loads of greens and plenty of fruit and vegetables; I can’t eat a salad until it’s 25 degrees plus, which means I mainly don’t eat them unless in hotter climes. That said, someone else may suggest a vegan raw food diet and do fine on that – go figure – so some personal experimentation is key. Some science suggestions for cellular regeneration: green foods, fish, poultry (or other protein source), nuts, seeds, berries and ginger root as good options to support cellular renewal.
In addition there is scientific evidence that intermittent fasting (minimum 24 hours) slightly stresses cells which can both make them more resilient and stimulate regeneration (autophagy). This is also something that seems to have been understood in traditional medicine systems as physiologically beneficial, and some religio/cultural practices use it as a means to build mental fortitude, self control and resilience.
Exercise; well it has been said that if exercise was discovered now it would be acclaimed as a magic pill for health. For the vast majority of human history exercise and movement didn’t need to be thought of as something we had to make time for as we were just running, walking, swimming, climbing and manually working as hunter gatherers to seek food, build shelter and survive. Early agriculture was also pretty labour intensive. Fast forwards to the twenty first century and increasing numbers of us are sedentary much of the time, there is food everywhere (for many of us) and much of it is over processed and sugary which can lead to weight gain, diabetes and numerous other health issues. To counter this we have to proactively make time for exercise which prevents many health issues developing and, like fasting, stresses cells enough to stimulate them into repair and renewal mode afterwards and makes them more resilient. For mental health, brain/neurological resilience and dementia prevention, there are studies showing how exercise supports this.
What kind of exercise and how much ? This is going to be individual. The standardised advice from the UK National Health Service is 150 minutes of moderate intensity cardio exercise per week, or 75 minutes vigorous intensity, plus two times a week weight lifting and more stretching as we age. Like diet, what combination and how much somewhat depends on your constitutional type and age, and therefore some personal trial and error is needed to see what you feel best on. My personal feeling and experience: Yoga most days ( apart from any mental, neurological and spiritual benefits) gives me a structural and core fitness that means that any other movement or exercise I build on top of that is well supported and less likely to be injurious, it’s my foundation; running two or three times a week for the cardio, gets me outside and has a meditative element; and table tennis is fun and absorbing and I don’t really notice I’m exercising. Others may say some kind of resistance work or weight lifting is necessary, especially as we get older. The science backs this, but I personally don’t enjoy it so am satisfied by the bodyweight resistance and core work included in Yoga. I also go to the sauna two or three times a week mixed with cold showers which has many health benefits similar to exercise with the additional benefit of being something of a social event in my local one where I’ve made friends, had poetry recited to me and met all kinds! There are of course many other options, the most important being the ones that you most enjoy and will actually do. Exercise in groups adds an element of sociability which helps many people .We need a balance of exercise and rest and different stages of life will determine what this looks like: either way, find a way to exercise that seems to work for you and your body and mind will thank you.
Stress reduction: prolonged stress can damage your cells and weaken your immune system . The science shows that stress can reduce telomere length, telomeres are the protective casings at the end of DNA strands, which can lead to cell death or inflammation which speeds up ageing and can cause other health issues. Sometimes life is hard and circumstances beyond our control can create stress. So what is in our control ? Essentially our response to these stressors. You’ve no doubt noticed that different people can respond variously to the same external stressor illustrating that many circumstances are not inherently stressful, it’s our perception of them that creates the stress. This is a big subject that I’ll cover more in another article, but perhaps the most effective DIY method of understanding and changing our responses is meditation/mindfulness practice or other practices where we have to notice and feel what is happening within us both physically and mentally during stress, thereby creating an opportunity to explore other behavioural choices. What we can learn in these practices can radically change how we perceive ‘problems’ and how real or not they are. Exercise can relieve stress symptoms, but understanding ourselves better and our responses to circumstances will better help cut many issues at the root .
Sleep; cells regenerate and the body repairs itself when we sleep and our brains and neurology need this time for recovery and to process information, so it’s a no brainer that we need enough sleep. An average of seven to nine hours should be enough for most . Modern health sciences and traditional medicine seem to broadly agree that the body regenerates the most between 10pm and 2 am, give or take, so get in to bed early at least some of the time. Napping is great for brain and heart health too, just not too long!
Social and Physical Environment ; the physical environments we inhabit and the people we are with make a huge difference to how we feel, stress levels and overall health. Finances will determine a fair amount of what physical environment we can afford to live in, but many of us have choices up to a point. Our work environment will clearly also count as we likely spend a lot of time there. If possible we need to avoid environments of high air and/or noise pollution, both of these take their toll both biologically and on our nervous system. Beyond that, some of us prefer to live or work in the buzz and social/cultural life of the city, others of us crave somewhere we can listen to the birds and some green space nearby and to work at home or outdoors; it likely depends on age and disposition. Access to transportation and healthy food sources will also make a difference.
Socially as a number one we need to avoid living and/or working with toxic people who do not have our best interests at heart; this palpably creates stress and tension with consequences. We may not always get to choose who we live or work with, but hopefully at some point we do. When we live with people who care about us and accept us as we are , we feel safe, at ease and can be more fully ourselves. At work supportive management and colleagues should have the same effect, allowing us to feel more valued and in turn likely more productive. Self-employment maybe best for some (but carries its own challenges). However we do it, the degree of autonomy we have at work makes a big difference to how we feel about it in terms of motivation, productivity and how long we stay in that role.
Social isolation and loneliness are generally bad for us and can be a difficult issue for some. Social life and a supportive network of friends make a big difference to general health and brain health; we are largely social animals but modern life sometimes doesn’t create the conditions for this; we may have to seek it out.
Mind and Neuroscience.
Biological, psychological and neurological health are not separate subjects as can be seen in the issues listed above. When it comes to the mind, philosophically speaking, what we think, say and do repeatedly builds our character and is what we become. This statement was given to me by a Yoga teacher as a simplified brief summary of karma or the law of cause and effect if you prefer. As socially and culturally conditioned beings, how aware really are we as to the origins of our motivations, thoughts, speech and actions and where they will lead us? Given that our lives are literally determined this way, the origins and process of our thoughts, words and actions are worth our investigation. Meditation or other self reflective practices as well as learning on the job by living as consciously as possible can all help. If we keep thinking/saying/doing unconsciously and habitually, we’ll keep going the same way; it depends if we’re happy with our current direction.
Remarkably (to me) neuroscience is the physical correlation of these more existential and philosophical statements. In simple terms we can say that the structure of the brain and nervous system is largely created , and the neurological connections wired, in response to to our environment and experiences. Neurologically and biologically we physically and physiologically reflect our behaviour and experiences.
While our neurological wiring gets set up to a degree in our early life, it is always changing and adapting to our environment, new experiences and behaviours: neuroplasticity. Neuroplasticity continues through life, though age does make change a little slower and harder. The stereotype of an older person becoming more habitual, rigid and fixed can become true; but is it inevitable? Is it true that ‘the leopard can’t change it’s spots’ or as the Chinese reputedly say ‘dynasties may come and go but a person’s nature doesn’t change’? Can we change and if so how much ?
Perhaps some essence of our nature remains stable but perceptions and behavioural change are certainly possible according to neuroscience; and our brains and neurological wiring can literally structurally change. Neuroscientists have been keen on plugging meditators into brain imaging devices which have definitively illustrated short and long term neurological change in practitioners according to regularity of practice and the following changes in perceptions of self and life’s events and therefore potentially behaviours. This applies to all of life; any perspective or behaviour we practice or change consistently will also become part of our neurological architecture. This is hopefully inspiring; we can literally change after some initial force of will to set the momentum of change in the direction that we want to go.
So while some supposed life hacks, biotechnology and health enhancing products may support us, are they really necessary and worth the cost ? Without some sustained effort with the lifestyle choices that are really in our control, would they make much of a difference to our overall state of being and healthy longevity?
Undoubtably some societal and cultural change in terms of some of the unhealthy constrictions within which we have to live would help many; but at least some of how life goes is in our own hands as external conditions will never be perfect.
There can be no one size fits all way to live well, as illustrated by the sheer variety of ways humans have adapted to live successfully and well in many environments worldwide. Nevertheless there’s a good chance that the above suggestions have real substance, and time-tested and backed by both science and cultural histories will be useful anywhere, are accessible, and can be integrated into most lifestyles in some form with minimal additional expense.
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