The Life Line

The fountain of youth has been sought through the ages.  There are essentially two major factors to the determination of how long you will live.  One is genetics and one is environment or lifestyle.  If you use genetics and lifestyle as two legs to a triangle the line that connects them is the lifeline or length of the lifetime as it relates to them.  You are born with a certain genetic makeup that will determine your weaknesses or strengths.   A weak genetic make-up does not necessarily mean that you will have a short life.  If you live a lifestyle that provides the correct nutrition, sleep, exercise, stress control and spiritual growth you may live a relatively long life.

 

 

 

 

 

On the other hand we all know of people that have lived a riotous lifestyle.  They eat junk, they don’t exercise or sleep and they still live a long life.  They have been blessed with a great genetic make-up.  Their triangle of life looks more like this.

Obviously the person that lives to be a hundred or more has a very strong genetic make-up and has made wise health choices along the way.

You cannot choose the genetics you have but you can choose the lifestyle you lead.

It is important to understand your particular genetic glitches.  The best way to do this is to look at your ancestors.  Most of the time, you will see there is a pattern of disease and causes of death that will identify the weak system in your genetics.  You do not have to live with the weaknesses you have programmed into your DNA if you take care of your body’s needs.  You can make conscious efforts to make decisions for good health in all areas.  Then you can pay particular attention to caring for and providing the necessary materials to the system that is the weak link in your family’s genetics.  These decisions and activities will go a long way toward eliminating the power of this weakness to manifest in your health.  You could say that genetics loads the gun, but the lifestyle pulls the trigger.

The Continuum of Health

You were born and you will die.  Along the way there will be periods of time when you are feeling great and there will be periods of time when you not be feeling so great.  Your health will fall somewhere along the continuum of health.

The continuum looks something like this.

On the far left is perfect health and on the far right is death.  As you go through life your particular level of health will be somewhere along this line.  When you start to feeling fatigued and sluggish you level of health is getting closer to death.  You can improve your diet and possibly add a few supplements to provide for missing nutrients and your level of health will move closer to perfect health again.  The line that represents physiologic damage is very important.  As long as issues are addressed before physiologic damage has occurred your level of health can move significantly toward perfect health.  Once physiologic damage has occurred a part of your body has been destroyed and will not be available to contribute to optimal functioning.  Without the full use of all parts of your body you will not be able to reach optimal functioning ever again.

This graph represents the level of health during a lifetime.  When a baby is born, if lucky, there will be no physiologic damage but it is not at perfect health.  It will be developing along the way.  The immune system will be strengthened as it is exposed to disease and learn to fight it off.  It will be developing physically as it grows.  Hopefully mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects will develop as maturity is gained.

All aspects of a being need to be fully developed to have perfect health.   This includes physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual aspects of health. This is why someone in their early twenties with a beautiful, well developed body hasn’t reached optimal health yet.  During the prime of life, late twenties through the forties, all aspects of your health can be fully developed and contributing to optimal health.

Unfortunately in our society many people never get to enjoy anything close to optimal health.  Children pick their own meals from the advertisements they see on the TV.  They spend an inordinate amount of time in front of the TV, computer and video games so they are not physically fit.  Instead of developing a strong immune system naturally they are vaccinated with literally hundreds of vaccines when their immune system is tender and not yet strong enough to deal with all these insults at once.  Parents have been taught to suppress fevers and many other symptoms that represent the elimination of toxins.  Many reach adulthood already obese with diabetes, high blood pressure and in a state of decline.  Where once spiritual training was a part of most homes, now it is very sketchy.  Children don’t even have a chance of realizing optimal health.

Another aspect of our society is the advent of “miracle“ drugs and procedures.  When health starts to decline these are used to keep us going.  Many times they hide symptoms instead of providing necessary nutrients.  This causes the symptoms to go away but a new set will replace the old ones and health is getting steadily worse.  These drugs can keep us alive for years but the quality of life is greatly diminished for an extended period of time toward the end of life.

Just look at the number of rest homes, nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and home health care businesses that are all over the country.  The people they are caring for are extending the years they will live after living a lifestyle not conducive to great health, but they are not enjoying a great quality of life during these years.

Everyone that is born will eventually die.  I propose that if proper care is given to the growth and development of children, a healthy lifestyle during the prime years and during middle age, when a person has become elderly they can still enjoy a great quality of life clear to the end.

This type of life line is possible to attain.  There are people even today that live a full and vibrant life for a very long time.  If this is the type of life line you wish to have, steps need to be taken to get you to your optimal health and to keep you there for as long as possible.  Now is the time to learn about how to develop optimal health in all area of your life.  To be healthy does not mean that you have to live a restrictive life, but it does mean that you will have to make healthy choices as you go.

These choices include a moderate lifestyle where a diet can replenish the nutrients as they are needed, where exercise keeps the systems active and healthy, where plenty of sleep occurs so tissues can be rejuvenated, where stress can be used appropriately to help us accomplish our goals, where the mental, emotional and spiritual aspects of being are well fed, and where blockages to good health are removed.