In this article, we’re going to take a look at some of the most innovative inventions that are helping with recovery and improving our longevity.

Top New Innovations Boosting Longevity

1. Genetic therapies

The major key to unraveling the mystery of aging lies in the study of our genetics, and over the years, many breakthroughs have been made in genetic interventions like gene therapy and gene editing. These techniques focus on helping reverse the signs and effects of aging by repairing DNA damage and rejuvenating cells.

2. Senolytics

Ever heard of Senescence? This is the process of cells losing their ability to divide and function properly — it’s also a trademark of aging. While you’re unable to reverse this process at the moment, Senolytic therapies are geared toward targeting and eradicating senescent cells that contribute to inflammation and dysfunction to help delay the onset of age-related issues.

3. Anti-inflammatory therapies

One of the biggest contributors to ageing is inflammation. And with targeted anti-inflammatory therapies, we’re able to help alleviate chronic inflammation. When you visit a recovery and longevity center, you’ll have access to different protocols that have been designed to target inflammation.

Things like hyperbaric oxygen therapy, infrared saunas, and other strategies are becoming increasingly popular because of the way they’re helping people not only feel better but also look younger. Other therapies include lifestyle interventions and novel drug formulations.

4. Stem cell regeneration

Scientists and doctors have realized that the potential for regeneration lies within the tiny stem cells, and they might hold the key to the fountain of youth. But how does harnessing this regenerative power help people?

Well, researchers are finding promising evidence that suggests that stem cells can aid in replenishing damaged tissues and organs and can help effectively reverse the aging process at a cellular level.

5. Cryotherapy

Exposing yourself to extremely cold temperatures can help freeze the signs and effects of aging in its tracks. This practice is called cryotherapy and has been popularized in recent years by Iceman Wim Hoff. This therapy requires you to enter a whole-body cryotherapy chamber, which exposes your body to subzero temperatures to activate physiological responses that can help reduce inflammation, speed up recovery, and promote overall wellness, rejuvenation and age management. .

6. Wearable technology

Not all methods of achieving better health and longevity are complicated processes and treatments that you need to make appointments for, but some can be used every day in the form of wearable tech. We’re talking about fitness trackers and smartwatches, and once you start using one, you’ll start seeing the benefits.

While they might not actively affect your aging and recovery, these devices track your activity, vital signs, and sleep patterns and provide you with actionable insights. Acting on these prompts will encourage you to improve your overall wellbeing and help you age gracefully.

7. Immunotherapies

Looking after your immune system is a fast-track way to manage aging and your overall health. Immunotherapies aim to harness and enhance your immune function to combat diseases like cancer and age-related conditions.

8. Regenerative dentistry

There is a direct correlation between oral health and your overall health, and one innovative solution that is making waves in enhancing longevity is regenerative dentistry. Regenerative dentistry aims to restore oral health and functions by regenerating damaged dental tissue and improving tooth longevity using approaches like tissue engineering and stem cell-based therapies.

9. Hormone optimization

Hormones are vitally important for maintaining physiological equilibrium, and as soon as they start to act up, your body starts to experience health challenges. Through hormone replacement therapy (HRT) and other hormone optimization therapies, you can try to restore your hormonal balance and reduce age-related symptoms.

10. Cosmeceuticals

Cosmeceuticals is a revolutionary combination of cosmetics and pharmaceuticals. These innovative products have blown up on the market thanks to their anti-aging effects. It seems like almost every 20-something and up is using a vitamin C or collagen-boosting serum or some kind of anti-aging cream infused with peptides.

Summing Up

While we have yet to find the cure for aging, researchers have been hard at work developing these innovative products and treatments. They show a lot of promise in helping reduce and reverse the signs of aging, help with faster recovery and help maintain our health to enhance longevity and overall wellness. Remember to always consult with a medical professional before trying new treatments.

The post Top New Innovations Boosting Longevity appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Now, it can be really confusing when it comes to healthy habits because often, even qualified experts seem to hold opposing opinions sometimes. Yet, despite all the disagreements that exist among the medical community, a number of health tips are backed up by research.

For instance, to determine which healthy habits contribute to a longer and healthier life, researchers from the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health analysed data from nearly 73,000 women and more than 38,000 men. All the respondents who were part of the study have been enrolled in previous studies, so, data for women was followed for 34 years, and the men were followed for 28 years. The results of the study concluded that the more of these five healthy habits the respondents had, the longer they lived. Plus, the study suggests that even if they had only one of these habits, the participants lived two years longer compared to those that had none. And, if by the age of 50, the participants practised all of the five habits regularly, women lived an extra 14 years, and men lived an extra 12 years.

Here are five healthy habits based on good science that will help you live a longer, happier and healthier life.

5 healthy habits for a longer, healthier, happier life

1. Eat mostly plants

You’ve definitely heard it before, but that’s because it’s true: you are what you eat! Proper nutrition is the top wellness habit that contributes to a healthy and longer life. Now, good nutrition is often misunderstood by many people who think that following a fad diet is the key to maintaining good health. Yet, adequate nutrition actually means choosing only diverse nutrient-dense foods regularly.

Eating mostly plant-based foods such as freshly cooked vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains has been found to be the best diet for longevity.

Nutrition specialists recommend a healthy diet to contain the following: a full plate should be two-thirds low-glycemic vegetables, and maybe a small amount of starchy vegetables such as potatoes, corn, peas, etc., and one-third protein. On the flip note, you should avoid processed junk food at all costs. These foods are low in fiber, protein, and micronutrients and usually contain high levels of unhealthy ingredients such as added sugar and refined grains. Moreover, these foods are projected to trigger our pleasure centers, which tricks our brains into overeating. That is why we often see food addiction in people who eat junk food consistently.

2. Exercise regularly

Exercising is another key habit of maintaining a healthy life. It can help you avoid numerous health conditions, and it is essential for maintaining bone and muscle health. Now, you don’t have to be a fitness junkie or a superstar athlete to have a healthy physical activity level. In fact, the study from Harvard mentioned above, suggests that at least 30 minutes of moderate to vigorous activity every day can have a significant impact on keeping you healthy longer.

However, specialists recommend focusing on variety and diversity when exercising. To be more precise, when working out, you shouldn’t focus entirely on a type of movement or a muscle group. Experts believe that since the body doesn’t work in isolation, and every bone, muscle, and body part has its contribution to movement, the more varied the types of movement and stimuli in your body, the deeper the fitness will be.

So, when exercising, include all types of movements in your workout, including pushing, pulling, walking, and twisting.

3. Maintain the ideal body weight

Weight management is a wellness habit that is strongly backed up by basic science. Another study from Harvard suggests that maintaining a healthy weight is essential for lowering the risk of several health conditions, including heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and even the risk of different types of cancer. Now, weight management is obviously connected with regular exercising and healthy nutrition, especially since weight gain is caused not just by how much you eat but what you eat too. Yet, some people are also genetically predisposed to gain weight more easily than others. So, while being physically active and eating healthy foods remains important , they could try intermittent fasting as a way to lose weight.

4. Manage stress

Dealing with stress is inevitable. We all have stressful deadlines at work or personal problems that affect our mental health quality. Chronic stress can really take a toll on your health from affecting your sleep quality to affecting your immune system, physical health, and, obviously, mental and emotional wellbeing. Now, although it is impossible to live a completely stress-free life, there are a few strategies that can help you manage it. Unfortunately, even with a healthy diet and a habit of exercising regularly, you just can’t avoid stress. Yet, proper nutrition and being physically active can help you manage stress more efficiently.

Moreover, you can also learn to manage stress with mindfulness meditation. It is believed that meditation has plenty of benefits on the human body, from reducing blood pressure and heart rate to reduced brain activity, all thanks to the body’s response to relaxation. You don’t have to be a spiritual guru to manage stress through meditation. All you have to do is find a quiet space, close your eyes to disconnect from what surrounds you, and do some breathing exercises while gently focusing your attention on anything other than what caused you to feel stressed. You can think of a beautiful place where you feel safe, focus on your belly’s movements as you breathe, or even notice the sounds or smells in your environment without passing judgment. With time and practice, it will become a lot easier to manage stressful thoughts and get clarity. [Read How to ease into a daily routine of meditation]

5. Quit smoking now

Smoking is one of the worst habits. Every cigarette reduces your lifespan by 11 minutes. Studies have estimated that smokers die ten years sooner than non-smokers. The chance that someone will live to be 80 is only about 35% for smokers as compared to about 70% for nonsmokers. In other words, a smoker loses about 11 to 12 years of life compared to nonsmokers. Heavy smokers cut their lifespan by 13 years on average. On the other hand, those who kick the habit before age 40 reduce the excess risk of death associated with continued smoking by about 90%, according to the study in New England Journal of Medicine.

In conclusion

Our lifespan is strongly linked to our lifestyle and habits. You may live 100 years, but if you don’t enjoy good health, you are very unlikely to enjoy all this extra time. Indeed, you might actually spend your last decade or so suffering from one or more illnesses. Practising these five habits will not only help you live longer but also minimise the risks of disease as you grow older.

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Consider this simple equation: Long life + Good Health = Happiness

This is a simple self-explanatory equation and it is obvious that a long life fraught with health problems can only be a burden to us and our loved ones, which is why just longevity is not enough. Successful aging is the new mantra, which includes good health, independence and happiness. The pioneering study, “Successful Aging,” sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation, USA, found that while 30 per cent of aging depends on our genes, the balance 70 per cent is very much lifestyle-driven. This places a huge chunk of responsibility for our longevity, in our hands. Like a retirement fund, your deposits for longevity must start at a young age.

9-Point Plan to Healthy Aging

1. Watch what you eat

Most of the stuff we love eating is not necessarily good for us. While it is tough to remove all your favorite foods from your diet, it is easier to substitute them gradually with healthier alternatives. Simple food replacements can help you live a longer, healthier life according to Dr Maoshing Ni [popularly known as Dr Mao], anti-aging expert, doctor of Chinese medicine and best-selling author of Secrets of Longevity—Hundreds of Ways to Live to Be 100. Green tea for coffee, dried fruits and nuts for fried snacks, brown rice for white rice, fish for red meat, olive oil for butter, fruits for refined sweets and water for soda —  even these seven simple swaps can make a world of difference to your longevity quotient. Complex carbohydrates, protein from vegetarian or lean meat sources and healthy unsaturated fats are the key foods to focus on.

Start today: Have a cup of green tea instead of coffee

2. Reduce your overall calorie intake

A study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that, in overweight people, a reduction in daily calorie intake by up to 25 per cent led to a lower core body temperature and lower fasting insulin levels. The Mayo Clinic defines a calorie restriction [CR] diet for anti-aging as one that involves eating fewer calories than your body needs to maintain your normal weight — while still getting enough vitamins and other nutrients. Some of the ill effects of such a diet such as bone loss and reduced muscle mass can be combated by regular physical activity along with calcium and vitamin D supplements. Research also shows that lowering our calorie intake has a positive effect on our blood pressure, blood sugar, body fat percentage, cholesterol levels and body weight—all of which go towards enjoying a healthier life. Reduced calories slow down the metabolism, which possibly reduces the harmful free radicals produced by the body. Instead of randomly cutting down calories, consult a qualified nutritionist to chalk out a CR diet for you to ensure that the vital nutrients are not compromised.

Start today: Use a smaller sized plate to eat dinner.

3. Stay active

It’s never too late to include physical activity as a part of your daily routine. Anything that gets your heart rate up for 30 minutes a day can have numerous benefits starting from weight loss to physical agility and mental wellbeing. The effects of daily exercise on blood pressure, blood sugar and many other ailments are well known. A study published very recently in the British Medical Journal reports that “Increased physical activity in middle age is eventually followed by a reduction in mortality to the same level as seen among men with constantly high physical activity. This reduction is comparable with that associated with smoking cessation.”

Start today: Ditch the elevator for the stairs or chase your kid around the garden for 30 minutes.

4. Keep up your antioxidants supply

Cellular damage by free radicals is one of the major contributors to aging and illnesses. Antioxidants found in colored fruits and vegetables, red wine, tea and dark chocolate etc neutralize these free radicals. Micronutrients like vitamins A, C, E, selenium and zinc also have antioxidant properties. Research has shown that vitamin E reduces the risk of heart disease. Oxidative damage by free radicals is present in brains of patients with Alzheimer’s and age-associated degenerative diseases. Those over 80 years of age showed greater systemic oxidative stress and lower levels of antioxidants, such as vitamin C and vitamin E while a study of Italian centenarians showed that they had elevated blood levels of antioxidants.

Start today: Have a piece of dark chocolate or a small bowl of berries for dessert.

5. Nurture relationships

Happily married men live an average six years longer than the single guys. No surprises there as the women play a big role in pushing men to take good care of their health. Research at the University of California found that married men were 2.4 times more likely than unmarried men to take medical care, so that too adds years to life. Spend genuine quality time with your spouse. Don’t wait for Family Day or Mother’s Day to spend time with your parents/grandparents or close family. They are your best emotional support system and they won’t be around forever.

Make time for games and chatting sessions with old friends. Your siblings may be in different countries but technological advances leave you with no excuses for not being in touch.

Even spending quality time with your pet can de-stress you, leaving you happy and positive. Nurturing healthy relationships is indeed a soothing balm for the soul.

Start today: Switch off the TV and some spend quality time with your spouse/family this evening.

6. Take care of your skin

It’s not entirely vain to use moisturizers, sunscreens and get facials. Irrespective of your gender, having a healthy skin is a big confidence booster and looking good is a stepping-stone to feeling good. Besides, using a sunscreen along with protective clothing prevents sun-damage to the skin.

Excessive UV ray damage to skin, sallowness [sickly yellowish skin color], wrinkles and photo-aged skin conditions make it more prone to developing cancers.

Start today: Apply sunscreen half an hour before you step out.

7. Keep your mind active

Keep your mind ticking with stimulants like crossword puzzles, sudoku or chess. Sign up for classes in your free time, to learn something new, be it a language or a skill.

Neuropsychologist Yaakov Stern of Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons followed 1800 older adults for up to seven years and found that the more leisure activities they kept busy with, the lower was their risk of developing Alzheimer’s—even if it was just playing cards, visiting friends or watching movies. Besides these, aerobic exercise and an antioxidant rich diet also helps in keeping the brain razor sharp for many years to come.

De-stressing with a massage, regular weekend breaks, breathing exercises, laughing out loud and sleeping well can all keep stress from building up, leaving your mind in a peaceful, alert state.

Start today: Solve a crossword puzzle or play your favorite game online.

8. Insure and save

The worry of having to land up in a hospital for a health calamity and seeing your savings wiped off can cause enough stress to block an artery.

So get your health insured early on in life, where you have to pay a lesser premium to get maximum ailments covered, and renew it without fail each year. Don’t wait for health problems to develop before you insure yourself, or all your claims will get caught in the net of ‘pre-existing diseases’.

When you retire, a kilo of potatoes may well cost over 100 Rupees, so start saving today if you want to enjoy a financially independent old age. Even if you don’t want to leave a large inheritance for anyone, you can splurge on healthy food, health supplements, good health care services and go around the world in style with your savings.

Start today: Get your health insured today if you haven’t already and review some retirement saving plans

9. Don’t ignore health checkups and preventive medicine

We tend to overlook these for a variety of reasons—either because the insurance doesn’t cover it, or you hate the sight of blood, or you are of the opinion that ignorance is bliss. Think of it this way—it is easier to bring down your cholesterol levels today than getting a coronary bypass done 10 years down the line.

Most ailments, from cardiovascular to cancer if detected early, can be treated successfully. It has been seen that women are twice as likely as men to go for regular health checks and screening, and this is one of the reasons why they outlive the men. In fact, at age 100, female/male ratio is 8:1.

A physical examination with blood pressure and ECG, followed by some urine and blood tests is enough for a start. Depending on these test results, your doctor might recommend more specific tests, if required. While you are at it, schedule an appointment for a dental check up too.

Start today: Make an appointment for a health check up after consulting your family doctor.

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Eat enough, but not too much. Eat good food. The best diet is balanced; all food groups should be part of your daily meal plan. Your body’s engine will thank you for assuring the best fuel. You are what you eat, so if you seek to be your best, the first step is to assure that your protein, carbohydrate and fat are well distributed.

2. Dare to get your essential vitamins from your food and not from a bottle.

A sound, balanced diet provides all the necessary vitamins that your body chemistry requires. Remember, however, that taking a hundred times the necessary amount is simply wasteful and may be dangerous. Eating a balanced diet is a good vitamin insurance policy.

3. Dare to watch your salt intake.

Many people simply use salt before tasting. Too much salt in the diet causes fluid retention, thereby encouraging high blood pressure. Know too that a hot climate causes sweating, which means loss of salt. Some salt is good, but too much is a burden on your system.

4. Dare to consume enough calcium in your food.

Calcium is the most important mineral in the body. Without it, you would be a jellyfish. Your body contains three pounds [about 1.4kg] of calcium. The recommended daily intake is the equivalent of three glasses of milk. Many do not reach this ideal. Fish and green vegetables are notably alternative dietary sources of calcium. A chronic deficiency of calcium leads to weak bones, osteoporosis, and the human equivalent of a jellyfish.

5. Dare to stay wet.

Our bodies are mostly water so it makes compelling sense not to dry out as we age. A prune is not an attractive fruit. Water is the most available source of fluid, but these days more and more people derive their fluid allowance by using other liquids—coffee, tea, and soft drinks are everywhere. However, none of them is as valuable as plain water as a fluid replacement. Besides, other liquids may carry negative features. Do not dry out. Dare to drink water.

6. Dare to watch your alcohol intake.

Is alcohol a friend or a foe? I confess to a personal delight in my wine and beer ration. However, I am lucky because I am in control. Too many others are not. Alcohol has two strong negatives associated with its excessive use. First is a danger to the liver, which acts as a blotter to soak up this potentially dangerous chemical. The second and more dangerous concern is the harm alcohol causes to a person’s psychosocial development. Alcohol is never the answer to a problem; it makes many problems worse. Stay in control.

7. Dare to be an optimist.

My friend, Norman Cousins [American political journalist and author], insisted, “No one is smart enough to be a pessimist.” It is hard to have a really good day, if you view the world through dark glasses. If you say that today is going to be rotten then what chance does good fortune stand? If you say yes to each morning and to confronting issues, only then will it be a good day.

8. Dare to ask why.

What is your meaning? Are you only a lone voyager on a lonely planet or do you have a larger role in the cosmos? Everything and everyone matters. A poet observed, “You cannot touch a flower without just the troubling of a star”. We are all intimately interconnected, and this interaction compels each of us to find meaning in our lives. Why live, if not to matter? Oblivion is avoided, if we find meaning.

9. Dare to take risks.

The turtle only gets ahead by sticking its neck out. The same holds true for us. If we choose the ease and comfort of our constrained lives, then challenges go unmet and our potential languishes.

10. Dare to laugh.

Understanding the frequent absurdities of life helps to defy sickness and encourage smiles and laughter. A sense of humour is strong medicine, stronger certainly than most of the things that come in bottles. Laughter lightens the burdens of life and releases tension and depression.

11. Dare to touch.

Modern life is often dehumanising and with this comes the temptation to allow machines to take over. However, no machine can replace the reality of human touch.

12. Dare to believe.

Commitment overcomes the many negatives of life. Faith in yourself is much more important than unreasonable reliance on extrinsic agencies. As a physician, I see too many of my patients believe that I am going to take care of them. Wrong! They take care of themselves. I pledge all the help I can in this effort, but belief in self is the real healer.

13. Dare to be in flow.

My friend, Mike Csikszentmihaly, psychologist in California, has made life flow his concentration. He defines flow as that idealised state when the presenting task is met by appropriate competence. When a task is too much and is not met by competence, stress results. On the other hand, when a task is less than your competence flow, boredom follows. A person is in maximum flow state when competence and challenge are in good balance.

14. Dare to grow old with competence.

Don’t abandon the best years to fate. Stay in control. Only you can decide how long you will live, and more importantly, how well you will live long. My mother lived to be 95 years old. She died healthy without an illness, doctors, or pills. That is the ideal. Go to the finish line healthy and independent. Stay in the race until it is fully run.

15. Dare to die well.

Death is a certainty and no one has yet discovered how to deny it. Rather than letting this reality lead to a helpless, hopeless life scheme, place death in its natural context. Do not let the medical system rule your last moments. Stay in charge of your dying, as you insist on control of your living.

16. Dare to have a good health adviser, nurse, doctor or pharmacist.

Know whom to trust to answer your questions honourably and competently because there are far too many charlatans who pretend to be your trusted health advisers. You must work hard to know where to place your trust. When you need advice, don’t take the easy choice. Be informed about whom you can trust.

17. Dare to be smart.

Your brain is a muscle. It needs to be worked to stay sharp. Ageing is a not a disqualification for intelligence. In fact, it brings with it the responsibility to keep growing intellectually. Smart people live longer and better.

18. Dare to be wise.

Wisdom is a rare virtue. My friend Paul Baltes, former director of the famous Berlin Longevity Study said, “Not many old people are wise but all wise people are old.” This major claim derives from the fact that wisdom consists of accumulated knowledge, which is simply not available early in life. Most knowledge that is valuable derives from defeats, not from successes. An old person has lived long enough and had more defeats to confront. Wisdom is a late life credential.

19. Dare to work.

Idleness breeds decay. Nature has little tolerance for inactivity. Age is no disqualification for productive endeavour, if we maintain the conviction that added years provide work advantage. Who would you trust more, a young airplane pilot or an old one? Who would you trust more, a young banker or doctor or an old one? Remain useful.

20. Dare to remain fit.

Fit people live longer and better. Frailty is the principal pathology of ageing and a choice and not fate. If you retain your fitness, you can enter the last decades of life full of confidence and vigour. Fitness cannot be bought. It must be earned over and over. Earn it.

21. Dare to know how hard, how long, and how often to exercise.

Exercise must be an integral part of life, but our industrial age has made our muscles almost vestigial. To acknowledge this, we need an enlightened protocol to keep our muscles fit. Use them or lose them.

22. Dare to honour your heart.

Your heart is your life pump. Its job is to keep you vital, moving your blood to every remote part of your anatomy. The best tonic for the heart is exercise. Exercise is a 30 year age advantage. A fit 80-year-old has the same mechanical advantage for the heart as does an unfit 50 year old. What medicine can match that claim?

23. Dare not to lose it.

Too many people accept the notion that, “I don’t want to lose it, but it hurts too much to use it.” A little discomfort, often arthritic in origin, is frequently used as an excuse not to exercise. Wrong! Not exercising is not an option in late life. If something hurts, do something about it! But not exercising is absolutely out of the question.

24. Dare to deny depression.

Too often older people become gloomy. The answer is not the bed, but exercise. I’ve participated in studies that showed that the beta endorphins—our best antidepressants—are directly associated with movement. Depressed? Take a walk!

25. Dare to be 100.

100 healthy, robust, creative years are your birthright. Demand it. No excuses.

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In The Art of War, Chinese philosopher and strategist, Sun Tzu, said, “If you want peace, prepare for war.” Sun Tzu’s thought spread west to Rome over 2,000 years ago, and has been applied in military contexts in every century until modern times as “peace through strength”.

However, in relation to the prevention of disease, this concept has been internalised only in the East as “health through strength”. We can protect ourselves from the siege of sickness only by taking responsibility for strengthening ourselves, our personal fortresses, before the battle.

Thus, the way to prevent chronic diseases, or at least to lower your risk of getting them, is to keep two general principles of health in mind: lower your risk factors and increase your functionality.

Lowering risk factors

Your risk factors are:

• tobacco use
• unhealthy diet
• stress [including environmental stressors]
• alcohol abuse
• lack of physical exercise.

While almost every healthcare professional will agree that no tobacco use is the best use of tobacco as a preventive practice, it is beyond the scope of this article to prescribe what is the best diet for you, how much alcohol you should or should not consume, or exactly how much physical exercise you should get [although you probably need a lot more exercise than you are getting now].

Meanwhile, what is considered to be a harmful level of stress can vary from individual to individual, and stress takes many forms—physical, physiological and psychological. You will need to search more, in this magazine and elsewhere, for how to balance these risk factors into a lifestyle that is best for you.

Increasing our functionality

While getting more exercise is a way of reducing your risk of contracting chronic diseases, the concept of increasing your physical functionality goes beyond that, to performing important survival functions, to embrace the essence of life itself. Much of what we associate with old age and frailty is actually the result of disuse. As with, any skill or craft, we lose our ability and functionality without practice.

Thus, in life we must also move, with sustained effort to be able to keep on moving. After the age of 30, remaining functional requires approaching our bodies and our minds with a “use it or lose it” mentality. Disuse is not a survival option.

The words ‘health’ and ‘function’ are inseparable aspects of remaining physically and socially engaged in life. A healthy body is one that is working well. So too, a healthy intestine, leg, or brain are each an organ that performs its dedicated duties in the most functional fashion.

Endowed with more than we need

We are blessed with much redundant extra functions—we have two eyes, two ears, two lungs, two kidneys, two sex glands, when we really only need one to get by.

I can run a Marathon with one lung; I can excrete my waste material with one kidney, or overpopulate the world with one testicle. The Darwinian reason for this apparent excess of function stems from the fact that we do not simply live in the idle gear. The environment delivers constant challenges that force us to do more than merely “get by”. Hence, we have the survival imperative of “extra health” or “reserve health.”

In this regard, scientists have even found that pieces of the “junk DNA” in the human genome can turn themselves on under certain circumstances, as if they are there as a “rainy-day reserve,” to insure that we have the genetic capacity to adapt to a changed environment in the future, with completely new demands on our bodies.

Dynamics of usage and function

Consequently, our biological system is one of excess capacity, allowing us to surrender at least half of our original capacity with no apparent functional loss. At 60 per cent loss there is still no problem with any deterioration of function. However, when only 30 per cent of our original functionality is left, we start to have symptoms of shortness of breath or a pileup of waste materials, and we develop chronic diseases.

With another 10 per cent debit from of our 100 per cent, we are brought down to 20 per cent of our starting total. This means either a profound loss of function, or death. But we do not die in our sleep from old age; we die from lack of function. This is, therefore, a good-news/bad-news story, as with a bank account. When you have extra cash in the bank, you can be a big spender. But when your balance declines below your debts, you become bankrupt.

However, if we increase our physical strength and our aerobic capacity, we can gain the extra margin needed to remain healthy and functional until at least age 100. The extra fitness margin that we accumulate makes all the difference when it comes to handling the next debt—that next stress or challenge—be it running up the stairs, lifting a child, avoiding the flu, or sleeping through another night.

The vast majority of medical encounters and expenditures are in this narrow 20 – 30 per cent margin of our starting function. Prevention involves making the efforts to remain as far above this level as possible.

Enhanced function facilitates prevention

Thus, one of the two main principles of prevention is to preserve and enhance function. This is accomplished by good preventive maintenance, thereby avoiding the trouble and expense of being sick. Health, and the extra margin afforded us by increased fitness, trumps illness by any possible measure.

Western Medicine spends all its intellectual and fiscal capital in trying to repair the damage or loss of function. Eastern medicine places its emphasis on retaining health and function.

Health and the whole

Aristotle observed the truth, “Man is by nature a social animal.” As such, our social life determines our health, as, in turn, our health determines our ability to have a social life.

In the Eastern concept of health, remaining socially engaged is an integral part of our health, harking back to the root word of “health,” in the Proto-Indo-European word kailo, meaning “whole.”

Thus, the Eastern concept of being in good health means to be in balance with one’s entire environment, to remain whole, physically, spiritually and socially. No matter what our age, our physical and psychological wellbeing also depends on us remaining socially engaged, doing things that we are passionate about and interacting with others.

This prevents loneliness and boredom, and increases our general feeling of wellbeing. It also increases the flow of endorphins, which boosts our immune system.

The path to complete wellbeing

To maintain our psychological wellbeing and in turn physical wellbeing, each of us must find our path to what renowned psychologist Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, wrote about in many articles and books, including Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

Csikszentmihali’s studies have shown that people are happiest when they are extremely focused on an all-absorbing task that is difficult enough to be challenging, but not so easy as to instil apathy. Great athletes are said to be “in the zone” when they are in a state of flow.

What they do is a result of thousands of hours of training and experience, to be “naturally” in a state of peak performance. In this regard, American mythologist Joseph Campbell had one mandate for life and the prevention of illness, “Follow your bliss.”

If we cannot find our bliss or flow at work or at home, we can often find it in our hobbies or in volunteer work, or in amateur activities [the things we do, by definition, for our love of them] in a path that can help us fulfil our interests and our passions, to realise our human potential.

Thus, the path to prevention of disease is the same as the way to complete wellbeing.

An integrated approach

For millennia, the East and the West have followed divergent maps to guide them in their practice of medicine—preventing and treating disease. The difference between the two approaches extends far beyond the physical territories demarcated by their geography and languages. The East and the West have been guided by vastly different mental constructs of the concepts of medicine and health. The West has illuminated components and events as integral landmarks of its territory, while Eastern medicine has highlighted systems and processes as fundamental focal points of its provinces.

» The East focuses on the whole

In Eastern Medicine, the main focus is on life-energy, or Qi [also called chi, prana, and life force]. Eastern medicine defines health as a state of wellbeing, in which the Qi is the invisible essence of life, maintaining itself in harmonic equilibrium with its environment, through the balancing forces of Yin and Yang. The Eastern approach has embraced the principle of emergence, insisting that the whole is much more than just the sum of its parts. In this formulation 1 + 1 = 3, the final result of the energy forces emerging in a non-reductionist response to inputs, as extolled by the spirits of Aristotle and Confucius.

Huang Di, China’s legendary Yellow Emperor, who reigned from about 2,697 BC to 2,597 BC, is credited as the founder of traditional Chinese Medicine. He emphasised prevention as the best way to ensure that one remained in a state of good health. One of his more-profound expressions in this regard is, “To fight a disease after it has occurred is like trying to dig a well when one is thirsty or forging a weapon once a war has begun.”

Eastern medicine uses ancient techniques and is high on touch. It carefully looks at changes in the patient, palpating and touching, listening, asking questions, smelling, and using the senses to locate and treat subtle changes, taking in the entire body, in all its complexity, as a whole system.

» The West concentrates on the parts

Western Medicine has taken a different approach to medicine, defining health as “the absence of disease, pain, defect, or symptoms of illness.” The West has no holistic theory of health. Instead, Western medicine has emphasised reductionism as its primary scientific methodology, by taking the body apart, breaking it into ever-smaller units. The Western approach has yielded the genome and molecular probes. Yet, these do not show us how to live better or to prevent illnesses.

In regard to disease, the Western orthodoxy has centred on the extrinsic agencies; throughout the West’s recent history, the major threats to human health were thought to be the by-products of adverse encounters with external hostile threats. Technological advances have allowed Western Medicine to address and redress countless states of illness that were unapproachable just a few decades ago. The conventions of Western Medicine yield quantitative metrics derived from empirical experimentation, with the dominant mantra being evidence-based medicine. Western medicine is high-tech and low-touch.

Western Medicine has had ‘disease’ as its primary compass setting while the East has steered towards ‘health’

» The key difference

Underlying all of the important divergences between the continents is the fact that Western Medicine has had ‘disease’ as its primary compass setting while the East has steered towards ‘health’. Thus, the West has pointed to what makes us sick, while the East has been guided towards what keeps us well.

» Opening up to the Eastern way

At the beginning of the 20th century, eight of the top 10 causes of death were infectious diseases. Since then, Western medicine has largely eliminated these. At the beginning of the 21st century, those eight leading causes of death have been replaced by chronic diseases. Unfortunately, these diseases cannot be eradicated, as smallpox was in 1978, or banished by a pill or medical intervention. Indeed the causes of these diseases emanate largely from our lifestyle and our man-made environment.

As healthcare costs accelerate in the West at unsustainable rates, carving out a larger share of the total economy, the West is starting to realise that it cannot rely on expensive new technological interventions to solve all of its healthcare needs. The West is slowly recognising that the progressive dissection of the body into its finer parts is insufficiently relevant to the concept of health. This is particularly evidenced by the two epidemics of ageing and type-2 diabetes. These two conditions affect East and West alike. But their adequate treatment is more in accord with the Eastern medical model with its approach toward treating the whole person.

Ageing and type-2 diabetes are not conditions that lend themselves to cure and repair, but they present magnificent opportunities for prevention. The operational tools in Western medicine’s black bag are pharmaceutical and surgical interventions. But these two tools are simply not relevant to ageing or diabetes.

In the West, the issue of prevention has only recently been presented as a health-determining agent, though less than five per cent of the West’s healthcare spending is currently allocated toward prevention. According to the WHO, chronic disease accounts for at least 60 per cent of all deaths. The WHO reports that most of these diseases are preventable, or their onset can be considerably delayed. The prevention of these diseases is not only cheaper, but is far more preferable than curing them after the fact. Addressing this point, American physician Oliver Wendell Holmes said, “To guard is better than to heal—the shield is nobler than the spear!” The insistence of the West on repair, with its obvious financial implications, cannot resolve the current and increasing challenge that medicine faces. It inevitably must look to the East for answers.

» What took West so much time?

Though the Eastern preventive approach to Medicine dominates good sense, why does the West emphasise repair instead of prevention? It is because repair pays well, while prevention does not. Zimmerman’s Law asserts, “Nobody notices when things go right.” Such a perverse reality is now coming under increasing scrutiny as the costs of Western healthcare [read illness care] begin to threaten the fiscal solvency of the nations that have embraced the repair model of Medicine. The West has started to look to the East for an alternative solution.

» A broader view

At the end of World War II, the United Nations was already taking a broader view of health than most medical doctors in the West. It was looking East and West to insure global health. The World Health Organization [WHO] was formally launched in 1948, with its definition of health as follows:

“Health is a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity.”—Signed by representative of 61 nation-states in 1946. Entered into force by the World Health Organization, April 7, 1948 [Not amended to date].

The WHO saw global peace and global health as integral parts of its goal, since war was seen as a disruptor of social wellbeing, and therefore of health. Thus, while wars and diseases continue, the United Nation and the WHO have tried to have fewer of them, and to alleviate their impact, largely through efforts of prevention.

» The choice is ours

Fortunately, on a global scale, medical science is slowly maturing sufficiently to provide a rigorous, more inclusive, science of health. Health is no longer a bland platitude, but a firm format. Health is not simply the absence of disease but a physical state of specified content. The determinants of lifelong health are not to be found in hospitals or pharmacies, but in our everyday lifestyles. We must either select health or illness. We can either deliberately select the path to health or neglect it—it is our choice.

The ancient precepts of self-knowledge and moderation in all things have been rediscovered, uniting the East and the West. The future will decree how effective we will be in the integration and broadening of our curriculum for health. We must reduce the harmful risks to our health, while taking personal responsibility for preserving and increasing our functionality—physically, physiologically, socially, and even spiritually.

» Welcome World Medicine

Now that the notion of East-West convergence is gathering momentum, a major ideological gulf no longer separates the two. The mysterious and elusive Qi, drives both systems, and will ultimately provide the paradigm shift that will unite us. No longer can we afford to have just Eastern Medicine or Western Medicine as separate practices. The ultimate approach unites them into the notion of World Medicine, as envisioned in part by the WHO.

This approach is gradually capturing the hearts and minds of the medical fraternity across the globe. Instead of the highly-restricted, reductionist emphasis on disease, as I experienced in my years as a medical student 50 years ago—and was the prevalent Western attitude even 10 years ago—World Medicine promises a much more holistic approach, with broader horizons.

As the hemispheres and continents connect by building bridges and isthmuses, the universal hope for world peace and world health will inevitably come closer to realisation under the rubric of prevention. In this process, we must banish health illiteracy wherever it exists, since it is inconsistent with the concepts of prevention and world health.

Enlightenment and enrichment remain for us all, as new hope for health and the prevention of disease arise from convergence.

The post The prevention mindset appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Aerobics improves your oxygen levels

Yes, we can retrain our bodies at any age and at any stage in life to use oxygen better, just by doing aerobic exercise. Other good forms of exercise such as yoga or weight lifting provide their benefits by improving muscle strength, balance, and flexibility, but their design doesn’t generate the increase in total body exertion needed to open all the tubes and allow greater oxygen transport.

Aerobic exercise is absolutely necessary to make meaningful improvements in your VO2 Max levels [Ed: our body’s maximum ability to absorb and transport oxygen. For more on this read box]. Aerobic exercise means doing a routine that gets your heart rate up for a prolonged period of time, with activities such as jogging, running, or swimming, bike riding or taking a brisk walk.

How much should you exercise

The amount of rhythmic-sustained exercise necessary to improve the VO2 Max value is, at a minimum, three half-hour periods per week. Four sessions are better; five sessions, best. The exercise must be of sufficient intensity to increase the pulse rate to 70 per cent of your heart’s maximum rate.

You can calculate your personal maximum heart rate by taking the number 220 and then subtracting your age from it. To then get the minimum heart rate training level necessary to improve your VO2 Max level, you multiply your maximum heat rate by 0.7 [70 per cent].

Thus, according to this formula, if your are 30 years old, the formula is: [220 – 30] x 0.70 = 133 heart beats per minute [BPM] exercise level for 30 minutes a day for 3 – 5 days per week. If you are age 50, the minimal heartbeat level to exercise is at 116 BPM, at age 60, 112, at age 80, 90 BPM, and so on.

After sustained aerobic training, you will notice VO2 Max improvements expressed through what you do in everyday life. For example, you will not be easily winded doing simple tasks such as dashing across a busy street to beat a traffic light, or by running up a flight of stairs.

It’s possible at any age

Eminent USC scientist Herbert DeVries took a group of unfit 70-year-olds and showed that they still had the ability to train and increase their VO2 Max. After six weeks of training, their VO2 Max values improved dramatically.

However, proof of the oxygen story derives from the critical research work of Stanford-trained Steven Blair. Surveying the VO2 Max fitness levels of over 10,000 men over a period of years at the Institute for Aerobics Research in Dallas, Texas, Steven Blair showed that fit people had an extremely strong survival advantage. In his article, Physical Fitness and All-Cause Mortality, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association [JAMA] in 1989, he showed some striking perspectives on the role of aerobic fitness in our mortality rates.

Fitness matters most after age 60

The advantage of fitness was not particularly notable until 60 years of age. Causes of death before age 60 were not clearly related to physical fitness. However, after age 60, the participants’ survival rates were closely related to their fitness levels.

Aerobically-fit participants had lower mortality rates from cancer, cardiovascular diseases, and other causes of death. Thus, they had better overall survival rates. A more-recent study from Dr Blair’s group in 2007 looked at 4,060 men and women over the age of 60 for an average observation period of 13.6 years. During this time, 989 members of the group died. However, the fittest portion of the group had only one-third of mortality rate of the least fit. As the percentage of older people in the world population age creeps upward, it is critical to assess those vital predictors of how we will age. Fitness, especially aerobic fitness, is a major key indicator.

The post Young at 60 appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

You are a chemical engineer by qualification. What made you change tracks to become writer-editor of children’s illustrated books? How has the experience been?

I love children and I wanted them to be acquainted with the cultural heritage of India. Thus, I started writing and editing Amar Chitra Katha and then Tinkle. The experience has been pleasurable. There is joy in writing for children and attending to their imaginary complaints. [He laughs]. I still receive 4,000 to 5,000 letters from children every month. And I love reading them.

Is being with children a therapy to feeling young and energetic?

Definitely; I do feel energetic in the midst of children. Often, I forget myself when I am talking or relating stories to them.

Do you think there is a connection between diet, attitude and longevity? What has been your experience?

Yes, certainly. Food is what makes a person healthy. If you are tensed, your stomach, duodenum and intestines release chemicals in response to this feeling. Secretion of plenty of gastric juice makes your stomach acidic. It may result in constipation or cause pain. There is a hormonal balance in your body which is maintained by glands called pituitary [main gland], thyroid and parathyroid gland near your neck.

Our emotions affect the levels of these hormones. If you eat lot of sugar and sweets, it may lead to diabetes. Eating spicy and hot food, may affect the pressure in your stomach. This can cause many complications.

What is the secret of your wellbeing?

The Bible gives the age of man as three score and ten. Whatever you get more than that is a bonus [he laughs again].

When I was a child, I had the habit of eating fast. I recall what my grandmother had told me then. She would say: Kalidasa said ‘Hita Bhuk [eat what is good], Mita Bhuk [eat little] and Kala Bhuk [eat at regular times].’ I follow this dictum even today. I eat little and avoid eating fried stuff. Also, I have been taking morning walks for the past 25 years. Of course, now I walk less than I used to before.

Further, I do not lose my temper easily and keep my cool whenever I am faced with problems or difficult circumstances. Perhaps, these are the reasons why I have not had any major sickness or chronic health problems till now.

How do you manage to keep your cool when you are faced with problems? How does it help to stay healthy?

Just as easily as others, I too find it difficult to keep my cool when I am faced with problems. Almost all human beings rue over words said or actions performed. I also tend to do something similar. But I immediately recall words of Kabir, “Beeti tahi bisarake age ki sudhi leye” [forget the past and move on]. Harivansh Rai Bachchan too has composed a long poem expressing at the end of each stanza, “What is done is done.” [Beet gayi so bath gayi]

“Look at the skies, from where stars fall away [Poetic license]. The sky does not cry over stars that have parted company. Look at the gardens. The buds ripen and then fall down on earth. The plants do not cry about this. This little pots sometimes fall down and break apart. But no one cries over broken mud pots.”

Can you elaborate on Kalidasa’s dictum ‘Hita Bhuk [eat what is good], Mita Bhuk [eat little] and Kala Bhuk‘? How has it helped you?

Let me tell you at the outset—Kalidasa has never said a word of advice on good health. To impress me and her other grandchildren, my grandma just added some flavour of her own to persuade us. Follow this and you will remain healthy.

Please give some advice to our readers for a long, healthy and happy life.

For a healthy and happy life, remember Kalidasa’s words: be moderate in your eating, in your exercises; do not get angry as it affects your memory. Krishna says in the Gita: When you are deeply attached to a person or object, you feel angry with the person who takes away [or threatens to take away] what you like. Anger leads to confusion and confusion leads to loss of memory.

When it rains heavily, water pours down from the sky. Water, which does not accept the two restraints we call banks, leads to floods and a lot of destruction. Therefore, self-control is good for you.

The post Uncle Pai: I do not lose my temper easily appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

Take care of your body

The following tips can help your body function at its optimum.

Eat well. Your body is made out of the foods you eat…literally. Depending on your activity level, 6 to 8 months from now, nearly 100 per cent of the cells that make up your body will have regenerated. It’s important to remember that these new cells will actually be created from what you eat between now and then.

If you want a stronger, leaner, and healthier body, you need to eat foods that will create this reality. You need to lay off the candies, sodas and alcoholic drinks, and start eating those things that you already know are good for you.

The University of Michigan recommends a daily diet consisting of: 8 to 12 glasses of water, 4 to 11 servings of whole grains, 1 to 3 servings of legumes, 3 to 9 servings of healthy fats [such as nuts, seeds, and some vegetable oils], and 1 to 4 servings of lean meats and fish on a weekly basis. What’s more, it also suggests eating mindfully: truly savouring each bite of food so that you enjoy and focus on what you are eating.

Include dietary supplements. Is it possible to get all the essential nutrients you require from food? Perhaps, but only if we eat a wide array of organic fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes on a daily basis. Not to point fingers, but chances are that we don’t. Vitamin and mineral supplementation can help make up the difference.

This is a ‘pay now or pay later’ situation. Either you regularly buy and take nutritional supplements now, increasing your health and wellbeing and preventing potential illnesses. Or, you pay later by falling sick.

Tip: To find out which health–preserving nutritional supplements suit you, consult a trained nutrition consultant.

Exercise often. The human body was created to move. Research suggests that even modest amounts of exercise can substantially reduce a person’s chance of dying of heart disease, cancer and other disease. It also increases self-confidence, overall wellbeing and slows down ageing. You don’t have to spend hours everyday at a gym or on a treadmill to reap the benefits of exercise. To move quickly from being out-of-shape to top fitness, simply walk.

Brisk walking for 30 – 60 minutes a day is all it takes [‘Briskly’ means that the walk should be at a fast but not uncomfortable pace]. Among other benefits, brisk walking improves cardiovascular fitness and blood circulation, reduces cholesterol, and lowers the risk of heart attack and high blood pressure.

Mind your mind

Good health isn’t necessarily just a physical concern. A strong and active mind certainly plays its part. After all, can a physically-fit person really claim to be radiantly healthy, if s/he is chronically depressed, anxious or stressed?

Here are a few suggestions for treating your mind right and helping you lead a long and healthy life.

Make time to relax. Not only does stress sap your energy, negatively affect your immune system and lead to chronic physical problems, but it also steals your attention, exhausts your inner reserves, and keeps you involved in negative thought patterns.

Stress may be hard to dodge in this fast-moving world, but you can take steps to relax and recover each day. One important rule is to allow yourself at least 10 minutes between stressful tasks, whether at home or work. This gives your mind an opportunity to unwind before you get into another potentially stressful endeavour.

During these 10 minutes, try gentle or deep breathing techniques, muscle relaxation exercises, visualisation, stretching or any combination of the above. The more often you take time to relax, the better you will get at it and the better it will work for you.

Laugh out loud. Read funny books, watch movies or television shows that make you laugh, share funny stories or jokes with good friends, or even “fake it until you make it” by forcing yourself to laugh. Laughing is a powerful stress-buster that helps relax the mind. Research shows that it gives the immune system a boost and reduces the levels of stress hormones that lead to premature ageing.

Deep laughter—straight from the belly—can have a truly cathartic effect, releasing pent-up emotions and frustrations. It can also serve as a distraction from feelings of anger, guilt or stress. Studies have also shown that laughter improves creativity, thinking ability, problem-solving, memory, recall and learning.

Challenge yourself. While physical exercise is certainly good for the brain [as it maintains blood flow and helps prevent the death of brain cells], mental exercise is just as important. It takes some effort to build a strong mind, but the results are certainly worth the exertion. Research is continually uncovering the relationship between an active mind and reduced risk of several debilitating conditions including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. A lifetime of mental activity is the best protection against mental decline in old age. However, it’s never too late to put your mind to use. Simple and fun things like crossword puzzles and number games such as the recently popular ‘Sudoku’ help keep a mind sharp.

For more adventurous people, studying a foreign language and learning a musical instrument have proven effective in keeping the mind healthy and active.

Stretch your spirit

Holistic health involves not only the body and mind, but the spirit as well. We are more than our physical body, thoughts, and feelings. We are also spiritual beings. Refining your spiritual energies helps improve your health and relationships, as well as your outlook.

Here are some ideas for encouraging spiritual growth and health.

Discover your inner landscape. Do you know who you really are? It’s common to set up a mental list of what you like, what you don’t, what your strengths and weaknesses are, and how you think life is meant to unfold for you. What if there is more to you than you give yourself credit?

Spiritual teachers have always encouraged plumbing the depths of our inner selves. Engaging regularly in practices such as meditation, journaling, and visual and kinesthetic arts can unlock parts of you that you didn’t even know existed. Truer understanding of yourself, the more freely you can live your life.

Encourage connection. It’s very easy to live a solitary life. In an age of unprecedented global communications, it’s ironic that people are feeling increasingly lonely. Mystics and scientists alike have confirmed that we are intrinsically connected to everyone around us in a variety of ways, from the energetic and subatomic, to larger relations involving cultures and societies. Honouring and valuing the connection you have with those around you, can help create happiness in your own life and in the life of others. When you share time, thoughts, hopes, dreams, heartbreaks and joys with the people you care about, you open yourself to a rich world of relationships. Whether sharing deeply and intimately with a partner or spouse, or building community with others of similar mindset and values, you gain an opportunity to experience the fullness and vibrant energy of love that comes from being part of something larger than yourself.

Serve others. Give your time and energy to causes that you believe can deepen your sense of self-worth, broaden your faith and understanding of humanity, and energise your own spiritual growth. However, it’s important to serve for the right reasons. Serving others because you think you should or because you feel obligated to will only drain and exhaust you. Authentic service, on the other hand, is a natural human tendency.

We are hardwired to spontaneously feel drawn to do service that engages our hearts and minds. This kind of service, a natural outpouring of the human heart manifest in the work of our hands, actually nourishes the one who is giving as much as those receiving.

The post Lifelong habits appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

— Buddha [563-483 BC]

May you have a long life is the most common blessing given by our elders and well wishers. Who wouldn’t want to live to a ripe old age, but who would want to grow into an over-ripe fruit up to no good? Growing old is inevitable, but getting worn-out is optional.

Ageing gets fast forwarded by eating the wrong foods, lack of exercise, stress, unhappiness, and lack of sleep. Here are some of the things you can do to postpone ageing.

Work out, stay fitter

Regular exercise keeps the heart ticking, prevents Type-2 diabetes, maintains and builds muscle mass, keeps up energy levels, and also elevates mood in a big way. It has been found that moderate low-impact exercise is the best solution to a long life. Small lifestyle changes like walking/cycling to your nearby destinations for chores, taking stairs, doing household chores, and gardening can go a long way towards prolonging your life. This is what Buettner calls “deconveniencing your home”!

Gardening is one of the few ways of getting exercise in a pleasurable way. It helps develop a nurturing attitude towards nature. Plus, being out in the sun gives a good dose of vitamin D. The benefit of reaping fresh produce from your own garden is quite unbeatable.

Yoga has been propounded as a tool for longevity since centuries. It is low on impact, but high on strengthening the muscles and ligaments, leading to more flexibility as we age. A loss of muscle mass, accompanied by a gain in fat mass, occurs with ageing. Yoga is great for longevity because it strengthens the muscles and ligaments that surround bones and joints without putting pressure on them. Movements become more fluid and less stiff overtime.

T’ai Chi, the Chinese art of choreographed meditative exercises, has been around for centuries. It is not only enjoyable, but also can be performed at any age. When practised for 30 minutes, thrice a week, it helps improve energy and balance, strengthen immunity, reduce stress, better sleep, and keep the body flexible.

Eat better, live longer

There’s plenty of truth in this old adage — “We dig our graves with our teeth.” We are what we eat, so it is no surprise that our diet plays a vital role in how we age. A research done on the centenarians in Japan and China revealed that they ate mostly fish, vegetables, mushrooms, seaweed, corn, buckwheat, and hardly any meat. Scientists have proven the health benefits of eating a plant-rich, meat-free diet. These geriatrics rarely suffered from heart or liver disease, cancer or degenerative diseases.

Dan Buettner [author of The Blue Zones, a book on longevity] recommends that you donate all the large plates in your kitchen and replace them with smaller plates. This will automatically reduce calorie intake by 30 per cent at least at dinner times.

Eating locally produced organic food is an added advantage. Sardinians swear by red wine as one of the aids to defy ageing, given that red wine is rich in antioxidants, it might as well be true. Drinking enough pure water through the day is also an important part of keeping cells healthy. Herbs and spices like turmeric, ginger, garlic, and pepper have several disease-preventing properties that one could benefit from.

Here are some foods that will help you lead a long healthy life:
• Whole grains reduce risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity and some cancers [whole wheat flour, ragi, oatmeal, jowar, bajra, cracked wheat, buckwheat, and cornmeal]
• Calcium-rich dairy foods prevent osteoporosis [low-fat milk, dahi, low-fat paneer, and cheese]
• Protein from beans and lean meats result in stronger muscles and improved metabolism [dried beans, nuts, and fish]
• Fruits provide antioxidants and a variety of vitamins [choose a variety of colours]
• Vegetables help reduce the risk of some chronic diseases by providing vital nutrients [green leafy, orange coloured and starchy vegetables].

Grow older, think sharper

Age brings along senility, memory loss, and Alzheimer’s. These can be delayed or prevented altogether. Daily brain workouts like puzzles, chess and sudoku, and a diet rich in essential amino acids, omega-3 and vitamins ensure that you have a razor sharp brain for many years to come.

The following list of foods will keep your brain buzzing for long:
• Omega-3 rich fish: Salmon, mackerel and sardines
• Nuts and seeds: They are rich in omega-3 and protein
• Antioxidant-rich foods: Berries and green tea [2 cups a day]
• Choline-rich food: Cruciferous vegetables [cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli], eggs, peanuts, and rajma
• Monounsaturated fats: Olive oil, peanuts, sesame oil, flaxseeds and fish oil
• Microalgae: Spirulina and seaweed.

Beat stress, live lighter

Follow these simple steps to de-stress.

• Bond with family and friends
• Cut out stimulants like caffeine
• Cultivate a hobby and join a hobby group
• De-clutter with a passion. Give away anything that you haven’t used for six months
• Keep free slots in your daily planner for relaxation, or doing what makes you happy, including doing nothing
• Laugh like a child
• Give importance to a good night’s sleep
• Get a pet. A pet dog can bring you much happiness.

To live a long life full of vitality, you can start at any point, making small changes one at a time to improve for the better. Pursue longevity with a passion, and you will realise that it is not some elusive Holy Grail, but something very much attainable.

The post Zest for life appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.

All these people are living fully and wholeheartedly in the present. They’re so utterly engrossed in what they’re doing. It’s a kind of meditation. Whether it is nuns ardently praying in a church, or a team striving to win a game, it is all love of what they are doing. Wise men have always told us that it is love, and love alone, that makes the world go round.

So how does one fall in love? Does it have anything to do with the heart beating faster? Is it what describes Baba Amte’s sentiments towards the marginalised? Is it what the soldier feels for his country? It’s all of these and more. It’s a blend of the use of heart and brain. It is a pure emotion.

A couple I knew perished in a road accident when their three children were in primary school. The maternal grandmother and a spinster aunt took over their upbringing. They struggled to educate them, get them married, and looked after the next generation of babies too. It was no wonder that both died healthy octogenarians. Every waking moment of their lives, they were thinking of the welfare of others, not themselves. Their unblemished caring and unselfish routine had dispelled grief and despondency.

A widower in our neighbourhood was bereft and forlorn when his children opted to leave the country for better prospects. He couldn’t stop them, nor did he want to go with them. A chance meeting with an errant teenager led him to help the latter with his math lessons. The man was a corporate person, familiar with presentations, budgets and targets, not teaching dawdling, lanky adolescents. Nothing had prepared him for the deep satisfaction he got when his “ward” surprised all by getting a first division. Our gentleman was drawn into the world of education mid-life, and he was permanently hooked. Today, his drawing room is scattered with text books, scribbled papers, pencils—all signs of love. It has been 12 years since he began, and he’s never felt as energetic ever before, he claims. He is in “love” with his new vocation, cheerful and invigorated.

Love has no restrictions

From Meerabai to Mother Teresa to M F Hussain, people have claimed repeatedly that there’s something about “love” that makes the heart tick and the brain become alive. Essays have been written on love, and its effect on general health. Forget statistics, just looking around and noting old people is enough. The ones who have someone to love and who are loved, live longer, happier lives.

So what’s the trick? How does one love? Like most good things, it is a habit. Make friends with a stray pup, feed it, cuddle it day after day, and see what it does to your morale. It is something you can’t measure, but it’ll make a difference to your life. It’ll make you feel rich. You’ll miss movies and not mind it. You’ll make sure you get out on time because you know, somewhere out on the road, he’ll be waiting for you. Unknowingly, you’ll fall in love with the little fellow darn. It’ll give you a reason to live, something to look forward to.

Love grows with time and love means giving plenty of time and effort. People working in NGOs often remark that they “enjoy” their work. Such people rarely retire from what they’re doing. Doctors who follow-up with their patients well after they’ve healed, teachers who keep track of weak students outside school hours, grandparents who stay up to give “company” to whoever at home is working late, loyal peons who will not leave until the last employee has left the office, all display a degree of love. Ever thought why this feels good? Because this love is given unsolicited, with no expectations whatsoever. And it’s given generously, unselfishly. It can’t be bought. It takes your mind off your own self and misery, and forces you to concentrate on the happier, more positive aspects of life.

A positive change

It goes without saying that the most valuable love of all comes from within the family or from people close to it. The smell of my elderly uncle still lingers in my memory. A voice from the past makes people swivel in delight no matter where they are. The feel of a hug, the sight of a familiar, beloved face, makes you all excited and young. When this happens often enough, general health improves.

A sense of belonging, security, and wellbeing sets in. There’s a positive change in the quality and length of life.

How does one know whom they love most, besides spouse or lover? It is not necessarily the person one turns to in times of grief, for that could be the closest available person, but it is the one who is instinctively thought of when good news has to be shared. Who did you call when you passed an important exam? Who did you go to when you wanted to spill the beans of your latest romance? Who did you turn to when you wanted to share the prize you won for the Radio Quiz? Whose email do you open first? Those are the ones you care for, who care for you. Let them know it. If you can’t say the three little words, show it by cooking, waiting, sending newsy letters, or just being there with a smile. It takes time, but works like magic.

Write down the names of those you love. The time to do it is now. The place to do it is wherever you are. The one who will benefit most is you.

Happy loving!

The post Love, to live longer appeared first on Complete Wellbeing.