I am Planning to Live Well (to Age 90+)

It may be a hard goal to achieve, but I am taking steps now to live to 90+, retaining a good quality of life along the way.

I am heartened by my dear grandpapa who is nearly ninety seven and only recently started to struggle with his body wearing out.  He smoked for 20 years (started as a soldier in WW II), did not exercise much, did not eat healthful food, was the primary caregiver at the end for his wife of 60+ years and has had a heart condition for decades.  All this and yet he has been relatively comfortable during his nineties, still doing the daily Newsday crossword puzzle until only the last few years.  An excellent result without even half trying.

Although I more than half way to ninety now, I am taking big steps to give myself the best four decades I have left on this planet.  Toward this end -- and I finally arrive at the theme of this blog -- to eat proper food, in proper quantity and when necessary to vary the diet to bolster certain health subsystems, all in concert with a physical and spiritual regimen that works with nature, not in opposition to it.

I have been a proponent of 'science' and 'progress' for much of my adult life, but have been having a rethink on this lately.

First, 'progress' has been of dubious value.  In the field of 'computers' we have seen massive progress in miniaturization, yet have not seen much of a change in our life expectancy.  Curious,  If anything, our life expectancy seems even more threatened by cancers and other maladies who rise seems to track along our recent 'progress'.  Could it be that our various innovations are not so innocent?  Somehow, microwaving food in plastic containers, eating food laced with herbicides and neurotoxins, having fluoridated water, exposure to heavy metals, wireless radiation, over-immunization and a bevy of other perils of modern life have made me question whether 'progress' is truly benign or not.

Second, 'science' in the abstract seems fine, but practical science is conducted by scientists, who are not without personal bias or influence by those that fund them or publish their results.  My view of scientists is that they should, by nature, be inherently curious and willing to re-evaluate prior conclusions based on new info, especially anomalies.  However, in practice I see that scientists have their own faithful adherence to dogma.  How many scientists had the backbone to continue pursuing cold fusion when it became a certain career-killer?  So when someone tries to point me to a scientific study to justify a viewpoint, I may need to remain a skeptic in need of convincing. There is plenty of scientific politicization at play and that muddies the waters further (for example, about immunizations or climate change),

So, this has led me to the conclusion that perhaps I need to slow down, downsize, step off the progress bandwagon, consider what worked for our ancestors, simplify, look inward, harmonize with nature and find joy meanwhile. Not to be a Luddite, but I need to get off this particular merry-go-round.

First, Do No Harm

Although I am primarily concerned with the topic of good personal health in this blog, I fear that I will have to make some social commentary along the way.  Our collective poor health here in the US is the product of many societal influences and these remain the elephant in the room.  I find the politics distasteful and wish I could opt out as an individual, but that sentiment is impractical and a bit defeatist, no?

There are some easy ones to start the list --

Lack of Exercise.  Americans tend to be couch potatoes, passively spending their leisure time indoors in front of a TV or computer screen.  Often, we drive or are conveyed by transportation without having to break a sweat or even dress weather-appropriately.

Poor Diet.  The huge amount of addictive, processed "food" the average person consumes is quite staggering.  Not only poor nutrition, these foods may rob your body of nutrients (and your wallet of cash along the way). Why would you let an advertiser convince you that you *need* to drink soda, or a processed sandwich meal, or some kind of horrid snack?  Nearly every unpronounceable chemical in those foods gets incorporated into the body, likely with unpleasant side effects.  It is galling how little your doctor probably cares about what you put down your gullet, even though we all grasp the concept of 'you are what you eat'.

High Stress. Our rushed society is full of deadlines, even as most are artificial ones.  There are even 'first world' stressors such as keeping one's email inbox empty.  Of course, real stresses exist (family crises, chronic health/pain, and so on), and need our attention.  Here, there does not seem to be an effective OFF switch to allow us enough rest and mental wherewithal to deal with our stresses.

Poor Sleep.  Sleep can be a marvelous revitalizer, an unsung hero of normal metabolic regulation.  Many of us are routinely sleep-deprived and your good health will erode over time with a poor resting regime.

Over-Medicalization.  I am shocked how many people actual take a prescription medication for something other than an acute condition.  Our medical system is often concerned with treating the symptoms in isolation instead of taking the time to perform a system analysis and a slow, corrective regimen.  You'll need an antibiotic.  Take flu shots.  Wash with anti-bacterial soaps.  Keep your house antiseptic.  We have an entire biome of helpful microcritters who we assault daily with these routine

That is enough to start the list.  More next time.

Off to the Races!

A risk worth taking.
Now we start the adventure.
May the Fates be kind.