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| Shigechiyo Izumi- oldest living man ever recorded. 120 years, 237 days |
As a health care provider it is my job to teach and guide people to feel better and live a more healthy lifestyle. Everywhere you look there is some suggestion out there as to what you should do to "fix" what ales ya. Often my clients share with me the ways they "keep healthy". I see all sorts of different people with completely different lifestyles and ideas about what they think healthy is, this makes me constantly question, what is healthy?
Does exercise and a fit body mean you are healthy? I have worked with many athletes and triathletes and I can tell you 0% body fat does not necessarily healthy make. In fact, I see lots of athletes with chronic on-going health issues of pain and depletion. In my opinion ripped abs and skinny jeans are not indicators of health. I once knew a man who ran 9 miles a day, had no body fat whatsoever and had a quadruple bypass at the age of 45. Is that healthy?
Then there are the foodies. Is it the vegans? Atkins? Raw foodists? Gluten free? Cave man's diet? Mediterranean diet? Juicing, fasting, cleansing, and detox- oh my! What is the best food diet? This is an on-going debate that seems to change by the hour. Coffee- good today bad tomorrow. Should I or shouldn't I eat eggs? Opinions on food are as plentiful as food choices themselves. And why we may all be able to agree, "you are what you eat?" We can't seem to come to any consensus on what the heck to eat.
There is a multi-billion dollar industry to keep people looking young. As long as you look the part, no mater the cost, then you must be healthy right? These are the folks that are constantly chasing the fountain of youth through pills, supplements, vitamins, injections, reductions, surgeries, peels, scrubs and the likes. These folks will do anything to keep their youthful appearance. Youthful on the outside but what is happening on the inside? In our youth obsessed society if you said taking a trip into outer space would take 10 years off, there would be mobs of desperate people breaking down NASA doors. However, many of these remedies can have serious side effects. Is that healthy?
Finally there are those folks like my grandma and Shigechiyo Izumi who don't follow any "health rules", or in some cases defy all the rules and still out live everyone. My beautiful grandma Flo lived to be 103 years young and up until the very end was still kicking everyone's butt in Scrabble. She was a farm wife who lived on meat, white foods (potatoes, white flour, white sugar) and weak coffee. I can't say I ever saw her exercise (like at a gym or even go for a walk for that matter) or eat kale and still she got around quite well until her mid 90's. If you looked at her she wouldn't exactly qualify as the picture of health but then no one can debate 103 years. And then there is Shigechiyo Izumi, the second oldest person to ever live recorded in modern times. Izumi was 120 years 237 days old when he passed. What is so fascinating about him is that he took up smoking at the age of 70 (which meant he smoked for 50 years) and liked to drink brown sugar shochu (a Japanese alcoholic beverage). Izumi isn't exactly what most of us would consider healthy yet proof is in the pudding so to speak- 120 years and 237 days young!
So that brings me back to my original question- WHAT IS HEALTHY? Does living to 120 years 237 days mean you are healthy, or just old? Does appearing young on the outside reflect health, or just a deep wallet? Do ripped muscles and physical feats determine health, or just accomplishment? And how important is our diet- grandma Flo what do you think?
Then there are those other factors that I like to consider when I am talking to people about their health. How well do you sleep at night? Do you sleep through the night? Bad dreams? How well do you handle stressful situations? Do you laugh everyday? What are your eating patterns? How's your poo- quality, quantity, frequency? Do you fatigue easily or often? What are your relationships like? How many hours a day are you on some sort of electronics device? What is happening in your body that you disregard as, "oh that's just what happens when you get older"?
You see there are all types of indicators to this elusive ideal of health that we overlook. In allopathic medicine they look at numbers- your cholesterol levels, blood pressure, BMI etc. Yet, with all it's advance technologies Americans have shockingly high mortality rates-considering. With all of our medical advancements everyone should be living to at least 100- but we're not. U.S. heart disease rates are shrinking but mental illness rates are skyrocketing. In Chinese medicine we consider your shen- life force. When I look at you do you radiate and glow or is your life force/shen dull? Not exactly a measurable qualifier is it? But very helpful none the less.
This much I do know about health. Health is about balance. If you truly want to be healthy you have to have an honest observation about every aspect of your life. The guy that had a quadruple bypass at 45, ate "right" and exercised but he carried a lot of anger for a very long time. My grandma who had a terrible diet as far as modern standards might believe had an amazing attitude and let stuff roll off her back fairly easily. When one area of our lives is out of balance it can throw off everything else.
In my practice I look at all aspects of a persons well-being and take a 360 degree approach. What is happening physically, energeticly, ad mentally and bring them all back into balance. This is working in the yogic concept of Koshas- all the layers of your being. While I find this approach to be extremely effective, there are always exceptions to the rule. Like Izumi for instance. Modern logic says there is no way someone who starts smoking at 70 should live another 50 years. Is health about quantity of life or quality of life, or both? It's so fascinating and perplexing to me, makes me wonder really, what is healthy?
