The natural fountain of youth
We women – and a lot of you men, too – spend a fortune trying to look and feel younger. In that quest, we probably damage our health when we try products filled with chemicals or engage in some practices that are iffy at best and seriously dangerous at worst.
It always amazes me how we’ve complicated life. How far we’ve strayed from natural ways that encourage our bodies to live well, which includes looking younger. We often see these natural ways as too alternative or too hard or too time-consuming. But, I’ve got to tell you: Illness is darn hard and time-consuming! And bank account draining on top of that.
Even if you’re not motivated by keeping your insides well, would you be interested in short-circuiting the aging process as it appears on the outside? Would you like to keep your hair and also have that hair not go gray prematurely plus remain shiny, soft and full? Would you like your muscles to stay strong and not waste away? Would you like to be full of energy and vitality and be able to do things you could do in your youth?
Want me to tell you the secret? Are you sure? Are you going to stop reading once I reveal it? Ah, that’s what I thought! I know you guys! So that’s why I’m going to tell you more, in the hope your motivation grows to take advantage of this health “secret.”
In research, rats using this health secret remained youthful while their lab mates not using the secret were bald, frail and dying. The health-secret-provided rats had full pelts of dark fur, had maintained almost all of their muscle mass and brain volume, and their hearts were normal. The little show offs could even still balance on narrow rods!
Researchers were shocked to see the magnitude of the impact this health secret had on the rats. They expected some of it but not the all-encompassing effects that showed up. They did not predict that this would affect every tissue and bodily system they studied.
Okay, the secret? The rats who maintained much of their youth into their senior years … exercised. In fact, their exercise reduced or eliminated almost every detrimental effect of aging.
Still with me? Good! Please don’t groan if you’re not an exerciser. Please don’t consider that if you aren’t a marathon runner, you can’t benefit. You can. Start slow; start today; start with something you can enjoy doing. And, if that gets old, change it again! Just keep moving.
To keep you motivated, keep this research in mind. If time spent moving buys you years in the future in which you look great and feel great, that seems like a pretty good trade off. So, yes, there are days when the couch looks more inviting, but remind yourself that if you grow old and frail, you will no longer have a choice. Take the choice while you still can.
How compassion fuels health
Last week, I suggested you look at what you do right, instead of focusing on what you do “wrong” — you didn’t exercise, you ate that bag of chips, you skimped on sleep and so on.
I did that because I get tired of wellness being associated with pain. Pain is associated with pain! Aches, disease, feeling like heck, not having enough energy to enjoy your life — that’s pain. Getting well can be — and should be — a positive experience.
My own life experience helped teach me that. Having others beat me up sure didn’t help lead me onto the path of good health. Beating my own self up didn’t help me get well. Figuring out what I needed to do and taking a positive approach to it did.
But it’s always nice to have some research to back up my beliefs. So I was glad to read information this week that confirmed that being a little more compassionate to you makes a big difference in being healthy.
Research is suggesting that treating yourself well — cutting yourself some slack and accepting where you’re imperfect — could be the first step toward better health. This probably is the best first step you could take, but it actually might be the most difficult because the habit is so ingrained. But, in the long run, the practice it takes to overcome your old patterns will be worth it because it will set up a very solid foundation. You then can layer other good health habits onto this so they stick around this time.
People who score high on self-compassion tests have less depression and anxiety, and tend to be happier and more optimistic, which, as I’ve noted in past articles and my newsletter, also lead to better health.
In addition, preliminary data seems to show that self-compassion can even influence how much you eat and may help you lose weight.
In a 2007 study at Wake Forest University, women took part in what they thought was simply a food-tasting experiment involving doughnuts. However, the instructor told one group not be too hard on themselves about eating the doughnuts as everyone in the study was eating the same thing so there was no real reason to feel bad about it.
Later, the groups were asked to taste-test candies from large bowls. Researchers found that women who were regular dieters or had guilt feelings about forbidden foods ate less after hearing the instructor’s reassurance. The women who didn’t get this message about self-compassion ate more.
Isn’t that contrary to what we have believed? I would have thought giving the one group “permission,” in effect, to indulge would have caused them to eat more, not less. But the compassion they then felt for themselves helped them make a healthier choice by eating less candy.
If this translates into eating, I’m sure it translates into the rest of what’s important to building full-on whole life wellness.
The short message is: Criticizing yourself is not going to help. It doesn’t provide you with motivation to change. It just leaves you feeling bad. This constant pressure to be perfect can lead to you giving up. You may think: Why try? Perfection is not possible.
If you learn to focus on the positive and treat yourself with more compassion, you’ll be much more likely to have a “can-do” sort of spirit about what you want to change.
The first step here is awareness. Begin to notice places where you beat yourself up. Then switch it over, bit by bit, to being more compassionate and positive. Give yourself a break, and give yourself credit for all the good you do. It’ll take some practice, but it is oh so worth it. Your life will change. And that changed life is going to equal a healthier life as well.
Health = freedom
“A healthy body is a guest chamber for the soul;
a sick body is a prison.”
~ Francis Bacon
