Healthspan (noun)…the length of time in a person’s life in which they are healthy.
Health is something that is often hard to appreciate until we lose it. But what makes some people lose it quicker than others?
When I was living in south east asia, fasting and meditating for weeks at a time, a local tea master assured me that oolong tea was the elixir of life. Likewise the fasting gurus talked about cleansing and uncooked foods as the answer. My meditation teachers professed mindfulness and the eternity of experience contained in every moment. What was going on here, who was telling the truth?
Much has been written about health cultivation (Yang Sheng) in the 2500 year history of Chinese Medicine. Likewise western medicine and modern health culture have tons of (often competing) health directives for us. Many factions evangelise their point of view so strongly that it becomes a type of a religion for their followers.
The truth is much simpler than it might seem. Of course some foods over time have toxic effects on our bodies and without some form of regular movement we are more at risk of developing health concerns. Aside from that though, does it really make much difference if you use coconut oil or rice bran oil to cook with? Will you miss out on vital nutrients if you cook your food? Will that biscuit with your morning coffee condemn you to a lifetime of decrepitude? Are bad genes inescapable harbingers of doom laying out your deterioration for all to see?
No.
In the words of the Harvard Gazette, “Good genes are nice, but joy is better”. There are much more powerful forces at work on our health, and the good news is, we are in control. The Harvard Study (the longest study done on health and ageing) found that the quality of our relationships were the strongest indicator of health into old age.
Research into how cells age (telomeres) spearheaded by Nobel Prize winner Elizabeth Blackburn has shown that a major effect on our health and vitality into old age is how we cope with stress. The more we view obstacles as a threat as opposed to a challenge, the more our cells break down and lack the facility for repair. In her own words “we have control over the way that we age, all the way down into our cells”.
Of course our food choices matter but what matters much, much more is a calm and positive mind. In the words of Thich Nhat Hahn:
Drink your tea slowly and reverently.
As if it is the axis on which the earth revolves.
Slowly, evenly, without rushing toward the future.
Live the actual moment. Only this moment is life.
Perhaps the tea master was right after all.
Further reading:
- Good genes are nice, but joy is nicer
- The science of cells that never get old
- I live a healthier life now I am free of the trappings of modernity
- Live well, live long
