Use it or lose it   — Supply and Demand —  Reason for Being

Yup, that’s the secret to being healthy, in my opinion. Aside from the obvious, like muscles getting weak from lack of exercise, what I mean here is that the body instinctively responds to the use—to the demand we give it and supplies us with health. Exercise especially stimulates the Life force within us, getting the message accross to our brain that the body needs to stay around a little while longer. It takes years and years for the body to deteriorate and eventually die. Many adults exercise very little or not at all and eventually lose the ability to do simple things, like walking. We mistake that as part of the natural aging process, but it’s not and a lot of recent research has proven that. There is even a lot of new research showing how well exercise beneficially influences the actual physical conditon of our brains, which in turn affects our mental and emotional attitudes of course.

I was having a problem with my knee a couple years ago and went to see a Kinesiologist. One of the things he had me do is start practicing squats, first with both legs together, then one leg at a time, and then one leg at a time while standing on a Bosu! I’ll never forget what he said to me one day when I was complaining about doing them, “Tim, you’re doing this now so that when you’re EIGHTY-THREE you won’t need to have a big guy like me help you to get up and down on the toilet! I stopped my complaining.

But aside from exercise—and not everyone is able to exercise of course—I also observed that people with a strong reason for being also seem to live more healthy and longer lives. We’ve all heard the stories about people who retire from their jobs and then drop dead a week later. Or of the old man or woman whose spouse dies, and they die shortly thereafter. In these cases, I think that it’s because their reason for being was suddenly gone, and the lack of demand (the will or interest to continue living) caused the body to fail to supply.

Have you ever noticed how many famous people, including actors, artists, musicians, scientists, politicians, or any one else in a position of great importance, often live well into their 80’s and 90’s and continue to lead healthy productive lives right up to the day that they die? They keep going because they have to keep going and they to want to keep going. Their reason for being, for continuing to live because they are famous or important becomes the demand that stimulates the Life force to supply.

That, in a nutshell is my theory of good health and longevity. Live long and prosper!