Rick’s Health Letter 4.0
Chapter 4.0 General Approach to Health
Issue 4.0 11/2007
Rick Cowlishaw
rcowlishaw@comcast.net



Introduction
From our previous news letters, we know that we can postpone having a chronic illness in our later years. We can have more years of better health through lifestyle changes. We may shorten the length of chronic illness. By studying the habits of people over 100, we find it is possible to extend how long we live by these same lifestyle changes.

Now we are interested in what we must do to “make it so” (John Luke Pacard of Star Trek Enterprise). We will learn a general approach to health that will greatly improve our odds.

Author’s Note: Our Choice
Just as this health letter is about maintaining good health, we may choose to do differently. We each have free will and the right to choose. We can actually choose to the opposite. We can talk about what we may expect if we live a different way. We can smoke, drink five or more alcoholic drinks a day, eat fattening foods, be twenty or more pounds overweight, and do no physical exercise. The averages predict we will have poor health, feel terrible, shorten our life, become older than our years and need assisted care for several years before we die. It does not seem like the kind of life we will enjoy. Yet, it is our choice.

Today is the Day
This is the beginning of a new day. We can choose what we do with it. We can use it for good, or we can waste it. What we do with today is important, because we are exchanging a day of our life for what we do.
When tomorrow comes, this day will be gone forever, leaving in its place something that we traded for it. We want it to be a gain, not a loss. We want it to be for good, not for evil. We want to learn something new, not just forget something old. We want today to be a success, not a failure.
We pay a price for today. We do not want to regret the price we have paid for it. We want to treat every day as a new opportunity, and take advantage of it.


We believe in living each day. We are thankful for each day and our good fortune. We believe in planning for the future. What we can do today will determine our days tomorrow.

The Classic Argument
We have heard ourselves say in the past that we do many hard jobs around the house and that’s plenty of exercise, and besides, we don’t have the time.

We have learned that as hard as the house jobs are, they are not balanced. The jobs overwork some muscle groups and do not work others. This is a sure formula for pulling some muscles so that we can’t do the jobs at all. It does take time to exercise most days, but we are going for the reward.

We maintain our health because it is in our own best interest. To choose differently is to choose to harm ourselves needlessly.

Pro-Active
We need to become proactive about our health and how we live. We begin by getting information and evaluating where we are today.

Life Extension Foundation
For $75, we can join Life Extension and receive a very detailed and complete book on the latest information in health care called “Disease Prevention and Treatment”.
http://www.lef.org/featured-articles/benefits.html

Life Extension promotes their vitamins and other products through their book and magazine, so we need to exercise care in what we accept. Yet it is one of the most complete reference books that we have seen, and life extension provides references to studies to validate their claims.

Information Approach
We prefer our information and our choices to be based on actual medical studies and tests. If the studies are not available, then we may base information on doctor’s experiences over time. We prefer this to statements or testimonials. This is not always possible, so we need to be aware if a product is being promoted or not. One of the best sources of studies is the United States National institute on Aging. It is part of the National Institute of Health. See http://www.nih.gov/

Our Goals
We need to think about what are our goals. We want to feel better and live longer.
• Feel positive about life
• Feel more energetic, alive, vibrant
• Feeling better physically
• Do more physically
• Feel better mentally
• Get better sleep
• Maintain our strength
• Live longer, enjoy our extra years
• Have a short suffering period in later life

A Balanced Approach
We choose a balanced approach between exercise, eating, taking supplements, sleeping well and reducing stress. It is better to do a little of each every day rather than one or two things. For instance, if we work out very hard, this does not make up for a poor diet. We will plan to do something every day in each category.

We will make our doctor part of our team. We will go proactive, and enlist our doctor’s help. We choose to go to the doctor once a year to get a physical, and to establish our health base lines. We will get the medical help and medicine we need. We will consult our doctor about our exercise program.
Rationale: We will benefit more by doing the minimum for all categories than by going full out in any one category, such as exercise alone. These items work together, combining synergenically to produce a greater result than any one or two things by themselves.

We excuse ourselves from a wonderful healthy life. We can not do what is necessary because __________. (Fill in the blank). Will that excuse help us when we are too sick to do anything?