If You Don't Do Life, It will Do You

If you don’t do life, it will do you. Aging is an experience, not an intellectual exercise or a disease, and not everyone has the same experience. Each person must define their understanding of passage through life. If not, the world will impose definition and rob experience. Experience is the real deal. It creates a basis in fact as it engages the senses and stimulates emotions. Instincts and habits are developed through experience, and instincts and habits direct much of human behavior.

Society most often chooses to define life temporally and many people live by default according to that definition. Any definition of life imposes expectations that inevitably become limitations and a temporal definition is no exception. Anticipation of the future generates optimism and the will to live, which relegates chronological age to a secondary consideration for determining such aspects of life as health status, well-being, and contributions to the benefit of others and progress of society.

Human Behavior and Public Policy

People are not comfortable with confusion and uncertain outcomes. They seek clarity and meaning. The need for clarity and meaning takes people on many and varied journeys throughout life. Compare and contrast the quest and pathways of Dean Moriarty and Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac, “On the Road”, 1957) with those of Forrest Gump (Winston Groom, “Forrest Gump”, 1986). Or, consider the quests and pathways of Dr. Albert Schweitzer and Mother Teresa. Professor Michael Heller is a Roman Catholic priest, cosmologist, and philosopher who seeks meaning at the boundary of science, philosophy, and religion, especially where these boundaries are in juxtaposition. Professor Heller believes “science gives us knowledge, and religion gives us meaning. Both are prerequisites of the decent existence.” (Brenda Goodman, New York Times, March 13, 2008) Regardless of the differences in the quests and pathways through life, the need for meaning gives fuel to the restless spirit and accounts for human momentum even without certainty as to the destination or outcome.

Human behavior is shaped and directed by the meaning each person finds in life and the values derived from that meaning. The perspective that human behavior determines the status of life on earth is slowly dawning upon society. Certainly, the most significant impact upon health, the environment, and the climate is human behavior. Public policy must be more effective in addressing human behavior to be of benefit for better health, cleaner environment, and safer climate. People must understand public policy and it must be within their capability to comply. But, the most important factor for compliance with public policy is compatibility with the values and belief systems of society. Successful public policy accommodates the span from higher sense of purpose and meaning to self-interest without transgressing the values and belief systems of individuals and the whole of society. If it was easy, public policy would be more successful.

A Life Well-Lived

Life is most often a mystery consisting of “ambiguities without clear answers where the task is to determine which critical factors might interact in some unknown way in an uncertain future” (Gregory Treverton, Smithsonian Magazine, June 2007, pp 98-102). Health care should be the utilization of this mind-set to frame the mysteries of health and prevent health problems to achieve and maintain optimum health status. Health care is not dispensed; it is a participatory process and a group activity. If there are health care providers, they are family members, neighbors, church members, co-workers, educators, guides, coaches, and fellow citizens. Medical care is not health care. Public health comes close to health care but it needs to be much broader and involved with every aspect of life. The goal of health care is a life well-lived; optimum health status is integrated into the process.

Get A Grip

Is exercise at the center, and forms the core, of good health?

Well, when we finally arrive and look behind the curtain, there is the Wizard of Oz walking rapidly at an incline on the treadmill. He smiles and says that he has to do more than casual walking for a few minutes each day to stay in control of his life.

There is question whether "30 minutes of gentile exercise might not be just a bit too gentile." But, does one have to be a runner and a weight lifter to be in good health and manage body weight? Evidence indicates the truth lies somewhere in the middle.

It is a matter of common sense. Almost everyone is aware of physical conditioning. Start slow and low, and build up the speed and the intensity. Another principle of conditioning is that as conditioning is achieved the improvement levels off.

Try to walk as a dedicated activity at least 30 minutes each day. Don't let it drive you crazy if walking 30 minutes is impossible for that day but be realistic about impossibility. Increase the time to one hour whenever possible and be realistic about possibility. Three days weekly gradually increase the thirty minutes to involve walking briskly uphill or a treadmill at incline or hiking in the mountains. In other words, "break a sweat." Those three days should include some sessions of weight training to maintain muscle tone, strength and balance. As with everything of value in life, the challenge is focus and discipline.

Scientific data shows that brains can regenerate themselves and do not have to decline with age. Evidence is showing that the "human brain is not only capable of renewing itself but that (aerobic) exercise speeds the process."

It won't be easy but it is necessary. And, you will feel better.