QUEST
FOR HEALTH & HAPPINESS
Last year I
read an article in the Vancouver Sun that highlighted the work of Alex
Michalos. He is a professor in political science at the University of Northern
British Columbia in Prince George. Michalos has spent 42 years studying
quality-of-life issues and trying to answer the questions, “ What makes people
happy?” and, “ What constitutes a good life?” He will be 70 years old this
year.
Questioned on what it takes for a
good life, Michalos replied, “ If you have good health, someone who loves you,
financial security, decent work, and some type of social standing in the
community, then you’ve got a good life.”
He also said
that, in the end, people’s happiness depends on their perception. “ Two people
can look at a sunset. One person can see the sun going down, and the other
person can see something beautiful happening.” (1)
Here are a few
factors that can make a difference:
•
Perception - Michalos
discovered that the greatest deterrents to happiness are the perceived gap between
what people have and what they want, and the perceived gap between what people
have and what their neighbours have.
• Resilience - Researchers in a Harvard University study found that one
of the strongest predictors of a happy and healthy life at 80 - the absence of
physical and mental disability, an active social life, stable long-term
relationships and overall life satisfaction - was how people explained life’s
failures and setbacks to themselves. Those considered happy and healthy in old
age had shown resilient coping styles as early as their 20s. (2.
Resilient
people lead broad lives. That means deliberately reaching out to others, having
a passion for learning, taking risks and creating a broader life purpose. They
feel a strong sense of grounding in who they are. They have the capacity to
manage life when things get rough.
•
Get Uncomfortable - Dr.
Michael Roizen co-authored the book, ‘You: The Owner’s Manual’ with heart
surgeon Dr. Mehmet Oz. One of their points is that you should “get a little
uncomfortable in everything you do.” Push yourself harder on a bike, do more
weight training and the health benefits will follow.
In June it was
the top-selling book in Canada and it has a print run in North America of 1.25
million copies. Dr. Roizen avoids tobacco, exercises at least 30 minutes a day,
tries to manage stress, eats a healthy diet, and watches his blood pressure.
The book specifies these guidelines: “Don’t have white food- with the exception
of cauliflower. Don’t have white sauces. Avoid simple carbohydrates. Have an aspirin a day. Drink a glass of
red wine if you want to. Have an ounce of nuts before each meal.” (3)
• Walking - Older men who walk more than 2 miles a day are less likely
to experience dementia than those who are more sedentary, according to a study
in the Journal of the American Medical Association. The men studied were
between 71 and 93 years. Researchers concluded that promoting active lifestyles
could benefit late’ life cognitive function.(4)
Above all do not lose your desire to walk. Every day I walk
myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness. I have
walked myself into my best thoughts and I know of no thought so burdensome that
one cannot walk away from it...
If one just keeps on walking everything will be allright.
Soren
Kierkegaard
Walking is a most complex, violent, and perilous operation,
which we divest of its extreme danger only by continual practice.
Oliver
Wendell Holmes
• Eat Like an Okinawan
Okinawa is one
of the Ryukyu Islands south of Japan.
The people there are being studied because they have the longest
disability-free life expectancy in the world and also the highest percentage of
centenarians.
The average
citizen consumes at least seven servings of vegetables daily, and an equal
number of grains (in the form of noodles, bread and rice). They have two to four servings of fruit,
plus tofu and other forms of soy, green tea, seaweed and fish rich in omega-3s.
Vegetables,
grains and fruits make up 72 % of the diet by weight. Soy and seaweed provide
another 14%, fish about 11 %, and meat, poultry and eggs, only 3 %.
Okinawans do
drink alcohol; the women at one drink a day and the men at two.
Most practice
martial arts and traditional dance. They garden and walk. Even at age 100, they
look lean and healthy. The health-care
system is good and covers everybody and the status of women is high. (5)
• Make a Contribution
Hans Selye
wrote, ‘if
you want to lead a long life, focus on making contributions.’
“The
things that make our lives precious are things that make us feel
we have
done something valuable;
there’s a
sense of self-worth that comes from contributing to the world.”
Margie Gillis
Canadian
Dancer
George Bernard
Shaw wrote,
“we
have no more right to consume happiness without producing it than to consume
wealth without producing it.”
The road to happiness
lies in two simple principles:
find what
it is that interests you and that you can do well,
and when
you find it put your whole soul into it - every bit of
energy and
ambition and natural ability you have.
John
D. Rockefeller
• Sense of Humour - Comedian George Burns said, “Happiness is having a
large, loving, caring, close-knit family - in another city.”
The key to happiness and freedom is a sense of humor and a
sense of humor is nothing more or less than the ability to laugh at oneself.
Jim
Unger (Herman Comics)
Laughter
may help to prevent heart disease, the number 1 cause of death in North
America. A University of Maryland Medical Centre study tested participants’
blood pressure as they watched films that made them laugh. (I have a record of the movies chosen if
you’re interested.) Researchers found that people who laughed at movies were more
likely to have the tissue lining their blood vessels expand. That lining
produces chemicals that protect the body from blood clots.
The director
of the centre said, “ Thirty minutes of exercise three times a week, and 15
minutes of laughter on a daily basis, is probably good for the vascular
system.” (6).....Don’t you think that ‘probably good’ wrecks the quote ?
I may have
been somewhat stressed, often lacking a sense of humour, when Janette was in
the Galapagos Islands without me last
December, but I did find this fine quotation in the brochure:
It is not the strongest of the species that survive,
nor the most intelligent,
but the one most responsive to change.
Charles
Darwin
• Play Lifetime Sports - There are some sports that encourage
you to keep playing them even though you’ve become a 50+ athlete. Tennis,
swimming, cycling and golf are excellent for this. Here’s a hole-in-one story,
especially for Jim:
Harold Stilson, who turned 101 years old this year, holds
the record for the oldest person to make a hole-in-one. He used a 4-iron to ace the 108-yard
hole. He has made 6 of them to date,
all since turning 71.
• Avoid Weakness and Frailty - Some twenty years ago, Janette and I
visited Mexico for the first time. There are two things I especially remember
about that trip. The first is that we were invited to the Canadian Embassy in
Mexico City with a group of Canadian physicians. I was welcomed to the hall as
“Dr. Peart” and I liked the sound of that so much that I didn’t correct them
that Janette was the doctor of the pair ,even though she gave me a
‘look.’
Later in the
trip, we were walking the beach in Puerto Vallarta when I saw an older man
struggling in the ocean. Though it was shallow and he was only five feet from
shore he couldn’t get up. Each time he tried, a small ripple would arrive and
knock him down again.
I went in to
help him up and escort him to the shore. He was thin and I had to pull up his
swim trunks as they had fallen down.
In that moment
I knew that this is not the way that I intended to grow old. I felt that getting
older wasn’t the problem, weakness and frailty are.
So my friends,
if you see me getting frail, throw me in the deep end!
“An
unused engine rusts. A still stream stagnates. An untended garden tangles.
Much of
what we pass as age is disuse.”
Walter
M. Bortz II, M.D.
“If I’d known I was gonna live this long, (100 years) I’d
have taken better care of myself.”
Eubie
Blake 1883-1983
Albert
Switzer’s opinion was, “Happiness is nothing but good health
and a poor memory.”
When
I was much younger, I used to worry about senile people being frustrated by
losing their mind. I felt much better when I learned that they don’t realize
they are senile. I suppose it’s the
loved ones who do the worrying.
Bob Hoke wrote, “being
healthy is having confidence in the future. The healthy man’s future does
not happen passively to him ; it is an active extension of his life.
Health is participation in one’s own being. To be healthy is
to celebrate one’s life.”
(Nice thoughts, I’ll drink to that, but
I don’t have a clue who Bob Hoke is.)
Mark Twain
lived to be 75 years old but he wasn’t enthused about a healthy lifestyle. He
wrote,
The
only way to keep your health
is
to eat what you don’t want,
drink
what you don’t like,
and
do what you’d rather not.
Keats seems to
have a pretty good recipe for health and happiness.
Give me books, fruit, French wine, fine weather, and a
little music...
John
Keats 1795 - 1821
Danny’s
Summary for the Quest for Health and Happiness:
1. Fresh Fruit is the secret of longevity. It makes for a
happier and healthier day.
2. “Movement is life.” Aristotle
Consider activities that remain enjoyable in your older
years : golf, tennis, cycling, swimming, hiking, paddling kayaks and canoes,
skiing, daily weight-training with your Trainer...
3. Adventure - plan unique excursions on an annual
basis. Hopefully, there will be some
hiking, cycling, skiing or other sports in the itinerary. Choose travel
destinations that you haven’t been to before so that some preparation is needed
and you are excited by the possible adventure. (like the Santa Fe Opera and
Tailgate party !)
4. ‘Eat lotsa Fish.’ It doesn’t matter if you like it or not.
You must eat fish prepared in a healthy way. Do not order ‘farmed’ varieties
when at dinner.
5. Stay within 10 pounds of your ideal body weight and avoid
large fluctuations.
(Ask your Trainer if unsure of your ideal body weight. If he/she is
smart, they will add a 10 lb. cushion for you. I mean, like, how can you be happy
if you feel fat?)
6. Make a contribution to the community you live in.
7. There is no ‘quick fix’ to becoming or remaining fit and
healthy. If a
person has taken 5 years to grow out of shape, this cannot be corrected in 5
weeks of good behaviour. It might be
more successful to allow one year of quality fitness and lifestyle effort for
every 3 years of neglect.
(Do not make the mistake of hiring me
as a Trainer. Before you know it I’ve been involved with you for 5 to 15 years
and you’ll be 10 pounds heavier than when we met.)
8. As the body ages, the fittest body is the one that has
been well managed over time without injury.
(Injuries do seem to happen to active people. Even if they wear a
helmet. Proper rehab goes a long way to
recovery of full function.)
9. “Never,
never, never, never, never, never, give up.” Winston Churchill’s message when invited back to
his old school to address the graduating class. Certainly good advice in the battle to find and live a healthy
lifestyle. (One would not want to
examine Sir Winston’s lifestyle too closely.)
10. “Life
is the sum of all your choices.” A. Camus
Some of those choices are how you will eat, drink and move
on a daily basis. If in doubt, choose yoga, followed by a good
coffee.(free-trade organic, low-fat, of course)
In the time we’ve known each other, we’ve all lost people
who are close to us. In every loss we
are reminded that our lives do not last forever and that life should be enjoyed
and celebrated whenever possible. Our quest for health and happiness can begin
with enjoying each day and trying to be active with friends and family. And
then we can have chocolate.
Our friend, Ursula Bowditch, had an excellent motto for 2004:
Love myself, love my life,
and those around me will feel the
benefits.
And I always listen to Ursula.
Youth is a gift of nature, but age is a
work of art.
Garson
Kanin
The motto for the island of Moorea is, “Aita pea pea.” Only Happiness is Important.
Danny Peart
B.A./B.P.H.E.
Sources:
1.“Quest for Happiness...” article in
the Vancouver Sun, Friday, October 29th, 2004. p.B8.
2. “Want Health and Happiness? Be
Resilient.” The Globe and Mail, Friday, November 5, 2004. p. C 1.
3.
“The No Embarrassment Zone” article in The Globe and Mail, Monday, June
20, 2005. p. R
4.”Walking Reduces Risk of Dementia”
Idea Fitness Journal, January 2005. P.19.
5. Wellness Letter, University of
California, Berkeley. Volume 17, Issue 12, September 2001. “Eat Like an
Okinawan.”
6. “It’s No Joke - Laughter may help
prevent heart disease.” The Vancouver Sun, Tuesday, March 8, 2005.