Hyvin
A Natural Health and Wellness Blog

Dr. Stephanie Studenski, a member of the American Geriatrics Society who helped organize a recent conference on “cognitive vitality”, opines that building your brain early in life may also protect against age-related cognitive decline. That building process comes through exercise of mind and body and a healthy lifestyle. Specifically, Dr. Studenski mentions exercise, getting enough sleep, eliminating stress, socializing, thinking challenges for your brain, and nutrition, including B Vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids and a multi-vitamin. Also, a diet low in saturated fat and rich in fruits and veggies. You can read more detail about her “tips for keeping the aging mind sharp” in this Reuters Health report.

What does affect our health as we age?

In short, graceful aging varies by genetics, diet, and lifestyle.

We typically think that aging is about 80% dependent on genetics. So there isn’t much we can do about it, right?

Well, the exact opposite is now understood to be the reality. From various sources, I’ve estimated that the concensus is more like genetics making up about 20% of how gracefully we age, and the other 80% of our long term health being a function of diet and lifestyle!

And even our diet and lifestyle as a child can affect that aging process decades later! (If you’re interested in resources for starting a child’s health down the right path, click here)

And if you’re already in the aging cycle of life, this recently published statement from the Journal of the American Medical Association is especially important:

People over the age of 60 absorb certain vitamins and minerals better from a supplement than from food.

Those diet and lifestyle pieces of the aging equation have to include a multi-vitamin/mineral. For one particularly designed for those fifty and older, click here.

There are a number of factors that play into natural health and wellness, into being hyvin (well)…we’ve looked at exercise, diet, social components and supplements. There is also a relationship between faith and well-being, according to the Center for Spirituality, Theology and Health at Duke University.

According to Center codirector Harold Koenig, M.D., featured in the September 2006 issue of Guideposts magazine, “Over the past twenty years, we’ve found that people who have deep spiritual commitments are mentally healthier and need fewer health services.”

Acknowledging the mind – body – spirit connection as I do, this doesn’t surprise me one bit. How about you?

Do you know what a supercentenarian is? I learned that it is someone who has reached the age of 110! Seem hard to believe? Well, it’s easier to believe when you read that this young-at-spirit Floridian “takes Shaklee vitamins every morning with a powdered protein drink sprinkled on her cereal”! It would appear Shaklee truly does create healthier lives. You can read the full interview with this delightful lady here.

In a large European project involving half a million people in 10 countries, the impact of exercise, diet and other habits on health and longevity has been examined. The Reuters Health report on some of the study findings relays that it only takes a little to live longer. Any increase in physical activity is beneficial and consuming just one additional serving of healthy food a day can make a difference.

“If you cumulatively take a lot of these behaviors such as increasing fruit and vegetable intake, increasing physical activity very modestly and stopping smoking cumulatively they are associated with something like a 12-year difference in terms of chronological age and life expectancy,” said [ Dr Kay-Tee ] Khaw [of the University of Cambridge.]

What a significant endorsement for the natural health and wellness lifestyle!

Everybody wants vitality and vigor in their senior years, right? And everybody should know that what they do to and with their bodies all of their lives is going to affect their later years. You know a healthy diet and regular exercise have to be good things.

Well, the “experts” have once again confirmed the obvious: a new report by the nonprofit Center for the Advancement of Health concludes that those who eat right and exercise have lower risks of chronic disease and less physical and mental disability as they age. The HealthDay News account of this report warns that:

[It’s] not always easy for older people in a society that has built its streets for drivers, not walkers, and put convenience — think fast foods — for the young over possibilities for the old.

Well, one way to make the healthy diet component easier is to take a multi-vitamin/mineral specially formulated for the nutritional needs of seniors.

Eat right and exercise. You know it. You just gotta’ do it!

The World Health Organization recently issued a report on the sun and its role in human health.

Ultraviolet light from the sun is needed for the body to produce Vitamin D, of course, but it also causes serious health problems including sunburn, skin aging, cataracts, and skin cancer, the last of which can be deadly.

The Reuters Health account of the report cites up to 60,000 annual deaths from too much sun!

The report concludes that:

The application of sunscreens should not be used to prolong sun exposure but rather to protect the skin when exposure is unavoidable.

That will take a change, won’t it? I have to admit, I’m accustomed to viewing sunscreen as a way of buying more sun time. How about you?

I came across an article recently about the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of purse bottoms. That’s right: the bottoms of ladies’ purses, which are placed on all kinds of unsavory surfaces.

The results are about what you might expect: gross!

Microbiologist Amy Karren of Nelson Laboratories in Salt Lake discovered that the average purse bottom had all kinds of harmful bacteria, from e-coli to staph infection to (you guessed it) human feces.

I try to hang my purse from hooks in restrooms, set it on seats at restaurants instead of the floor, and keep it on a shelf at home. I also watch where I put my purse, but I’m sure it’s been on my desk top at least once .

I’ve never before, though, cleaned the bottom of my purse. Not sure why I haven’t thought of it … I have a spray disinfectant that I really like that will kill all those bugs – and it’s non-toxic. You can even add a little to the wash for cloth purse cleaning. So that’s what I’ll do. How about you?

There has again been press recently about the chemicals in plastics and the potential health hazards created when they leach into food or water.

A recent ABC News report revealed that:

Last month, San Francisco banned a type of sturdy, hard plastic made with a molecule known as bisphenol A, or BPA. Any toys, bottles and pacifiers made with BPA must be replaced, according to the law the mayor signed in June.

This is just another reminder of the incredibly toxic world in which we live in this day and age.

Why adopt natural health and wellness principles to support my immune system? Why regularly take food supplements? Why try to use personal care products and household cleaners that are non-toxic?

Because, as the ABC News article states:

BPA, like many other man-made chemicals, is now detectable in most people’s bloodstreams and could cause dangerous hormonal changes in children.

And our bodies were NOT designed to house BPA!

New sleep research shows that sleep helps memory recollection of recently learned facts and events. The HealthDay News account of this research, published in the July 11 issue of Current Biology, states:

This new finding may be particularly important for people with mentally demanding lifestyles, such as doctors, medical residents and college students, who often do not get enough sleep, the researchers say.

So, if you’re learning something new, go ahead and sleep on it: you may remember it better in the morning!