Spry and Well: Be the health

Why spry? Because to be spry is to be lithe, supple, flexible and agile. Spryness tends to deteriorate as we age. Health, too, often declines with age. While many diseases cannot be cured, health and spryness can often be improved with the right knowledge and effort.

Find your sweet spot

Stay healthy as you can for all your life!

You can do it!

Healthy, long-lived people:

Eat Wisely

A plant-leaning diet has health benefits. This just means eating more fruits and vegetables. It’s not about giving up all animal based foods. Certainly, vegan people tend to be healthier and live longer, but some of the longest lived people do have some milk (usually from sheep and goats rather than cows), cheese from the same sources, fish, and some meat. It’s not about giving up all your favorite non-vegetarian foods.

Move Often

Most of the longest-lived people on the planet don’t go to the gym or do formal exercise. This is not to say they are bad for you, just that you could get physical activity in other ways. In fact, going to the gym to do strength training can help you retain or regain muscle as you get older. Generally, the longest-lived among us are steadily active throughout their lives.

Connect Socially

Staying connected with people and having a busy social calendar is really good for your health and may also protect your brain. Face to face contact is best, but other forms of social contact are good for your health and well-being.

Cultivate Calmness

Many centenarians point to not getting upset by life’s ups and downs, and when they do, they get over it quickly. You can cultivate calmness through learning and practicing meditation, a philosophical approach to life (such as learning how to be stoic), and practicing other forms of stress management.

Sleep Well

Sleep is essential to health, and actually life itself. If you don’t sleep well, it important to explore why. For example, if you are constantly exhausted or wake up not feeling refreshed, you should look into the reasons. Are you one of those people who have problems with caffeine in coffee or other drinks? Do you snore or have sleep apnea? Is it anxiety or depression? Not sleeping well can be associated with heart disease, strokes and other health problems.

Be kind to your body and brain

Smoking, consuming too much alcohol, being sedentary, and eating highly processed foods are just plain bad for your health. Avoiding them can contribute to your remaining spry and well.

Staying Spry and Well is for People of All Ages

Here I have mentioned, long-lived people from whom we can learn a lot about health. These are folks who live into their nineties and beyond. They are not so common. To some extent they have inherited genes that contributed to their long lives, but lifestyle is also extremely important in staying spry and well.

The long-lived also tend to stay well until very near the end of their lives. In other words they have not only a long life span but also a long health span. They are not the ones that end up requiring care for many years.

When you are younger, you have the opportunity to build the strength, resilience, and good health for when you are older. Even late in life, you can make a substantial difference to your health and functioning. Whatever your age, now is the time to work on staying spry and well for the rest of your life!

We are shaped by many forces

The natural world (including climate), societal norms and pressures, the economy, and much more have powerful influences on our lives. Here are some examples:

Food industry practices

Food products are designed to be very tasty with an eye on maximizing profits more than health. Many foods are highly processed and bad for your health.

Wheat from which the wheat germ was removed had a better shelf life, but was associated with nutritional deficiencies. The necessary nutrients were added back and the problem resolved. Though, a growing number highly processed foods are out there. Plants are very complex and we do not necessarily know what is missing and what it means for our health.

Agricultural methods

Some widespread agricultural methods may harm the environment and our health.

Tilling the soil exposes its microbes, such as bacteria and fungi to the sun, which harms or kills them. With the loss of these microbes that provide many nutrients to the plants, the crops are impoverished. One example of this is the nitrogen cycle, where nitrogen is extracted from the air to be used by plants and cycled back into the soil when the plants decomposed. So, chemicals such as fertilizer are used to replace the nitrogen lost from the destruction of the bacteria and improve the yields of the crops. Without the contribution of microbes, we are likely losing many other important nutrients that we don’t yet know about and are not replacing.

Widespread surveillance used for advertising and influencing

The collection vast amounts of information is widespread. In your dealing with businesses, the government, and private and public organizations you may be asked to provide significant personal information. Many devices, such as computers and phones, and even cars are collecting information on their owners. Much of this information is used to influence people and to sell products.

Social media

Meanwhile, social media may be contributing to the rise of loneliness, anxiety, and depression. Social media can also be a source of misinformation and disinformation, which can contribute to anger, fear, conflict and stress.

In summary of forces acting on us:

Many natural and human made forces are acting on us. The way we are doing things on a personal and global level may not be good for our health and sense of well-being.

Take Action!

Learn more about what affects your health. Health is more than just the absence of disease.

Find your sweet spot for striving to do things (Push), rest, and cruising on autopilot.

Actively work to eat wisely, move often, connect socially, cultivate calmness, and sleep well.

Avoid or do less of what is known to be harmful.

Educate yourself on the forces that affect you in your daily life. Some of these are beneficial and some are harmful. You can take action to diminish the harmful effects.