In my last blog, I addressed the reality of a diminishing life expectancy in Americana especially compared to the rest of the industrialized world. In my mind, this is directly related to lifestyle…stress, nutrition, sleep, exercise, medications, etc. However, these factors are not the root cause. Ultimately, they directly impact our energy and energy reserves.
The key to health is “energy”. Energy is in abundance in youth and a paucity in older age. Energy is what allows us to get going, do stuff and enjoy life. Children are regular energizer bunnies. Young adults can party all night and show up the next day and not miss a beat. As we age, we do less and feel the repercussions more.
Every day we, in some shape or form, damage our bodies. Our bodies are constantly repairing this damage, 24 hours per day, 7 days per week for our entire lives. This constant energy expenditure is profound. Unless the energy is replenished, our bodies break down and the result is aging. Some people age quickly and others very slowly.
Why is this important? Illness and disease find its way into our bodies though damaged tissues that did not heal completely (not enough energy). Over time this constant, un-repaired damage leads to tissue damage opening the door to illness. This is why nine out of ten top illnesses causing death develop over time and usually in older people. People with one or more serious illness have, in general, a shorter life span and poorer quality of life compared to people who are healthy.
There are lifestyle factors that contribute to energy levels. Good food and drink are important. Sleep is critical. The medical literature is replete with studies proving that a lifetime of exercise leads to a healthier and longer life. Genes are a player too but even the best genes cannot compensate for a poor lifestyle.
One important question is “what is energy”? We know that we make certain high energy molecules, usually adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and then use these molecules in all cellular functions. As we age, we make less ATP than in our youth. Less energy means less or slower healing. So, the answer seems to be more ATP. This concept, greatly simplified for easy advertising, has spawned an entire industry in non-traditional medicine, anti-aging medicine. If you take supplements indirectly claiming to increase ATP, life will be good; it is the new age “fountain of youth and claims often without proof of benefit. Ponce de Leon could have saved a lot of time and effort if only he knew the answer was taking dietary supplements. In reality, mammalian bio-energy is more complicated. It takes energy to make ATP and this is the root of the problem…a topic for a later blog.
Let’s look a human body as having a battery as the power source. Children have two, their own and one from their parents. When young, these batteries are fully charged and we are energetic and heal quickly. I mean, when I was 15, I had major open-heart surgery in June and was back competing at a high level on the school’s swim team by October…high energy. Not sure I could do that now. So, the goal is to keep the battery fully as charged as possible throughout a lifetime. The “parent” battery dies out after about 30 years. Many complain about “hitting the wall” at 30 years old because the parent battery is now gone and they did not know how to recharge their permenent battery. It is often down-hill from there.
The importance of lifestyle cannot be overstated because it is the ONLY way our battery can be re-charged. Healthy food, free of additives, preservatives and processing is important. Yes…despite what the food industry will claim, organic is better. Clean air and water are not a “liberal” talking points trying to stymie industry and jobs. Good water is essential for all mammalian life. I prefer reverse osmosis water since the FDA and local governments are quite lax in testing and enforcing water quality (the Biden administration EPA just set new water standards to greatly reduce “forever” chemicals in the water. These chemicals are tightly linked to many chronic illnesses). There are mounds of medical research demonstrating that poor air quality is linked to many serious childhood and adult illnesses and shorter lifespans. Exercise, over a life-time, is an excellent way to recharge the ‘ol battery. The type of exercise may need to change over time to avoid injury (lose energy in repair of injury) but any exercise can be beneficial…even more than good food.
The bottom line is that we need to stop looking at illness and disease as inevitable, out of our control. We need to look at health and illness in terms of energy levels. As we get older, we have a life-time of accumulating, non-healing injuries and we begin to develop illnesses. We cope for a while with medications to reduce symptoms. Symptom improvement often lulls us into a false confidence. We never change our lifestyle. We continue to lose energy and more illnesses follow. The underlying reason for illness persisting and getting worse is WE HAVE NO ENERGY. This can change. Let’s focus on those activities that can recharge the battery and improve our health.
In the next blog, I will discuss the many ways of increasing our energy and the medically documented benefits even in the face of serious illnesses.
Thank you…stay tuned!
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