In Addition to Massage, A Balanced Lifestyle Is The Key to Good Health and Longevity
Posted by admin on Sep 28, 2009
Last week I read an article on sciencedaily.com regarding a study performed on aged mice raised to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and the boost that caffeine gave to improving memory loss. The article started with the suggestion that “Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup.” It went on to discuss coterminous studies published online July 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that showed that caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, both in the brains and in the blood of mice exhibiting symptoms of the disease.
However, before you make a decision to add an extra cuppa to your daily intake, let me, Dr. Jamie Phillips elaborate by saying that under “Related Stories” on the website were a couple of articles about studies that professed to prove the not-so-healthy effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”
Almost every viewpoint, it seems to me, especially when it comes to health and longevity, can be confirmed, or at least bolstered, by other related studies. The “yin-yang” of caffeine benefits-deficits naturally aren’t, of course, the only ones. Nonetheless, it did get me to considering about the reasonableness that there will never be any “one thing” that will irrefutably assist we, humans, in living longer, healthier lives. Humans are dynamic, biological beings. We aren’t raised in unnatural confinement We are free to engage in life. And, furthermore, though Alzheimer’s disease apparently is on the rise, obviously we, cage-free humans, have not been “artificially induced to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” so caffeine isn’t absolutely the “one thing” that is going to prevent or reverse it.
Our body is an exquisite, complex system that is based on homeostasis, that is to say, balance. It makes sense, then, that good health is about a healthy, balanced approach to living, as opposed to our jumping on the bandwagon of the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one particular thing fooling ourselves into believing that it will reverse all of the other excessive and unwholesome things we have done to our bodies.
I believe, as a chiropractor in Santa Barbara, that every moment of the day we have an opportunity to make decisions that will assist us to live longer, healthier lives, healthy choices for our body and mind. We know what actually “feels” beneficial and what doesn’t when it comes to what is good for our body. So, I just wanted to pass along some thoughts for you to keep in mind the next time you consider having that extra cup of coffee or second glass of red wine. Neither one of those things is the “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.
Dr. Jamie Phillips
601 E. Arrellaga St. #201
Santa Barbara, CA, 93103
http://www.santabarbarachiropractic.org