Many of us are very interested in looking and feeling as young as possible. Dr. Harry Lodge, a New York physician, reveals the way to find the fountain of youth in his book, "Younger Next Year."
In the book he details his observations about his patients who have aged well. He also analyzes new medical research on the subject of aging well.
It turns out there are two key factors to aging well: exercise and a positive attitude.
Our bodies contain trillions of cells. Most of the cells live less than three months. They die and the new ones are created. Whether the new cells are full of decay or growth, depends on how we treat our body. In other words, if we exercise an hour a day for six days a week, we are programming our cells to come back stronger and younger, better able to resist disease and degeneration. If we are lethargic, we program our cells to decay and die and become targets of all kinds of maladies.
But exercise is only half of it. Our emotions play as significant, if not more significant, a role in cell generation than exercise. That means the way we FEEL triggers our cells to either grow or decay. Negative emotions like stress, anger, lonliness, depression, feeling victimized and defeated all tell our cells to decay and degenerate. Those negative emotions trigger a slow release of cortizol and adrenaline that cause our immune system to shut down, making us vulnerable to all the hallmarks of aging, not the least of which is disease.
On the other hand, feeling joy, love, forgiveness, freedom, all signal our cells to grow younger. In addition to those individual emotions, positive feelings connected with the community can be even more beneficial. Volunteering, serving the community, connecting in a positive way with others, getting involved in something bigger than yourself have all been proven measures to boost the growth of cells, enabling your body to function at its peak capability.