What is the REAL secret to a long and healthy life?
I think the answer will surprise you.
As a holistic health practitioner whose interest in wellness and healthy living spawned from my oldest daughter’s birth, I have been on a journey to heal my seasonal allergies, acne, migraines and create a lifestyle that supports health, not just treats symptoms for my whole family.
This has lead me to things like organic gardening to close to loop on reliance upon large scale farming and nutritional depletion when food sits in the trucks and stores for too long. Next I explored herbal medicine, growing them, medicine making and the more subtle aspects of vibrational healing through flower and gem essences.
Healing the body (and spirit) came next with yoga, bellydancing, pranayama, and meditation for the mind. I went to school for massage and received many many massages while I was in school. During this year I was probably receiving 2-6 massages per week and I know for sure I purged a lot of toxins from my body and refreshed my immune system as I didn’t get sick for 5 years after I was in massage school! AND I have small children at home. I then found the ancient healing science of Ayurveda, which I credit to easing my digestive issues and giving me a glow from the inside out.
Through all of these modalities, a lot of what I have found is that relieving stress and balancing my nervous system is ESSENTIAL to health, no matter what I am doing to get there. Reducing cortisol in the body is excellent for anti-inflammation and as we all know, inflammation in the body leads to dis-ease AND more stress/cortisol in the body.
BUT THERE IS MORE.
Above ALL else… Do you know what the number one aspect of human life that helps us live longer, happier lives??? It is not running the 5K. Eating all the best food. Meditating everyday. NOPE.
It is COMMUNITY.
Being involved in something bigger than ourselves, volunteering, social interaction, playing games with your loved ones, talking to your neighbors, laughing and living near/with people that you spend time getting to know.
YEP…. Community.
In the book Growing Young, How Friendship, Optimism and Kindness Can Help you live to 100 by Marta Zaraska, she suggests that we’re overlooking an important part of wellness if we are only focusing on what we eat and how much exercise we get. In fact, if we want to enhance our physical health and longevity, it may be most important to focus on our relationships and to treat others in our lives with kindness and an open heart.
For example, one meta-analysis found that people with healthy and supportive relationships live longer, and that these effects are surprisingly strong. Over the course of studies averaging seven years long, research participants with larger social networks were about 45 percent less likely to die.
The reason for this is simple. When we are with people we love and enjoy, our body produces pain relieving, pleasure increasing hormones such as dopamine, oxytocin and reduces the “fight or flight” hormone and cortisol, the stress hormone.
Loneliness is shown to increase cortisol and will in turn create more inflammation and physical symptoms of dis-ease.
Zaraska points out that people who volunteer tend to live longer, comparable to the benefit people receive from eating plenty of fruits and vegetables. In one study, elderly people who volunteered were 44 percent less likely to die over the course of a five-year study. In other studies, volunteers show lower levels of C-reactive protein and interleukin-6, both measures of inflammation. Research even suggests that those who engage in kind acts can see changes in the way genes for their immune system are expressed.
Zaraska points out that there’s been an increase in loneliness over the past several decades—we’re more likely to live alone, and less likely to feel we have people we can talk to. Especially now, reaching out to form new connections with others has the potential to improve our well-being and longevity.
SO, I want to ask you some questions to get you thinking about how you can increase your community engagement.
What causes do you know of in your community that are inspiring to you and may benefit from your involvement through volunteering on a regular basis?
Who in your life may be lonely and may benefit from you reaching out to offer some connection and interaction?
Where do you have loneliness in your life that you could fill with connection and engagement?
Where could you spend even a few minutes talking to someone (at the grocery store, coffee shop, passing on the street, neighborhood) that should make a difference in their day?
What ways can you show someone that you’re thinking of them and that they matter in your life and the community?
Cheers to you finding your place in community…. I have always felt like we are all deeply connected more than we know.
Let’s take care of each other.
XO
Radha