You might want to sit down for this one, you can google it if you don’t believe me: fewer people die from car accidents or high blood pressure now than do suicide.
I always tell my wife and daughter to drive safe when they leave the house. Statistically, I’d be better off reminding them to put something in the Amazing Jar when they get home. Keep reading.
I just deleted an entire letter I wrote two weeks ago which would have been fine if it was on purpose.
It’s gone forever. I’d just go play a video game to get my mind clear, but I know something about those behaviors. Video games can be fun.
Fun is what we tend to do when we aren’t happy.
That might not make sense, but here’s the deal: happy people enjoy pleasurable things, unhappy people seek pleasure
Instant rewarding/pleasurable behaviors become addictive. It why, for example, kids born after ’95 are the unhappiest and loneliest generation recorded because they seek pleasure in social media. They replace life with isolation and phony interaction where everything is great and dramatic making their own lives seem less inspiring.
Most of the “happy” research I read all comes to the same conclusion. Our best source of happiness comes from relationships, not things. I will also say, the trend towards fighting perceived injustice is also fruitless if you want this short life to = a smile.
Anyway, people used to say to me, “the body is soo amazing”. I would think to myself, “yeah, and just think what you would say if you knew anything about it”. That’s certainly not meant to be arrogant, but even more intriguing is the brain. If you knew anything about it, you’d realize how ridiculously biased, predetermined, and unreliable it is you’d spend time trying to shut it down every single day. That’s called “mindfulness”. That activity reduces stress and even lengthens telomeres (a bit more later).
So short term behaviors don’t give closure to stress. Exercise and punching the first person you see both do. * Wailing on an Iowa State Mascot will add years to your life. **
I will tell you that the health benefits from relationships, and they are significant, are limited not by quantity but quality. You need friends that you’ve shared difficult experiences with for the health benefits to show-up. You can read: Open Up by Writing it Down if you want to know how to improve your health more specifically. Gaining health advantage through relationships and communication must be performed in a certain way. For example, sharing experiences on Facebook . . . exacerbates issues because that’s ranting, it’s not the same. It’s also bad for you.
I touched upon the kids born after ’95 (97 depending on the reference) on my blog at painandsneeze.com. I also tell you about a real issue with how my wife treats my dogs versus what she’d be willing to do for me.
So, I mentioned how unreliable the brain is. So many areas could be addressed, but I’m talking, once again about happiness of sorts so here’s an idea. We need to train our brains to behave against its nature which Is to look out for danger. Practice altering it to notice the positive more often. There are studies about writing down 5 things to be thankful for every day, but here’s an easy one I got from the book, Tools of Titans (which is a great book). Take a mason jar and put an exclamation point on it or whatever and make it your “jar of awesomeness”. Anything good to great that happens write it down on a small piece of paper and throw it in your jar. It will make a difference. So often something good happens and we think we’ll remember . . . but we don’t.
The amazing jar will help sensitize your brain to notice the positive. Consumerism, social media, news all put our brains on high alert. Do at least one of the two things I’ve suggested: shut your brain off for a bit every day, get an amazing jar . . . get your heart rate variability checked at Lawson Chiropractic, get in for wellness treatment to remove physical stress from your body, get vitamin D checked, take essential fatty acids . . . exercise . . . blame your gas on the dog.
Next. Healthpop has mentioned telomeres in past issues. Telomeres are the replacement parts on your DNA that predict how long you’ll live If you don’t get runover by an Iowa State grad driving an ice cream truck prematurely. You can literally shorten them and even lengthen them in your lifetime. For example, low vitamin D and stress are telomere choppers. Magnesium is great. Caffeine kicks them between their metaphorical legs. However, cold-brew coffee? It lengthens ‘em.
What’s great for longevity? Heat-shock proteins. Very significant. Do a little research. What I will say, in two weeks Lawson Chiropractic will have a Far Infrared Sauna. Call for a free 10 minutes and I’ll throw in a heart rate variability check. It’s awesome.
Do you want a shorter, more painful life? Do you want stress to dominate your heart?
No?
Than call.
So, I was in Phoenix a couple weekends ago for a conference. I learned a few things, met a couple female Canadiens that love me (wife will testify), learned about cold-brew coffee, mind-blowing stuff on the opioid issue, cool stuff on DNA and how to off-set genetic risks (ask me), and learned an injury recall technique for injuries that seem to get aggravated continuously for no reason.
A guy came in yesterday that was supposed to be dead (how’s that for a segue). He was given 6 months to live exactly 6 months ago. I told him (6 months ago) to come see me in six months if I’m still alive. He didn’t forget. We were talking and he brought up things that people suggested after being given the prognosis. One person told him to blend Kale and a banana every day. I told him he’d probably be dead if he followed that arm chair advice.
Read: The Longevity Diet, if you want to know why a smoothie isn’t helping lung cancer. By-the-way, as of yet there isn’t true science that supports marijuana treating cancer. Where did I get that? From the place that doesn’t lie when it comes to potential profit: Investment research. There are no legit companies yet to invest in from discoveries on how to use THC to successfully fight cancer
Anyway, there is a consensus in longevity circles that one particularly important thing to do is to keep your feeding in a 12-hour window, and it probably isn’t a good idea to graze in that period. Yes, I know Iowa State cheerleaders do it, but that isn’t evidence. They leave footprints in artificial turf for goodness sakes. Your body needs a “reset” period away from digestion and insulin. It also creates a window where the body slows aging.
So, I’m going to try and write more often, because there’s a lot to share; additional content will either be on the Lawson Chiropractic FB page or the blog on painandsneeze.com.
*Not true
**Still in research phase