Most of us believe that we have only two settings on our own personal Health-o-Meter – healthy, or sick. This over-simplification has been at the root of many health problems – feeling okay usually means that there are no apparent symptoms, but this is no guarantee of good health. Many of the most serious illnesses, including heart disease and cancer, may have no symptoms at all in the early stages.
But there is another issue with measuring your level of health by the presence or absence of symptoms – what most people call “healthy” is really just “not sick,” since most of us have spent so little time at peak performance levels, we don’t even realize what is available to us – glowing, vibrant, exuberant vitality that can be gained with a few simple lifestyle decisions any of us could make if we wanted to.
In the famous Alameda County Study conducted over thirty years in California, there were seven simple lifestyle choices that greatly increased your chance of longevity and better quality of life. These habits are:
- Eating breakfast every morning
- Sleeping seven or eight hours each night
- Exercising regularly
- Not smoking
- Drinking less than five drinks at one sitting
- Maintaining a desirable weight for your height
- Avoiding snacks
Most of this seems pretty obvious, and none of it seems very difficult, but most of us could do a better job implementing even these basic health practices.
If you were to add to these fundamentals a daily diet of wholesome, natural foods, a process of stress reduction like meditation, prayer or life coaching, and some regular body maintenance like chiropractic care to keep your spine and nerve system healthy, you would be in prime shape to handle all that life has to throw at you, the high points and the challenges as well.
The question we all have to answer is … how much of your potential do you want to express, and what price are you willing to pay to express it? Your answer will shape your health, your success, and the quality of your relationships, too.
Raise your standards and expect more of yourself – you’ll see how small refinements in your typical daily activities can pay you dividends by adding more years to your life and more life to your years.