Health Tips

HOT READS FOR THE PRACTITIONER

Title: How Long do You Want to Live?

Competencies: managing self, self-development, exercise/physical activity, sleep/rest, stress management, eating/nutrition, psychological well-being

Who benefits: anyone interested in personal health and longevity

Consultant Usage: wellness advocates and coaches

What’s it about? I have been collecting health tips from books and articles. I especially like reading them in lieu of exercise, after a sleepless night, while eating some cheesecake ice cream from Cold Stone Creamery.

Some of these tips are general; others specific. Some aren’t new, one is a bit off-the-wall. But hey, if you want to live a long life, consider some of these:

A Mediterranean diet with olive oil and nuts (the kind you eat) is as good as drugs when it comes to preventing heart attacks, strokes and deaths from cardiovascular disease says The New England Journal of Medicine, as reported in the New York Times.

Time Magazine recently interviewed some Harvard Medical School doctors for their advice on healthy living. At least one piece of advice was unexpected and likely to be ignored by every friend I have. Guess which one:

Doctor #1 – “Trick yourself into exercise.” Treadmill and TV is his personal solution.

Doctor #2 – “Make mental health a priority.” She has a group of friends that email each other every Friday night and report on their successes for the week.

Doctor #3 – “Avoid smart phones.” Doc doesn’t own one. Says they pull him in 10 directions at once – his personality requires him to look at every message – and it drives him crazy. He adds that going crazy is bad for your health.

Doctor #4 – “Seek and share joy.” Relationships, personal fulfillments and optimism are good prescriptions for good health.

This Blog reader Lilia has her own personal Blog, Fit Foods For Thought, that is unique. It is a running commentary on food and personal growth. It is an opportunity to look into another person’s introspection. Check out her latest post “Beauty Foods”.

And finally, this thought. Why be healthy? Why be fit? The answer is likely to be something like “I want to live a long and healthy life.” Well guess what? Living a healthy life style and modern medicine is making that more and more possible. Be careful what you ask for. Living a verrrrrrrrrrrrrrry long life may not always be the best option. With longevity comes some other very interesting questions that are dealt with by Pulitzer Prize-winning science writer Jonathan Weiner in his book Long for This World: The Strange Science of Immortality.

Catch you later.

Bill Bradley

Bill Bradley (mostly) retired after 35 years in organizational consulting, training and management development. During those years he worked internally with seven organizations and trained and consulted externally with more than 90 large and small businesses, government agencies, hospitals and schools.