Six ways to improve your health in 2006

A new year and a new resolve to build a better life. The problem is the list we draw up to improve our lives is so darn long that we often end up doing nothing at all. Call it a to-do list. Call it a battle plan if it makes you feel better. One way or the other, you have to figure out where to start and what to do. Many New Year’s resolutions are health-related: lose 10 lbs., stop excessive alcohol intake, join a health club, and others. Of course, these are all good ways to keep ourselves fit and healthy. But there are often less obvious ways to enhance your health in the New Year that will not only extend your life span but also improve your quality of life.

Here are my six choices for 2006.

1. Learn To Meditate

Over the past several decades, it has become increasingly clear that meditation is a path not only to spiritual enlightenment but also to better health. A slew of recent studies have shown that a regular practice can offset many of the effects of stress, including heart disease, high blood pressure, anxiety, depression, insomnia, and infertility. In addition, it has been proven to boost the immune system and help treat symptoms and pain associated with chronic illness such as cancer, fibromyalgia, and psoriasis.

According to a survey on complementary and alternative medicine by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, eight percent of adult Americans now practice meditation. "It allows people to deal with a wide range of incoming hits to the brain and psyche in a more manageable way," says Barrie Cassileth, chief of the Integrative Medicine Service at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Meditation has no side effect and once learned, doesn’t cost a centavo!

2. Use Your Gray Matter

We know today that adult brains can grow and change. This ability may help individuals push back against declines in perception, cognition, and motor skills, once thought to be an unavoidable part of growing older. It may play a role in recovery from stroke and traumatic brain injury. And it may even help delay the development of diseases like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s.

Best of all, the brain’s restorative capabilities seem to be sparked not by high-priced pharmaceuticals but by everyday pleasures that present mental or physical challenges. These can include tackling crossword puzzles, analyzing the Da Vinci Code in your book group, or playing a tough 18 holes of golf. "Use it or lose it," says William Greenough, a researcher at the University of Illinois who cites billiards as a good example of the sort of motor-skills challenge that enhances brain function. "The brain needs both physical and mental exercise," he emphasizes.

Now you know why Efren "Bata" Reyes is ageless!

3. Have More Sex

Two economists, David Blanchflower of Darthmouth College and Andrew Oswald of Warwick University, set out to track down people’s lifestyles and happiness in a series of research papers, and when it comes to the importance of sex, their conclusion couldn’t be more plain: "The more sex," they write, "the happier the person." The real surprise here might not be how we enjoy sex, but why we need a couple of economists to tell us so. The pleasure we get from sexual contact is hardwired, like nature’s incentive plan to keep us propagating the species. But there are more benefits to safe, consensual sex than just fulfilling an evolutionary requirement. As more and more researchers are finding out, it can be awfully good for physical and mental health as well.

Studies show that sex may reduce prostate and breast cancer risk, boost immunity, relieve stress, and burn 180 calories for a half hour, making it a pretty good workout. It shoots mood-boosting hormones through the system, builds intimacy between partners, and generally just feels pretty darn good.

But here’s the caveat: Sex experts say that it’s the quality, not just the quantity that counts. And may I add, keep it intramarital, will you?!

4. Exercise, A Little

The benefits that come from daily exercise read like a doctor’s wish list: It reduces the risk of heart disease, stroke, Type II diabetes, breast and colon cancer, osteoporosis, and overall mortality; lowers blood pressure and blood sugar levels; reduces body fat, builds lean muscle, and prevents weight gain; increases good HDL cholesterol and reduces harmful LDL; enhances self-esteem; alleviates depression and anxiety; and slows cognitive decline and disability among older adults.

But the fact is, a majority of people do not relish the wonders of exercise. So what’s the very minimum amount of exercise that will keep the gym-averse healthy? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends that adults accumulate a mere 30 minutes of exercise per day, on most or preferably all days. This is a level that can reduce cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and other serious chronic illnesses.

So what are you waiting for?

5. Quit Smoking

Getting a group of doctors to agree on something is near impossible. But there is one point on which they are unanimous: If you’re a smoker, you should quit. Tobacco is the leading preventable cause of mortality. Smoking also exacerbates other conditions, like diabetes and asthma. Of course, if you smoke, you probably know that. Just like you know that it causes lung and heart disease, stinks up your breath and clothes, and elicits dirty looks from strangers. You also probably want to quit – maybe you have tried, and failed, before.

Why not make this the year you succeed? While there is still no silver bullet that makes quitting a snap, researchers are learning more about how to improve your odds. Specialists suggest psychological counseling and pharmacological agents, such as nicotine patches and antidepressants. If you need more information, you may visit the following websites: www.smokefree.gov and www.stopsmoking.ucsf.edu.

With success, you’ll be cheering more than good health. Says Anne Joseph of the University of Minnesota’s Transdisciplinary Tobacco Use Research Center: "More than feeling good physically, people (who quit) are really happy and proud of themselves."

6. Forgive

Major world religions have long considered forgiveness as one of the most important human virtues. Jesus’ radical forgiveness is the foundation of Christianity. Judaism’s high holy days – Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur – are focused on atonement. Buddhism calls for ceaseless empathy and compassion toward all beings, especially one’s enemies. In the Koran, the angel Gabriel tells Mohammed to set aside vengeful anger. And from the Bhagavad Gita, a classic Hindu text: "If you want to see the brave, look for those who can forgive. If you want to see the heroic, look for those who can love in return for hatred."

While theologians differ on what constitutes true forgiveness, academics in the still-new field of forgiveness studies have come to an uneasy definition: "It’s something that happens inside the forgiver when he lets go of negative emotions," says Everett Worthington, a psychology professor at Virginia Commonwealth University. "It’s not condoning, excusing, justifying, or reconciling," he says. And if peace of mind isn’t enough, researchers have also found that forgiveness provides significant health benefits. Fred Luskin, director of the Stanford Forgiveness Project, says that nursing a grudge raises blood pressure, depletes immune function, makes you more easily depressed, and causes enormous stress to the entire body. Forgive. Do it for yourself. After all, forgiveness is looking at yourself and saying, "I don’t want to go through life feeling hateful and revengeful, because that’s not going to do me any good." That is the heart of forgiveness: choosing to live every new day in peace.

Happy and healthy new year to all!