Have You Considered Your Health Span?!

The medical and health worlds have started to talk more about health span. Giving an overview of the idea, this introduction from a 2019 Harvard Medical School states:

In 1919, the average life expectancy for people born in the U.S. was about 56 years. Today, that has risen to almost 79 years.

Older populations in particular are growing. …

As progress on multiple fronts has made it possible for many people to live longer, interest has grown in how to age well: preserving physical and mental health to maximize quality of life in the elder years.

Basically how do we live healthy and vibrant for all our life span!

The idea is that our health span and our life span match as much as possible. Like you can see in my friend’s story from last month’s blog, lifestyle choices today will influence how much health quality a person will garner. These choices are especially decisive for people with metabolic syndrome.

“Researchers say healthy lifestyle habits can add as much as a decade to your life span. I say more actually! The researchers identified five lifestyle factors as important, including diet, exercise, and maintaining a moderate body weight. Experts say the two most important things to avoid are smoking and developing overweight or obesity,” quoting from How Diet, Exercise, and Weight Management Can Add a Decade to Your Life.

When we make choices that support our health span, we improve our metabolic health and decrease the likelihood of developing metabolic disease. (This short four-minute video provides some helpful visuals on how metabolism, including our mitochondrial health, relates to our health span.)

Peter Attia, MD, whom I follow on his podcast, writes that “metabolic disease typically exists on a continuum — progressing from hyperinsulinemia, to insulin resistance, to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, all the way to type 2 diabetes — and tends to cluster with five signs which make up the diagnostic criteria for Metabolic Syndrome, including: high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, elevated blood glucose, truncal obesity, and low HDL-cholesterol.”

The Good News

You can improve your metabolic health! The foundational ideas (actions!) of eating real foods, drinking enough water, getting sleep, and moving more help slow the progression of aging and keep us on the more vibrant end of that health span continuum. For some, supplementation can help, like CoQ10, NMN, and NADH for mitochondrial health, a good multivitamin for added antioxidants and vitamins, and sometimes a supplement for any deficiencies we may have according to our doctor. For others, additional support from their medical doctor and naturopath are important. As a health coach, I’m also here to help support healthy, doable lifestyle choices.

With the new year starting, let’s (as Nike says) Just Do it!

I am having a 30 Metabolic Health Challenge starting January 9th! In this group, we will keep connected in a FB group, I also encourage everyone to join doTERRA’s 30 day challenge and we will be using doTERRA’s MetaPWR System. (Be sure to contact me to get your MetaPWR System so I can be sure you get in my group!) In this way we have plenty of support, encouragement and tools to succeed! In my FB group, I will be sharing recipes, education and books that can guide us toward healthier choices and meals. I will do some FB lives and have question and answer sessions as well as making some good food. DoTERRA’s 30 Challenge group will have many people in it for encouragement and guidance.

Success happens when we come together and lift each other up and make small changes to get us where we want to go.

I would love for you to join us. Just email me at devi@simplywholebydevi.com to get into my group. Or if you are following me on my FB page, just message me.

Here’s to a happy, healthy New Year!