Advice for a longer life

December 6th, 2017 by Nick Jacobs Leave a reply »

 

 

 

Back in 1997, I was given a death sentence. OK, it wasn’t one that was exactly spelled out by a judge, but it was provided to me by my ancestors in the form of genetics. You see, I failed a stress test at age 49 and ended up in a cath lab. I’ve been there four more times over the next two decades, but it was primarily because my first set of stents were not medically coated and Mother Nature doesn’t like that.

After this medical crisis slapped me directly in the face, I went to the most progressive physician I knew and asked her what was going on in heart care that was not common knowledge at the time. She told me about a researcher, Dr. Dean Ornish, in San Francisco. I called him, and he invited me to come to a retreat for heart patients in Sausalito, California. Over a five-day period, I learned about yoga, meditation, stress management and group support.

Clearly, my biggest personal challenge was managing stress, and unfortunately, I didn’t get good at that until I left day-to-day healthcare administration in 2009. But the real eye-opener that occurred during this retreat was something called PET Scans. Dr. Ornish introduced us to several heart patients who had been given their own death sentences 20 years earlier, and during their introductions, he showed us their before and after PET Scans. It was at those sessions where I saw that the human body is capable of healing itself. All you have to do is give it a chance and some tender loving care.

Their blockages literally opened up, and in some cases disappeared. Since that retreat back in the nineties, I’ve experienced a similar reversal of a blockage that is lovingly referred to in the healthcare world as a “widow maker.” So, diet, exercise, stress management and group support were the key. It wasn’t cheeseburgers, and one more pack of cigarettes a day that would do the trick.

Turn the clock ahead to October 25, 2017, in San Diego, California, where physician Dr. Daniel Amen presented information from his new book, Memory Rescue, about the human brain. Guess what? Once again, it was demonstrated that epigenetics can supersede genetics. He showed slide after slide of SPECT scans of individual’s brains that had reversed damage caused from head injuries, poor circulation and horrendous American diets. Yes, it was another life-changing event for me as well

Dr. Amen has written about 20 books that address brain health, but I’d highly recommend that you buy this one. He talks about the essentials of brain health that include blood flow, continuous learning, managing inflammation, epigenetics, head trauma, toxins, mental health, infection, diabetes and sleep. I’m sure that’s an overwhelming list for many of you, but let me boil it down in this way. Diet, exercise, stress management, and group support.

If you care enough about yourself, here’s a list: limit fat and fatty foods, walk several minutes a day, stimulate your brain by reading and learning, seek out people who provide you with love and support, and cut back on alcohol, caffeine, and head-butting. Finally, if you work to drop your belly fat and try to stay away from sugars and lots of alcohol, your brain will actually heal itself. Brain damage can be reversed.

Of course, sadly, if things are too far gone as with advanced Alzheimer’s, nothing will do much good, but generally, he has seen the reversal of serious brain function loss when his patients begin to eat healthy fruits and vegetables, drop unnecessary weight, stop eating junk and fried foods, stop zoning on television and actually read, perspire to eliminate toxins by exercising regularly and sleep. Oh, and take fish oil because none of this can hurt you.

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