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The joy of living
• 75% of longevity is
dependent on lifestyle
SPEAKING of the secrets of life and death, Argentine
writer Alejandro Dolina affirmed that one of their
greatest enigmas has to do with how strange it is
that human beings, simple mortals, can enjoy life
knowing that it comes to an end.
Perhaps that unknown is expressed in one way by a
marvelous literary work entitled The Joy of
Living by French writer Emile Zola, who refers
to life as the daughter of a matrimony of
storekeepers, whose parents constitute a beautiful
balance in an environment embodying death and
pessimism. But, nonetheless, the desire and joy of
living prevails.
From
time immemorial, men and women have dreamed of
eternity and principally eternal youth. The classic
desire to find the fountain of youth was an
undertaking that led the Spanish colonialists to an
incursion into the Florida peninsula. Many died
there, some sold their souls to the devil and
inevitably, they all aged and died, one chronicler
put it.
As
the centuries have passed, scientific development
has relegated the myth of the source of youth to a
historic recollection, offering human beings more
secure and real alternatives for prolonging their
existence. This is in the context of preventative
medicine, that teaches us the best living habits for
our organism, and allows for improving memory,
sexual activity, skin quality, blood sugar and fat
levels, among other aspects, all of which contribute
to raising spiritual activity for a healthy
performance.
The
modern medical discipline does not exclude the
primordial objectives of treating and preventing
illness but also how to prolong life with quality.
The
World Health Organization (WHO) defines the concept
of health as a state of physical, mental and social
well-being, not just the absence of illness. This is
the concept behind the idea of the 120 Years’ Club,
according to Cuban professor Eugenio Selman – in one
of our regular conversations on the theme – given
that is has been confirmed that the best health is
not wholly dependent on excellent medical attention,
which provides 25%, while the remaining 75%
corresponds to living habits.
I am
referring to the care human beings receive or have
from birth and in all the stages of their existence,
that are summed up in daily actions such as
attention to babies from the moment of conception
and while inside the mother and the subsequent ones
recommended as part of the culture of hygiene and
other daily measures conforming prevention.
Zola’s work itself outlines that when quoting the
damage incurred by the incapacity to act against
hostility, even from civilization, and the erosion
of values. He places the antidote in the words of
one of his characters with this phrase: “Joy is
action.”
The
innovative idea of the 120 Years’ Club includes
everyone, those who enjoy good health and those who,
for whatever reasons, feel old prematurely. There
are preventative measures favorable to longevity
that can guarantee a better quality of life and
prolong existence.
Science has developed integrated preventative
systems based on the study of natural aging in order
to rule out prejudicial factors that produce
premature aging and that propose a life system
promoting health by applying the treatment needed to
correct aesthetic and organic signs of corporal
decay. In conclusion, they retard the aging process,
which implies maintaining the rate of cellular
reparation and renovation over and above the rate of
degradation. It is based on the central pillars
promoted by the 120 Years’ Club: diet, physical
exercise, control of stress, nutritional
supplements, motivation in daily conduct and
principally, the desire to live, none of which
signify a great sacrifice for people. |
