Changing Lives: It's Never Too late!

Dear Friends,

It's so important to remember it's never too late to make changes that support our health over the long term. Our bodies are resilient, and when we learn to stop running ourselves ragged and turn toward the life we want to be living, things get better. And it is best to start is very simply. You could begin with one area of life, perhaps slowing down and resting more, or cutting out fast food, and see how things shift. If we start with small adjustments slowly life begins to get sweeter.

Even one small change can produce dramatic results, one study showed that when previously sedentary people add walking into their routine the likelihood of developing heart disease was reduced.

Many of us have had extra stress in our lives over the last two years with the pandemic, and being bathed in stress hormones has definite consequences for your brain. Luckily, our heart isn't the only organ that's resilient, so are our brains. In one study researchers subjected rats to a month of intense stress. There was indeed a change in their brains; goal directed behavior decreased and the rats began to engage in ineffectual behaviors and persist in them. But there is some good news, after only a month off from the stress the rats and their brains returned to normal.

In the rat's case it took a month of vacation to offset a month of stress.  In our case, if the stress has gone on for many years, it might take a bit more time to regain balance.  But there is solid evidence that there is hope for us.  If life is stressful we can take regular breaks, perhaps an easy breathing practice, or some restorative yoga, and these breaks don't just make us feel better, they actually help reset our brains. 

The more we focus on the new habits, the quicker we get results. When we establish healthy patterns the brain and body are able to replace the old "stressed out patterns".

So often it takes something drastic to happen before we find the motivation to make changes in our lives, a cancer diagnosis, the prospect of heart surgery, a major depression, or some other extreme health situation. In those cases illness can be a great gift, and putting us on a different path, leading to better health than we ever imagined possible.