So, Where Do We Start?

Health advice is everywhere, yet healthspan and lifespan in much of our modern world are decreasing. This is the opposite of what you’d expect when so much cutting-edge health information is available at our fingertips. Clearly, the proliferation and saturation of the “healthsphere” of advice isn’t working. Why is this, and what is the answer to people finding healthier lives? These are big questions, and here are some of my thoughts on the answers.

For me, it doesn’t matter if the advice out there is “good” advice or “bad” advice. Even if all the advice we have at our fingertips was reliably proven to improve health (and not just self-serving, money-making, clickbaiting, or headline-generating nonsense), it wouldn’t change the current state of our general health. That’s because a person’s individual health journey does not start from “out there.” It starts from “in here.” Once you have a meaningful reason to get healthier—a purposeful, “why it matters to me” reason—you will seek health answers, begin to experiment, and find what works for you from all the available sources.

Finding “healthy options” doesn’t start with a Google search but inside your gut and your heart. Having your health come first always returns to “why it matters to me.” That is where the strength comes to begin making and then sustaining healthier choices. And once you begin to replace the outdated or flat-out wrong health information inside you with better alternatives, the process takes on a self-supporting life of its own.

“How Do I Know What Will Work for Me?”

Once you begin to experience health as a vehicle to a better life and realize the benefits of how that feels physically (and inside) and how it changes your relationship with others and the world around you, you will develop a sixth sense to determine the kinds of things that can work for you and which ones won’t. This is the healthy foundation that is at the heart of every health journey. It is an inner and individual experience, at once similar yet different for each of us. I have found that this inner path is the only effective way to “move the needle” in the pursuit of improved health, both lifespan and healthspan.

Individual change on this score involves choice and commitment. Many people think their only choice is to keep leading the same unhealthy lives they currently do. They are stuck. We can shift so many facets of our health—what and when we eat, how and when we move, how and when we rest and sleep—by changing unhealthy “stuckness” into healthy experiences, starting with even very small steps. This is an internal commitment, not determined by convention and what others do. Appetite, cravings, and sedentary habits are all up for question, not by willpower alone but by becoming aware of yourself, what keeps you stuck, clarifying “why health matters to me,” and start taking the small steps that will get you unstuck.

“How Do I Figure Out My ‘Why’?”

Among the chief “whys” to be healthier are to enjoy a better quality of life with less pain and more mobility; being healthier for loved ones, including kids, grandkids and great-grandkids; continue doing the activities you love, such as gardening, camping, sailing, or whatever; and generally being healthier because you recognize that being unhealthy will lead to a grim future.

The answer to “why it matters to me” might not be linked to an external factor, such as grandkids or gardening. Instead, it might be linked to self-nurturing, being good to yourself. My own inclinations, which do not apply to everyone, are that my subconscious self-criticism is linked to unhealthy inclinations, whether that is overeating, overdrinking, or not exercising enough. These unhealthy habits seem to go hand-in-hand with each other. When I don’t feel good about myself, I want the “comfort” of crappy food and being lazy! I have learned that self-love, or at least “self-like,” and respect for the wonder of my being and my body are my best allies to keep on track.

So, search the web if you like to find the latest-and-greatest health advice, the newest “age-defying” supplement, the latest high-tech exercise equipment, or the newest “breakthrough” innovation that will change everything. You might find something new to buy, or to chat about with friends, but my hunch is that you won’t find what you’re looking for. If you’re serious about being healthier, turn your gaze inward, ask yourself “why it matters to me,” and think about what a healthier life would mean for you and those you care about. You might just come up with some answers you weren’t expecting.