Another day older and deeper in debt. "Tennessee" Earnie Ford would probably agree with an article I just read in the US News and World Report about a study of how losing your job, having your job security threatened, or even having a secure but bad job can increase your stress and consequently decrease your lifespan. Kind of ties in with my prior post. Here's the link:
http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/2009/02/20/is-your-job-killing-you-how-work-influences-longevity.html
Fortunately, I'm self-employed, and writing blog posts while in my PJs is more or less my job. I think I'm covered in the low-stress department, as long as I can keep paying my bills and avoid working in coal mines.
Thursday, March 5, 2009
Dancing the Night (and My Health) Away
Last weekend, I had friends in town, and we ended up staying up late Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night. We had a lot of fun, but it also ran down my batteries quite a bit. Add that to my already stressed out state, and, natch, I came down with a cold this week. I chalk this up as more anecdotal evidence supporting my theory that both stress and insufficient sleep weaken the immune system and, thus, age us faster. In my case, a pathogen flourished. In fact, I can look back at every single cold or flu I've had in the past several years and see that they were all preceded by extra stress, overworking and burnout, lack of exercise, less nutritious diet, and/or missed sleep.
Incidentally, I've found that the best cure for the common cold is taking a couple days off from work, getting lots of sleep, and drinking prodigious amounts of orange juice. It seems that maintaining optimal health isn't such a mystery after all. Why is it that we so often neglect to do the simple things that we know will keep us healthy? I think that's the basis of my longevity experiment and this whole blog--that optimal health and longevity are very simple, straightforward, and easy to attain. We just have to turn a few well-known but oft-ignored precepts into permanent habits through conscious and willful action. Well, that's the theory anyway. We'll see how it goes.
Incidentally, I've found that the best cure for the common cold is taking a couple days off from work, getting lots of sleep, and drinking prodigious amounts of orange juice. It seems that maintaining optimal health isn't such a mystery after all. Why is it that we so often neglect to do the simple things that we know will keep us healthy? I think that's the basis of my longevity experiment and this whole blog--that optimal health and longevity are very simple, straightforward, and easy to attain. We just have to turn a few well-known but oft-ignored precepts into permanent habits through conscious and willful action. Well, that's the theory anyway. We'll see how it goes.
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