Balanced Choices Can Benefit Good Health and Longevity

Dr. Jamie Phillips

Just the other day I read an article on sciencedaily.com how caffeine improved memory loss in aged mice raised to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease. The article lead with the suggestion that “Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup.”  It continued by reporting on a sequence of studies published online July 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that demonstrated that caffeine notably decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, both in the brains and in the blood of mice that had developed symptoms of the disease.

However, before you opt to add another cup of coffee to your morning ritual, let me, Dr. Jamie Phillips add that also on the website, under “Related Stories,” were at least two articles about studies that showed the not-so-healthy effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”

It seems to me that there are conceivably many studies that will affirm, or at least support, nearly any view point, especially when it is about health and longevity. The “good/bad” studies related to caffeine certainly aren’t, by any means, the only ones. Even so, it did get me to thinking about the likelihood that there will not ever be just “one thing” that will absolutely help we, humans, to live longer, healthier lives. We are dynamic, biological creatures. We aren’t bred in a cage! We are free to engage in life. And, furthermore, though Alzheimer’s disease is likely on the rise, obviously no one has been “artificially induced to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” so caffeine isn’t entirely the “one thing” that will reverse or prevent it.

Our body is a splendid, complex system that is designed to function homeostasis or balance. It makes sense, then, that good health has more to do with a healthy, balanced attitude towards living, as opposed to our jumping on the bandwagon of the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one specific thing under the illusion that it will reverse all of the other over-indulgent and unhealthy things we do to our bodies.

I believe, as a chiropractor in Santa Barbara, that every single day we have an opportunity to choose healthfully for our body, decisions that will help us to live longer, healthier lives. We know what genuinely “feels” life enriching and what doesn’t when it comes to what is good for our body. So, I just wanted to offer a little something for you to keep in mind the next time you reach for that extra cup of coffee or second glass of red wine. Neither one of those things is the “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.