The Power of Being Engaged

The last thing a fish notices (if fish do indeed notice, and we presume they do!) is water. They are immersed in it, it sustains their lives, and provides the means for them to get food and swim away when they want to escape being dinner for larger fish. In that sense, water is essential for their well being.

In a similar way, people hardly notice the activities in their lives, and they most certainly underestimate the importance of doing to their well-being and survival. Being engaged is important to us for many reasons, some of which have been articulated in earlier posts on this blog. It's always nice to remind ourselves, however, of things we take for granted.

As a recovering academic (actually, academics are never fully recovered), I have sometimes used examples of life changing events that disrupt people's everyday activities, sometimes temporarily, sometimes progressively, and less often, permanently. Many people fear death, and worry about the complete cessation of their engaging daily occupations, but few people even think about how injuries and disease, or changes in their aging bodies, can limit the things they like to do.

These "things" are activities, sometimes called interests, projects, hobbies, work, tasks or simply "doings." A disease or injury that interferes with movement, or any of our senses, will make doing these things, or engaging in life, more difficult. But, features of the environment, policies, attitudes and other dimensions of life also create barriers to doing. People get passionate about policies that restrict their behaviors. Hopefully, they get equally passionate about finding ways to do the activities they love when adversity starts to create limitations.

If we live long enough, we all begin to experience the normal effects of aging. These diminish our vision, our hearing, our taste, and our ability to move around. People react to these circumstances in different ways. Some compensate and don't miss a beat, and others seem to withdraw, which we now know hastens the process of bodily decline.

So, at long last, the point of all this. Make each activity count. Enjoy the moment and appreciate the power of engagement. It is the very substance that makes life what it is.

Longevity and Quality of Life

Most of us are interested in living a long life. I recently came across a book called Blue Zones, which described studies, partially sponsored by the National Geographic Society,  involving various locations on earth where the inhabitants seem to have unusually high longevity. In examining the lifestyle factors in these regions, Dan Buettner and his associates came up with some factors that they believe contribute to longevity. These include strong social networks, diets with fruits and vegetables, active lifestyles, and a positive view of aging. The implication is that the people in these regions have a high quality of life. Little is said directly, however, about their levels of happiness.  Can we assume that the scientists posit that happiness and longevity are related? That is, do happy people live longer?

The answer, it seems, is yes, but only if you are healthy. This finding is based on a review in the Journal of Happiness Studies by Ruut Veenhoven. Veenhoven, a scientist at Erasmus University in the Netherlands,  found in his review that happiness in healthy populations added to longevity in a manner similar to being a non-smoker. In populations that have chronic diseases, being happy does not seem to add measurably to life expectancy.

Studies of healthy aging in the United States have focused less on longevity and more on factors that seem to ward off chronic illness. Carol Ryff, PhD, a leading researcher in this area, has shown that various personal factors, including autonomy (our degree of choice and control over our lives), environmental mastery, personal growth, positive relations with others, purpose in life and self acceptance are important for successful aging and resilience. Dr. Ryff  is among a growing number of researchers who are making the case for neuropsychoimmunology,  the science that demonstrates that how we feel influences our immune system (as previous blog posts have outlined). Clearly, it is not difficult to imagine that what we do, and how we feel about what we do, relates to the factors that Dr. Ryff has identified in her research.

So, what is the take away from this post? Do we know what factors that lead to longer lives also lead to happiness? The answer is an equivocal yes, but is based on comparing findings of different studies rather than looking at the question from a single study. Perhaps the MIDUS II (Midlife in the United States) studies now going on under Dr. Ryff's direction will address this issue.

In this blogger's opinion, the question of longevity must always be asked in the context of life quality. The issue for us all, it seems, is not just how long we live, but how well we live.