As I was looking at old posts on the site I realised that I had written a post 3 years ago and one of the very first articles I wrote was all about surviving January! It had comments in there about how research over 8 years had been done and proven that having a flu jab and having a connection with people in your life from talking to the postman to chatting with your friends and family helps you to live longer!
It's so strange to think that this January we are relying on a vaccine jab and connection with people more than ever! Have a read below to see what I wrote and if you are thinking of bowing out of a covid vaccine just think 8 years of research stands for something so I for one will be heading down when they call my name to have the jab so I can go and hug my family again.
Keep smiling and do the exercise and the diet if you wish but make sure you are smiling at people in the street and having as much connection with other people as you can.
How did you get on in January? Did you survive? Did you race to the gym? Or promise to have a dry January? Did you decide this was the month you were not going to eat meat and join in the Veganuary trend? Well, I did none of those things and not because I don’t believe in any of them. I salute any of you that did dry January! It’s just the last couple of years my mindset has slightly changed. Gone are the new year resolutions that I can never stick to, so I tend to stick to what I’m good at and what works and that is a gentle ease, a gentle push into doing things better. I just find if I force myself into something with immense pressure then I tend to fall really hard on my bum and, well, I don’t need that right now! What I like is long-term goals that I know by taking steps in the right direction will get me where I need to be.
This is why I look at January as a time to think of new hope. Because I live in an interior world most of the time, January has become a time, once the decorations are put away, to think of fresh home ideas, fresh looks to be achieved in the home by decorating and planning a room layout. In January it is always good to move your room around and think about what you really want to get out of your space this year. Something that I love to do in January is think about storage, to try and plan areas that drive me crazy, like everything piling up around the television. Lego is endless and I am forever hoping for some miracle, magic storage solution.
It seems I am not the only one thinking of my home as talking to business owners around Southsea this last week lots of the Interior shops have been as busy as ever! DIY and decorating are on your minds.
I attended a wellbeing workshop last weekend which was just what I needed as I’m not always the best at giving myself wind down time. So to get tips on relaxation and natural wellbeing techniques is something that I feel will see a big improvement in my life. Having a natural holistic approach when it comes to medicine is something I feel quite strongly about and think it has a grounding effect on me. When my body is in balance I feel more able to face the world.
What I found interesting last week was watching a video (with experiments taken place over 8 years) looking into what makes human beings live the longest. Is it exercise and a great diet? Are those things at the very top? Well interesting enough they weren’t. A study looked at tens of thousands of people in their mid-life and their lifestyles; what they ate and whether they got exercise or not. What reduced the chances of dying the most? On the chart was diet then exercise. Quitting smoking and quitting drinking came higher. Amazingly getting a flu jab ranked higher than exercise which I was shocked at. The second to top thing that keeps you alive is close connections; that small clutch of people who will call you when you’re sick, who will come and take you to the doctor and do your shopping for you. I honestly reckon many of you reading this have had flu recently or known someone who’s had it. We know there’s been an epidemic this winter from good old Australia. The one thing that will have got you through is knowing and appreciating someone you can rely on to be there for you.
At the very top of things that are going to keep you alive is social interaction. When you think about the technology world we live in today it’s no wonder so many people avoid contact. How many people do you ignore and look at your phone instead because you can’t be bothered to say hello and give eye contact? Social interaction, not just with your close family or your loved ones, but with the postman and the people you see every day on your walk will increase your life. When I think about this it always reminds me that older generations interact more with people out on the street and younger generations have been given distractions to interact with, like their phones. So now I don’t feel so bad that I talk too much and talk to so many people because I may not be the fittest person yet but I am trying to live longer honest! So if you see me out chatting my head off to every Tom, Dick and Harry it’s because I am trying to live longer!
