Age & the Meaning of Health

I used to volunteer as a docent at the Bodies Exhibit in NYC back during my freshman year of medical school, and while I couldn’t give direct advice for multiple reasons, I figured I could at least ask them some questions to either help them realize the disease origin, point them in the direction of a specialist, or of course, my esteemed (then future) colleagues.

One day an older man, likely late 60’s/early 70’s, a little hunched over, came up to me and point blankly asked ‘What can I do for arthritis?’ I thought of all the risk factors, such as new workout, new food (sometimes it can take a few days for food to irritate the body), new stressors, and if he’s seen/told his doctor recently about it. I began explaining the term inflammation in ways the body ‘rebels’ in the way of symptoms, presenting a new way of thinking about the body. He squinted his eyes and nodded slowly, seemingly following along.

He looked at me incredulously and said ‘Not once did you mention my age.’ I looked at him right back and said age is just a number, a consideration, not a determinant or an excuse.

He nodded again, slowly, and said, ‘Thank you for that’, and walked away.

Perhaps we’ve had the relative who has defied age when it comes to their health, or the distant family member that passed early, or sometime around a given birthday we feel things more than usual, and age seems like this indefinite sentence that we have to defy. And I’m not even getting into society/social norms (which deserve to be questioned too).

In medicine assessing for dis-ease, prevention, and looking at risk factors, age helps as a guide. It helps when looking at someone’s family history too. However, research is still not always set in stone as there can be outliers unaccounted for, participants not quite matching our background, and I believe what’s also important, YOU as the human being with your own life experience and history.

So next time you’re considering age:

-New event? Stressor? Food? Exercise?

-Who in your family had this, and when?

-What are some other underlying concerns, perhaps this is related (so not really ‘new’), and what emotion/frustration is coming up? Yes, our body talks to us in that way too!

We are blessed with so many ways of looking at dis-ease, and sometimes, that if one view doesn’t feel quite right, we can draw up other perspectives even such as ancient and indigenous wisdom that has been around for thousands and thousands of years. Our body is always talking- perhaps it’s more about asking the right questions. And of course if you’d like to reach out and explore more in terms of what it means for you, reach out to me HERE for a complimentary call, & I look forward to speaking! :)