Forget about how long you’ve been alive. There’s a new way of determining age and it’s broken down into health span and disease span. The two are correlated with a person’s chronological and biological age. Chronological age is the number of years a person has been alive. Biological age refers to how old a person seems. The health and disease span have a crucial role in determining person’s biological age. Learn more in this article.
Health span and disease span
A health span is the number of years we can live without disease affecting the quality of our lives. It’s when we’re generally in good health. Disease span, however, represents the number of years spent with a significant decline in health.
You have your chronological span, yet you could live in a health span that is 10 years younger. For example, if you are 30 years old, your chronological span is 30 and you can have the biological age of a 20-year-old.
You can draw important information from your lifestyle and facts backed up by a new type of science called epigenetics which is growing in popularity and promise in the scientific world.
Epigenetics to see the true potential of the mind
Epigenetics studies how your behaviors and environment can cause changes that affect the way your genes work. It is the study of cellular and physiological traits, or the external and environmental factors, that turn our genes on and off, and in turn, define how our cells actually read those genes. It allows to see the true potential of the human mind, and the cells in our body. Unlike genetic changes, epigenetic changes are reversible.
While some illnesses are coded into our genetics, it’s our environment and lifestyle that have the deciding role in activating those disease promoting genes. Therefore, the solution is to activate your health promoting genes.
How to activate the health promoting genes?
- Develop a healthy sleep routine
- Meditation
- Pay proper attention to your diet
- Refrain from smoking and addictive substances
- Exercise and keep an active lifestyle
The above gives the cornerstones of a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Science provides unique ways to understand aging and disease. To start with, the science of meditation will help you cover the basics. So start making the changes and keep the habits that can activate your health promoting genes. In respect, meditation helps build a sound sleep routine; it provides insight into one’s life, including eating and consumption habits. Hence, it has a significant impact on activating your health promoting genes.
To develop the habit of meditation and improve your overall wellbeing, try this online self-development program to learn how one can practice meditation and mindfulness in daily activities. You may also want to join our online course.
Photo credits: Sangharsh Lohakare @unsplash