Is your health getting better, staying the same, or getting worse? Unless you are doing something each day to preserve or improve your health, it is getting worse – incrementally. The change is so gradual that one day you wake up and realize that something happened that probably could have been prevented.
Most medical problems start at the cellular level in our bodies. Over time, low-level inflammation becomes chronic. This continually increasing level of inflammation, left untreated, develops into serious health issues.
I had my annual physical yesterday. One of the ‘extra’ blood tests I ordered was a c-reactive protein test. It is a specific test for inflammation in the body. It is not expensive and tells me a lot about my predisposition for any current or future disease. Is it infallible? No, but it is better than not checking.
Last year, all my medical tests were in the normal range. This year I had a couple of test results outside the norm (not by much). However, last year I had a squamous cell carcinoma (a skin cancer). It was not detected by the c-reactive protein.
Part of maintaining or improving out health depends on our education and awareness of what’s happening. I read this week about how lithium and a specific proline attack two of the main causes of Alzheimer’s disease – the molecules of both tau and beta-amyloid proteins. I wrote a section of my last book about a year ago on brain health. I didn’t know about these new options when I did my research back then.
Lots of changes going on all around us. We have the technology to find things quickly. If you want great health in your later years, you have to be aware and take action. 2017 is a great time to start.