Top Secret for Healthy Life --- Cell Exercise ---
April 8, 2015
Dr. Hiroyuki Kobayashi
Professor, Juntendo University School of Medicine
My speech will be on how to prolong your life-span by 20 years and also, how to extend your carry by 25 yards when you play golf.
When you ask “what health is” to your physician, he/she will have a hard time giving you a clear-cut answer. As our body is made up of over 60 trillion cells, my answer will be “health depends on whether you can pump plenty of good-quality blood to each one of your cell.” Our autonomic nerve system and intestinal environment play an important role here.
We must take “conscious” actions to be healthy because our body is susceptible to various stress-inducing factors found in our daily life, including interpersonal relationship or work pressure. There is a scientific explanation to all the mistakes we make: we are either pressed for time, unconfident, ill-conditioned, in a bad environment or facing unexpected problems that disturbs our autonomic nerve system. The system controls our flow of blood and is vital to our life. It consists of the sympathetic nerve, which activates our body and is stimulated under strained or concentrated conditions, as well as the parasympathetic nerve activated by relaxation. The two must act in a balanced reciprocal manner to keep us healthy. A hyperactive sympathetic nerve system causes panic disorder, often found in young adults. A hyperactive parasympathetic nerve system triggers depression. We live in a stressful world that makes majority of us “sympathetic-nerve predominant” and suffer from high-blood pressure or cancer due to constricted blood vessels.
We can be in our best condition by stimulating our parasympathetic nerve system that will improve blood circulation. Unfortunately the decline in parasympathetic nerve activity is a function of aging. It starts for men in their 30s and for women in their 40s. What is worse, autonomic imbalance disturbs people around and spreads among them. The best way to keep our autonomic nerves stable is “see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil”, but I must say it is not very realistic.
Mr. Shinichi Yokota is a professional golf player who is also a graduate student at our Medical School. He conducted a research on the “Relationship between the performance of golfing and autonomic nerves,” by analyzing the data of professional tournaments. The results showed that “sympathetic-nerve predominant” players had a longer carry distance, while “parasympathetic-nerve predominant” players had better scores and winning records. It is so true that those who remain undisturbed always win the game.
Now, intestinal environment is a key to good blood quality. Extensive discussion develops in the medical world today on how intestinal environment improves life-style related diseases like cancer, diabetics, high-blood pressure and hyperlipidemia. The bowels are said to affect a person’s personality, health and even life itself.
In our gastrointestinal tract, there are a few hundred trillion bacteria of 400-500 different types that weigh 1,500 grams in total. They are classified into three: beneficial bacteria (about 20%), harmful bacteria (10%) and opportunistic bacteria (70%). The small intestine, measuring about 7-8 meters in length, is a highly convoluted tube in the digestive system that absorbs about 90% of the nutrients from the food we consume. Nutrients are then carried through veins to the liver and further circulate throughout our body. Having enough beneficial bacteria helps the circulation of clean blood. Excessive harmful bacteria, on the other hand, cause the absorption of toxins, such as hydrogen sulfide and ammonia which cause various health problems. We must note that the number of beneficial bacteria starts to decrease from age 30.
Bowel cancer is the leading cause of death for Japanese female, triggered by the deterioration of intestinal environment. Our intestinal bacteria prevent obesity and maintain the intestinal environment. They also control our immune system.
Cell Exercise activates your cells and makes you healthy. It also helps you extend your carry when you play golf. People of all ages can do this simple and safe exercise anytime and anywhere without any equipment. It activates your parasympathetic nerves and boosts the blood flow. You start with tapping on your face and head to relax the acupressure points. When you feel nervous before giving a presentation, tap on your body and you will get relaxed. Another movement is to cross your hands and place your palms together as your stretch out. With your hands clasped, make your body bend forward, lean to the right and then to the left, and rotate. It is a simple movement but three minutes of exercise will make you sweaty all over.
I often advise my patients to “go to the hospital if you have a certain symptom that lasts for two weeks.” Today, all cancers are curable if detected early. It is disappointing that many people hesitate to see their doctors.
As I close my speech, let me share a surgeon’s words of wisdom: “Unhurriedly but quickly.” It shows the ultimate way of living. If we try to speak or walk in an unhurried relaxed manner, we will never make a mistake and our autonomic nerve system will become balanced. When we are relaxed, we breathe steadily and therefore, surgeons can finish an operation quickly. I think the best way to live a happy life is to balance our autonomic nerve system while maintaining a good intestinal environment.