Statistics are a useful scientific tool that help researchers, medical professionals and the pharmaceutical industry understand, diagnose and develop cost effective treatments for a range of ailments that will benefit on average most people.
Sometimes, there are individuals that do not fit into statistical averages, types, classifications or reactions to treatments in one way or another as expected. These people can sit on the fringes of the bell curve averages and may not be well understood until there is more research. Some researchers even suggest that the statistical methodologies used need to be changed to allow for individual differences.
However, for an individual to challenge a diagnosis or treatment takes a kind of strength which may only come from the heart because the average head has no grounding in the knowledge, training and science that underpins what scientists and doctors say.
Yet, Kelly Turner PhD, in her best-selling book “Radical Remission, Surviving Cancer Against All Odds found over a thousand cases where people defied a terminal cancer diagnosis to completely reverse the disease.
In her research she found nine key factors that she found these people shared in common which can unlock the pathway to dramatic healing and which placed them outside the bell curve of statistical expectations. Two of them in particular stand out to me now in recounting my own continuing story: 1) taking control of your health and 2) following your intuition.
Personally, I was diagnosed with non-ischemic heart failure, diabetes and high blood pressure some eight years ago. This was not surprising when I consider that I built success over a decade in a low paid, high stress responsible job as a workaholic who ate & exercised poorly, put on weight & ignored what was happening to me & my relationships until it was almost too late.
I saw a heart specialist who put me on new medication which was effective in managing the condition without much of a change in my lifestyle.
Feeling better, I decided though with half knowledge to self-manage my diabetes with fasting, but had to stop taking the heart medication. So the diabetes was brought under control but the heart condition worsened such that I had to go back and see another heart specialist.
He told me that this condition was irreversible. That with medication I might live longer, but the condition would progressively debilitate and then kill me.
He said that exercise was a lifestyle choice that might help me to feel better but would have no effect upon the condition. He recommended surgery to implant a defibrillator in my chest which is designed to detect heart arrhythmia, stop the heart and restart it again.
I told my doctor that under no circumstances would I agree to do so. Simply, I said, I don’t want to live a long life in a nursing home. He could not say if there were any people on the fringes of the bell curve who survived or even were able to reverse their condition, and that was that.
However, in my mind this was not a decision to let go and die. Rather, I decided that I was going to take control of my own body and health, risking whatever results were to come my way. I didn’t see Ms. Turner’s book until many years later.
What I had learned earlier was that I needed a better: understanding of what I was doing; sensitivity to my own body, emotions and habits and a plan which also encompassed diet, exercise, knowledge and determination.
I scanned available research myself and found, for example, studies that showed that a combination of high intensity interval training (HIIT) and strengthening exercise could actually strengthen the heart. Other studies showed that acupuncture could replace the need for the medications I take. I have also looked into research on various types of supplements and the use of essential oils.
I have found there are many studies which point to the beneficial effects of exercise on health. Two studies that I am aware of that quantify the relationship between time spent exercising and the estimated time gained in lifespan are reported on at this website: http://doctormurray.com/new-study-shows-exercise-dramatically-increases-longevity/.
So, over time, I have followed my own informal program of exercise. I walk almost every day of the week, making sure that includes some huff and puff to stretch the lungs and long distance walks of between ten and twenty kilometres. Since the corona virus lockdowns, rather than go to a gym, I try to do half an hour of weights and other exercises just before going to bed which helps me to sleep very well. Whatever I eat, I eat less though there’s still much more to do in this area. I do an almost daily energetic chakra/endocrine attunement each day and tie that in with slow deep breathing.
I have also reduced the dosage of his recommended medications to one quarter of what he called for. (It’s a good idea to talk this through with your doctor before doing this. All these drugs have purpose and side effects.) I now have normal blood pressure. My diabetes (Type 2) is under control without medication. I have none of the physical symptoms the brought me into the doctors in the first place.
Statistically, I suppose, I should be dead. The point is that my own body has shown how resilient it is. I also discovered quite a few years ago that fasting (for me water only) combined with serious exercise (walking 10 – 15 km per day) is also another way of helping the body to self-heal and rediscover what it means to be fit and healthy.
So, while statistical studies are useful, the real question for me, and I imagine for you, is will either of us live longer if we become and stay fit. A second important question is what level of fitness and how you get there. I wouldn’t wait for such a study, except perhaps as a pointer.
Studies being done often have very narrow parameters and miss the big picture. Some factors, like the placebo effect or alternative approaches to healing are discounted so that their conclusions would perhaps not give you what you are looking for.
Rather, my heart and body resoundingly tell me yes, becoming and remaining fit will help me to live as long as I need to fulfil my purpose in being here. In any event, the question defines the answer. So I ask my own questions, and look for my own answers.
In any event, none of this is meant to be prescriptive. It’s simply a sharing with those who may seek in their own way to take control of their own health. For me, it helped to know that I was not alone.
Adapted from image by Gerd Altmann from Pixabay
