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| Sunday, 5 October 2003 |
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Features |  |
| News Business Features Editorial
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"Body pharmacy" prepares the best medicine Man's greatest desire consciously or not is to have perfect health. If health is poor many activities by the individual will be impaired. Age related physical symptoms raise their ugly head in middle age and continues, leading to deteriorating health. This, along with demands to cope with modern lifestyle causes accompanying psychological problems. Middle age is said to be the youth of old age. No other period in life is longer than old age. The life span for women in Sri Lanka is 75 yrs and slightly less in males. Projected statistics estimate it to be 80 yrs in a little more than a decade. Mileposts in ageing: - The calendar age is the yardstick for these landmarks. They are 1. Middleage 2. Retirement 3. Senior Citizen 4. Post-senior citizens. Middle age is roughly around 50 years. However this period is inward looking where the individual wants to climb the economic and social ladder. Retirement is determined by the employers in government and private sectors. In Sri Lanka it is generally 60 yrs. Loss of job cause many economic and psychological problems. Unless this problem is sublimated into avenues which bring satisfaction, frustration can lead to depression and greater physical ailments. Senior Citizens get an identity card at 65 which enables them to get priority treatment in some institutions. NSB gives higher interest rates. Paradoxically there are no health insurance polices after 70 years in these banks. A bright star in the gloomy sky of the elders is the NCE set up by the Ministry of Social Welfare and the NSE by its department to get the rights of elders passed in parliament. The ministry is also helping Ageing Graceful NGO which initiated qualified gerontology professors from Tamil Nadu to start a distance education programme to train master counsellors on a holistic approach. Attitude of youth to elders: To the present day computer oriented youth, the wisdom of old age is a myth. The large percentage of youth in population makes elders appear to lose their glamour. To cap it all society has relegated elders to a back seat though piecemeal attention is given to them by media and a few seminars by various organizations. In religious and social circles and even in some family circles the elders are polarized. Never in the history of mankind has society paid so much homage to the youth. Desires in the elderly may be categorised as: 1. Perfect physical health 2. Independent living 3. Mobility without dependence on others. 4. Security 5. Desire to live with close relatives when life ebbs. Post-senior citizens: This is the last landmark in life's journey. There is complete breakdown of independent living and is akin to sedentary terminal illness. It can come as a thief in the night. Deep depression can set in. The period ranges from a couple of months to even a decade. The best hospital is within us: We are in overall charge of our body acting as patient, doctor, pharmacist, nurse all at one time. All humans are identical and yet each is identifiable. No two persons are the same. Humans are different from their ape ancestors in that they reason by insight. There is a biology of an individual as well as a biology of the disease each affecting the other. Anything that offers hope has the potential to heal including thoughts, suggestions feelings, placebo (a harmless substance in place of medicine) faith through meditation, prayer. Anything contrary to the above will have a negative impact to our healing. If your doctor gives you a time limit on your terminal illness or says that you have to live with your illness, even if it is true, your healing gets retarded since you have been brainwashed to believe it. We should live above the circumstances not under them. We have a body and we should look after its basic needs. Balanced diet, exercise and rest are a must. Pressure, cholesterol, blood sugar and getting doctor opinion on other ailments should be done periodically. Eighty percent of diseases other than communicable and heredity is due to our thoughts resulting in stress lingering as frustration over a period of time. Practically all organs in our body can be transplanted except our brain. If this is done we lose our identity and mental and spiritual capabilities. Science, mathematics, physics as a result of Einsteinian thought have from the realm of the matter in some way gone into the mystical science. Medicine too must go beyond the material and the whole man must be healed and not just cured. Our brain is able to change our intangible thoughts into tangible chemical feelings called neuro-peptioles. These are carried through the nervous system in to our body. Our body has hormones (example insulin, adrenaline, growth and sex hormones). They produce substances directly into the blood and carried to other parts to act in specific ways. We also have an immune system producing chemicals to attack disease producing virus and bacteria. The nervous immune and hormone systems have links with our brain. If our thoughts are positive the brain changes them into chemicals and sends them to our body pharmacy which prepares the best medicine and despatches them to the affected part where healing takes place. Positive thoughts always work in a matrix of forgiveness and love. However strong our positive thoughts are, they will be nullified in a matrix of revenge, jealousy and anger. The tongue is an organ full of poison. Our blessings with it will be nullified by the curses that come out of it. So do not curse others since our sickness can get worse as a result of our pharmacy secreting poison ending up with multiple diseases. We should try to be more spiritual than religious. Much of religion is beset with rituals. Reputation is what others think about us, character is to have values in tune with the Divine. Any physical illness always has a strength in its weakness depending on our thoughts and eternal values. A silent voice can strengthen us. All religions advocate these. The time old proverb echoes "a healthy mind in a healthy body" Scripture tells us that if we have the mind of Christ our body will become the temple of God. The greatest gift that any elder can have is to enhance life for others through our bubbling enthusiasm for life. V.R. Amarasingam, President ,Ageing Gracefully |
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