Science Suggests We Live Longer by Igniting Our 'Life Force' with Simple Pleasures
Thursday, June 18, 2009 at 7:24AM Today’s Science Daily article: ‘Life Force’ LInked to Body’s Ability to withstand Stress ties the known reality of stress, aging in women and inflammation together, with a twist around personality.
Roses: a tea for my dear friends
via Flickr’s helenabragaThis new research places a priority on life engagement, as a positive factor for longevity in women, who generally have higher stress levels than men.
This subject is very close to my own life, because I’ve had chronically-high cortisol levels, but in an interesting twist of good fate, I have almost no inflammation in my heart. My doctor at the Princeton Longevity Center says that I have the heart of a 25-year-old woman, which probably explains why I’m like the Energizer bunny.
My lifestyle and personality display other traits associated with low levels of inflammation:
• I’m also a glass is half full person, joking for the last two years that I look at the world, wearing rose-colored glasses.
• Clearly I’m a sensualist, committing my career now to exploring and writing about the connections of sensuality and sexuality, good health and longeivity.
• Lastly, I’m committed to rigorous exercise, which is also known to reduce cortisol levels and produce lower levels of inflammation.
Scientists looked for a positive correlation between factors of an extroverted personality and reduced inflammation in subject’s blood.
Luana
via Flickr’s helenabragaResearchers explored three of four factors considered to be part of an extroverted personality:
• A tendency toward happy thoughts
• The desire to be around others
• “Dispositional energy,” a sense of innate vigor or active engagement with life (“I’m bursting with energy; my life is fast-paced”).
The fourth dimension of extraversion called sensation-seeking was not part of the research, but it ties directly to “dispositional energy”.
Results confirmed that “life force” or an active engagement with life reduces inflammation in our blood, which means that our vital organs aren’t as “under attack”. Other medical catastrophes aside, we should live longer with lower levels of inflammation in our bodies.
There’s no scientific evidence yet that we can actually change our natures.
In the worst of times, I’m fundamentally a positive person, and you may be just the opposite. But doctors are now looking at the concept of ‘pleasurable event scheduling’ for patients with low dispositional energy — or lacking life force.
The entire concept of Anne of Carversville is to bring pleasure to our lives. Pleasure is good; Aristotle said so. And yet so many women — the majority I believe — feel guilty about experiencing pleasure, as if we’re slackers somehow, if we stop to enjoy living.
Researchers explore the Mediterranean diet for answers to longevity, health and well being, and yet I wonder if entire societies who live ‘la dolce vita’ actually have more ‘life force’ energy.
texturas 7
via Flickr’s HelenabragaMediterranean — and warm weather cultures generally — are people who are sensualists, living life totally engaged with the wonderment of beauty and nature; colorful, sensual food; storytelling and time with friends; good sex and a glass of wine — all the factors that are life’s mostly free, smaller, everyday pleasures.
There is no doubt in my mind that medical science will confirm that being engaged with pleasure-giving living is critical to positive aging. Reading ‘Life Force’ Linked to Body’s Ability to Withstand Stress’ is just one more confirmation that I’m on the right track here.
So please, please — on terms that are relevant to your own life — but are centered around pleasure and not striving for success and money all the time, learn to explore la dolce vita in your own life. And don’t forget your exercise.
Love, Anne
Special note: I hope that you have enjoyed the photos of Flickr’s helenabraga as much as I do. I discovered Helena yesterday in a search and was dumbfounded by the artistry and sensuality of her photography. Please visit helenabraga’s Flickr pages to ignite your own senses, using her photography. I find her work simply magnificent. Anne
Reader Comments (2)
Such a lovely post, I am enjoying your blog so much.
Thank you Asmara. And what a lovely named you have!!! If I pursued it fully, I would get no writing done this morning. So I will save the pursuit for later.
I did just find this video about Asmara, the capital city of Eritrea, on YouTube. And then I did a quick Google news search on Eritrea, and I will only say "oh, yes . . . more conflict brewing".
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKpGKBUw7pE
We will all forget the world's problems for one moment and enjoy the sunrise and a cup of strong French Roast. Three in my case. I also drink coffee with passion.
Now your very name 'Asmara' has me thinking. Mussolini in North Africa -- a historical battle of civilizations.
I took a quick scan of this piece and didn't see that I mentioned orgone energy and the 1930s psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich. He was considered a quack by many people and imprisoned in Georgia, I believe, because he believed in a form of life energy called 'orgone energy'. Reich invented a device to measure this energy -- our sensual energy.
To be honest, his beliefs didn't make him very popular with organized religion, who wished to "snuff out" his thinking. Reich was a Jungian, I'm sure. See today's 9-20-09 New York Times mag in-depth story on Carl Jung. I haven't read it yet but will surely write about it.
Orgone energy was very tied to sensuality and sexuality. What's interesting today is that science may be catching up with Reich, creating devices that really do measure the life force energy, not only in humans, but perhaps even in plants.
This response was way more than you bargained for, but your name sent me off on a digital expedition.
I do love the name Asmara so much. Woops! I just checked on one of those Google ads, and it's for a female 'vitality' product. It says:
ASMARA™ - It’s meaning is Love. The radiant femininity of Malaysia beauty derives from ancient herbal secrets of holistic balance. Asmara delivers a pure measure of Labisia pumila extract (Kacip Fatimah), a traditional herb used by generation so f Malaysian women to promote overall well-being and maintain natural hormonal balance & sexual/reproductive health.*
The Biotropics philosophy of uncompromising quality calls for high refined formulations based on traditional Malaysian herbs, responsibly harvested from the world’s oldest rainforests. Modern processes, research and state-of-the-art extraction assure the quality of every ingredient.
Now i MUST learn more about Asmara. Was she a great goddess? This is so bizarre, because your name and comment on this particular post just helped me clarify an explanation of my beliefs, that I must now send on to a woman in London who wants to write for Anne of Carversville.
I sound a little crazy just now, because I woke up from a beautiful dream about Lubna Hussein.
It seems that I should cross-reference this post over in Lubna's channel. Several Muslim women -- not others so far -- but Muslim women have asked me to clarify why I believe that sensuality and sexuality are part of the international women's rights issue.
Obviously, I have an answer but your brief comment helped me clarify several thoughts. Thank you, Asmara. Anne