We have 78 organs in our body. Each one impacts the working of the others, and collectively they work together to impact our health and wellbeing.
If we view our health from an engineering point of view and ensure that each of these organs is in optimal health, we directly ensure our good health. This is the view being taken by many experts now. In other words, Healthy Organs = Healthy, Active and Happy you!
With this idea, I embarked on a journey to understand what impacts the health of our organs. Our organs are divided into vital (5: heart, liver, lungs, kidneys and brain), important and others. I focused on the vital and important organs as these are the most critical for our good health. The 9 important organs identified by me are: small and large intestine, pancreas, bones, skin, blood, cells, eyes and ears.
Here is the chart of greatest influencers on our organ health:
Explanation of the chart: This chart is the result of my detailed online search of various available clinical studies on influencers for our organs. An “x” in the chart indicates that I have evidenced atleast 1 clinical study for the influencer, for the particular organ. As is evident, the Clinical Study Sources are too numerous to reference here, but are available with me in my reference files. The number of “x”s denotes the level of Influence that each of these have on the particular Organ, a single “x” denotes minor influence and 4 “xxxx”s denotes very major influence. The influence level, or number of “x”s, for a particular influencer, is my qualitative reduction based on research findings. While there can be many more influencers for health of a particular organ, I have tried to limit the scope of this study to the common influencers - which impact multiple organs. The logic being that if we can arrive at the common influencers which impact a large number of organs, we can focus on these for an overall improvement in ALL the organs and therefore on our complete health and wellbeing.
The Result: The single most effective positive influencer on the health of almost all organs is Exercise. And a Cardio workout is more effective than weight / strength training. Cardio includes low intensity workouts such as walking, biking, etc. as also higher intensity running, climbing, aerobics, rucking, etc. But basically, a daily Cardio workout has shown to positively influence ALL the vital and important organs of our body. By default therefore, we Must include some kind of Cardio in our daily regimen. Once on the path, my ideal recommendation is to include both Cardio and Weight training in your Exercise regimen. I have already shared detailed guidelines on how to exercise, and its benefits, in my earlier blog: Exercise your way to Good Health
Next on the list are: eating healthy, having an optimal body weight and sleeping well. Eating heathy for different organs includes different things and we need to focus on specific organ requirements to arrive at the right diet for us. The message is - eat to live and not the other way around. Drives home the Hippocrates message - Food is thy medicine! See my blog on Dietary Guidelines and Fasting Guidelines - both together help deliver healthy eating habits, - Healthy Longevity: Toolkit AG, DG, FG
Having Optimal body weight and healthy BMI is a logical requirement. Our body’s supporting pillars are created to support a specific body size and structure, anything weighing more will put extra pressure on them causing all kinds of damage. Or anything weighing less, will impact other health parameters such as immunity, strength, etc. Here is an Optimal body weight calculator, use it to know your current status on weight and BMI front and plan a strategy to reach to and stay within your Optimal range.
Sleeping well is the new secret of good health. 7 - 8 hours of sleep is the prescription. Many biological processes happen during sleep - The body repairs cells, restores energy, and releases molecules like hormones and proteins, and the brain gets rid of toxic waste and stores new information. Also Nerve cells communicate and reorganize, which supports healthy brain function. Also sleep helps - improve learning, mood and energy levels, regulate hormones, prevent cancer, slow down Alzheimer's and diabetes, slow the effects of aging, and increase longevity. See my blog on Sleep your way to Good Health for all the secrets on how to sleep well.
Next is the self-destructive list, as shown at the bottom of the chart: Smoking, Drugs, toxic meds / supplements: these have to be STOPPED. There is no ambiguity on this count: these have the most negative effect on All organs of the body and must be Stopped.
Moderate alcohol consumption is fine, but excessive alcohol consumption and entire diet consisting of poor food choices, fall in the same bucket: they need to be Stopped!
The other important influencers include: managing health issues such as cholesterol, blood pressure, diabetes, etc., managing stress, staying well hydrated (around 2 ltrs a day), taking regular health tests (once a year after age 40) and taking supplements as required are shown to positively impact our organs. And to a lesser extent: dental hygiene including regular dental check-ups, physical hygiene such as staying clean and washing up regularly, etc, staying exposed to good air quality (having AQI - air quality index of < 50), deep breathing, staying socially active, having regular mental activity, getting vaccines as required, etc., are all positive influencers for our organs and our health.
Besides the above result of the clinical studies, I believe in the importance of having a positive and optimistic mindset for your health. It works silently on your mind and body and has been known to create miracles! Always keep a positive attitude and believe that the Best is yet to come.
Make your Health Plan
The Takeaway: We lead busy and stressful lives, and it is important to understand the most important influencers for our Good Health - which help multiple organs, and therefore focusing on them would deliver maximum value!
Studies have shown that exercise, eating right, optimal body weight, sleeping well and staying away from the self-destructive list, which includes smoking, drugs, toxic substances, and excess alcohol have an oversized influence on our wellbeing - we need to follow a Daily routine to take care of these.
Make a note of all other important influencers from those listed above, and those which are particularly relevant to your individual health situation and make your minimum and ideal Health Plan divided into Daily actions and Weekly / Monthly actions.
Remember that positive influencers will make organs healthy, healthy organs will also support impacted organs and they will work in tandem to improve their health!
So set up your Health Plan, for your organs and for you, and you can expect to lead a much healthier, active and happier life.
Wishing you All the best, on your health journey!
Akkshay Mehta
(Age Reversal Evangelist)
This blog is my effort to inspire you with the latest developments in the space of healthspan, lifespan and age reversal. In simple English! Do share and Stay tuned.
I would love to hear from you. I can be reached at mehtaakkshay@gmail.com