Are you 5% dead?

Death is really ultimate bad health. If being alive allows a body to adapt to one’s environment,
is a lessened ability to adapt a stepping stone toward death?

How much dead are you?    Better yet, how can you get more alive?

Dr K's Flying Scot "Blue Jay"

Fill Your Sails

Many of you probably do not know that one of my passions is sailing. I grew up sailing on Logan Martin Lake on my family¡¦s 22¡¦ sailboat. Since then I have owned various smaller boats designed for day sailing. For those of you not familiar with sailing, here is a definition by Henry Beard & Roy McKie I think sums it up quite nicely, sail-ing  1. n. the fine art of getting wet and becoming ill while slowly going nowhere at great expense.

Sailing, especially lake sailing, can be quite a frustrating undertaking and a thrilling, rewarding experience. The biggest problem of lake sailing is the constantly changing winds. The goal of sailing as most of you probably know is to keep the sails full. A sailboat moves by the power of the wind against and across the sails, much the same way an airplane wing works to lift aircraft. The sport of sailing is reading the wind and setting your sails in response to maximum advantage. Sometimes this means big changes when one wants to change directions or when the wind direction changes drastically. Sometimes it takes finesse and small changes, which we call trimming the sails.

Our health and overall wellness is much like sailing. We must fill our sails in order to succeed. For some of us this may mean big sail adjustments, for others maybe just small corrections. In this case the wind symbolizes the raw materials our bodies need to function optimally. Some of these things include vitamins, minerals, enzymes, pure water, clean air, sleep, positive attitudes and flexibility. These raw materials give our body the ability to adapt and maintain course in the face of an ever challenging environment.

Are you ship-shape? What kind of sail corrections need you make to fill your sails? I challenge you to become better sailors this year. Maybe it is big sail corrections like getting a vice under control or drastic diet and exercise changes. Or maybe you only require small changes like cleaning up some food choices, adding nutritional supplements to your daily regimen, or being more consistent with stretching and getting adjusted. However those sails need trimmed, make the needed corrections and set sail!

I'll see you at the finish line of the regatta.