Buddha once said:

“Your body is precious. It is your vehicle for awakening. Treat it with care.”

I recently agreed to accompany my wife to a series of lectures on diabetes which is an affliction my wife has lived with for more than thirty years now. Today was the first class and while one may think they know about diabetes – fact is that until you hear about some of the things that lead up to and can complicate a diabetics’ life, those of us that do not have diabetes have no clue what diabetes is all about.

Over the years, as we age, several afflictions may affect us. Thinking about this, while understanding that it is true that doctors are important to us, one must also realize that we humans have available six of the best doctors we can utilize and guess what, they do not even send you a bill when you access their services. Believe it or not, they do not even have the initials MD printed behind their name. Have I raised your curiosity just a bit?

The doctors I am referring to are the following:

Sunshine
Water
Rest
Air
Exercise
Lifestyle change

Think about these six for a minute. If you are like me, many of us consume vitamins to keep us healthy with one of them being Vitamin D or Vitamin D3. And yet, were one to stop and think about it, and assuming that we live in an area that sees its share of sunshine, just fifteen to twenty minutes of sunshine outside would, in all probability, be just as sustaining as our popping that vitamin capsule daily.

When one mentions water the first thing that comes to my mind is a swimming pool. Not because I enjoy swimming (actually I never learned how) but because being an individual who more than likely does not drink enough water, the last thing to enter my mind when one says water is that I should drink more water. And yet, that is exactly what we need to do, drink more water each and every day. We need to keep our bodies properly lubricated.

The older we get, I am finding now that I am in my upper seventies, the quicker we tend to tire. So that we do not over exert ourselves (I know that I for one can no longer put in those ten-hour days I used to do and think nothing of it), we need to incorporate periods of rest in between some of our activities.

The next activity, available to most of us, is fresh air. My daily walks provide me with this doctor free of charge. For those of you who haven’t tried this, you would be amazed at just how invigorating a daily walk can be. It might be either the first thing in the morning to start your day, or quite possibly the last thing at night to unwind and enjoy the peace and quiet.

Now I know the next doctor I am about to mention is not anyone’s favorite doctor, but believe it or not, exercise is very good for you. It does not have to be an all-out body building exercise or some type of marathon runner type training – but merely exercise to get your body moving and enable those muscles and joints to get a half-decent amount of movement so that they do not stiffen up and become lethargic causing problems later on in life.

Last, we come to the one doctor I am sure all of us have heard about and used in years past and that is the doctor many know by a different name – that name is diet. Personally, I do not like the word diet and therefore as it applies to my favorite six doctors, the sixth doctor is called lifestyle change. When one thinks of diet, in my humble opinion, we automatically set ourselves up to fail. But, by looking at changing the way and things we eat as a lifestyle change – well – it isn’t as intimidating and quite possibly is a change we can eventually come to terms with.

There you have it, I have provided you with six doctors we can all access and it will not cost us a co-payment or any of the other paperwork and scheduling nightmares we tend to associate with becoming healthy so that we can live and lead a happy and healthy retired life. What do you think? Works for me!