Just the other day I saw an article on sciencedaily.com about a study carried out on aged mice raised to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and the benefits of caffeine in reversing memory loss. The article started with the suggestion that “Coffee drinkers may have another reason to pour that extra cup.” It went on to report on coterminous studies published online July 6 in the Journal of Alzheimer’s Disease that demonstrated that caffeine significantly decreased abnormal levels of the protein linked to Alzheimer’s disease, both in the brains and in the blood of mice displaying symptoms of the disease.
However, before you decide to add an extra cup of coffee to your daily routine, let me, Dr. Jamie Phillips elaborate by saying that also on the website, under “Related Stories,” were a couple of articles regarding studies that demonstrated the non-beneficial effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”
Almost any angle of thought, from my experience, particularly when it has to do with age-related health issues, can be affirmed, or at least given credence, by other related studies. The “good/bad” studies related to caffeine certainly aren’t, of course, the only ones. But, it did get me to pondering about the reasonableness that there will not ever be simply “one thing” that will incontrovertibly help we, humans, to live longer, healthier lives. We are dynamic, biological beings. We are free to participate in life. We’re not bred in a cage! And, let’s face it, though Alzheimer’s disease apparently is on the rise, obviously none of us has been “artificially induced to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” therefore caffeine isn’t entirely the “one thing” that is going to reverse or prevent it.
The human body is an exquisite, involved system that is designed to function homeostasis (balance). Consequently good health has more to do with a healthy, balanced attitude towards living, instead of our jumping on the bandwagon of the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one particular thing under the illusion that it will reverse all of the other excessive and harmful things we do to our bodies.
I believe, as a doctor of chiropractic in Santa Barbara, that every single day we have an opportunity to make decisions that will assist us to live longer, healthier lives, healthy choices for our body and mind. We know what actually “feels” beneficial and what doesn’t when it comes to what is good for us. So, the if you reach for that extra cup of coffee or that second glass of red wine, I hope that you’ll keep this in mind. Neither one of those things is the “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.