Are you ready to live past 100 years old?
I recently went to a hospital to visit a 93-year-old friend. He was sharing a room with two other patients, aged 90 and 94. I was quite surprised. I recalled that when I was a kid living in Tainan, a city in southern Taiwan, any funeral I attended in my neighbourhood was generally for someone in their 70s. Back then, living past 70 won you praise for longevity, in stark contrast to today when living past 80 or 90 has become common.
Yet is living to such an advanced age really a blessing? When I look around at middle-aged people – my contemporaries – it is rare to find anybody who is not burdened by some form of chronic illness, whether high blood pressure, type-2 diabetes, gout, or arthritis, or even memory loss. The average person in my age group is bound to be plagued by ailments. In fact, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the United States, about half of all adults in the US, so some 162 million people, have chronic health conditions, and one out of four adults has two or more. In most cases, their chronic illnesses will only worsen with age and they will be dependent on medication for the rest of their lives. That may mean 40 to 60 years of coping with illness – a frightening thought.
Life expectancy around the world increased dramatically in the 20th century. In 1900 life expectancy for both men and women in the United States – as well as in most developed countries – was around 50 years. By 2014, in the United States it had increased to 77.4 for men and 82.2 for women, and more than 30 countries had life expectancies above 80. Even more extraordinary is that the rate of increase has not slowed significantly in recent years, so we can expect this figure to continue to rise for the foreseeable future. It is quite possible that by the time people now aged under 50 reach their late 80s or 90s, their life expectancy will have increased to well over 90. Living past 100 will no longer be a rare feat. In fact it will become the norm for the wider population. Extreme longevity will no longer be a prized achievement. It will have become inevitable.
With that in mind, maintaining a good quality of life that allows you to enjoy those extra years should be a top priority for everyone. Depending on your health, an extended lifespan could feel like a true extension of your youthful years or, conversely, a gruelling day-to-day grind in which you cling on to life by depending on an assortment of medications.
For example, a person with acute gout may suffer constant pain and immobility. For that particular person, enjoyment of outdoor activities becomes a distant memory. Even everyday activities that used to be effortless become a painful challenge. To take another case, someone who has advanced type-2 diabetes faces strict restrictions on diet, routine tests for blood sugar levels and a complicated regimen of medications, as well as the fear of significant complications. Thus it is important that we develop healthy living habits at a young age so that we can enjoy our extra years and fulfill our life’s potential. In the future, when high life expectancy seems inevitable, simply achieving a great age should no longer be the goal.
The current retirement age in most developed countries is around 60 to 65, an age first determined when the average life expectancy in those countries was around 70. The typical person who retired at 65 could expect five years of leisure before dying of old age. That was the vision in most societies of how a person would spend the latter stages of his or her life. So as our life expectancy rises and the extent of our post-retirement time increases, our attitude to retirement needs to change. Of the many aspects of what a fulfilling life in retirement should entail, whether it is having enough money to last through those years or having a loving spouse or partner to spend those years with, the most important factor is health.
When I observe and talk with the many elderly people around me, I notice that those who have attained an advanced age are not necessarily those who have been healthy all through their lives. On the contrary, many have chronic illnesses that were discovered decades ago and for which they have been taking medication ever since. To me this is one of the many accomplishments of modern medicine – the ability of people to live the longest time while carrying the greatest number of illnesses. It is a feat no doubt, but not necessarily one that people should aim for if they strive for quality rather than quantity of life.
To maintain our health and extend our youthful years for as long as possible, it is important for us to educate ourselves in methods that can improve our general health. We should focus more on illness prevention rather than simply using medication to cope with the symptoms once they occur. By learning the right concepts and establishing healthy living methods, it is not at all difficult to slow down aging and prevent chronic diseases from plaguing our lives. This is what this little book sets out to explain.
Traditional Chinese Medicine – the past and present
When I was growing up in Taiwan I found the story of King Midas and his Golden Touch particularly interesting. Midas is popularly remembered for his ability to turn everything he touched into gold. For many centuries, a common goal of researchers was to make this myth into a reality. Alchemy, a study aimed at transforming base metals into gold, was the driving force of scientific endeavour in the Western world throughout the Middle Ages. In the Far East however, the goal of scientific exploration was aimed in a different direction. Rather than wealth, Chinese emperors yearned for eternal youth and life.
The outcome of that pursuit is what we today call Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM). At the root of TCM is a philosophy that compares the human body to a universe. The Ying Yang theory of opposites and the Five Elements theory (which I explain on page 53) are the governing laws of such a universe. Only in the past century did those ancient Chinese philosophies and theories became known to the Western world, but because they lack a scientific basis they have been deemed ‘pseudoscience’ by Western and even Chinese societies.
With the blossoming of the internet, basic knowledge of computer science and systems has become common currency among most educated people. When we re-examine the old TCM theories using that knowledge, we can develop a deeper comprehension of them. Put simply, the Ying Yang theory and the Five Elements theory were methods used to describe complex systems at a time when instruments and data were nonexistent.
The central theme of TCM is the use of comparisons between the human body and things that are known in nature. Back in the time when TCM theories were first constructed it was impossible to develop a system so complex that it could be compared to a human body. Thus, the Five Elements theory arose. The relationships between the five elements – wood, fire, earth, metal, water – were considered common sense at the time, so it was easier for people to employ these relationships to understand the human body. With today’s wide knowledge of technology and systems, we no longer need to use such primitive methods. TCM theories are understandable using modern-day terminology that is more accessible to the average person. The goal of the User’s Manual for the Human Body is to make such a link between the present and the past.
After many years of studying TCM, I discovered that the incorrect use of our bodies, which includes incorrect sleeping patterns, incorrect lifestyles, incorrect diet and incorrect responses to diseases, will cause our body energy to decline. Low levels of body energy will result in various chronic diseases. We need energy to stay healthy.
For many years people with chronic diseases have hoped that one day somebody would be able to discover miraculous cures. Such hope is not realistic. On the other hand, by returning to a healthy lifestyle and understanding the basis of good health, we can increase our body energy. Greater body energy ensures better self-healing and self-regenerating capacities, which in turn provide us with the cure for chronic diseases.
Introducing A User’s Manual for the Human Body
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) has existed in China for thousands of years. Its treatment methods range from a complex herbal system to acupuncture, and a wide variety of massage-related techniques. However, because most TCM theories derive from ancient Chinese writings, they are difficult to translate well enough for foreigners to understand. In fact, it is difficult even for people who are fluent in Chinese to comprehend their full meaning.
My path to studying TCM was rather unusual. In my younger days I worked as a mechanical and computer engineer. I later spent many years as an investment consultant and then as the manager of a multinational company. While my professional career was successful, the tiring nature of my work, as well as the constant high pressure, caused my health to deteriorate. At just 48 years old, I suffered from a multitude of chronic ailments, including rapid hair loss, allergic rhinitis and severe insomnia. While none of these ailments was life-threatening, they greatly affected my quality of life and caused me to fear for my long-term health. I sought help from modern medicine but realised that its treatment methods were aimed at alleviating my symptoms rather than curing my illnesses. I became distraught when handed a prognosis of spending the rest of my life relying on medication. At that time I was fortunate to meet a talented TCM practitioner and massage therapist in Shanghai. Throughout my treatment process, she explained the basic concepts of TCM. The effectiveness of the treatment opened my eyes to the healing potential of TCM for some of the most troubling chronic ailments. I spent many years studying TCM and kept a journal that eventually became the initial draft of this book.
Back in 2002 I completed the Chinese version of A User’s Manual for the Human Body. I had no plans to publish the book as it was simply a text file in my computer. Many of my close friends knew about my interest in TCM and many of them asked for my opinion regarding their own health issues, mostly chronic illnesses. Instead of having a lengthy discussion every time this occurred, my response was to send them my book and ask them to consider my ideas. Eventually one of my friends asked me whether I would allow them to send it to their friends. Since the reason I had written the book in the first place was to share my ideas with other people, I agreed without hesitation.
I completely forgot that the book was being distributed online, till in 2005, while I was exchanging business cards with a new acquaintance during dinner, the person saw my name on the card and expressed positive surprise. She was the owner of a restaurant and she told me that she was currently reading my book. I was puzzled, because I had never published any books. The only ‘book’ that I had ever written was still sitting in my computer. She then pulled something out of her handbag and showed it to me. It was a stack of paper organized in a binder. The cover read A User’s Manual for the Human Body, naming me as its author. When I got home that night, I went online and searched for my name and my book. It was then that I realised it was downloadable from hundreds of Chinese websites. At the end of 2005, online book reviewers hailed my book as one of the most downloaded e-books of the year.
Not long after that I was contacted by several publishers and in mid-2005 and early 2006, my book was published in Taiwan and China. Because of its online popularity, sales figures were high from the start and reached one million copies by the end of 2007, breaking the sales record in China for health-related books. In the past, publishers generally precluded free online distribution of published books for fear of limiting sales, yet this one continues to be available online as it was originally. Its success made it a famous example of unconventional marketing within the publishing industry in China.
After receiving an overwhelmingly positive response from readers in the Chinese community, the Korean edition was released in late 2007 and the Japanese in 2009. By understanding the concepts and practising the methods described in the book, many people have achieved a healthier lifestyle. I am delighted it is appearing in English and German in 2018. I hope that in the near future it will be translated into many more languages, so that even more people can benefit from better health.
