Living Longer by Living With Purpose
July 6, 2011
Some years ago a friend of mine sold his successful veterinary practice in the Midwest, bought a van, and headed to California to pursue his lifelong dream of writing music. People no doubt thought he had lost his mind, or at least regressed from being a responsible adult to a frivolous adolescent searching for himself. Years later, he has had some success with his music, but most of all, he has experienced the thrilling notion that he followed his heart.
Not all of us, of course, have the opportunity to drop out of our lives and begin anew, but we all certainly have the chance to discover what gives our life meaning and follow it to our best ability. The daily satisfaction is enormous, and so are the health benefits. A study at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago found that people who followed their life's purpose were only about half as likely to die over the follow-up period as compared to people who expressed less sense of purpose. These findings have been replicated in other studies: following your dreams is a protective factor for your health.
For many of us, identifying our personal mission, goals, and objectives is not an easy task. There are many helpful resources, one of which is Martha Beck's Finding Your Own North Star. She outlines several steps that are useful in identifying and following through on living your dreams.
The first step is articulating what is important to you. Many experts recommend sitting down without distraction and writing freely about questions such as what makes you smile; what activities cause you to lose track of time; what do people ask you for help with; or what would you regret not fully doing, being, or having in your life. It will take time and numerous lists before a convergence of themes appears, but it will. These are your core desires.
Once you have a notion of your own purpose, it's important to compare it to how you live your life. Many of us have unconscious beliefs about ourselves that hold us back -- these need to be identified and repaired. For example, a client of mine had a childhood learning disability that affected his performance in school. He not only had trouble studying, he also believed (and was told) that he wasn't as smart as others and would never be able to succeed in school. As an adult he wanted to become a nurse, which required college courses in biology and chemistry. He took a chance and enrolled, asked for help where he needed it to overcome his learning problems and develop good study habits, and became an "A" student. He realized his core belief about his intelligence and learning was wrong.
A second critical step is to compare what life offers you with your own mission and objectives. The opportunities we accept must align with our goals. Without the guidance of our life's purpose in making choices about which to pursue and which to let go, we can become frustrated, disillusioned, or simply burn out.
With practice it becomes increasingly easy to know when our activities resonate with our life's purpose. Nurturing our intuition can be a corrective force when we temporarily get off track from the real source of satisfaction and health: cultivating and living our dreams.
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Is Lack of Sleep an Obstacle to HIV Treatment Adherence?
September 12, 2011
Past studies have shown that over 70 percent of people living with HIV-positive have had issues sleeping, compared to 10 percent to 35 percent of the general population.
Lack of sleep can make one more susceptible to developing colds; it can impair your memory and can lead to serious health issues such as heart disease, stroke and diabetes. Most importantly, according to new data out of the University of California, San Francisco, not getting enough Zzz's can also negatively impact the likelihood of someone adhering to their HIV medications.
Results showed that 68 percent of study participants reported sleep pattern changes, 50 percent reported difficulty falling or staying asleep, and 21 percent reported problems with vivid dreams.
In addition, depression, suicidal thoughts, unemployment, drug abuse, history of incarceration, and high HIV viral loads (amount of HIV in the blood) were associated with poor quality of sleep.
Participants taking Sustiva (efavirenz) were more than two times more likely to report problems with vivid dreams, which are a known side effect of the drug; however, this was not associated with overall poorer quality of sleep …
Individuals who woke up several hours earlier than they used to and could not go back to sleep had a 66 percent higher chance of non-adherence compared to study participants who slept normally. Individuals who had experienced problems falling or staying asleep or problems with vivid dreams in the past three months had a 42 percent and 31 percent higher chance of non-adherence, respectively.
Researchers suggest that health care providers need to screen for sleep issues and treat them in order to improve adherence.
The study also found other factors that created obstacles to adherence: Depression and suicidal thoughts, bouts with homelessness, drug abuse and race (African-Americans were 35 percent more likely to not adhere to therapy compared to their white counterparts).
Kellee Terrell is the news editor for TheBody.com and TheBodyPRO.com.
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