Choose to feel uncomfortable –
Don’t wait until you are forced to feel uncomfortable as you age!
You might have heard the saying “Feeling uncomfortable leads to growth”, or something along those lines. But it feels very abstract. Why would you voluntarily choose to feel uncomfortable?
We are actually hard-wired to avoid feeling uncomfortable as there is always some potential danger associated with it. That danger during cavemen times could have meant death or injury. We naturally want to avoid cold water, we want to avoid being too hot, we try to avoid pain, we want to avoid bitter foods, we want to avoid over-exertion, we want to avoid feeling hungry.
All of the above could potentially be harmful, and yet at the same time, they are so good for us.
Swimming in cold water could lead to hypothermia, but cold-water therapy has shown to have many positive effects on our immune system. And the rise of the numbers of sea swimmers shows that so many people experience that buzz of diving into the cold and that amazing sensation afterwards.
Being too hot can kill, but going to the sauna on a regular basis, and sweating out toxins is good for you. Again, so many sauna places have opened in recent years in Ireland and they’ve become very popular.
Exercising hard can lead to muscle pain and DOMS (sore muscles a day or two afterwards), and yet so many people run marathons, go to tough gym sessions and feel the benefits of it.
Building muscle is one of the most important things you can do if you want to age well. Additional muscle has shown benefits for Cardiovascular health, improves your metabolism and insulin sensitivity, lowering your risk of diabetes, but recent studies also show a decrease in risk of dementia and Alzheimer’s when you have more muscle. Your quality of life simply is improved significantly when you have more muscle.
A lot of bitter foods signify that they could be poisonous, so we are in a way hard-wired to avoid those. However, bitter foods are great stimulators for digestive juices and help digesting and absorbing your nutrients from food better. They contain loads of compounds that promote good health. But a lot of people avoid not only bitter foods, they avoid all kinds of foods that they don’t like. And by doing so, have less biodiversity in their gut, which then leads to issues with their immune system, gut health, and even mood and ability to deal with stress. I’m all about enjoying good food and I love delicious meals. But I also eat foods simply because they are stuffed with nutrients and so good for me. I try and find ways to make them tolerable, for example, I get a lot of my fish from delicious pates, or fish in some delicious sauces. I “drink” the veggies I don’t particularly like in a green smoothie.
Over-exertion is not something you should be aiming for regularly, but stressing your heart to max heart beat now and then, and going on a tough run or hike where you feel flat out, every now and again is good for you. It boosts your resilience. Pushing through the pain point and feeling out of comfort leads to a sense of satisfaction and pride. Please don’t do it regularly as the body would then perceive it as an additional stressor, which can raise the cortisol levels to a point where it can be damaging to the body. But every once in a while, it’s a good thing!
As humans, we are designed to go through longer periods of not eating. In fact, we humans as a species would not have survived if we didn’t have mechanisms in place where we can store fat (and energy reserves) and use them efficiently when required. It’s the food industry that makes us believe that we need to constantly snack and avoid feeling hungry. However, by constantly eaten and snacking, we have lost our ability to go for longer periods without food. Imagine, cavemen had felt very tired and unmotivated and stressed when they didn’t have food. Do you think they would have been able to go out and chase some dear for dinner? Fasting actually gave them the mental clarity and sustainable energy to go out hunting and foraging. Fasting for 12-16 hours every day gives your body a rest, time to digest food properly, but also time to clear out toxins and as the latest research shows, also time to gobble up potential cancer cells.
So, in short, feeling uncomfortable every now and again has loads and loads of health benefits.
But as we get older, we tend to want to feel more comfortable and tend to want to avoid anything too stressful. And this would be quite normal. As I said earlier, generally speaking, we are hard wired to avoid discomfort because of potential danger attached to it.
But in life, we cannot avoid discomfort. It is part of life. Suffering is part of life. And that is where we grow. We learn to be more resilient through overcoming difficult times. And there are loads of difficult times and situations in life that we cannot avoid and where we have no control over.
However, we do know that we have a certain amount of control over some elements of our health.
We do know that exercise builds muscle, strengthens the heart, brings in more oxygen to the brain and the arteries, leads to a sense of well-being. It is a short lived sense of uncomfortable.
What is the consequence of not exercising though?
You are less likely to fall and falls and broken muscles in older age are closely associated with fractures and future health complications. How uncomfortable will a fracture hip feel? How uncomfortable will you feel when you can’t move around any more as you liked to do? What could be the impact of a heart attack or stroke? How uncomfortable would you feel to be dependent on help getting out of bed, using the toilet or simply getting from a to b?
Compare these feelings of discomfort to an hour in the gym on a daily basis?
A major part of ill health in older people is malnutrition. As we age our natural digestive enzymes reduce, our stomach acid gets less and we have issues with nutrient absorption. This can lead to an actual lack of vital nutrients that play a role in your immune system, but also in your brain health and overall well-being. Getting sufficient nutrients in is more important as we age, which is why I do not like to see anybody over the age of 40 on a restrictive diet.
How uncomfortable does fatigue, constant flues & colds, wounds that aren’t healing, bloating, constipation or lose stool, mood swings, painful joints, arthritis and many more modern illnesses feel like?
Compare these feeling of discomfort to the short (and possibly enjoyable) feelings of discomfort such as drinking a “green smoothie” daily, taking the time to cook proper meals, taking time out to eat slowly and mindfully, growing your own vegetables feel like.
You might not feel like going to bed early, because you want to veg out on the sofa watching Netflix series and drinking red wine. This might feel good for you, and every once in a while it’s ok, but constant lack of sleep and late nights, and alcohol have an impact on your brain health and again your immune system, making you more at risk of inflammatory diseases. Inflammation is the start of all modern chronic diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s and dementia.
I choose discomfort!
I don’t always want to get up in the morning for an early walk. I often feel like cancelling that gym session again because I don’t feel like it, I am often scared going up some mountains, I push hard in the gym session even though it hurts, I force myself jump into the cold, I aim to go for longer periods of not eating. I eat a lot of food simply because they are good for me, even though I don’t like it.
But I know in the long run, I will reap the benefits. I have no guarantee of course what my future health will bring, but at least I know that I am doing my best to avoid risks. It’s like putting on a seatbelt every time I’m driving. I’m just prepared as best as I can. And if all I get out of it is a sense of achievement, then that’s also ok.
