Aging Well and Reaching Beyond is a book about health and wellness and maintaining the best YOU possible. Birth and death are miracles. Death is inevitable. Between birth and death, a person’s journey goes through multiple phases of joy and turmoil, uncertainty and surprises, ups and downs. While death is unavoidable, one can take efforts to postpone the eventuality, and enjoy life in the best way possible. How to live well, how to age gracefully, how to maintain good health, how to prepare oneself for the eventuality, and how to pass away peacefully. Most of the measures described are scientific to help one undertake the journey well and end it nicely.
Aging Well is a treasure house of valuable information and advice regarding how to live well, age gracefully, preventing diseases before they take a foothold on you, extend your precious years on earth, and eventually die gracefully without much suffering.
Review
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Preface
This is a book about aging and dying. How to age well and how to die well? While both are inevitable, one can prepare for the best scenario.
Number of people reaching 100 years old is expected to reach all time high by next 10 years. People are living longer and it has its good and bad sides. This book hopes to address some of the issues on aging well, while maintaining good health.
How to have a good life, how to live well, how to be happy and how to avoid premature death and eventually how to die gracefully? Immortality may be a dream, but we have prolonged life and postponed death. We continue to do so. Each day we live we have postponed death by that day, but we are also getting closer to death by one day. Wellness measures, good living, preventive medical care, treatment of medical problems in a timely and appropriate fashion, and avoiding unnecessary risks are ways to increase longevity.
Death is a morbid and unwelcome topic for most people. It is depressing and uncomfortable to discuss this subject for many people. However death is inevitable. It is certain that everyone will die. However there is an innate desire for all biological creatures to avoid death and live as long as possible. Humans are no exception.
From time immemorial, search for immortality has been described and the search continues even today. While it has not been possible to avoid death altogether, success has been accomplished in postponing the eventual day, by nearly doubling the life expectancy of humans over the past 200 years.
Hindu mythology describes a potion or nectar called as “Amritam”. If it is taken by mouth, the person becomes immortal and goes to heaven. Christians believe that Jesus Christ resurrected from death. Mythology goes that those who drink from the chalice that was used for the last supper by Jesus Christ will attain immortality. The search for that chalice continues even today. The Greeks believed in an unseen, mysterious fountain of youth, which gave life-sustaining water ensuring youth forever.
From ancient civilizations to modern day religions, many believe that there is life after death. The soul departs from the worn out body, but the soul is immortal. It is similar to the way we discard a worn out cloth and wear a new one. If the person was good-natured during earthly life, the soul goes to heaven. If the person was evil minded then the soul goes to hell for perpetual punishment. Either way, there is a continuation of life beyond the planet earth. Whether there is truth in this assumption or not- it is an open topic for argument. However, it does help to inculcate moral values and decent life encouraging many thousands to lead a good life out of fear or reward.
What causes death, how is death defined, when is death confirmed, what should we do upon death of our dear one, and funeral arrangements are various different items that deserve discussion.
How to prepare for end of life, what are the legal details to be addressed before death, living will, durable power of attorney, will for one’s estate, estate planning, and life insurance are another set of issues.
Dying with dignity and comfort, avoiding miserable last few days and having family nearby are some things most of us want. What is Hospice care, what are comfort measures and how do they differ from physician-assisted suicide? What is the role of organ transplantation and how does your tissues live for a longer time in another person’s body?
Also we need to address prevention of death of young people in their prime of life. This includes reducing gun violence, reducing drug addiction, reducing accidents, suicides and homicides.
Immortality is a dream, a myth, and impractical. If all those who are born continue to live forever, the planet would be overcrowded. Birth and death are part of a cycle.
In modern day, immortality means living well for as long as possible, and not living forever. In spite of all the progress we have made, it is still difficult to define the exact moment and time life begins and the exact moment and time when life ends. We make approximations. However every one born must die one day and there is no escape for any one.
This is a book about life and death. To understand death we need to understand birth. Where does life begin and where does it end? What is the path God has destined for us? Can we alter the Nature? There is much emotion, consternation, agony and happiness that flows through the life of a person. Biological science and genetic science have made remarkable progress in the past decade. We know that life is DNA, and DNA is a set of chemicals carrying certain codes. Still we cannot make new life de-novo in the laboratory out of those chemicals, and still we do not know why it stops functioning one day.
I sincerely hope this book will provide some guidance and provoke some thoughts to my readers.