Aug 04 2009
A New Definition of Health
Our current approaches to health care have done much to extend our life span, but our health span may not be so impressive. American men, for example, can expect to experience some kind of debilitating illness by the time they reach age sixty-seven, and women can expect to experience the same by age seventy-one (World Health Organization). Thus, you can expect to spend most of the last decade of your life in ill health.
I firmly believe that this is not the way it should be. A friend of mine, named Kwan-sik Min, is a good example of how I think we should live. Mr. Min, who served as a minister of education in Korea before his retirement, was the picture of good health to the day of his death at age eighty-nine.
In spite of his advanced years, he never gave up his active lifestyle, sustaining a full schedule of speaking engagements and leisurely sports activities.
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