However, before you decide to add another cup of coffee to your daily intake, let me warn you that also on the website, under “Related Stories,” were a couple of articles about studies that demonstrated the not-so-healthy effects of caffeine, “Morning Jolt of Caffeine May Mask Serious Sleep Problems,” and “Coffee Consumption Linked To Increased Risk Of Heart Attack For Persons With Certain Gene Variation.”

Nearly any point of view, it seems to me, especially when it has to do with age-related health issues, can be confirmed, or at least supported, by other related studies. The “good/bad” studies related to caffeine certainly aren’t, by any means, the only ones. Nonetheless, it did get me to considering about the reasonableness that there will not ever be just “one thing” that will irrefutably assist we, humans, in living longer, healthier lives. Humans are dynamic, biological creatures. We are free to participate in life. We’re not confined to a cage! And, moreover, though Alzheimer’s disease may be on the rise, obviously no one has been “singled out to develop symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease,” so caffeine isn’t entirely the “one thing” that is going to prevent or reverse it.

Our body is an elegant, involved system that is based on homeostasis (balance). Consequently good health is cultivated by a healthy, balanced approach to living, instead of our jumping on the bandwagon of the latest health study and “doing” or “overdoing” one specific thing under the illusion that it will reverse all of the other excessive and harmful things we do to our bodies.

As a chiropractor, I believe that every moment of the day we have an opportunity to choose healthfully for our body, decisions that will help us to live longer, healthier lives. We know what truly “feels” life enriching and what doesn’t when it comes to what is good for us. So, the if you reach for that extra cup of coffee or that second glass of red wine, I hope that you’ll think about this. There is no “one thing” that will do “everything” for your age-related health issues.

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