B ut this does not have to be so. There is the genetic capacity within humans to live to 120 or more. But it is not just adding years to life that is important here, rather it is adding life to years. T he following graph shows the decline in loss of health that is now considered normal within our society. However, what is really occurring is that modern medical measures merely extend the amount of time we can live in an incapacitated state in a hospital bed or nursing home.
Medical care is actually disease care, crisis care, medicine after the fact.
It does essentially nothing to improve the health capacity and full potential of people to resist disease and avoid degenerative conditions. I n contrast to this, our goal should be to maintain our active, healthy, vital, full potential all the way out to our genetic limit. We don t see them limping, wheezing, hobbling, or languishing around in the trees or forest. They live full, active, vital lives until their appointed time. Wysong Optimal Health philosophy argues that all of us have, to some extent, control over all factors which affect health.