Yesterday I walked out of the operating room at Mercy Southside Surgi-Center tired but exhilarated! Six patients and I had partnered, via surgery, to restore their mobility and put them on a track to get out of pain, gain strength and get their lives back! Whether in the OR, the office, the playing field, or in the laboratory doing research I simply have the most amazing job.
While it is a privilege to get to perform the “doctor” part of my job, perhaps the most fulfilling role I play is that of teacher. Everyday in my office, via TV, the internet or when writing my books I get to teach my patients and the public one astounding fact:
We control 70% of our health and aging with the decisions we make everyday!
70% means you have the power to change your life and control how you age. Only 30% of how we age is pre-determined by genetics (and therefore we can stop blaming our parents).
This means that aging is NOT an inevitable decline from vitality to frailty! You can live vital, healthy, joyful until the very day you stop living if you take control of the 70% of the aging process that is determined by the decisions you make today. You are a powerful force in your own life and for those you take care of.
Today, the biggest deterrent to living long and prospering is not lack of information, health care or products. It is sedentary living! Most of us sit all day long at our jobs and even at play. More than 33 chronic diseases have been grouped into what is known as “sedentary death syndrome.” This is because the severity of these 33 diseases (ie: stroke, heart attack, diabetes, high blood pressure, some cancers) can be directly controlled by 30 minutes of mobility a day! Move you live, sit you suffer.
In fact, if you add only 20 minutes of mobility to your usual day of sitting in the office, in the car, on the couch, you can decrease your chances of early death by 20%. This is a start but not the whole story.
In the coming weeks follow my blog for real life ways to control your health and aging through mobility! I will help you look better, feel great, build a better brain, have more bliss and perhaps live longer. You are in control! The decisions you make everyday matter!
Your Mobility Matters!
Dr. Vonda Wright the mobility doctor is one of only a few female Orthopaedic surgeons in the country. She specializes in sports medicine and in the powerful and growing population of athletes over 40. She is the author of Fitness After 40: How to Stay Strong at Any Age and Dr. Vonda Wright’s Guide to Thrive: Four Steps to Body, Brains, and Bliss which inspired her THRIVE fitness product line sold nationwide. She is a captivating guest speaker and regular guest on Dr. Oz with additional appearances on ABC, NBC, CNN, and The Doctors. Follow her on Twitter @DrVondaWright or www.vondawright.com